Erast Kuznetsov

Niko Pirosmanashvili comprehensively tells the story of the life and work of elusive Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanashvili (c.1866-1918), popularly known as Pirosmani, during one of the most interesting epochs in the history of Georgia. Key essays, both recollections by those who knew him and contemporary scholarship, explore his life as an impoverished artist living in Tbilisi. Charting his influence on the Georgian and Russian avant-gardists to the Modernists, including Picasso, and the parallels Pirosmani holds with Henri Rousseau and Vincent van Gogh, the artist's wider cultural impact is also examined from Georgian and international perspectives, past and present. Illustrations of Pirosmani's artwork, alongside a wealth of photographs from Georgia from the beginning of the twentieth century, make this a richly visual resource. With a foreword by Orhan Pamuk, this evocative book is the result of a meticulous process of assemblage by two artists dedicated to broadening Pirosmanashvili’s legacy and has been in formation for almost fifty years.

Kniga izvestnogo iskusstvoveda, dejstvitelnogo chlena Akademii khudozhestvennoj kritiki Erasta Davydovicha Kuznetsova posvjaschena istorii otechestvennoj knizhnoj illjustratsii i okhvatyvaet istoricheskij period s kontsa XIX do kontsa XX stoletija: vremja jarkikh i nezabyvaemykh pobed russkoj knizhnoj grafiki vsekh vidov i zhanrov. Sredi geroev knigi A. Benua, M. Dobuzhinskij, G. Narbut, I. Bilibin - i khudozhniki novogo vremeni V. Lebedev, N. Tyrsa, N. Lapshin, V. Ermolaeva, V. Konashevich, A. Pakhomov, Ju. Vasnetsov, E. Charushin, V. Kurdov, E. Budogoskij, B. Malakhovskij, M. Tsekhanovskij, E. Evenbakh, V. Tambi, L. Judin, A. Samokhvalov, A. Poret, E. Safonova, P. Sokolov, T. Glebova i dr. Dlja shirokogo kruga chitatelej, interesujuschikhsja istoriej detskoj literatury.

Kniga izvestnogo iskusstvoveda Erasta Kuznetsova posvjaschena zhizni i tvorchestvu vydajuschegosja gruzinskogo khudozhnika Nikolaja Aslanovicha Pirosmanashvili, bolee izvestnogo kak Niko Pirosmani. Avtor, issleduja vse dostupnye istochniki, posledovatelno sozdaet dokumentalnoe zhizneopisanie, khotja v biografii khudozhnika ne vsegda prosto otdelit fakty ot slozhivshikhsja stereotipov i legend. Tvorchestvo Pirosmani rassmotreno v kontekste zhiznennogo uklada starogo Tiflisa, ved kartiny khudozhnika sozdavalis v osnovnom dlja oformlenija lavok, dukhanov i vinnykh pogrebov - neotemlemoj chasti etogo samobytnogo goroda.

Kniga vossozdaet dramaticheskie obstojatelstva zhizni i tvorchestva vydajuschegosja russkogo zhivopistsa i grafika pervoj poloviny XIX veka Pavla Fedotova, avtora znamenitykh poloten "Svatovstvo majora". "Vdovushka", "Ankor, esche ankor!", "Igroki" i dr. Cherty lichnosti khudozhnika vyrisovyvajutsja v vospominanijakh sovremennikov, v sobstvennykh literaturno-poeticheskikh sochinenijakh Fedotova i, glavnoe, v ego zhivopisi. Avtor - izvestnyj iskusstvoved i istorik Erast Davidovich Kuznetsov, udeljaja osoboe vnimanie unikalnoj roli Fedotova v stanovlenii russkogo bytovogo zhanra, raskryvaet smysl, svoeobrazie i znachenie egoj tvorchestva.