The artist Ivan Kulikov and questions about the subjects of his paintings on everyday scenes. Kulikov Ivan Semenovich, artist - Murom - history - catalog of articles - unconditional love

I bring to the attention of Russian lovers visual arts a small selection of paintings by, unfortunately, not very famous in our time, but certainly a talented artist Ivan Semenovich KULIKOV (1875 - 1941) with my comments on them.

Self-portrait (1939):

Born in provincial Murom, into a peasant family, I. S. Kulikov, who became a student of I. E. Repin, graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. He became known for his portraits and everyday scenes from peasant life in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

However, there are questions about his paintings .

Here, for example, is a picture, viewing of which prompted me to write this post:

It is called "Winter Evening" .

Don't you find anything strange in her? Take a closer look.
If it’s a winter evening in a peasant’s hut, then why does yakria shine from the window, clearly daylight, making any internal artificial lighting completely unnecessary?
And, indeed, we do not see here either a kerosene lamp or a torch, not to mention the “Ilyich light bulb.” Yes, there is no need for them. The light from the window is so bright that the light of the lamp under the icons is completely invisible, but women in festive outfits (the boy is also in a red shirt, clearly not an everyday one) are doing needlework.
Explain to me, stupid, how it can be so light outside on a winter evening in Russia.
Or maybe it’s not happening in Russia, but the picture depicts a family of emigrants somewhere in Argentina, Australia or New Zealand, where winter is our summer? By the way, can you tell me whether there are white nights in the south of Australia or Patagonia (after all, let me remind you that the picture depicts a winter evening)? Or did this Russian family have to settle somewhere on Tierra del Fuego?

Here on this canvas ( "In a peasant hut" , 1902) everything is more or less clear. But there are questions for her too.

Again, daylight from the window, a peasant hut, in which some kind of holiday is clearly being celebrated (red shirts were not worn on weekdays, after all); the women drink tea, and the men, apparently, drink something stronger.
The family depicted in the picture is not poor. Such a samovar (look in the lower right corner of the picture) cost a lot of money and was not affordable for any peasant. The kerosene lamp hanging above the table also speaks about this.
But it’s winter here too! Look at a window whose outer frame is covered with snow.
What holiday are celebrated by the characters in I. S Kulikov’s painting on a winter day (the kerosene lamp is not lit, and it’s light outside the window)? Obviously not Christmas or Epiphany (this is all in the evening), hardly Easter (it should be spring). Maybe an engagement? And what? It seems. Why then wouldn’t the artist call his painting that?

Even though the picture "Ancient ceremony of blessing the bride in the city of Murom" , was painted by I. S. Kulikov 7 years after “In a Peasant Hut”, namely, in 1909, it seems that we see some of the same characters on it, and it is a continuation of the previous canvas:

There is no longer any window with daylight, but again, the picture "The Forester's Family" , written in the same 1909, presents us, if I’m not mistaken, with the same characters:

Bearded man, in this painting by I. S. Kulikov "Happy Holidays (Zardela)" , written in 1911, does not look like a “daughter-in-law”; rather, he looks at her with condemnation.

But the girl with a damask and a mug, very similar to those that were handed out on Khodynskoye Field during the celebrations in honor of the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896 (everyone knows how it ended), clearly has some “backside” thoughts (possibly in relation to her father-in-law).

And here is the last picture: "Family at the table" :

There are no longer any peasant girls, red shirts, icons or lamps. The artist’s favorite window with daylight is also missing. Instead of a kerosene lamp, there is an electric chandelier above the ceiling.
There is a samovar, although it is also probably electric.
But this tea party is kind of sad.
The head of the family (could it be the author of the picture himself? Another self-portrait?) is reading a magazine, but his thoughts are clearly far from the articles he read about the successes of the second five-year plan. His wife also thinks about her own things, and she cannot be called joyful.
Not like this portrait of 1916 :

Their daughter (?) hunched over the letter (?) is hardly happy about the news of the letter she received...
And what is there in the picture covering the window where there is no more daylight? Is it really a monk in rags against the backdrop of a temple?
The cat that looks like a blot in the lower right corner of the picture makes it completely depressing.
And the date is 1938.

The work of I. S. Kulikov in rescuing historical relics from the noble estates of the Vladimir region, doomed to destruction during Civil War and years of atheism. For which honor and praise be given to him!

Thank you for attention.
Sergey Vorobiev.

Ivan Maksimovich KULIKOV (1928), member of the Union of Artists of Russia, teacher at the Penza Art School named after. K. A. Savitsky, Honored Teacher of Russia, celebrates his seventieth birthday with a personal art exhibition.

In 1955, landscapes appeared at the regional exhibition for the first time young artist, starting his journey in art. A little later, the color linocuts “On the Sura”, “The Thaw”, “By the Night” were exhibited at the Republican and All-Union exhibitions. Successfully begun creativity is not interrupted throughout life. And today, works full of vitality emerge from his workshop.
The work of Ivan Maksimovich is a wonderful fusion of devotion to the chosen theme once and for all, gained through years of love for the life of his native Penza land and its people.

He was born in the ancient Russian village of Cossack Peletma. On pieces of paper I tried to draw what was so disturbing to my soul. And the boy’s deeply hidden dream of becoming an artist gradually took hold in him. In 1943 he came to Penza and entered art school. His first teachers were famous artists I. S. Goryushkin-Sorokopudov, N. K. Krasnov, M. E. Valukin, M. V. Bunchin. With their cordial and attentive attitude towards the young man, they taught him the ability to see beauty in the simplest things.

Then there were years of study at the graphic department of the Kharkov Art Institute with artists G. A. Bondarenko, V. F. Mironenko, E. L. Egorov. Here, for I.M. Kulikov, much was revealed in the understanding of composition, its rhythm in the expression of feelings. And this was reflected in his diploma work, a series of autolithographs “Native Land”.

The biography of the artist, whose work began in the 60s, reflected the biography of the time, of the entire people. In addition to the adversities and hardships that befell him, in addition to the experience of peasant labor, he carried within himself moral purity and had a civil, demanding attitude towards life.

The artist chose a complex graphic technique - linocut, which requires special diligence, a sense of silhouette, line, clarity of composition and, most importantly, the willpower necessary to complete the work. He knows that a work will live only if it passes through the artist’s soul and is felt to the end.

Before starting to execute the graphic sheet, lengthy preparation is carried out. This is a collection of material, which means trips around the region, numerous sketches from nature, deep compositional searches, where Ivan Maksimovich thinks through and checks everything down to the details.

The main place in the artist’s work is occupied by the landscape. He himself defines his love for nature this way: “Every stone, blade of grass and flower, lake or river, birch grove, tracts of forests and endless fields inspires a person’s soul
true love for one's native place. And you think: how happy and proud you are that you were born and live among this majestic beauty of Russia!”

Almost all the works of I.M. Kulikov, especially such as “Earth” and “Arable land” reveal the author’s attraction to epic landscapes, wide horizons, expanse, which evoke philosophical reflection, a sense of belonging to the earth, and worries about its fate.

Cranes. 1962

The landscape “Cranes” reveals the beauty of the vast expanse of earth and sky. We involuntarily think about each of our own. Here you can especially feel the romantic attitude of the artist, whose works are characterized by beauty and spirituality. The completeness of the figurative solution is an internal necessity for him.

Sometimes an artist searches long and hard for his unique correct solution one or another motive, striving for its utmost expressiveness. It was precisely this kind of expressiveness that he achieved in the sheets “Rye.” “Bread is Ripening.” These are monumental and classical landscapes. The composition is built simply and seamlessly. At the first glance at these works, we feel undivided love for the Motherland until our hearts ache. The same motif can be seen in the sheet “Winter Crops”, where we again see the expanses of the Russian land with fields of winter crops. The author is observant and truthful in conveying the state of nature.

High artistic skill helps the master to put his ideas into a very perfect form, expressed by specific means of graphics. Color plays an important role in the emotional expressiveness of linocuts and autolithographs. Skillfully found color combinations, coupled with black touches, give the sheets a unique expressiveness.

Along with the laconicism that he so strives for, there is a deep poetic content in his works. Wonderful example to that - linocut “Field”. When you look at her nervously, it seems that you yourself are rolling into the endless distance in this small bus along the road winding between the fields, and admiring the sprawling expanses of your native land.

Almost all landscape paintings are poeticized and demonstrate the ability to convey an amazing state of peace in nature. Take a look at " Winter evening" The falling pink twilight enveloped small houses, the smoke of their native village and tractors hauling trailers with hay. In the Linocut “Fine Morning”, every detail helps the viewer to feel the very nature of life in the village with its simple everyday life. The same feelings permeate us when looking at the sheet “Native Village, in which the most ordinary life is elevated to poetry. Of course, only a deep attachment to these places helps the author evoke in the viewer lyrical feelings and nostalgic memories of distant childhood. You look at the sheets “Spring Waters, “Spring”, and you involuntarily think: the nature of this land is inexhaustible! Truly, the land of Penza for I.M. Kulikov is a storehouse of themes.

Baikal. 1975

The artist travels a lot around the country, has been to Novorossiysk, the Caucasus, the Urals, and Baikal. And he brought drawings and watercolor sketches from everywhere, conveying the features of those places.
But... this is what the artist himself says: “I have been to many places in Russia, I have seen its beautiful, majestic landscapes, their beauty captured my soul, but after each separation my native land becomes even more dear and closer. I think there are no places more beautiful in nature than the Sursky land.”

In the Lesnovyas region. 1975

Often, to show the multicolored nature of his native land, he turns to watercolors. The artist has a lot of such sheets (watercolors) brought from trips to Penza places: “River Kolyshleika”, “Stozhok”, “Forest Vyass”, “In the floodplain”, “Before the rain”, “Edge of the forest”, “Poim”, “ Autumn".

Autumn. 1996

Infinitely familiar motifs: village houses, very cozy in the greenery of fields, trees and vegetable gardens. But these simple motifs are not quite usually read; they do not lose their vitality, their sweet charm, which flows into the subtle picturesqueness of the surrounding world.

Sunflowers. 1923

Like any other artist, Ivan Maksimovich Kulikov is interested in people. Drawing the village, the expanses of fields, forests, he also draws people who are interesting to him for their destinies. And how good his drawings are! — This is live communication with nature and people. They reveal the high level of the artist’s skill.

Wind. 1992

The work of I. M. Kulikov cannot be considered outside pedagogical activity at the Penza Art School. He instilled in many of his students a love of beauty and art, sharing with them both knowledge and his own experience. “Raising young shoots,” the artist believes, “is a serious matter, and if you don’t work creatively yourself, it’s unlikely that anything will work out. Personal example teacher, his creative active work is also the education of a young artist. You have to work hard to stay in shape.” Every summer he goes to his father’s places with their expanse and silence, so understandable to him, well-trodden far and wide.

The works of I.M. Kulikov are, of course, biographical. But at the same time, the most important thing remains the personality of the creator, his understanding of the world. He doesn't just talk about village life, about nature and people, and elevates his story to poetry.

Ivan Maksimovich is always on the move, figuratively and literally. His art is constantly revealed in new works, new impressions come into his life. He is completely in his promised land, among the colors he has loved since childhood, among honest and courageous people.

V. A. BALASHOVA, art critic. 1998

Peasant's Duma. 1965

I am sure that years will pass, but the works of Ivan Maksimovich KULIKOV will forever remain in the annals of Russian realistic art and will serve as an example of a serious attitude towards oneself, one’s chosen profession, and an example of love for one’s Fatherland.

V. P. SAZONOV,
director of Penza art gallery

Ivan Maksimovich KULIKOV has been doing a lot of public work for many years. provides methodological assistance to general education and art schools region, is one of the leading organizers of exhibitions of children's creativity.

His thoughtful, objective position in evaluating the drawing inspires the child’s soul, instills in him a high sense of patriotism, love and beauty for everything earthly.

I'm proud working together with a recognized master.

Y. V. POLYAKOV.

The oldest Methodologist of the Department of Culture of the Penza Region.

Mushrooms. 1978

The graphics of I. Kulikov, filled with such beauty of Russia, have entered the graphic art of the f*-c public and are enjoying well-deserved success.

From many of the master’s sheets comes the warmth of a heart forever in love with the land of his childhood, in the expanse of the Sursky expanses, in the songfulness of the Penza land, its forests, fields and cities.

Yu. I. NEKHOROSHEV,

artist, art critic. Moscow city.

Oriental. 1993

THEM. KULIKOV is a romantic in his view of the world. The artist’s best works are characterized by a sublime worldview, beauty, spirituality and imagery. In his work he is sincere and remains himself.

L. N. BUYALSKAYA.

It was fate that we studied together during the difficult post-war years at PCU. K.A. Savitsky, and then at the Kharkov Art Institute. Ivan Kulikov skillfully combines his creativity with teaching work. Here in the city of Penza the artist’s talent is growing stronger. He becomes a member of big art exhibitions.

N. M. SIDOROV.

People's Artist of the Russian Federation I.Penza

AND M. KULIKOV is a knowledgeable, experienced teacher and artist, whose works breathe life’s truth, sincerity and skill.

O. M. SAVOSTYUK,

People's Artist of the USSR, full member of the Academy of Arts, professor at the Moscow Art Institute. IN AND. Surikov.

Moscow June 1997

I always want to stop in front of the works of the artist I.M. Kulikov and read their amazing, kind content.

R. I. LEBEDEV.

Honored Artist of Russia, professor, teacher at the Moscow State Art Institute. IN AND. Surikov."

In the works of Ivan Maksimovich KULIKOV - high craftsmanship, He subtle connoisseur compositions. The master’s works breathe true, filial love for his native places. On his canvases the vast expanses of the fields, the expanses of the Russian land.

Journalist L.Yu. GORYUNOV A.I.M. MANUILOV.

Candidate of Philosophical Sciences. Penza.

My first teacher in drawing and painting during my years of study at the Penza Art School was the artist Ivan Maksimovich KULIKOV. there I became acquainted with his work, which amazes with its sincerity and ability to discover beauty in a simple Russian motif.

His works are filled with lyricism, warmth, love for his native land, to the people who live there.

I really love his works, they are simple and understandable to people.

Ivan Maksimovich Kulikov is a shining example of a worthy combination of creative work and teaching activity.

B. D. BORISOV.

Honored school teacher of the Russian Federation. Penza.

Artist Ivan Semyonovich Kulikov.

Ivan Semyonovich Kulikov (April 1, 1875, Murom - December 15, 1941, Murom) - an outstanding Russian artist, painter, master of portraits and everyday scenes.

Biography

Kulikov was born in the city of Murom into a family of peasants who came from the village of Afanasovo, Murom district, Semyon Loginovich Kulikov and Alexandra Semenovna Savinova. The artist's father was an outstanding specialist in roofing and painting. At the head of a small artel, he took part in the construction and repair of many buildings, churches and residential buildings in the city of Murom.
In the summer of 1893, on the recommendation of his former teacher While drawing and drawing at the district school of N.A. Tovtsev, Kulikov met the artist A.I. Morozov, who sometimes spent the summer in Murom, where he found subjects for his works. He drew attention to the young man’s abilities and recommended that his parents send him to the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts at the Academy in St. Petersburg.
In September 1893, Kulikov traveled to Moscow for the first time and visited Tretyakov Gallery, Rumyantsev Museum, gets acquainted with the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In November 1893, he went to St. Petersburg and became an assistant in the workshop of A. I. Morozov, who at that time taught drawing at the St. Petersburg School of Law, simultaneously carrying out small orders for illustrations, icons, and portraits. In 1894, Kulikov was accepted into the school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Under the guidance of teachers N.I. Makarov, A.F. Afanasyev, E.K. Lipgart, he masters the basics of graphics, painting, perspective and composition.
In the fall of 1896, Kulikov became a volunteer student at the Academy of Arts at the studio of the artist V. E. Makovsky. However, less than a month later he moved to I.E. Repin.
In the spring of 1898, at the request of his teacher, Kulikov became a student at the Academy of Arts. In 1901-1902, he took part in the work on I. E. Repin’s painting “Meeting of the State Council” together with B. M. Kustodiev. Kulikov made 17 full-scale portrait sketches, almost the bulk of them. In 1900-1901, Kulikov made about 20 illustrations for the works of Maxim Gorky “Konovalov” and “Twenty Six and One”, which are located in the A. M. Gorky Apartment Museum and the Murom Historical Museum. art museum.
In November 1902, Kulikov graduated from the Academy of Arts. His competition work"Tea Party in a Peasant Hut" (1902) was awarded the Big Gold Medal and gave him the right to be a personal honorary citizen and the right to travel abroad.
From 1903 to 1905, as a pensioner of the Academy of Arts, Kulikov made trips to Italy and France.
in 1905, at the World Exhibition in Liege, for “Portrait of a Mother” (1903), Kulikov was awarded the Great Silver Medal, and for the paintings “On a Holiday” (1906) and “With Lanterns in the Garden” (1906) he was awarded the Kuindzhi Prize. In 1915, for a series of paintings about Murom, Kulikov was awarded the title of academician of painting.
Since 1919, Kulikov worked at the Murom Museum, now one of the most significant in the Vladimir region. For a long time Kulikov headed the art department. Ivan Semyonovich energetically collected paintings, drawings, sculptures, objects of applied art, archival documents, books, and historical relics from abandoned palaces and noble estates doomed to plunder and destruction. It is to him that our culture owes the salvation of the unique collections of Counts Uvarov in Karacharovo.
Over the years, among other works, Kulikov painted portraits of: pilot V.P. Chkalov (1940), writer Maxim Gorky (1939), artist A.L. Durov (1911), archaeologist A.S. Uvarov.
In 1947, in the house built by Kulikov’s father, where his family had lived since 1885, the artist’s memorial House-Museum was opened. In 2007, by decision of local authorities, the museum was closed, all exhibits were transported to the Murom Historical and Art Museum. The house is privately owned by the artist's descendants.

Returning from the city. 1914

Pavlovsk artisan. 1937

Portrait of Alexander III

International Youth Day. 1929

Self-portrait. 1896

Old man. 1898

Peasant woman with a saucer. 1899

E.N. Chirikov, 1904

I thought about it. 1906

Italian women. 1905

dreamer.

Russian girl.

On a holiday, 1906.

"Fair in Murom" (1912)

Spring. 1912

Nikolo-Zaryadskaya Church. 1916

Lenin, 1924

Jungsturm. 1929

Girls. 1918

At the piano. 1938

Merchant's ball. 1899

Murom monasteries. 1914

V.P. Chkalov, 1940

M. Gorky, 1939

The largest and most famous group portrait in the Russian Museum, “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901,” was created by the great Russian artist I. Repin together with his “most significant students B. Kustodiev and I. Kulikov,” wrote the outstanding art critic V. Stasov . But the artist is famous not only for this work.

Even at the Murom Zemstvo School, the drawing teacher advised to young Ivan to truly learn art. However, the 14-year-old teenager, having graduated from college, had to help his father with painting work. But he still had the desire to learn. And thanks happy occasion he prepared and entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

“I entered this building with trepidation,” wrote Ivan Semyonovich, already a mature artist, in his autobiography.

In 1898, at an exhibition of student works, Academy professor I. Repin liked Kulikov’s sketches, and Ilya Efimovich invited him to study in his workshop. It was a great honor.

On the recommendation of Repin in 1900-1903. For the publishing house "Znanie" Kulikov performed a number of illustrations for the story "Konovalov" and the poem "Twenty Six and One". So he became one of the first illustrators of the works of Maxim Gorky. The artist found types of Gorky tramps among the tramps of his native Murom. He drew them from life. These sketches are interesting as documentary material on the history of the pre-revolutionary city.

Murom also hosted preparatory work over the graduation painting "Tea drinking in a peasant hut". This topic was well known to the artist since childhood. He lived for a long time in his grandfather’s house in the village of Afanasovo. The diplomat depicted a friendly peasant family seated around a table near a samovar. Everyone is united by gestures and glances. The picture is multicolored and joyful.

Repin admired her. The canvas was also noted by official criticism. Kulikov received a diploma from the Academy of Arts and a gold medal “For excellent knowledge of painting and scientific subjects,” as well as a trip abroad at public expense to study the art of different European countries.

The artist worked a lot. In Murom, he painted the painting “Spinners,” which received a prize from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, as well as “Portrait of a Mother,” for which he was awarded a large silver medal at the world exhibition. His “Girl at the Spinning Wheel” is also called a masterpiece. The painting talentedly depicts a barefoot peasant girl in a simple Russian folk colorful dress.

A significant event in the life of the realist artist was his active participation in the 36th exhibition of the Association of Itinerants in 1908. He presented eight works for it.

Ilya Repin highly appreciated Creative skills your favorite student. And when Ivan Semyonovich was offered the position of professor at the Academy of Arts, I. Repin gave him advice: “Don’t strive to be a professor. You are a true artist... Your works breathe freshness and health.”

And Kulikov remained to live and work in Murom. He, like B. Kustodiev, created a large gallery of works on the themes of folk festivals, fairs and bazaars. The Murom fairs glorified in songs provided rich material. “It was noisy, fun and elegant,” the artist wrote about them in his memoirs, “merchants came with goods from Kasimov, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and other places... And the city was filled with people for two summer weeks.”

In terms of the complexity of the compositions and the abundance of characters, his two large paintings “Fair” (1910) and “Fair in Murom” (1912) are especially interesting.

The artist's fame became more and more noticeable every year. And in 1915 he was awarded the highest title - academician of painting.

After the revolution, Ivan Kulikov's talent was unclaimed. His “Hawthorns”, “Fairs”, “Spinners” were no longer needed by anyone. And he himself, the “royal academician,” also became of no use to anyone. Communication with St. Petersburg and Moscow ceased. The money in the bank, with which he planned to build a workshop, “burst.” He could not escape abroad as a truly Russian person, and he did not try. The artist fell into despair. I was brought back to an active life by teaching drawing and painting at teacher courses and in the art studio. With pleasure, Ivan Semenovich took up the organization of the city Art Museum. He became its founder, first director and researcher. The basis was made up of works of art stored in the Karacharovsky mansion of Countess Uvarova and other Murom collections. Now the artist lived among the paintings of great masters, whose works he had seen in the Hermitage and various European museums. As in his youth, he again began to study the great Italians Tiepolo and Dosso-Dossi, the Flemings and the Dutch. He was also interested in the works of Russian old masters.

For ten long years Kulikov did not create anything significant. The formation of the Society of Artists named after I. Repin caused him a creative upsurge. They exhibited paintings on youth themes.

In the thirties, the artist painted more than two hundred works for the museum in Pavlovo-on-Oka. His talent did not wane with age. In 1940, I. Kulikov began work on the largest and most meaningful painting, “Exit of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia in 1612.” The Great has begun Patriotic War. The work on the historical painting acquired a military-patriotic character. But in December 1941, the artist died unexpectedly. The picture remained in sketches and drawings.

Kulikov dedicated his talent to the lives of ordinary people. More than 500 of his works were exhibited at numerous exhibitions in Russia and other countries. His paintings adorn 60 museums around the world. They are also in Vladimir. And, of course, in his house-museum and historical and artistic museum, which he himself founded.

In Russian attire, (Portrait of the wife of E.A. Kulikova), 1916.

Self-portrait of Kulikov Ivan Semenovich 1928

Family at the table.1938

Portrait of a Father, 1898

Kulikov. Portrait of My Mother (1903)

Portrait of E.A. Kulikova, 1925

Nadya (Portrait of a Sister), 1909

With lanterns in the garden, 1906

Portrait of a daughter, 1927

ALBINA ANUCHKINA, DIRECTOR, MUROM HISTORICAL AND ART MUSEUM:“Ivan Semenovich is one of the first employees of the museum. The man who donated his collections, ethnographic, everyday paintings, to our museum. This is a tribute to the memory of the great artist, master, the first museum worker of Murom.”

Here at the exhibition is a collection of decorative and applied art collected by Ivan Kulikov. The master needed all this for his work and detailed drawing. Painting is his life's work.

OLGA SUKHOVA, EMPLOYEE, SCIENTIFIC AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT, MUROM MUSEUM:“In the region, this is the only academician of painting who was awarded the title of academician of painting even before the revolution, before the October Revolution. This is a student of Repin, a friend of Kustodiev.”

Original post and comments at

B 1880 Murom and the family of Semyon Loginovich and Alexandra Semenovna Kulikov, former serfs from the village of Afanasovo, Murom district, Kovarditsky volost, settled. Semyon Loginovich Kulikov was an outstanding roofing and painting specialist. On April 1 (13), 1875, a son, Ivan, was born into the Kulikov family, who had 3 daughters. Childhood was short-lived. Even before entering primary school, he mastered the craft of a painter and roofer, learned to paint marble and carve doors and floors to look like oak or ash, knew how to rub paints with chimes on a stone slab and knew all the names of paints.

As a student first at an elementary school and then at a district school, Kulikov was fond of drawing, made copies from illustrated magazines, visited icon-painting workshops, and attempted to draw his loved ones from life. The teacher of drawing and drawing at the district school, N.A. Tovtsev, drew attention to the student’s hobbies. How a real teacher, Tovtsev drew the attention of Kulikov’s parents to the need for their son to receive an art education.

After graduating from the district school in 1889, Kulikov became a full member of the artel, helping his father in painting and roofing work, in selecting colors for painting premises, in drawing up estimates and accounts. He perfectly masters alfrey work, trims wall panels to look like expensive types of wood, and paints ceilings and walls with ornaments. The young man devotes all his free time to drawing from life and copying. Unfortunately, almost no of these drawings have survived, and only a few sketches and still lifes dated 1893 confirm the accuracy of the eye and the fidelity of the hand, the sense of proportion and the ability to capture portrait likeness.

Continuing to work in the artel, the young man, enchanted, walked under the windows of the icon-painting workshops and watched how icons were painted. He spent a long time admiring the works of ancient Russian painting in Murom cathedrals and made attempts to get acquainted with icon painters. And in his dreams an irresistible desire for art, knowledge, and mastery of painting appeared. On the recommendation of his former drawing teacher Tovtsev, in the summer of 1893 Kulikov met the famous artist, academician of painting Alexander Ivanovich Morozov. Morozov sometimes spent the summer in Murom, where he found subjects for his works. He drew attention to the young man’s abilities and recommended that his parents send him to the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts at the Academy in St. Petersburg. In September 1893, Kulikov went to Moscow for the first time, where he spent several days in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Rumyantsev Museum, and got acquainted with the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In Moscow, Kulikov learned that the main artistic forces concentrated in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, which have wonderful collections in the Hermitage and Mikhailovsky Palace works of art foreign and Russian masters.

Still life with violin

November 17, 1893 Kulikov travels to St. Petersburg. He was stunned by the majestic building of the Academy with its huge exhibition halls, in which a competitive exhibition of students was opened at that time. For almost two months, Kulikov has been visiting the Hermitage every day. He immediately attempts to enter the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, but is refused. Failure to enroll in school again led Kulikov to academician of painting A.I. Morozov, who at that time taught drawing at the St. Petersburg School of Law, simultaneously fulfilling small orders for illustrations, icons, and portraits. Kulikov became Morozov’s assistant, working for him five hours a day, studying a kind of “kitchen” of the artist, his techniques and methods of work, the basic principles of composition and color, which later influenced the development of the artist’s skill. On the recommendation of Morozov, in January 1894, Kulikov was admitted to the school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Working with Morozov, studying at the School, studying and copying works in the Hermitage, the systematic and purposeful accumulation of knowledge and skill had such an impact beneficial influence on the development of the future artist, that Morozov instructs his student to paint icons for the iconostasis of one of the churches in Yekaterinburg, and from March 1894 he waives tuition fees. At the exam, Kulikov receives his first monetary award for a complex still life executed oil paints. Kulikov felt an even greater need for systematic art education. He did not give up his cherished dream of entering the Academy of Arts, where the greatest Russian artists I.E. Repin, B.E. Makovsky, I.I. Shishkin, A.I. Kuindzhi taught.

Despite the fact that the Kulikov family had been living in the city for more than ten years, it continued to be in the peasant class of the village of Afanasovo. To enter the Higher Art School, the consent of the village assembly was required. On August 26, 1896, Ivan Semenovich received this permission and in the fall of 1896 he was enrolled as one of 14 volunteers out of 70 entering the workshop of Vladimir Yegorovich Makovsky. However, Kulikov’s classes in the workshop of V. E. Makovsky lasted only about a month. To some extent, the views of the novice artist did not quite coincide with the beliefs of the venerable leader. At the beginning of his studies with Makovsky, Ivan Semenovich could not allow any convention in the depiction of portraits. During classes, Makovsky immediately demanded not to copy nature, but to create a portrait-image, which Kulikov did not quite understand. As a sensitive teacher, Makovsky, from the very first sketches, noticed that Kulikov’s painting style was closer to Repin’s. He advised Ivan Semenovich to go to Repin’s workshop. And Kulikov’s dream comes true: he is transferred to the workshop of Ilya Efimovich Repin.

Although Repin did not consider himself a good teacher, there were several features in his pedagogical activity that had positive influence on his students. First of all, he always knew how to find an individual approach to his student, establish contact with him, inspire the student in a timely manner or provide assistance in something. In the spring of 1898, at the request of Repin, Kulikov was transferred from a volunteer to a student at the Higher Art School at the Academy, and in the fall, Kulikov was awarded a scholarship in the amount of 350 rubles per year. The elderly father could no longer provide the necessary financial assistance to his son. The scholarship created an opportunity for creative work and study without worrying about food.

Kulikov knows no rest even during summer holidays, continuing to work in his native Murom region. Surviving academic works and sketches reveal the gradual growth of the novice artist’s skill. During holidays and vacations, Kulikov makes numerous sketches of peasants, artisans, and village relatives.

At the same time, Kulikov tried his hand at portrait painting. “Self-Portrait” (1896), “Portrait of a Mother” (1896), “Portrait of the Actor Zaitsev” (1898), “Portrait of B. M. Nustodiev” (1899), portraits of relatives and friends - at first very timid and executed with an uncertain hand, without the freedom and scope that were later characteristic of the artist, then more and more free and approaching Repin’s manner of penetrating into the depths of the psychology of the person depicted. Small sketches: “Painter” (1896), “Boy” (1897), “Boy in a Red Shirt” (1898), “Sitting Boy in a Red Shirt” (1898), “Peasant Woman Drinking Tea” (1899) and many others characterize the choice of the artist’s creative path, whose work was based on depicting the life of ordinary people.

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Self-portrait

First model

Village tailors

Schoolboy

Portrait of a boy

Father's portrait

Old lady from Nezhilovka

Peasant woman drinking tea

Portrait of B.M. Kustodiev

While working on the painting “Portrait of a Mother,” Kulikov set the task of creating a generalized maternal image. The artist’s mother, Alexandra Semyonovna, a former serf in the village of Mishino, Murom district, lived a difficult and full of hardships life. With her maternal instinct, she understood her son’s aspirations and supported him in everything. He responded to her with filial affection and love. Wherever he was, he always remembered his mother with great gratitude, and in letters he shared with her both his joys and failures. Despite her illiteracy, his mother was his best adviser, was proud of her son’s successes and, despite all the difficulties, approved of his aspirations and activities. The portrait shows a face mottled with wrinkles, laboring hands lowered to the knees, and a somewhat hunched figure. All this emphasizes the collective image of the Russian peasant mother, who, despite the changed material conditions of life, in her habits remained a typical peasant woman, a zealous housewife and an eternal worker. The artist is stingy to the extreme when it comes to visual means. He focuses all his attention on the face, which has a lot of warmth and light, and on the hands, depicted with special skill. The soft palette of the portrait is based on brownish, grayish and purple tones. There is nothing superfluous in the portrait. Even the chair with a curved back, on which the mother was initially seated, was eventually replaced by a stool due to compositional considerations. Having invested his whole soul, all his knowledge, all his talent into creating a portrait of his mother, Kulikov created a living image of a Russian mother, a peasant woman, a hard worker.

Portrait of a mother

During these same years, Kulikov made attempts to create compositions based on genre themes. “A Corner in a Bourgeois House”, “Student’s Room”, “Funeral of the Poor and the Rich”, “Merchant’s Ball” - these titles characterize the artist’s search for themes. However, none of these sketches pleased the artist.

Merchant's Ball

Kulikov met the beginning of the twentieth century full of creative ideas and aspirations. After the death of his father in October 1900, his elderly mother remained dependent on him. It was necessary to think about competitive work, about graduating from the Academy, about independent life, about helping my mother. He, together with his friends Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev and Lukian Vasilyevich Popov, is intensively preparing for competitive exams. At the reporting exhibition in the fall of 1900, Ivan Semenovich shows the genre portrait-painting “Parasha”. In this work, Kulikov shows his sympathies for the common people, who were especially close to him. The portraits of ordinary people he created were perceived as paintings reflecting the peasant life of Russia, the life working people. The genre portrait-painting “Parasha” became for Kulikov a kind of program for creating female images. Subsequently, at fairs, festivities, in towers and peasant huts, pretty Russian women, old, young and very young, were present everywhere in his works. One could recognize them as the artist’s relatives—sisters and nieces living in the villages of Murom district: Afanasovo, Prudishchi, Mishina, and Nezhilovka.

For several years Kulikov had been hatching a plot for a competition film. He stopped at everyday scene tea drinking in a peasant hut. This topic was not an accident, because at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, a kind of cult of tea drinking began to flourish in Russia. In 1899, the first small sketch “Peasants at Tea Party” was written; in 1900, a sketch for the competition work “In a Peasant Hut” was created, which depicts a group of peasants at a festive table with a samovar. At the same time, Kulikov makes many full-scale sketches of tea parties, including individual figures.

At the same time, Kulikov created portraits of his artist friends L.V. Popov and V.V. Belyashin. The portrait of the original artist V.V. Belyashin was subsequently exhibited at many art exhibitions, including at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1909, at the Spring Academic Exhibition in 1906, following which Kulikov was awarded the A.I. Kuindzhi. At the students' reporting exhibition, Kulikov exhibits several sketches made during the summer vacation - “Old Woman in Red”, “Village Hunter”, “Janitor”, “Girl with Chickens”. In the future, he will repeat the story with the chickens in famous painting“Granny with chickens”, which has several options.

Portrait of I.V.Popov

Portrait of the artist V.V. Belyashin

Self-portrait

Girl in a blue scarf

Young man reading a book (Reading)

At the end of 1900, I.E. Repin recommended that A.M. Gorky involve Kulikov among his students to illustrate his works (Kulikov completed illustrations for the stories “Konovalov” and “Twenty-Six and One”). In February 1901, Repin invited Kulikov to participate in the work on the portrait of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, on which they worked together for about three weeks. Kulikov continues to work on illustrations for his works. While in Murom in the summer of 1901, Kulikov made several drawings of Murom tramps, even writing down their surnames. One of the drawings made from life in a tavern actually corresponded to the events described by Gorky in the story. Apparently, at the same time as this drawing, a sketch was made with the inscription “Sergei the tramp.” Currently, 46 of the 62 illustrations made by the artists are in the A.M. Gorky Museum in Moscow, never seeing the light of day and not appreciated by amateurs book graphics. Later, in 1939, I. S. Kulikov painted a portrait of A. M. Gorky, which was not exhibited anywhere.

Intense work in Repin's workshop, work on a competition painting, on illustrations for the stories of A.M. Gorky, work on a portrait of the Grand Duke - all this led Kulikov to illness with exhaustion nervous system. I. E. Repin recommended Kulikov to contact famous doctor Botkin and the Academy Council with a request for leave to travel to his homeland. In Murom, the artist finds himself surrounded by his relatives and loved ones. From them he makes numerous etudes and sketches, composes the picture and finds the opportunity to paint the entire group at once for the competition picture. On native land he regains his strength. His health is quickly restored. Kulikov spent the spring of 1901 in Murom, collecting materials for the competition work, which he expected to complete by the fall and take part in the competition. The theme of the competition painting “In a Peasant Hut” continued to excite him. He makes numerous sketches and sketches of his village relatives, planting them both in groups and individually. Moreover, during these years, serving tea and drinking tea was so common that not a single guest was allowed to leave without tea. It is known that in many houses, especially in those where there was wealth, the samovar was not removed from the table for days on end. Kulikov noticed the existing way of life and created a work that was not only genre, but also, to some extent, historical.

At the end of 1900, I. E. Repin received an order to create a composition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the State Council. Having rested and gained strength on his native soil, Kulikov returned to St. Petersburg, temporarily stopping work on the competition film. Together with Kustodiev during council meetings, they make sketches with different points meeting room of the Mariinsky Palace. Kulikov was given the task of constructing the perspective of the hall. This task was not an easy one, because the interior of the hall was oval in shape and full of complex architectural details. Kulikov constructed a perspective, which became the basis for the approved sketch that formed the basis of the composition. At the same time, a broadly written sketch of the hall was prepared, where Ilya Efimovich could include individual figures of dignitaries during meetings of the Council. In order to find best composition, Repin took several photographs during the Council meeting. In the world history of fine art there is hardly a similar example, when on a huge canvas measuring more than 40 square meters it was necessary to place 82 figures, to create a group portrait that would reflect an entire era in the development of the state system of Tsarist Russia. Work on “The State Council” lasted almost two years. All this time, Kulikov and Kustodiev worked with inspiration and youthful energy all daylight hours. By the fall of 1902, the painting was basically finished. Work continued with tension on the overall composition, on creating the color balance of the painting, grandiose in size. It is important that Repin did not correct the portraits painted by Kulikov and Kustodiev with a brush, but only verbally indicated what needed to be made weaker and what stronger. The artists were also pleased that, along with working under the guidance of their teacher, they received a significant monetary reward for that time; which provided them with the opportunity for creative work for a long time.

In connection with his work on “The State Council,” Kulikov was unable to take part in the competitive exhibition in the fall of 1901. His competition was postponed to the next year. The composition of the competition painting “In a Peasant Hut” is extremely simple. A peasant family is presented at the festive table. The hut is small in size, such that it was difficult for the artist to find a point to cover all seven family members at once. Therefore, he depicts a group sitting in the red corner of the hut, slightly above. All actors follow strict family life: young men talk, their wives listen attentively, older men wisely support the conversation. It's all permeated sunlight falling from the window. Red shirts and scarves, sunlit log walls and icon frames in the shrine create the impression of warmth and comfort, family well-being and happiness. Various shades of red shirts and dresses combined with bright scarves and shawls support the festive mood peasant family. In his competition work, Kulikov managed to make the colors burn, turn a stuffy hut into a sparkling golden palace, and make everyone fall in love characters for their poise and calmness, for the skill of Russian peasants after hard everyday days in short holiday forget all the hardships of the difficult peasant lot.

Simultaneously with the main work, a portrait of the architect V.A. Shchuko was presented at the competitive exhibition. The choice of these two works cannot be considered an accident. At the competitive exhibition, Ivan Semenovich declared himself as an artist with multifaceted talent, equally a master of the everyday genre and an excellent portrait painter.

In a peasant hut

Portrait of the architect V.A. Shchuko

In 1901-1902 Kulikov paints portraits of a student of the Academy, the future famous Russian and Soviet architect V. A. Shchuko, writer E. N. Chirikov, landscape painter Khrenov, violinist Yu. M. Gurvich, artist N. F. Vitberg. They once again confirmed the artist’s maturity, his talent, and desire to create realistic portraits of his contemporaries. In 1902, Kulikov took part in several exhibitions: the 20th exhibition of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers, the 21st exhibition of the Society of Art Lovers in St. Petersburg, an exhibition of students of the Higher Art School at the Academy.

Portrait of the writer E.N. Chirikov

Classes in Repin's workshop have come to an end. Under the leadership of Ilya Efimovich, Kulikov not only studied, but was also educated. He received the basics of compositional and imaginative thinking, mastered drawing and perspective, found his own individual style. By the end of his studies at Repin’s workshop, thanks to regular visits to the Hermitage and the Russian Museum, as well as copying works of classic painting, Kulikov became one of the experts in the history of fine art.

November 1, 1902 Ivan Semenovich Kulikov graduates from the Academy. On December 7, 1902, the Vladimir Treasury Chamber notified Kulikov of the exclusion “from the 2nd half of 1902 from the taxable estate and account of the peasants of the village of Afanasova.” One could understand the joy and pride of the young man and his elderly mother due to the fact that in conditions class Russia peasant son achieved some freedom and independence. As a student at the Academy, he realized that he could not create anywhere other than the ancient Murom land close to him. He understood that cold and official Petersburg could not provide him with subjects for works of art from the life of ordinary people. He chooses a place of permanent residence in Murom, in a small “own” house he inherited, with workshops built according to his drawings by the artist’s father shortly before his death. Here he was surrounded by his native nature, like-minded city and country people.

In the winter of 1903, Kulikov created several small genre works “The Spinner”, “The Laundress”, in which he shows the hard work of women, and one of the first large genre works “The Spinner”. In its composition, the painting “Spinners” is to some extent reminiscent of the competition painting “In a Peasant Hut.” The artist looks at a group of girls somewhat from above. A group of peasant girls located diagonally fills almost the entire plane of the work. The girls' movements are leisurely and full of grace. Simple sundresses and scarves, illuminated through the small window of a peasant hut by the setting rays of the winter sun and the reflections of the fire of an iron stove, burn like precious clothes made of brocade and gold. This whole scene with its simple furnishings, a bench, painted bottoms, and a basket for yarn represents part of the Kulikovs’ house in Murom.

Art criticism immediately drew attention to these works by the young artist, who exhibited “Portrait of My Mother” and “Spinners” at the Spring Exhibition in 1904. This was the emergence of a new artist with a definite and clear direction - an artist-writer of everyday life, an artist realistic direction, the successor of the ideas of the Wanderers. The paintings “Spinners” and “Spinner” from the exhibition were purchased by famous art collectors and art collectors Sveshnikov and Tsvetkov. Kulikov considered “Portrait of My Mother” a family heirloom and never parted with it, despite tempting offer about its acquisition by the Tretyakov Gallery.

Portrait of my mother

In August 1903, Kulikov went abroad as a pensioner of the Academy. During his three months abroad, he visited famous museums in Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and traveled through Italian cities. Kulikov spent about a month in the museums of Paris, studying the famous Louvre and its unique collection of paintings. In Paris, Kulikov was greatly impressed by the Barbizons, whose painting was close to the Russian realistic school. In 1904, at the insistence of I.E. Repin and on the recommendation of the Council of Professors of the Academy, Kulikov again went abroad. Graduates received secondary business trips abroad infrequently. However, the success at the Spring Exhibition of his works was predetermined by the Council’s decision to send Kulikov abroad for a second time. Repin recommended many of his students to study modern French painting, in which the image of the landscape, the state of nature, and the work of ordinary people were brought to perfection. In 1905, the Council of Professors of the Academy for the third time provided the opportunity for Kulikov to travel abroad to continue his art education and study the painting of great masters. Acquaintance with Western European painting enriched the artist and confirmed him philosophical views the role and significance of the artist in history, in the development of society, developed his taste. However, not finding soil for his creativity, Kulikov did not stay abroad for long, without creating a single significant work there, with the exception, perhaps, of a portrait of two pretty Italian women and several sketches made in Venice, Florence, and Paris.

Italians

Having completed art education, Kulikov devotes himself entirely to his favorite work - painting. He was in constant correspondence with his academic friends and systematically traveled to St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod to participate in exhibitions. In Murom, Kulikov had the opportunity to rethink everything he had studied at the Academy and seen during his travels abroad in the best Western European museums. Creative determination, observation and knowledge of the life of the people helped Kulikov in relatively short term develop your own pictorial language. Immediately after participating in the Spring Exhibition of 1904 after graduating from the Academy, he gained fame. Since 1904, Kulikov has not missed a single Spring exhibition, at which over 14 years he exhibited more than 140 works. In 1908, after long and careful preparation, he participated in the exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Participates in many international exhibitions: in Liege (1905), in Munich (1909), in Rome (1910, 1912), in Venice (1911, 1914).

At first, he did not set himself the task of creating large compositions, limiting himself to small genre paintings from peasant life. As a rule, he snatches individual scenes from life, where the characters of ordinary people, their psychology and tastes, their aspirations and experiences are in focus. Kulikov is the most successful female images. The clothes of peasant women, despite their simplicity, were bright, built on contrasts, in the most unusual combinations. Bright scarves and shawls emphasized this contrast. Each work is imbued with love for the characters depicted.

One of the significant works created by the artist in 1905-1906 is the painting “On a Holiday” (or “Village Holiday”), shown for the first time at the Spring Academic Exhibition in 1906, and subsequently at the exhibition of the Association of Itinerants. In the painting, the artist depicts a small scene of a village festival. From the general festive crowd he snatches a group of resting peasants. The main attention is drawn to the festively dressed girl placed in the foreground. The girl's pretty face is framed by a dark red scarf with bright flowers. A long dark green dress emphasizes the stately figure of the girl. The whole crowd is permeated with sunlight. Multi-colored clothes based on contrasts of red and green shades emphasize the festive mood. The painting is painted so generally and sweepingly, so vividly, that it seems as if it was done at one time and is perceived as a large sketch. In the painting “On a Holiday,” Kulikov showed himself as a master master of painting techniques. And not only by Repin’s technique, but also by all the means and methods, the knowledge of which he received from studying not only the works of Russian artists, but also the achievements of Western European masters, and French impressionists in particular.

On a holiday

At the Spring Academic Exhibition in 1906, Kulikov exhibited several works at once: “Women”, “Girl in a Fur Coat”, “Boys with Lanterns”, “Thinking”, “Twilight”, “First Snow”, as well as a portrait of the artist V.V. Belyashin, made while still studying at the Academy, “The Dreamer”, “With Lanterns in the Garden”, 17 portraits of dignitaries painted by Kulikov for the “Great Meeting of the State Council”.

Thought about it

The small sketch “With Lanterns in the Garden” attracted the attention of viewers with its broad brushwork and lighting effects achieved with a minimum of visual means. In the evening garden, near a tea table covered with a white tablecloth with a samovar, three girlish figures are placed, illuminated by red and orange lanterns hanging on the trees. The work was written boldly and quickly, with temperament and inspiration. Using a wide brush, the strokes are laid according to the shape of the dresses. The relationships of the color spots are balanced. His painting “The Dreamer” (1905) was exhibited at the same exhibition. Above the high Oka expanses, a peasant girl is depicted almost in profile. Her figure is filled with vitality and grace, optimism and dreams. The evening dawn, against which the girl is depicted, foreshadows the birth of a bright and happy coming morning, the dream of a young peasant woman striving for freedom.

With lanterns in the garden

Dreamer

Following the results of the Spring Exhibition of 1906, at the A.I. Kuindzhi competition for a series of works, I.S. Kulikov was awarded the first prize, which at the beginning of the century was considered one of the highest awards for an artist. The award of the prize was recognition of the talent of the young artist who had just graduated from the Academy. Despite the fact that landscape occupied a secondary place in Kulikov’s work, in many genre works the landscape is an integral part of the composition. An example of this could be: genre works, like “Grandma with chickens”, “At the outskirts”, “Bird cherry”, “Hawthorns in the garden” and many others. In depicting nature, Kulikov found his own style, special flavor, and color harmony. Being a student of Kuindzhi, in plein air painting Kulikov creates a kind of images of Russian nature in central Russia with its subtle color relationships and soft sunlight. In Murom, Kulikov found fertile ground for creativity. The environment around him and the people close to him inspired the artist. He worked daily and hourly, winter and summer, and did not waste his strength on trifles and trifles. Every year he creates works, gradually complicating compositional tasks. Using every opportunity, he makes sketches of his village relatives. Sometimes these sketches suggested to him the subjects of his paintings.

The Kulikov house in the city gradually became a center where relatives from the surrounding villages met on market and fair days. Relatives were pleased and flattered to see their images on the artist’s canvases. The artist gives some portraits to his relatives. Summer and winter 1906-1907. Kulikov is working on several compositions at the same time. He considered the most significant of them to be “On a Holiday”, “Feeding the Chickens”, “In the Yard” and “Three Girls”, which he exhibited at the exhibition of the Wanderers in 1908. At the same time, the artist tried his hand at a more complex everyday genre and paints two large canvases, “On a Winter Evening” (“On Winter Days”) and “Bazaar in Murom.”

Grandma with chickens

Feeding chickens

Three girls

Portrait of S.I. Senkov

At the Spring Exhibition of 1908, among other works, Kulikov showed a genre portrait painting “Old Woman Daria from Prudishchi.” In his work, Kulikov gives preference to the depiction of young peasant women. The exception is several portraits of elderly women, including portraits of the mother, old lady Daria from Prudishchi and some others. Painted with a broad brush, the portrait is distinguished by its insight into the inner world of an elderly woman, looking back into the past. However, in her barely perceptible movement one can still feel strength and vitality. Depicted against the background of golden logs of a peasant hut, the woman sat down on a bench near the table. A dark purple sundress and scarf, a crimson jacket and apron, illuminated through the window, create a certain emotional mood, helping to create the image of an elderly peasant woman, deep in her concerns and wise in her own way.

Old woman Daria from Prudishchi

These works were, as it were, programmatic for the artist’s further creativity. They reveal the main theme of his work - the theme of life and everyday life of the Russian peasantry. These works, exhibited at the Traveling Exhibition, were distinguished by the integrity of the artist’s creative views. Despite the difference in themes and execution techniques, they formed a wonderful ensemble, which once again emphasized the talent and originality of the artist from ancient Murom.

He tries not to miss any more or less significant exhibition. His authority among the artistic community increased so much that after Repin left his professorship, Kulikov was included in the list of candidates for election to the post of professor-head of the workshop of the painting department of the Higher Art School. I.E. Repin, to whom Kulikov turned for advice, with all his characteristic energy and categoricality, did not advise Kulikov to be a teacher at the Academy, arguing that the freedom of the artist is above all. Kulikov refused the proposed position, just as in 1912 he refused to be the director of the Kharkov Art School.

Along with working on paintings, he studies archeology, ethnography and numismatics. For his works he collects peasant costumes, village utensils, and house carvings. The ancient Murom land is filled with these objects, and Kulikov in a short period of time becomes the owner unique collection ancient Russian costumes, shoes, sundresses, kokoshniks, scarves, objects of applied art - spinning wheels, caskets. Kulikov did not see collecting activity as an end in itself, but through the study of objects created by our ancestors, he wanted to truthfully convey to the viewer in his works historical situation. For the most part, he was interested in ethnographic material characteristic of the ancient Murom region. It is known that great work on the preservation of historical and cultural monuments, including archaeological monuments, architectural monuments, fine and applied arts, was carried out by the Archaeological Society, the chairman of which, after the death of archaeologist A.S. Uvarov, became his wife P.S. Uvarova, whose estate was located in the village of Karacharovo near Murom. Kulikov executed a portrait of archaeologist A.S. Uvarov in the traditional manner of portraiture of the late 19th century. According to the agreement with the archaeologist’s wife, Kulikov was supposed to create a whole gallery of family portraits, but due to the revolutionary events, he managed to make only two portraits - A.S. Uvarov and his wife, and the wife’s portrait is known only from photographs.

In the summer of 1910, Kulikov took part in an archaeological expedition led by P.S. Uvarova to excavate the Podbolotevsky burial ground. During excavations, he makes sketches of the found objects and burials. Accumulating knowledge of archeology, Kulikov gradually became an expert in this field, and in September 1910, the Vladimir Provincial Scientific Archival Commission elected him to be a full member of the commission.

Portrait of A.S. Uvarov

Throughout his career, the main subjects for Kulikov’s works were scenes from the life of the Russian village, its way of life, and traditional ways of life. In his best works, he shows a deep knowledge of peasant life, the psychology of peasants, their aesthetic views and aspirations, reveals spiritual beauty and the character of the ordinary people from the village. A feature of his work is his admiration for ordinary people, their internal culture and optimism. In the works, the state of sadness is accompanied by hope for the best. Kulikov perceives the entire world around him as a person with an optimistic worldview.

Peasant woman with a rake

Nadya Kalinina

Cowherd

Portrait of an Old Believer (Old Man Reading)

Girl with a pussy

Russian girl

Peasant woman

Wildflowers

Carpenter Egor Tereshkin

Self-Portrait (1896)

(April 1 (13), 1875 - December 15, 1941, Murom) - Russian artist, master of portraits and everyday scenes.

Self-Portrait (1921)

Self-Portrait (1939)

Ivan Semenovich Kulikov was born into a family of peasants in the village of Afanasovo, Murom district, Semyon Loginovich Kulikov and Alexandra Semenovna Savinova. The artist's father was good master roofing and painting business. At the head of a small artel, he took part in the construction and renovation of many buildings, churches and residential buildings in the city of Murom

Portrait of a father. (1898)

Portrait of a Mother (1896)

In his autobiography, written later, he writes that at first he was engaged in painting and drawing at home, without any guidance. His hobby was noticed at the district school, where he entered after graduating primary school, where he received his initial art education. The Murom artistic environment was limited mainly to icon-painting workshops.
In the summer of 1893, on the recommendation of his former district school drawing and painting teacher N.A. Tovtsev, Kulikov met the famous artist A.I. Morozov, who sometimes spent the summer in Murom, where he found subjects for his works. He drew attention to the young man’s abilities and recommended that his parents send him to the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts at the Academy in St. Petersburg. Morozov laid the foundations of his skill and helped in his further training.

Alexander Ivanovich Morozov (1835-1904)

In September 1893, Kulikov traveled to Moscow for the first time, visited the Tretyakov Gallery, the Rumyantsev Museum, and got acquainted with the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Already at this time, certain artistic preferences of I.S. Kulikova. In his memoirs, he writes: “I was struck by Repin’s paintings and portraits: “Ivan the Terrible kills his son”, “They didn’t expect”, paintings by Surikov, big picture Ivanov’s “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” which at that time was in the Rumyantsev Museum, and there were Fedotov’s things, which I also admired.”
In November 1893 he goes to St. Petersburg. Failure to enter the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts again led Kulikov to academician of painting A.I. Morozov, who at that time taught drawing at the St. Petersburg School of Law, simultaneously fulfilling small orders for illustrations, icons, and portraits. He needed an assistant who could stretch and prime the canvases and do underpainting. Having secured the support of his father, Kulikov became Morozov’s assistant, working for him five hours a day, studying a kind of “kitchen” of the artist, his techniques and methods of work, the basic principles of composition and color, which later influenced the development of the artist’s skill.
Alexander Ivanovich Morozov was one of the genre painters of the 60s. And everything that was characteristic of them is also characteristic of his best works. Like many other artists of this time, mass, or, in the words of V.V. Stasov, “choral” scenes depicted a crowd of people, albeit vividly, but externally, unlike the Wanderers, who had reached a new level of realism, where everyone folk type was deeply individual.
In January 1894, Ivan Semenovich Kulikov, on the recommendation of Morozov, was accepted into the drawing school of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, where he stayed for 3 years, and at the same time studied with E.K. von Liphart, who taught painting at the school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. In the summer of 1894, Kulikov worked as an assistant to the artist E.K. von Liphart.
In the fall of 1896, Kulikov became a volunteer student at the Academy of Arts at the studio of the artist V. E. Makovsky.
But already in November 1896, the artist submitted a request to enter the workshop of I.E. Repin, where he was transferred in November 1896 on the recommendation of E.K. von Liphart. Repin had a huge influence on him; in fact, he largely shaped Kulikov as a person and as a painter.

I. E. Repin. Self-portrait" (1887)

In the spring of 1898, at the request of his teacher, Kulikov became a student at the Academy of Arts. Ilya Efimovich trusted his beloved student so much that in 1901 he invited him, together with B.M. Kustodiev, to take part in the creation of his grandiose canvas “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901.” Ivan Semenovich made 17 full-scale portrait sketches, almost the bulk of them

I.E. Repin Meeting of the State Council (1903)

Already in student years Kulikov is characterized by a desire for genre versatility; the choice of themes was influenced by both the genre workshop of V. Makovsky and the workshop of Repin. This and psychological picture, and a genre scene. Subsequently, the range of themes expanded - landscape and still life were added.

Still life with violin.(1890)

The first model. (1896)

Schoolboy. (1897)

The old woman from Nezhilovka (1898)

Old man. (1898)

Peasant Woman with Saucer (1899)

Merchant's ball. (1899)

Trees by a Pond (1900s)

Girl in a Blue Shawl (1901)

Portrait of Alexander III. State Museum A.S. Pushkin

In the pedagogical system I.E. Repin included diverse types of work, such as: sketches from life in classrooms, sketches, etc. The daily routine in the workshop was very strict. From 9 a.m. to 12, sketches were written from life, from two to four they were engaged in sketches and sketches, until seven in the evening they worked on sketches, and from seven to eight they made sketches from models
In 1900-1901, Kulikov made about 20 illustrations for Maxim Gorky’s works “Konovalov” and “Twenty Six and One,” which are located in the A. M. Gorky Apartment Museum and the Murom Historical and Art Museum.
Intense work in Repin's workshop, work on a competition painting, on illustrations for the stories of A. M. Gorky - all this led Kulikov to exhaustion of his nervous system. I. E. Repin recommended that Kulikov contact the famous doctor Botkin and the Academy Council with a request for leave to travel to his homeland. In Murom, the artist finds himself surrounded by his relatives and loved ones. From them he makes numerous etudes and sketches, composes the picture and, most importantly, finds the opportunity to paint the entire group for the competition picture, consisting of 7 people, at once. On his native land he regains his strength. His health is quickly restored. He maintains constant contact with St. Petersburg, with his friends, with Ilya Efimovich.
Close ties united the young students of Repin’s workshop. One of the closest friends of I.S. Kulikov in Higher art school can, without a doubt, be called B.M. Kustodieva.
Artist P.D. Buchkin in his book (About what is in memory. Leningrad, 1963) writes about the fascination of young people with the Swedish artist Anders Zorn, whose works could be seen at exhibitions: “After the exhibition of the Swedish artist Zorn, young people began to imitate him. A broad stroke, freely sculpting the form, has come into fashion.” On the work of I.S. Kulikov was seriously influenced by the innovative quests of the Swedish artist, his style, and the search for new paths in art.
But Zorn did not remain indifferent to Russian talents. It was he who noticed the work of young I.S. Kulikov, being at the reporting student exhibition in the halls of the Academy of Arts in the fall of 1898 about the work of I.S. Kulikov's "Village Tailors", made by the artist in 1897, he expressed his positive opinion.

Village tailors. (1897)

In November 1902, Kulikov graduated from the Academy of Arts. His competition work “Tea drinking in a peasant hut” (1902) was awarded the Big Gold Medal and gave him the right to be a personal honorary citizen and the right to travel abroad.

Tea drinking in a peasant hut" (1902)

In a peasant hut (option)

In August 1903, Kulikov went abroad as a pensioner. Not every artist who graduates from the Academy of Arts is given such a chance as the Academy of Arts Council grants a trip abroad.
Report for the first year of I.S.’s retirement trip. Kulikov's works were exhibited at the "Spring Exhibition": "Portrait of Evgeniy Nikolaevich Chirikov", "Portrait of My Mother", "Portrait of Mrs. O. Ya.Ya." Here are genre works: “Spinners” (award from the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts); ""Old lady with chickens"", ""Washerman""; several sketches: “The Spinner”; ""Study of a woman's head in the sun"", ""Study of a worker""; several drawings. I.S. Kulikov appealed to the Council of the Academy of Arts with a request to extend his retirement trip to complete his education abroad. According to the resolution of the academic meeting on February 23, 1904, pensioner support was continued for the second year, until January 1, 1905.

Italian women. (1905)

It was at this time that he visited Italy, Germany, France. I.E. Repin strongly recommended that his student get acquainted with the Parisian salons in which I.S. Kulikov was unable to visit in the fall of 1903, during his first retirement trip.
The Academy Council dated February 7, 1905, considering it desirable to continue I.S. Kulikov's pensioner support for another year, decided to submit this for the benefit of the academic meeting. The meeting decided to continue issuing pensioners' allowance to I.S. Kulikov for another year, until January 1, 1906.
Kulikov's paintings receive well-deserved recognition. In 1904, 1912 I.S. Kulikov was awarded prizes at competitions of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. After the departure of I.E. Repin from the Academy of Arts I.S. Kulikov was included in the list of applicants for the vacant position of workshop manager, but in 1908 he refused this offer.
In 1908, students of I.E. Repin are united in the Community of Artists, which, according to the artist I.I. Brodsky, replaces the Union of Artists. Ivan Semenovich joins his friends in the workshop. Since 1909, the artist became one of the active members of the Society named after A.I. Kuindzhi.
The entire creative heritage of Ivan Semenovich Kulikov can be conditionally divided into two main genres, which remained prevalent over all others throughout the master’s work. This is an everyday genre and a portrait. A portrait, in the master’s understanding, is, first of all, the artist’s in-depth interest in the subject being portrayed, in his inner world.
The main feature of the portrait images of I.S. Kulikov is the artist’s even and attentive attitude towards nature. Kindness is not only a characteristic of the artist himself, but also his approach to the model; this is the property that he inherited from his teacher I.E. Repin and carried it through all his work.
During his years at the Academy of Arts, Ivan Semenovich Kulikov painted a portrait of his friend Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev. The portrait was painted in Murom, when Kustodiev was visiting the Kulikovs.

Portrait of Kustodiev (1899, Murom Historical and Art Museum)

Friends often painted portraits of each other.

Kustodiev B.M. Portrait of I.S. Kulikov. (1900s)

Thus, the portrait of I.S. Kulikov brushes B.M. Kustodiev is in the collection of the Vladimir Art Gallery. Kustodiev paints his friend Ivan Semenovich in his usual village setting, with a balalaika in his hands.

Portrait of the artist V.V. Belyashin. (1900 State Vladimir-Suzdal Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve)

Later Kulikov would write another of his Academy comrades, L.V. Popova. At first glance, this portrait is more prosaic. Conservativeness, constraint in everything: both in the compositional solution and in the presentation of the model. Laconism of external details: from a neutral background to a minimum of accessories. But all this helps to reveal the full depth of the image, its psychologism.

Portrait of L.V.Popov.(1900)

In none of Ivan Semenovich’s portraits are there repeated approaches to the model; each portrait has its own methods, its own technical means; that's why they are so diverse. But the most big success and Kulikov’s thesis brought him popularity: “Portrait of the architect V.A. Shchuko" "which was noted by all art critics writing about I.S. Kulikov, as one of the best portraits of the artist.

Portrait of the architect V.A. Shchuko. (1902, State Russian Museum)

After returning from a retirement trip in 1903, I.S. Kulikov creates his own painting"Portrait of My Mother", which was awarded the Grand Silver Medal at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Liege in 1905.

Portrait of My Mother (1903)

The portrait was considered a family heirloom, and the proposal to transfer the portrait to the Tretyakov Gallery was rejected.
Portraits and all paintings by I.S. Kulikov are quite static. There is little movement or dynamics in them. But there is an internal energy in them. One of the most dynamic portraits by I.S. Kulikova - portrait of Ekaterina Semyonovna, the artist’s sister, painted in 1911.

Portrait of E.S. Kalinina (1911)

No less dynamic is the portrait of the writer E.N. Chirikov.

Portrait of E.N. Chirikov. (1904)

Living permanently in Murom, the artist does not break away from the creative life of the capital. When traveling to St. Petersburg during opening days, he lives in furnished rooms on Vasilyevsky Island, where many artists lived. He spends his free time in the midst of the creative intelligentsia, artists, writers, and actors who were regulars at the famous Vienna restaurant. In the restaurant "Vienna" I.S. Kulikov meets with writers A.N. Tolstoy, E.N. Chirikov, A.I. Kuprin, S.G. Skitalets (Petrov) and many others. Apparently, this is where the desire to depict the then popular writer E.N. came from. Chirikov. Several versions of the portrait are known, but the portrait executed by Kulikov during the Nizhny Novgorod Fair of 1904 is the most interesting.
I.S. Kulikov was a famous artist at the beginning of the twentieth century, and many art collectors purchased his works for their collections. The artist met Anatoly Leonidovich Durov, a popular circus performer who had amassed an interesting collection in his homeland of Voronezh, in the early 1900s. in St. Petersburg, in the same famous restaurant "Vienna".
A.L. Durov, on one of his visits to Murom, in 1911, where he performed at the famous Murom Fair, ordered his portrait from the artist. The portrait never made it into Durov’s collection, but remained with the artist.

Portrait of A.L. Durov. (1911)

Portrait of S.I. Senkov. (1908)

Nadya Kalinina. (1909)

Portrait of M.O. Menshikov. (1914)

An interesting portrait of archaeologist A.S. Uvarov, which fits into the framework of the psychological portrait.

Portrait of A.S. Uvarov. (1916)

As a master of the everyday genre, I.S. Kulikov became famous for his numerous works, which began in his academic years under the leadership of I.E. Repina. I.E. Repin was very pleased with his student. The works of I.S. Kulikov were awarded prizes by the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. At the All-Russian competition of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts on February 2, 1903 household painting the artist received the A.A. Prize Kraevsky 900 rubles for the painting “Spinners”

The Spinners (1903)

Girls with buckets (Fetching water). (1904, State Russian Museum)

The canvas “The Dreamer” was exhibited at the “Spring Exhibition” in 1906, and then was reproduced in the “Niva” magazine for the same year. "The Dreamer" was exhibited at international exhibitions - in Munich in 1907, and then in the same year in Hamburg.

Dreamer (1905)

In 1906 I.S. Kulikov was awarded first prize at the competition named after A.I. Kuindzhi for such genre works as “On a Holiday” and “With Lanterns in the Garden.”

On a holiday (1906)

With lanterns in the garden. (1906. Murom Historical and Art Museum)

Among the genre compositions of I.S. Kulikov’s work “Feeding the Chickens”, performed by the artist in 1907, is no less interesting.

Feeding the Chickens (1907)

This painting was shown at the 36th exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions and did not go unnoticed by its teacher I.E. Repin.

Three Maidens (1907)

Old woman Daria from Prudishchi (1908)

The Forester's Family (1909)

Shepherd. (1909)

The Shepherd (1909)

Peasant woman with a rake. (1909)

Portrait of a Peasant Woman (1910s)

Meadow (1911)

Old Man Reading (1911)

Girl with a Tues (1912)

In 1912, the canvas “Bird Cherry” was created, one of the portraits of the artist’s wife E.A. Kulikova, which was also exhibited at exhibitions under the name “Spring”.

Spring. (1912)

Bird cherry. (1912)

At the outskirts

At the outskirts. (1913. State Tretyakov Gallery)

Peasant Woman (1913)

The theme of fairs and bazaars, so popular at the beginning of the century, did not bypass the work of I.S. Kulikova. Goryushkin-Sorokopudov and Kustodiev wrote their own versions on this topic; rich material I.S. Kulikov was given local Murom fairs.

Bazaar in Murom. (1907)

Market at the carousel. (1908)

Bazaar with bagels. (1910)

Fair in Murom (1910-1912)

Fair. (1910)

Painting by I.S. Kulikov's "Bride's Dress", awarded at a competition at the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and now in the Yaroslavl Art Museum, represents a classic version wedding ceremony in Rus'.

Bride's Dress (1907)

Thoughtful (1906)

Winter evening. (1907)

In the boyar's chamber. (1906-1907)

An ancient ceremony of blessing the bride in the city of Murom (1909)<

Happy Holidays (Zardela) (1911)

In Russian attire. (1916. House-Museum of I.S. Kulikov) - portrait of the artist’s wife

The work "Hawthorns in the Garden" - from a series of works about past times, was exhibited by the artist in 1914 in Venice, where it subsequently remained.

Return from the City (1914)

Carpenter (Egor Tereshkin). (1916)

In 1912, the artist was offered to head the Kharkov Art School, but refused the offered position. In October 1915, I.S. Kulikov ran for and received the title of academician of painting for a series of paintings about Murom. His first attempt to become an academician of painting in 1913 failed.

Murom monasteries. (1914)

Nikolo-Zaryadskaya Church. (1916)

Street of old Murom

After 1917, Kulikov continued to work on the village theme. Ivan Semenovich always avoided any dramatic, heavy subjects. And he himself was a cheerful, friendly, open person, he loved life and its joys.
Immediately after the revolution I.S. Kulikov worked mainly on the artistic decoration of the city for revolutionary festivities. In the first years of the revolution, I.S. Kulikov did not create a single significant canvas; for the most part he repeated old themes.

Girls (1918)

Tanya with a cat (1927)

At the beginning of 1919, on behalf of the department of public education I.S. Kulikov headed the commission for selecting works of art from the collection of Countess Uvarova in the village of Karacharovo, located several miles from the city. The beginning of Count Uvarov's collection was laid by his famous ancestors - Razumovsky, Sheremetyev. Over the years, the museum received collections of N.G. Dobrynkin and the academician of painting I.S. Kulikova. Having a large collection of ancient Russian costumes and antique utensils, Ivan Semenovich donated it all, along with his paintings, to his native city. The Murom Historical and Art Museum (MIHM) was opened to visitors in January 1919 and was located in the former house of the Zvorykin merchants.

Murom Historical and Art Museum

In the fall of 1923, I.S. Kulikov continued his work in the museum he created as a researcher in the department of painting and ancient Russian life. At this time he creates sketches of Murom.
The artist, seeking to realize his creative potential, turned to teaching in the post-revolutionary years. He creates a drawing school in Murom and is engaged in teaching.
In 1929, Kulikov painted the famous painting "Athletic Girl". (A. Samokhvalov wrote his “Girl in a T-shirt” four years later.)

Sportswoman. (1929, Murom Historical and Art Museum)

The artist made two copies of the painting, one of which is in the Murom House-Museum of I.S. Kulikov, another repetition - in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
Continuing the youth-Komsomol theme, I.S. Kulikov creates the paintings "Jungsturm" (1929) and "International Youth Day".

Jungsturm. (1929, Murom Historical and Art Museum)

International Youth Day. (1929)

Pioneers (1929)

In the 20s and 30s I.S. Kulikov paints portraits of famous fellow countrymen, as well as portraits of leaders of the Soviet state.

Painter M.I.Shamilin. (1929)

Portrait of Andrianov. (1929)

Shock worker Sudakov. (1931)

He also paints landscapes and views of Murom

Harvest. (1930)

Bogland. (1930)

One of the artist’s major works in the late 30s was the design of the suburban halls of the Yaroslavl (Northern) station.
As in pre-revolutionary times, I.S. Kulikov is an active participant in exhibitions. One of the most famous was the exhibition "Petrograd artists of all directions for 5 years (1918-1923)", which was exhibited in 1923 in the halls of the former Academy of Arts. At this first exhibition after the revolution, he exhibited 12 canvases. He also participated in the autumn exhibition of the Association of Artists in 1923.
Takes part in exhibitions of Murom artists.

Participants of the Second Exhibition of Murom Artists. Second from left - I. S. Kulikov.
Photo. 1925

In 1926, Kulikov organized his personal exhibition in Murom, which became a significant event in the artistic life of the city.
From 1927 to 1930 he was a participant in exhibitions and a member of the Society of Artists named after I.E. Repina.
In 1929, a personal exhibition of works by I.S. Kulikov was organized in Moscow at the House of Scientists, where the artist met with A.M. Gorky.
The artist exhibits his works at foreign exhibitions. In 1929, he showed his work “The Physical Culture Girl” at the “Art and Handicraft Exhibition of the USSR” in Philadelphia. The traveling "Art and Handicraft Exhibition of the USSR" (exhibition-bazaar) was exhibited initially in New York, and then in Philadelphia, Boston and Detroit. It was opened on February 1, 1929 at the Grand Central Palac and was exhibited for five weeks. This is the first exhibition of Soviet art abroad.
Leading an active lifestyle, I.S. Kulikov joined the Union of Artists in 1922 and became an active member of the Gorky branch of the Union of Artists. In 1940, the artist participated in an exhibition of artists from the older generation of the periphery in Moscow, where his works also did not go unnoticed.

Seller of Pavlovsk goods / shopkeeper / (1936, Pavlovsk Historical Museum)

Pavlovsk artisan. (1937)

Cockfighting. Study (1938)

Night buying. (1938)

Peaches. (1938)

At the piano. (1938)

Family at the table. (1938)

Portrait of pilot V.P. Chkalov. (1938)

Portrait of pilot M.M. Matveev. (1940)

The artist’s most recent work can be considered his multi-figure composition “Exit of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia in 1612.” At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War I.S. Kulikov continues to work on the topic, considering it relevant to himself, but unexpected death prevents him from finishing the work.
The artist’s wife was Elizaveta Arkadyevna Kulikova, née Sokolova. The wife of her mother’s brother was the niece of the famous inventor in the field of television V.K. Zvorykin. The families communicated a lot and carried on active correspondence. The image of his wife was captured by Kulikov on the canvases “In Russian Attire”, “At the Outskirts”, “Portrait of E. A. Kulikova”, etc.

Portrait of E.A. Kulikova (1925)

The artist’s only daughter, Tatyana, a teacher of Russian language and literature, married N. A. Bespalov, who later became an artist and Honored Architect of the RSFSR.

Tanya with bows. (1927)

Portrait_T.I. Kulikova (1938)

In 1947, a museum of the artist was opened in the house built by Kulikov’s father, where his family had lived since 1883. In 2007, by decision of local authorities, the museum was closed, all exhibits were transported to the Murom Historical and Art Museum. The house is privately owned by the artist's descendants.

House-Museum of I.S. Kulikova