Alexey Venetsianov was one of Shevchenko’s teachers at the
St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.
Venetsianov is considered one of the first Russian artist to begin
depicting scenes of peasants and rural life.
Venetsianov attracted other young artists from poor backgrounds such as
Grigory Soroka, much like Taras Shevchenko.
Venetsianov obviously had a large impact on the growing of Shevchenko as
an artist and many of Shevchenko’s works later in life were also of serfs in
his native Ukraine.
Below are two depictions of peasants by each of the two
authors. Reapers by Venetsianov and Kateryna
by Shevchenko show scenes of rural life in Ukraine and Russia. Kateryna
was a portrait depicting one of Shevchenko’s poems. It is a great example of critical
realism. In the story Kateryna is
impregnated by an army officer and her family, including father sitting down
next to her, disown her as she waits for the officer’s return. The intense feelings that come through in the
poem are exemplified in this great piece.
Reapers by Venetsianov could
also be considered critical realism. The
two children with sickles in hand lead to interesting thoughts about peasant working
class life. Unlike in Kateryna the butterflies
on the girls hand and soft faces of the children lend a more romantic picture
of the lifestyle. Venetsianov died in
1847 in a tragic carriage accident, this is around the time that Shevchenko
left the academy pursuing both poetry and other artistic endeavors. Nonetheless, it is obvious that Venetsianov
left a lasting impression on Shevchenko.
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| Kateryna by Taras Shevchenko |
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| Reapers by Alexey Venetsianov |
Resources
[1] http://www.artsstudio.com/reproductions/new_venetsianov.htm
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