Pimenov Yuri

Pimenov Yuri Ivanovich (1903-1977) – Russian artist, one of the most original masters of the “Society of Easel” (OST).

In the early period he experienced the great influence of German Expressionism, which largely explains the dramatic sharpness of his best works of those years. Over the years, he moved to a renewed impressionism, professing the creative principle of “beautiful moment”, light and artistic image-impression.

He was called the master of Soviet Impressionism. Pimenov himself considered himself a “realistic impressionist” and was not going to give up his creative credo and artistic decisions, even at a time when he was subjected to condemnation and persecution by the authorities. Remaining a deeply Soviet artist, Pimenov “took” party ideologues “from art” with the themes of his paintings on the lives of contemporaries, reserving the right to perform them in the technique that was characteristic of him: light, airy strokes, light, translucent paints, lyrical presentation topics.

A contemporary of Pimenov, the artist Alexander Labasa described his colleague as follows: ”

Pimenov was very active, fast, lively, cheerful, laughed a lot, liked to talk about little things, liked to dress, have fun. It seemed that he did everything without thinking, on the go, with a smile, sometimes with a smile, liked to laugh at someone, joke, and then all this was instantly forgotten, and he was already talking and laughing about something else. But among the empty children’s conversations Pimenov had serious notes of a thinking and analyzing person … And the more I got to know him, the more I saw this side, his ability to synthesize and weigh everything on the basis of a great imagination. ”

He did not come to Impressionism immediately: in the early period of his work there is a commitment to German Expressionism, to which he will return during World War II. Since the early thirties, clear contours and dark colors almost disappear from the works of Pimenov, the artist emphasizes the “lyrical and elegant art”, makes the usual plots – unusual in technical execution and composition.

The artist’s favorite themes are Moscow and its citizens, the creative life of the Soviet people, and the urban landscape.