Alexander
Konstantinovich Bogomazov

Alexander Konstantinovich Bogomazov (April 7, 1880, Yampol, Kharkov province - June 3, 1930, Kiev) - Ukrainian artist and art theorist, author of the treatise "Painting and Elements." Most of all he showed himself in the field of cubofuturism, in his short life he managed to leave not so many works. But he took it not by quantity, but by quality, and after decades of oblivion due to the peculiarities of relations between the Soviet government and artists, it was rediscovered during the “thaw”, having received well-deserved recognition both at home and abroad.

Features of the artist Alexander Bogomazov: Having started his creative search with experiments with impressionistic methods, he very soon becomes interested in the vanguard of artistic thought in the field of futurism. In the last decade of his life, he became interested in working with color in the framework of spectralism, creating juicy, clean and hesitant visual images.

Famous paintings by the artist Bogomazov: "Tram", "Abstract landscape", "Portrait of the Wanda Monastic", "Monter", "Sawers", Tyrsonosa.

The life of the artist Bogomazov was not easy or filled with gifts of fate, but after reading his biography and works, it seems that he was a happy person. Bright, cheerful, loving.

Artist from the fields

The upbringing of Alexander and his younger brother Vasily was done by his father. An accountant by profession, he was a believer, respectable, although he did not differ in affectionate disposition. For practical reasons, Konstantin Fedorovich insisted that his son be educated as an agronomist. At the Kherson Agricultural College, Bogomazov became interested in drawing and, contrary to his father’s will, enrolled in the Kiev Art College in 1902.

Not everything went so smoothly with the studies: for participation in the student strike of Bogomazov, they were expelled in 1905 - perhaps the most scandalous episode in the biography of a generally virtuous artist. And purposeful - he continued to master his skills in private studios: first, in Kiev, with the artist Svetoslavsky, and then in Moscow at Yuonaand Rerberg.

Two years later, he resumed his studies at the school, where the teachers of Bogomazov were artists Goosebumpsand Seleznev. Years of students will become the most turbulent, and, as befits every decent artist, filled with bohemian acquaintances and participation in progressive exhibitions. Such as the exposition "Link" in 1908 (together with the founding fathers of the Russian avant-garde Burliuk, Larionovand the godmother Alexandra Exter).

Muse named Wanda

At about the same time, Bogomazov finds his main treasure, inspiration and support - the future wife of Vanda Monastic. Her faith in the artistic gift of her lover was so convincing that it can be said with a certain degree of certainty: without the support of Wanda, Bogomazov would not have become what he would be considered to be “Ukrainian Picasso” after many decades.

The most valuable thing about her faith was that she could not be called blind. The correspondence that the future spouses conducted during the 5 years of the relationship before the wedding in 1913 indicates that Wanda subtly felt and understood everything that the artist tried to express on the canvas, whose work his father called "mazanina."

Moreover, if it weren’t for her, we hardly had the opportunity to judge Bogomazov’s talent. His work survived largely thanks to her efforts. Wanda carefully kept everything that was left of her husband after his early death, and during the war she had to bring paintings on a cart to her relatives for a dozen and a half kilometers, when the Germans ordered her to leave her home.

Is tuberculosis curable?

Modern critics of Bogomazov’s work were no more merciful than his father. “Formalism”, “art alien to the people” - such verdicts were issued by adherents of ideologically true socialist realism and officials, with the stroke of a pen deciding the fate of artists. The works of dissident futurists were forbidden to be exhibited at home and exported abroad ("so as not to ridicule the whole world").

But Bogomazov believed in building a socialist future and worked hard for the good of the Soviet state. He was the first secretary of the Union of Artists of Ukraine and the inspector of the section of the artistic and educational committee of the fine arts. And the fulfillment of the duties of a responsible artist of the 12th Army in the end led to his death. While working on the design of a propaganda train and steamboat due to poor conditions - cold, damp, insufficient nutrition and sleep - Bogomazov gets sick with tuberculosis.

What a bitter irony: the author of the Soviet poster “We Can Cure Tuberculosis!” Was melting before our eyes because the state could not provide him with normal nutrition and treatment. The fee for the work was not paid on time, and Bogomazov was forced to write humiliating letters to higher authorities asking for financial help ... But in vain: the artist takes the disease at the age of 50 years.

A ray of light

Despite all the difficulties, the life of Bogomazov was still not hopeless. He devoted a lot of time and energy to teaching, and students of the soul did not cherish it. Wherever he could find application for his knowledge: the artist worked at the Kiev school for the deaf and dumb, the school in Nagorno-Karabakh and Zolotonosha, the Kiev art and craft school-workshop of printing and other educational institutions.

He was a good and sensitive father, according to the recollections of the daughter of Yaroslav. Bogomazov made and painted homemade toys for her, the alphabet, the cash register of numbers, and taught him music. Thanks to these classes, she was able to immediately enter the second grade of the school. And he taught his daughter to see the world as he saw: changeable, unstable and unpredictable. He told me that in nature there are no pure colors - neither pure black nor perfectly white.

Yaroslav did not follow in the footsteps of his father, but the artist’s granddaughter Tatyana was carried away by painting. From her mother passed memories of her grandfather, whom she did not find alive: “Grandfather was able to create a very warm atmosphere, he was a versatile and talented person. He played the cello, he had a very pleasant, slightly deaf voice, made interesting wood crafts. My mother Yaroslav Aleksandrovna has a memory of one of the wonderful evenings when they all sat together in Boyarka, and grandfather, already very sick, suddenly sang, and my mother picked up, and the song quietly poured over the falling forest ”.

The author: Natalia Azarenko