Mediterranean Volga – Newspaper Kommersant No. 206 (7407) dated 11/08/2022

The Museum of Russian Impressionism hosts the exhibition “Alexander Savinov. Mirages”, for the first time presenting in detail the outstanding painter of the first half of the last century. The peak of Savinov’s recognition (1881-1942) fell on the modern era, after the revolution he taught a lot and even tried to write on new topics, but in the wake of the state’s struggle with “formalism” he remained out of work, and after his death he was completely forgotten. About the timely return of the artist – Igor Grebelnikov.

The museum honors Alexander Savinov (correct stress on the second syllable) and, as an independent figure, with a personal exhibition. But also as part of a galaxy of artists of the so-called Saratov school: on the third tier of the exhibition, curated by Anastasia Vinokurova, a selection of works by Savinov’s fellow countrymen, including, by the way, Viktor Borisov-Musatov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Pavel Kuznetsov, Pyotr Utkin, is exhibited. For example, there was no school as a distinct and isolated trend in Saratov, and yet the artists were united not only by the place of birth: each, responding to changes in mood fin de siecle, refracted the Art Nouveau style in his own way.

Savinov stands out sharply against the background of fellow countrymen, and in the general flow of painting of that period. The latter could be seen at the recent exhibition “Faces of Art Nouveau” in the Tretyakov Gallery, where there were three of his paintings from the collection of the Museum of Impressionism. A Peasant Boy Under an Apple Tree (1907)—a teenager with a petting dog, as if dissolved in spring blossoms and obviously painted from nature in Saratov—given odds to much more pretentious plots, fictional or brought from Italy or the Crimea.

A scene captured by energetic strokes, devoid of perspective and plans, as if a lesson in a different vision of the world, the experience of time. The exhibition has a study for this painting, where color spots appear in vying with the drawing. This effect of a pulsating image, similar to a mirage, has become Savinov’s signature technique, and the Saratov views have become a kind of style laboratory.

In 1901, after graduating from the Bogolyubov Drawing School at the Radishchev Museum (the first public museum in the province, which clearly influenced the emergence of the “Saratov school”), Savinov went to St. Petersburg to study at the historical and philological department of the university, but soon changed his alma mater – entered the Academy of Arts , to the workshop of Repin, from where in 1905 he was almost expelled for organizing student riots. There was a temporary suspension from studies: Savinov went to Paris, attended classes at the Colarossi Academy, one of the most progressive educational institutions. And it seems that a couple of months of such studies, coupled with visits to museums and galleries, gave him more than years of studies in Repin’s class.

This is easy to see from the Saratov views, portraits, scenes with children and in the garden, which he painted while going home for the holidays. Before Paris, Saratov was seen as a rather dull place, where one can dream only on the banks of the Volga: in the painting “The Girl and the Sail” (1906), the heroine is shown from the back so that her black braid is the center of the picture. And it’s a completely different matter after. For the diploma, Savinov chose an atypical plot – “Bathing horses on the Volga” (1908), Saratov landscapes are recognized in the picture, but something mysterious, akin to an orgy, is much clearer. “The Volga hoots, groans and plays when firefighters become centaurs, and bathing women become naiads with a white sparkling body,” the artist described the idea. Alas, the six-meter canvas can only be admired as a reproduction in the catalog: stretched on a stretcher, it is stored in the vaults of the Russian Museum and requires restoration. Meanwhile, Repin’s “Bathing” at one time led to a frantic delight: “I felt myself on the Nile in the era of the pharaohs … How much light, how much life … The whole construction of the picture is capricious, broken … Faces, torsos, arms, figures pile up, tumble and absurdly they don’t take into account their own projections … Come on, perspective! How glad I am!

After graduating from the academy, Savinov was encouraged by a pensioner’s trip to Italy. The landscapes and scenes painted there, the artist did not have to think so much: the mirage became a reality. And if he nevertheless undertakes to complicate the task, then he comes out excessively flowery and sugary, as in the huge panel painting “Bathers in an Orange and Olive Grove” (1909-1911), conceived under the impression of the paintings of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Savinov’s other important trip was around Russia in 1912: he studied ancient Russian church paintings in order to take on a solid order from a large sugar manufacturer and philanthropist Pavel Kharitonenko to paint the Church of the All-Merciful Savior, which was built in his estate Natalevka according to the project of Alexei Shchusev. Savinov devoted three years of continuous work to this – and the murals came out more in the Renaissance style. The exhibition has a sketch of one of the images of the Virgin, and in the catalog there are photographs of the interiors of the temple: the murals are striking in scale and multi-figure. Savinov applied a new technology, where liquid glass acted as a binding basis – for better preservation of the frescoes. However, in Soviet times they were painted over and only partially cleared in recent years. And now God knows what is left of the temple – Kharitonenko’s estate was located in the Kharkov province.

After the revolution, the artist was looking for a place in the new reality: he moved to Saratov, where he was engaged in the organization of Free Art Workshops, taught. In 1922 he returned to Petrograd, held professorial and other positions in various educational institutions, including the Academy of Arts. However, in 1937, he was overtaken by the dressing down for “formalism”, and in the harshest terms, from his longtime friend at the Academy, Isaac Brodsky.

Savinov’s paintings of that period are few. The three-meter canvas “In the Park of Culture” (1938-1942) is striking in its overly joyful mood and not at all Leningrad, but rather a Mediterranean palette. The propaganda paradise appears as a multi-figured scene in a park where joggers literally swarm, hordes of playing children of all ages, their mothers and fathers, pioneers, old people, military men, indistinguishable masses of people. The exhibition also has a number of sketches for this painting – the artist clearly tried. But behind this heart-rending fun, it is not so difficult to discern the drama of the artist, dismissed from everywhere, remaining in besieged Leningrad. 60-year-old Savinov even rushed to the front – they did not take him. He prepared Hermitage masterpieces for evacuation: according to his recollections, lying on the floor, he took out carnations from Rembrandt paintings, saving them from being cut off from their stretchers. And, perhaps, getting close to them, imbued with the light of The Return of the Prodigal Son was the last joy of the artist: Alexander Savinov died of illness and exhaustion on February 25, 1942.