Boris Kustodiev

Boris Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan, on the bank of the Volga. At the age of 18, a talented young man went to Petersburg, entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he was Ilya Repin’s beloved student.
Boris Kustodiev was the most Russian artist of his time. He painted Russia. All the way of Kustodiev - master of household genre and genre paintings - is closely connected with the Russian theme.
His painting “Summer. Walk” is one of the artist’s later works. at first glance it is clear that the landscape on the canvas is Russian and, it seems, the artist to the bottom of his heart rejoices by looking at this golden field of ripe rye under the curve of the rainbow. And there is so much light, sunshine, warmth and cheerful variety of colors! It is hard to believe that he painted this picture not from nature, but in his room, being a terminally ill person.
At 31, he was diagnosed with spinal cancer. In just three years, a terrible illness turned a blooming young man into a cripple. He spent 15 years on a wheelchair. It was during these years that he created his most vivid, joyous, optimistic and vital works. The painting “Summer. Walk” was painted in 1926. In May 1927, the artist died.
Kustodiev’s painting “Beauty” was painted in the 1920s and is a variant of the paintings of the same name from 1915 and 1921, stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
That was the image of beauty to the people at the beginning of the 20^th century: puffy, golden-haired, pink cheek, lips like a bow that is called “blood with milk”: she shoves her foot into a red shoe, waking up in her room. Maybe she is expecting something? Or, rather - someone? The artist painted her on a painted chest. Next to it is a pink feather bed on which the beauty is accustomed to bask. This image is an eloquent symbol of the life of an entire class. About Kustodiev women can be said in the language of fairy tales: “She is white, yes rouge, fed with dumplings.”
B. M. Kustodiev at the Museum of Russian Art (Prof. A. Abrahamyan’s collection):
“Village in Kostroma Province”,  1914
“Beauty” The 1920-s Variant of the eponymous pictures done in 1915, 1921 (STG)
“Summer. Walk”, 1926