Honored artist of the RSFSR.
Born Victor G. Laziness in Rostov-on-don on September 27, 1914, in a working class family. Before entering the Rostov Art College, he worked in the factory school, where he acquired the profession of the engraver of chromolithograph, worked in local Newspapers and in the Rostov regional knig by the publisher. VG Laziness fondly remembers its first leader, who in those years had a great influence on the formation of young men in the art of graphics. It was the chief artist of the regional publishing house, the master of etchings and water-colours, pupil of V. V. mate at the Academy of arts, honored art worker of the Dagestan ASSR A. Mytniki (1890-1960). As a man of great and different-sided culture, A. A. Mytniki could not exert influence on the professional growth V. City of Leon.
After Viktor Grigoryevich art school in Rostov-on-don, he entered the Moscow Institute named after V. I. Surikov (1938). During the great Patriotic war VG Laziness was in Samarkand,where the Institute was evacuated. Was very impressed by this town, its fabulous architecture of the medieval East on the background of a peculiar nature. Even then, VG Laziness a lot of time on the art of watercolor , in which managed to reflect their perception of Samarkand - ancient and young.
But the future artist not only went to war with Uzbek farmers, students picked cotton, carried out the task of party organizations of Samarkand billboards. At the end of the war, the Institute returned to Moscow.
Teachers V. G. Leon was A.V. Lentulov, S. V. Gerasimov,V. V. Pochitalov, A. A., Gebler,D. K. Mochalsky. "A big impact on me Sergey Vasilyevich Gerasimov" recalls VG Laziness. He was always for the students a living example of serious, creative relationship to nature and stay in our memory as demanding of himself; as the master of good citizenship and delicate, a poetic singer of Russian nature. From his workshop came the artists of the different individuals. Now they successfully work in different cities and republics of our country. In painting they go separate ways. But I think that I will not be mistaken if I say: all we, the students of Sergey Vasilyevich, endlessly grateful for the understanding of realistic painting, which he gave to us... Because paint was very "responsible" designed to give people in order of thoughts and feelings".
Diploma thesis at the Institute decided, Viktor Grigorievich immediately: the image of Gorky. To paint a picture about a favorite writer he dreamed of back in Rostov, when walked on the embankment of the don, when he wrote sketches in the old port, where once worked as a loader of the future writer. Now, in College, collects study material yet on the Volga river (for the film "A. M. Gorky in Rostov port" VG Laziness will come back a few years later). Thesis "Bitter among longshoremen on the Volga river" (1948) was evaluated positively and awarded the Art Fund of the USSR. In Rostov, where the artist returned immediately after graduation, he continues to work on the image of the writer. In the early 1950-ies he wrote the painting "Bitter at the plant Rostselmash" and "Bitter at the farm "Giant", and "Young's Bitter" and "Bitter in the port of Rostov". In a solo exhibition presented study material to these paintings: sketches of the movers. Sketches to the image of Gorky.
Of these works, dedicated to the image of the proletarian writer, the most significant painting "Young's Bitter" - plein air resolved portrait of the writer on the banks of the Volga. At the same time in the early 1950-ies VG Laziness goes to the construction of the Volga-don canal Lenin, wrote sketches of the construction of the Tsimlyansky dam, the don landscapes, gathering material for a small genre painting "the ferry" - people in the modern Cossack villages, farmers and quiet flows the don.
These are presented in the exhibition sketches of the Cossack with a basket and buckets, an old Cossack in the cart, the don fishermen. To this period belong the sketches of Cossack courtyards and blooming gardens on the don.
In large and diverse in their objectives study the material created on the don, the sense of adherence to the precepts of the teacher - SV Gerasimov: the development in the early works of V. G. Leon plein air painting systems in the approach to landscape and the image of figures on the air. At the same time the artist continues to work in watercolors. It creates several landscape series is based on trips to Northern Caucasus (in the vicinity of Kislovodsk, Dombai Valley). If in watercolors "Dombai" series: "Cloudy day" and "In the valley of Dombai" the artist uses an understated silver-gray range of colors, watercolors Kislovodsk series ( "master project in Kislovodsk", "mountain View", "Beshtau: Pyatigorsk"), more air and a variety of color formation, freer manner of execution.
Especially interesting watercolor of a larger series "people's of Bulgaria", created in the late 1950's and early 1960-ies on the basis of a six-week trip V. City of Leon in the people's Republic of Bulgaria with the Leningrad artist Savinov G. A. "Rose valley", "Sozopol. Port, Sozopol, Before the storm" and other leaves of this comprehensive and diverse in its impressions of the series talking about the new search in the artist. New seeking means of expression in Soviet art of this period was interpreted in the works,the City of Leon before only greater pictorial freedom and greater "looseness" of artistic techniques. Improving the sonority of color, a variety of technical means, the expressiveness of colour and picturesqueness, plasticity of forms in the compositional structure of the sheet allow you to claim that "Bulgarian series" of watercolors (it includes several pages filled with mixed media - watercolor with the use of pastels or gouache) appeared to V. G. Leon a new stage of creativity. Solo exhibitions of Bulgarian watercolor artist, was shown in Moscow and in Rostov-on-don.
The first zonal exhibition "Yug-1964" VG Laziness shown a series of industrial landscapes, he brought with him from travel in the mining areas and the southern port cities. By the early 1960s, applies the new cycle of watercolour landscapes "Gurzufsky series" and some watercolor still lifes (for example, "Don vimbas").
The genre of still life VG Laziness pays great attention to further. As a rule, still lifes, these large format, and the composition of them is based on several major parts of the first plan. In color they varied and compared to the watercolors of previous years they are more pronounced decorative beginning in understanding of colors and shapes. It is interesting to note also the semantic, meaningful side of the still lifes of the late 1960s - beginning of 1970-ies - the desire of the author to the civic-sounding still life "Bread of the new harvest", "White trips". As for the Gurzuf extensive series of watercolors, which can be combined with the title "Spring in Crimea", at first glance VG Laziness seems to be returning to the principles of the earlier watercolors, based on tonal relationships of plein air painting. But this is only at first glance. Gurzuf watercolors continue what emerged from the artist's "Bulgarian series" and the freedom of painting techniques, color and integrity of the system, and a dynamic composition. But the full-scale material - soft paint Gurzuf early spring compared to the more contrasting the color system of the Bulgarian nature helps in "Gurzuf" series to its transparency , its light and air saturation in the transfer of moist and gentle atmosphere of sea beaches and blooming gardens of southern Crimea and almost imperceptible, of contiguous tones, the first greens. For the 50th anniversary of the Great October revolution, the artist creates a large canvas of historical and revolutionary content to which it was prepared several years "For Soviet power". It is devoted to images of the heroes of the revolutionary Cossacks - Fyodor Podtyolkov and Mikhail Krivoshlykova. The last journey of their mortal path shown by the artist through the close up of the figures coming from the depths of the painting at the viewer.The composition is concise, the details of her stingy, the colouring is based on the dim sound of colorful tones that convey the tragic mood of the idea.
In recent years, along with working on new paintings (the painting "Revolution", sketches and sketches for which are shown in the exhibition), Laziness pays great attention to graphics and urban landscape in the technique of gouache, tempera and pastels, still working in watercolors.
The modern town - the main theme of his works in the early 1970-ies. He seeks to spiritualize the human presence on the strict facades of modern architecture, to the rhythm of the brightly lit Windows pulsing with life ( "Kirov Park at night"). He sees his city in the burning red tones in the flower beds of Boulevard, in bluish-gray tones of a cloudy day ( "high-rise building on Pushkin"). The artist achieves the integrity of the landscape motif and the lyrical landscape "Spring. Young poplars" or in painting "Rostov's spring", it becomes more generalized.
A few words about the posters VG Leon. "The poster of don", in which Victor G. he is working editor-in-chief, noted in 1975 its fifteenth anniversary. VG Laziness managed to train in Rostov the young generation of poster artists, numerous exhibitions of poster art. As a portrait-painter, he works in the field of political poster, "Lenin and now zhivee all live", "the year of the fiftieth..." and at the same time creates a sharply satirical domestic posters ( "Where's the phone?", "Repair the current...").
The participant of many exhibitions - regional, zonal, Republican and all-Union - VG Laziness repeatedly made, and with the personal exhibitions of watercolors. And in 1973 there was held an annual solo exhibition of his works in the Rostov regional Museum of fine arts.
Victor G. Laziness awarded the honorary title of honored artist of the RSFSR. For many years he leads a large public work in the Rostov branch of Union of artists of Russian Federation, as a member of the Board. The artist-Communist, he was elected a Deputy of district and city Councils in Rostov-on-don. Many years VG Laziness gave teaching in Rostov art College named after M. B. Grekov.
(author: Yulia Leonidovna Rudnitskaya
Art historian, Director of the Rostov regional Museum of fine arts, 1950-1963.)
