In the work of the Russian painter Robert Falk, both Russian Art Nouveau and the avant-garde are organically combined. The master went through a difficult path to recognition, having gained worldwide fame as an artist of the Jewish theater in Yiddish.
The fate of Robert Rafailovich Falk was not broken by the difficult time period of the revolution. In many ways, the Spartan upbringing that reigned in the painter's family influenced his way of life.
The path to the vocation
The biography of the future artist began in 1886. The child was born on October 15 (27) in Moscow in the family of a famous Moscow lawyer. The parents gave their three sons an excellent knowledge of the German language. The children studied at the real capital school Peter-Paul-Schule, famous for its strict orders.
The boy showed early musical talent. Adults developed them in every possible way, disapproving of the talent of the draftsman. His family was considered a frivolous hobby. However, the child chose not music, but fine art. Robert began painting in oils in 1903. He firmly decided to become a painter after studying at the studio school with Yuon and Dudich in 1904-1905.
The choice was disapproved, but the parents could not dissuade their son. The young man became a student of the capital's school of painting, architecture and sculpture. He received his education from Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov. Thanks to them, the basis of the artist's creativity was formed. In Falk's early works, the play of light and color, in which the form seemed to dissolve. The early master's cubic canvases are characterized by tenderness. He is called the most lyrical of the Cubists and the youngest avant-garde artist.
After completing the course, the artist became a member of the Jack of Diamonds association. During this time, he became interested in neo-primitivism. His landscapes with a bridge and a sail became a striking work. In the canvases of the 1910s, a fascination with subject lyricism and a passion for color are noticeable. The entire geometry of cones, pyramids and cubes is permeated with softness and amazing lyricism.
Formation time
For the funds received from the sale of the first painting, the painter went to Italy. He was critical of the radical directions of the avant-garde, choosing for himself the analytical stage of Cubism. The images of the painter amaze with the volumetric form and color saturation of angular spots, realism, laconicism. Every object depicted on the canvas is tangible. The master uses cubist techniques to convey the lyrical state of the hero, and not to implement the manner of writing.
Since 1913, the master's passion for the work of Cezanne began. The depth of penetration, plasticity and sense of rhythm in the Crimean landscapes are especially noticeable. He painted portraits, interiors, and still lifes. His best works include the painting "Red Furniture" with a mesmerizing expression of color, the tension of anxious expectation.
The revolutionary events of 1917 brought about significant changes in the artist's plans. His paintings of that period are characterized by hidden drama and gloom. From 1918 to 1921, Robert Rafailovich worked in the metropolitan college for the arts industry and arts. The master's protest against aesthetics was expressed in the maximum appeal to simplicity. Robert Rafailovich taught in free art workshops and was one of their organizers. Then he took the post of dean in them and won recognition as a theater artist. Since the twenties, interest in cubism has gradually disappeared; instead, an interest in the color component has come.
Family and creativity
In 1909, Elizaveta Potekhina, a fellow student at the school, became the painter's wife. She became the heroine of the film "Lisa in the Sun". It contains the trademark psychologism of the master's portraits. With his work, Falk first declared himself as an original painter.
In marriage, the artist's only son, Valery, was born. He chose for himself the career of a graphic etcher. His parents' union disintegrated in 1920.
Falk's new darling was Kira Alekseeva, daughter of Konstantin Stanislavsky. A child appeared in the family, the daughter of Cyril. She became a translator of Russian poetry into French, was engaged in teaching activities. Her son, the artist's grandson Konstantin Baranovsky, chose the career of a historian.
The third wife of Robert Rafailovich is the poet and artist Raisa Idelson. With her, Falk traveled to Paris in 1928 to study classical heritage. The "Paris Decade" turned into the most fruitful period in the painter's work.
He received not only new impressions and state of mind, but also mastered the airy watercolor technique, characterized by unusual subtlety. The style received a special lightness and airiness.
Robert Rafailovich could not join the French cheerful and noisy bohemian. Therefore, his canvases convey loneliness and longing. Paris appeared in Falk's works as a gray and gloomy city, depicted with a feeling of sadness and slight melancholy. After breaking up with his wife and returning to his homeland, the painter met art critic Angelina Shchekin-Krotova, his companion until the last days.
Outcomes
In 1937, Falk met a new atmosphere in the capital. In 1939, the first exhibition of the painter's paintings for the general public was held. The refinement of the painterly manner did not fit into the modern world of socialist realism. Falk gave private lessons, without stopping work on new canvases.
War time passed in Samarkand, where the painter was sent to evacuation. After his return, Falk became a representative of unofficial art, a symbol of a bygone era, but his work remained unclaimed. During the artist's lifetime, the canvases were not exhibited.
Robert Rafailovich passed away in 1958, on the first day of October. In 1966, a retrospective exhibition of his works was held in the capital. Falk's canvases are currently in museums in many cities of the country. They are readily purchased for private collections, sold at auction.
