Kustodiev B.M., (1878-1927), Artist

Categories / Art/Fine Arts/Personalia
KUSTODIEV Boris Mikhailovich (1878-1927, Leningrad) artist, graphic artist and theatre artist. He lived in St. Petersburg from 1896. He was trained at the Academy of Arts (1896-1903) under I. E. Repin; was a member of the Academy (1909). He was a member of the New Society of Artists from 1904, the Union of the Russian Artists from 1907, and the World of Art from 1910. His canvases touch upon such themes as the daily lives of peasants and provincial merchants, idyllic panoramas marked by their vivacity and free use of colouring, decorative composition, play of figures and plans of various scales as demonstrated in the series Fairs, Shrovetide, Show-booths). He painted portraits of I. Y. Bilibin, 1901, and V. V. Mate, 1902 - both are in the State Russian Museum. He developed the genre of portrait-painting by forming a connection between the model with the interior and the landscape, for example the Portrait of F. I. Chaliapin, 1922, held in the State Russian Museum. He also made collective images of the Russian woman: Beauty, 1915, held at the State Tretyakov Gallery; Merchant's Wife, 1915, Merchant's Wife with Tea, 1918; both are exhibited in the State Russian Museum. He organised the theatrical production the Flea by E. I. Zamyatin at the Second Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre in 1925, which was also performed the following year at the Bolshoy Drama Theatre. He illustrated books: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by N. S. Leskov and Rus by E. I. Zamyatin, 1923. He participated in the decoration of Petrograd for the first anniversary of the October Revolution, He did cheap popular prints, posters, pictures developing revolutionary themes such as Bolshevik, painted in 1919-20 and exhibited in the State Tretyakov Gallery. He lived at 7 Vvedenskaya Street from 1915, where a memorial plaque is now located. He was buried at the Necropolis for Masters of Art.

References: Б. М. Кустодиев: Письма. Статьи, заметки, интервью... Л., 1967; Борис Кустодиев: [Альбом]. М., 1982; Турков А. М. Борис Михайлович Кустодиев. М., 1998; Исаченко В. Г. Б. М. Кустодиев в Петербурге: "Адрес мой: Введенская ул., 7, кв. 50" // Новый журн. 2002. № 3. С. 172-183.

O. L. Leikind, D.Y. Severyukhin. Kustodiev Boris Mikhailovich
Leskov Nikolay Semenovich
Repin Ilya Efimovich
Vvedenskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 7
Б. М. Кустодиев: Письма. Статьи, заметки, интервью... Л., 1967
Борис Кустодиев: [Альбом].. М., 1982
Турков А. М. Борис Михайлович Кустодиев. М., 1998
Исаченко В. Г. Б.М. Кустодиев в Петербурге: "Адрес мой: Введенская ул, 7, кв. 50" // Новый журн., 2002 Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
New Society of Artists
World of Art, Association
Russian Museum, State
Tovstonogov Bolshoy Drama Theatre
Necropolis of Artists