Russian artist Vera Andreevna Orekhova lived a long and difficult life. Despite this, all her works are full of light, calmness and optimism. The creative credo of Vera Orekhova is “art should bring joy to people”. Even in her youth, the artist set herself a goal: to live to be a hundred years old. Thanks to her stubborn and cheerful character, she managed to achieve this goal: she died 9 days after her 100th birthday.
Childhood
Vera Orekhova was born in the Black Sea city of Odessa on June 19, 1907. Her father, Andrei Ksenofontovich Orekhov, was from Murom, where his ancestors were famous icon painters, graduated with honors from Kazan University, was fluent in six foreign languages. Vera's mother is the black-haired beauty Maria Vasilievna Panayoti, who came to Odessa from Greece with her parents: a father-merchant from Athens and an Italian mother.
Vera's parents got married in 1905, in 1906 they had a daughter, Elena, in 1907 - Vera, and later - sons Vladimir and Georges.
Maria Vasilievna was engaged in housekeeping and raising children, and Andrei Ksenofontovich worked, and on duty was forced to move from place to place. So in 1910 the family ended up in the Baltic States, and in 1914 - in Petrograd, where little Vera entered the gymnasium. In 1918, the Orekhovs moved to Moscow, where they remained permanently. All four children began to attend the gymnasium on Znamenka Street.
Start of professional activity
Vera drew beautifully from childhood. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1924, she decided to get a professional education and went to study at the technical school of the handicraft industry, where her teachers were the great Apollinary Mikhailovich Vasnetsov and Dmitry Anfimovich Shcherbinovsky. And two years later Vera Orekhova entered the so-called VKHUTEMAS (VKHUTEIN) - Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (Higher Artistic and Technical Institute), at the theater department of the Faculty of Painting. The teaching staff was outstanding: painting was led by Petr Petrovich Konchalovsky, theatrical art - by Isaak Moiseevich Rabinovich, history of theater and direction - by Vasily Grigorievich Sakhnovsky. And Vera Orekhova practiced at the Moscow Art Theater, in whose school-studio she even entered as an actress, but then decided to devote herself to painting.
Student Orekhova was a cheerful and cheerful girl, the soul of a youth company. She was even expelled from the university for some time, but the teachers defended a talented and extraordinary artist. In 1930, Vera Orekhova graduated from VKHUTEMAS, and, together with her fellow graduates, got a job at the design bureau of the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure. The bureau was engaged in the organization and decoration of the then popular mass actions: parades, processions, carnivals, fairs and holidays. There was a lot of work, as well as the enthusiasm of young artists.
In 1931, Orekhova joined the AHR (Association of Artists of Russia), and in 1932 - in the MOSSKh (Moscow Union of Soviet Artists), where she worked for many years.
Personal life and creativity
In the early 30s, Vera Orekhova met her future husband, artist Valerian Turetsky. They got married on January 1, 1931 - right on New Year's Eve. Three years later, on July 2, 1934, the couple had a daughter, Marina, who later became an artist. Vera Andreevna combined motherhood with creative activity, the nanny Frosya helped the spouses raise their daughter.
An important milestone in the creative biography of Vera Orekhova was the work from 1937 at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition as an artist-designer. And in the summer months, the artist, together with a “group of colleagues in the shop”, went to work in the Crimea, “to write in the open air”; at the same time, her husband Valerian Turetsky preferred to paint sketches on the Volga in the summer, and let his wife go with his daughter and nanny Frosya to the Black Sea in Sudak. Vera Andreevna fell in love with this place with all her heart - among her landscapes, most are Crimean.
The hardships of the war years
When the Great Patriotic War began, Vera Andreevna with her daughter and nanny were in the Crimea. We urgently returned to Moscow, where the bombing was already underway. They spent several nights in the subway, while the husband was on duty on the rooftops and put out incendiary bombs. In July 1941, having sent his wife, daughter and nanny to evacuate to Tashkent, Valerian Grigorievich Turetsky volunteered for the front. And on April 13, 1942, he died in battles near the city of Vyazma, Smolensk region.
Vera Andreevna, like many thousands of women of that time, received a "funeral". By that time, while living in Tashkent, the artist had endured illness and hunger. Nanny Frosya got a job as a truck driver, and helped Vera and Marina as much as she could. Later Vera Orekhova found a job as a stage designer at the Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theater. Here I had to paint with a two-meter-long brush, covering 600 square meters of canvases with images.
Having received the news of the death of her husband, Vera decided to return to Moscow. Arriving at the end of 1943, she discovered that there was nowhere to live: some general moved into the apartment, her husband's workshop was also busy, all things and paintings were gone. For several months the artist and her daughter lived with friends, and then they were given a room in a communal apartment. Then they were relocated several times to other apartments, and only in 1964 did the mother and daughter finally move to their own apartment in house no. 5 on Maslovka Street.
Returning from evacuation, Vera lost not only her belongings and apartment, but also her job. In order to somehow feed herself, she began to earn money as a dressmaker: she sewed clothes for the wives and children of familiar artists. The artist was then going through a severe creative crisis - she could not paint her kind and bright pictures.
Postwar years
In 1946, Vera Orekhova's trips to the Crimea were resumed: at first she was awarded a trip for the design of the exhibition at the Aviation Institute; then, in 1947, she received an order through the Union of Artists for the restoration of the interiors of the House of Art of Konstantin Korovin in the city of Gurzuf. And then Orekhova got a job at the All-Union pioneer camp "Artek", where she taught children to draw, decorated all kinds of stands, holidays of pioneer fires, etc. Gradually, the artist began to paint her paintings again - Crimean landscapes.
In the early 1950s, Orekhova again appeared at the All-Union Exhibition - now VDNKh. Here she worked as the chief artist of the "House of Culture" pavilion. And in the fall of 1954, she presented several of her Crimean works to the Council of the Combine of Graphic Art at the Moscow Union of Artists (Moscow Union of Artists). Her watercolors were approved, and the artist was invited to work in the workshop for unique graphics. Here Orekhova painted new watercolors, and at the same time studied the art of printmaking. At the same time, she became one of the organizers of the artists' bus trips around Moscow for the purpose of painting landscapes, and she herself created many wonderful watercolor sketches of Moscow “from the bus window”. Such creative trips continued until 1989.
In 1964 Vera Orekhova went on a cruise on the motor ship "Estonia" to the Mediterranean countries. As a result of the impressions of the trip, the paintings "Naples", "Istanbul", "Africa" and others appeared. The artist's style has changed: the paintings have become more saturated with light and space.
Working at the Moscow Union of Artists and going to the open air in the summer, Vera Orekhova created a large number of light and soulful paintings. The main genres of her work were landscape, still life and portrait. Her works are very harmonious in terms of colors, proportions, sometimes it seems that flowers and fruits in her still lifes exude aroma. Vera Orekhova's paintings sold very well, and in order to increase the demand for them, the artist painted in different formats: horizontal, vertical, square - whoever liked and needed more in the conditions of this or that interior.
last years of life
In 1967, Vera Andreevna retired, but this did not affect her creative activity in any way: she continued to work as before. By the way, the artist had to work in very modest conditions: most of her paintings were painted at night in the kitchen. Only in 1972, the Union of Artists provided Orekhova with her own small workshop measuring only 10 square meters.
Many of Orekhova's works have been exhibited at various opening days and exhibitions. But the first personal exhibition of the artist was organized only in 1986, when she was already under eighty. The exhibition was held at the House of Writers. Representatives of the Tretyakov Gallery who were present there wanted to conclude an agreement on the purchase of Orekhova's works, but she said: "It's too late …" and refused. Today her works are scattered among private collections and various museums in Russian cities.
Vera Orekhova tried to live to be 100 years old. She lived with her daughter Marina, also an artist. Together they attended various exhibitions and events. Until the last day, Vera Andreevna painted, even when she was no longer able to get out of bed. The artist fulfilled her goal - she died nine days after her 100th birthday, on June 28, 2007. Her ashes rest at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. In 2018, the ashes of her daughter Marina Turetskaya were buried nearby.
Marina Valerianovna Turetskaya paid tribute to the memory of her parents - she published wonderful biographical books “The Way to Yourself. A book about mom "(2014)," Dad, mom, I "(2009)," V. Turetsky. Each person is unique. The Tale of the Father”(2013).
