“Dark people”, Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky – description of the painting

Description of the picture:

Dark people – Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky. 1882. Oil on canvas.

   The Russian realist artist Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky became famous mainly for his genre paintings with subtle psychological characteristics. One of these works is the canvas "Dark people". The painting was conceived back in the 70s – sketches were preserved. However, the master completed the work only ten years later. This is so in the spirit of Savitsky: get carried away with ideas, try, switch to another, so that after returning to your plan.

   The artist depicts in a boat three men whose profession is infinitely far from noble. Robbers, smugglers, runaway convicts? The author calls them simply “dark people”, inviting the viewer to decide for himself who is in front of them.

   The faces of the heroes are deliberately rude, extremely wary. It seems that nature echoes their state – you can see a hard immovable sedge, whose thickets almost cover the sun.

   Savitsky almost never noted any nationality in the heroes. But in the picture presented, you can notice the earring in the ear of one of the robbers, as well as the ornate hilt of the dagger, plugged into the belt. This is a clear hint that men belong to a dashing cohort of robber Cossack freemen.

   Suspicious faces in the boat look quite bloodthirsty – shaggy eyebrows, prickly looks, a beard. Here is one reaching for a gun, the youngest. An old robber is imposingly stretched at his knee. He is dressed in outlandish oriental clothing, which once was beautiful and rich, and now resemble rags.

   After the traveling exhibition, where they were first presented "Dark people", Savitsky rewrote the canvas, slightly softening the rough features of the characters.

   It is known that the painter duplicated some of his works, presenting them to his friends. This picture remained in a single copy. In 1891, Savitsky’s friend, collector I. Tsvetkov, asked for a double for him, but the author limited himself to only a sketch."

Фанера: от производства до укладки

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *