The next anniversary of the victory of the Soviet people in... And we must preserve the memory of the past war even more carefully and pass it on to future generations, in order to prevent attempts to rewrite history, to prevent the feat from being smeared with black paint. Soviet soldiers and officers, underground heroes and home front workers. Today we will focus on the work of a group of Soviet cartoonists who gave all their talent to our Victory.
During the war years, the political cartoon became not only a part of propaganda, but also appeared as a real weapon. With the help of drawings by talented artists, the terrible enemy was transformed into a pitiful, ugly creature. The caricature brought a smile to both the stern warriors and home front workers. And the smile was very necessary for the Soviet people, who took upon themselves all the hardships of the war.
Inseparable trinity
“Kukryniksy” - this complex abbreviation was created by artist friends, the word is made up of the first syllables of surnames Ku Priyanov and Kry catches and the first three letters of the first name and the first letter of the last name Nick Olaya WITH Okolova Their joint work began back in student years at the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (Vkhutemas). At first they were designated as Kukry or Krykup, and when Sokolov joined them in 1924, the three of them worked as Kukryniksy. Since then, millions of readers have not really thought that these cartoons were drawn by very specific and honored people - Heroes of Socialist Labor Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903 - 1991), Porfiry Krylov (1902 - 1990) and Nikolai Sokolov (1903 - 2000).
The first collective cartoon was created by them in 1924 in the student newspaper of Vkhutemas, and in 1926 their drawings began to appear in the Komsomoliya magazine. At first these were caricatures mainly of literary themes. The limitless possibilities of their talent were appreciated, who advised them not to limit themselves to literature, but to show life more widely both within the country and abroad. In 1933, they began collaborating with the newspaper Pravda, in which they published cartoons about international and internal themes. In 1935 they created for “History” civil war» caricatures of counter-revolutionaries, interventionists, traitors. In 1937, the Spanish fascists and their patrons came to the forefront of their pen.
“Get up, huge country...”
But we see a special place, deep scope and strength in the work of the Kukryniksy during the Great Patriotic War. On June 22, 1941, they entered the battle with the Nazis along with millions Soviet people. As soon as the loudspeakers announced the start of war, the whole trio went to the editorial office of the Pravda newspaper. They were greeted with the words: “Here are the three of you, there will be work now!” They immediately got to work, and within a few hours the editorial office had two sketches. Now everyone knows them. In one drawing, a Red Army soldier pierces Hitler with a bayonet, who broke the non-aggression pact, and in the other, Hitler faces the fate of Napoleon.
“We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!”, Kukryniksy’s first military poster, 1941
On the third day of the war, a Kukryniksy poster appeared on the city streets: “We will mercilessly defeat and destroy the enemy!” In fact, it was the first such work, which set the tone for all Soviet satire and the work of the cartoonists themselves. They began to “beat” the enemy with new weapons, clearly realizing his criminal intentions and inhumanity.
In many ways, the inspiration of the artists became a weapon for the besieged country. Satirists in phantasmagoric but objective images recreated the history of fascism, dealt crushing blows to it and its ideology and put an end to Nuremberg, where fascism was condemned by the world community. Three talented artists killed the enemy with their weapons of laughter and satire, raising the morale of the soldiers...
Peak position
Every day - into battle
The artists spent the entire war essentially on the front line. They often visited active units and directly encountered the horrors of war...
The Kukryniksy initiated the creation of TASS Windows. The posters were supplied with poems and texts. All famous artists and the cartoonists joined forces in “Windows” and acted as a united front against fascism. The posters were very popular and did not leave viewers indifferent. Ordinary people were looking forward to the release of the next satirical posters. Laughter gave people strength for further struggle.
Kukryniksy. Three years of war. TASS window No. 993
In 1942, the artists were awarded the highest award - the Stalin Prize, then there would be four more, as well as the Lenin and State Prizes.
The Kukryniksys were not only caricaturists, but also wonderful artists. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat left no one indifferent, and they painted the picture “Tanya,” which brought tears to the audience. Then the painting “Flight of the Nazis from Novgorod” appeared. In 1944, artists came to Veliky Novgorod and found the broken monument “Millennium of Russia” and the dilapidated St. Sophia Cathedral. They depicted all their experiences in this picture. But, probably, the crowning glory of their work during the Great Patriotic War were the paintings “Signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany,” written in 1946, and “The End. The last hours at Hitler's headquarters." The inglorious end of the war in Berlin and the Fuhrer's horror before Soviet troops- Isn’t this what artists dreamed of in the tragic months of 1941?
Chickens. Flight of the Nazis from Novgorod
The war is over, and our common Victory is also due to the Kukryniks...
After the Victory
In the peaceful post-war years, artists had no less work. They also reacted sensitively to all events in their internal and external life. They suffered from world imperialism, the colonial policy of the United States, the war in Vietnam, Korea...
The Kukryniksys constantly worked for the Krokodil magazine. Rarely did an issue come out without their next sharp caricature. And all their works were discussed for a long time at work and at home. As before, the Kukryniksy not only laughed. They took illustrating books very seriously. To this day, their illustrations for Chekhov’s “Lady with a Dog” are considered the best. As contemporaries said, their illustrations for the book “The Golden Calf” by Ilf and Petrov made it twice as funnier.
Illustration by Kukryniksy for the story by A.P. Chekhov's "Lady with a Dog"
The list of their works includes illustrations for such books as “Foma Gordeev” and “Mother” by Gorky, “Portrait” by Gogol, “Don Quixote” by Cervantes, “Walking through the Torment” by Alexei Tolstoy.
The Kukryniksy received every conceivable and inconceivable award. Their names have not yet been forgotten. Their exhibitions are constantly organized, and the posters created by them are always present at all exhibitions dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.
Source of illustrations: https://www.davno.ru
Kukryniksy - a creative team of Soviet graphic artists and painters, which included full members of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947), People's Artists of the USSR (1958), Heroes of Socialist Labor Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903—1991), Porfiry Krylov (1902-1990) and Nikolay Sokolov (1903—2000).
Mikhail Kupriyanov Porfiry Krylov Nikolay Sokolov
The nickname “Kukryniksy” is made up of the first syllables of surnames Ku Priyanova and Kry fishing, as well as the first three letters first name and first letter of last name Nick Olaya WITH Okolova
The three artists worked using the method of collective creativity (each also worked individually on portraits and landscapes). They were best known for their numerous skillfully executed caricatures and caricatures, as well as book illustrations, created in a characteristic cartoon style.
The joint creativity of the Kukryniks began during their student years at the Higher Art and Technical Workshops. Artists came to Moscow VKHUTEMAS from different parts of the Soviet Union. Kupriyanov from Kazan, Krylov from Tula, Sokolov from Rybinsk. In 1922, Kupriyanov and Krylov met and began working together in the wall newspaper of VKHUTEMAS as Kukry and Krykup. At this time, Sokolov, still living in Rybinsk, signed Nix on his drawings. In 1924, he joined Kupriyanov and Krylov, and the three of them worked in the wall newspaper as Kukryniksy.
The group was searching for a new unified style that used the skills of each of the authors. The first to come under the pen of caricaturists were the heroes of literary works. Later, when the Kukryniksys became permanent employees of the Pravda newspaper and the Krokodil magazine, they focused primarily on political cartoons.
The milestone works for the Kukryniksy were grotesque topical cartoons on topics of domestic and international life (the “Transport” series, 1933-1934, “Warmongers”, 1953-1957), propaganda, including anti-fascist, posters (“We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy! ", 1941), illustrations for the works of Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (1939), Anton Chekhov (1940-1946), Maxim Gorky ("The Life of Klim Samgin", "Foma Gordeev", "Mother", 1933, 1948-1949 ), Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov (“The Golden Calf”), Miguel Cervantes (“Don Quixote”).
A significant moment in creativity was the military poster “We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!” He was one of the first to appear on the streets of Moscow in June - immediately after the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR. The Kukryniksy went through the entire war: their leaflets accompanied Soviet soldiers all the way to Berlin. In addition, the series of posters “TASS Windows” was very popular.
Kukryniksy at the front, 1942
They became classics of Soviet political caricature, which they understood as a weapon in the fight against the political enemy, and did not at all recognize other trends in art and in caricature, which were fully manifested primarily in the new format of the Literary Gazette (humor department “Club of 12 Chairs” ). Their political cartoons, often published in the newspaper Pravda, belong to the best examples of this genre (“Ticks in Ticks”, “I Lost a Ring...”, “Under the Eagle It Backfired, It Responsed in Rome”, “Wall Haircut”, “Lion’s share”, series of drawings “Warmongers”, etc.). The team owns numerous political posters (“The Transformation of the Krauts”, “People Warn”, etc.). The Kukryniksy are also known as painters and masters of easel drawing. They are the authors of the films “Morning”, “Tanya”, “Flight of the Germans from Novgorod”, “The End” (1947-1948), “Old Masters” (1936-1937). They made pastel drawings - “I. V. Stalin and V. M. Molotov", "I. V. Stalin in Kureika”, “Barricades on Presnya in 1905”, “Chkalov on the island of Udd”, etc.
ABOUT THE WORK OF KUKRYNIKSY ARTISTS
The famous Soviet poet Alexander Zharov recalls that in 1925, when he was the editor of a youth magazine, three art students once came into his office and offered their services. “What can you draw?” - Zharov asked. Then the young people immediately got down to business and, in the process of working, passing the drawing on to one another, quickly sketched several apt caricatures of the writers present, which aroused general admiration. Since then, sharp and expressive drawings by young authors, signed with the compound surname Kukryniksy, began to appear regularly in the magazine.
This was at the dawn of our joint creative activity talented Soviet artists Mikhail Vasilyevich Kupriyanov, Porfiry Nikitich Krylov and Nikolai Alexandrovich Sokolov.
The Kukryniksy’s creativity amazes with its diversity. Thoughtful artists work with inspiration and persistence on large paintings, caricatures, posters, book illustrations, and even sculptural portraits, achieving high results in each form of art. Extraordinary relevance of the topic, ideological orientation and clarity of content, originality and laconicism artistic language- these advantages of Kukryniksy’s works, clearly visible to everyone, make them understandable to the widest circle of Soviet viewers and readers.
CARICAUTURES BY KUKRYNIKS ARTISTS
Being gifted painters, the Kukryniksys, first of all and most of all, are the most prominent mastersSoviet political graphics, artistic satire. It is difficult to name at least one significant event in international life, from the 30s to the present day, which would not have caused a corresponding response in their work.
At one time, Kukryniksy’s cartoons mercilessly exposed the conspiracy of the imperialist powers against Republican Spain, the preparations for the Second World War (“Scheme for strict control of Spanish borders”, “Continuation of the last war” and others). In these, as in all other works, artists act as exponents of the views and interests of our people, who tirelessly fight for world peace.
Kukryniksy performs with no less success in the region everyday satire. Their blows are directed against everything that is outdated, inert and ugly, which hinders the movement of the Soviet people towards a wonderful future. From the extensive series of works by Kukryniksy on everyday topics, the series “Transport”, the drawings “No Day Off”, “Office Note”, “Toadstools” (about young people subservient to foreigners) should be highlighted.
Kukryniksy's cartoons are so unique in form that the viewer immediately recognizes their authors without even looking at the signature. Inexhaustible in artistic invention and inventiveness, the Kukryniksy are able to recreate for us with a few bold and precise lines the appearance of one or another political degenerate (Stolypin, Kerensky, Wrangel), to show the typical in the images of a bureaucrat, a swindler, a grabber. The sophistication of Kukryniksov’s graphics is a striking example of the great importance of teamwork in creativity: each of the artists offers his own solution to the topic, during the discussion the best is selected from them, and then all the forces of the team are directed to developing the final version.
WWII POSTERS IN THE WORK OF KUKRYNIKS
Still fresh in our memory are the numerous posters in the “TASS Windows” created by the Kukryniksy during the harsh years of the struggle against the fascist invaders: “We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!”, “Transformation of the Krauts”, “Volga Cliff”, “Cleaning” harvest - a formidable blow to the enemy" and others. Responding to the most pressing tasks of the time, extremely expressive, they were a powerful ideological weapon, giving even more strength Soviet soldiers at the front and to the working population in the rear.
On the pages of Pravda, Krokodil and other Soviet publications, sharp caricatures of Kukryniksy invariably appeared, pillorying troubadours cold war and their accomplices. In 1958-1959, cartoons “The Berlin Question”, “The Militant Parrot” and others were published. In No. 2 of “Crocodile” for 1960, dedicated to the memory of A.P. Chekhov, the witty caricature “Intruder on an International Scale” is memorable: West German Chancellor Adenauer diligently unscrews the nuts from the rails, which have a sign “Towards Peaceful Coexistence”.
PAINTINGS BY ARTISTS KUKRYNIKS
Veliky Novgorod in January 1944. Against the background of a gloomy sky, the majestic bulk of St. Sophia Cathedral rises. The wreckage of the barbarically destroyed monument “Millennium of Russia” sticks out from under the snow. Hitler’s soldiers are fussily rushing around the buildings with torches. Forced under the mighty blows of the Soviet Army to shamefully flee from ancient city, in impotent anger they are trying to destroy the priceless treasures of Russian culture.
This is the content of the widely known paintings by Kukryniksy"Flight of the Nazis from Novgorod." Despite the dramatic tension of the moment, well conveyed by the contrasts of dark and light spots, the picture is imbued with an optimistic mood. The artists were able to show in it the complete doom of the degenerates who intended to enslave our socialist Motherland.
Other paintings by Kukryniksy dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War - “Tanya”, “Truth”, “The End” - are also imbued with a patriotic feeling.
"Tanya"
"End"
IN last picture in images of great artistic power is shown inglorious death Hitlerism, in the defeat of which the Soviet Union played a decisive role.
By illustrating the works of Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Chekhov and Gorky, the artists strive to fully reveal to the reader the humanistic orientation of great Russian literature. The most successful in this regard are the Kukryniksy’s drawings for Gogol’s “The Overcoat” and Chekhov’s stories “Tosca” and “I Want to Sleep.”
"Yearning"
"Overcoat"
Fable "The Fox and the Beaver"
"Tsar Nicholas examines a flea"
It should be noted that each of the Kukryniks had a bright creative individuality and worked a lot independently. Thus, M. Kupriyanov was especially fascinated by the landscapes of the Moscow region and the Volga, P. Krylov completed many portraits and perfectly conveyed the picturesque originality of Paris, Rome and Venice, and N. Sokolov lovingly depicted the life of his native Moscow and the touching beauty of Russian nature. Continuously enriching their knowledge and experience, artists combined them in one or another common plan, persistently achieving in each new work greater completeness of the plot and its artistic embodiment.
Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903-1991), Porfiry Krylov (1902-1990) and Nikolai Sokolov (1903-2000).
Biography of the team
Three artists worked using the method of collective creativity (each also worked individually - on portraits and landscapes). They became most famous for their numerous skillfully executed caricatures and cartoons, as well as book illustrations created in a characteristic caricature style.
The joint creativity of the Kukryniks began during their student years at the Higher Art and Technical Workshops. Artists came to Moscow VKHUTEMAS from different parts of the Soviet Union. Kupriyanov from Kazan, Krylov from Tula, Sokolov from Rybinsk. In 1922, Kupriyanov and Krylov met and began working together in the wall newspaper of VKHUTEMAS as Kukry and Krykup. At this time, Sokolov, still living in Rybinsk, signed Nix on his drawings. In 1924, he joined Kupriyanov and Krylov, and the three of them worked in the wall newspaper as Kukryniksy)
The group was searching for a new unified style that would use the skills of each of the authors. The first to come under the pen of caricaturists were the heroes of literary works. Later, when the Kukryniksys became permanent employees of the Pravda newspaper and the Krokodil magazine, they focused primarily on political cartoons. According to the recollections of the artist of the Krokodil magazine German Ogorodnikov, since the mid-1960s the Kukryniksys practically did not visit the magazine:
The Kukryniksys have almost never been to Krokodil. Never been! I don't remember the incident. Sokolov was only there once, but I didn’t see Krylov, I never saw Kupriyanov either. But I worked since 1965, so maybe there were before me, but I never saw them on our floor.
The milestone works for Kukryniksy were grotesque topical cartoons on topics of domestic and international life (the series “Transport”, “Warmongers”, -), propaganda, including anti-fascist, posters (“We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!”, 1941) , illustrations for the works of Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (), Anton Chekhov (-), Maxim Gorky (“The Life of Klim Samgin”, “Foma Gordeev”, “Mother”, 1933, -), Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov (“ The Golden Calf"), Miguel Cervantes (Don Quixote).
A significant moment in creativity was the military poster “We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!” He was one of the first to appear on the streets of Moscow in June - immediately after the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR.
The Kukryniksy went through the entire war: their leaflets accompanied Soviet soldiers all the way to Berlin. In addition, the series of posters “TASS Windows” was very popular.
They became classics of Soviet political caricature, which they understood as a weapon in the fight against the political enemy, and did not at all recognize other trends in art and caricature, which were fully manifested primarily in the new format of the Literary Newspaper (the humor department of the 12-Chair Club ). Their political cartoons, often published in the newspaper Pravda, belong to the best examples of this genre (“Ticks in Ticks”, “I Lost a Ring...”, “Under the Eagle It Backfired, It Responsed in Rome”, “Wall Haircut”, “Lion’s share”, series of drawings “Warmongers”, etc.). The team owns numerous political posters (“The Transformation of the Krauts”, “People Warn”, etc.). The Kukryniksy are also known as painters and masters of easel drawing. They are the authors of the films “Morning”, “Tanya”, “Flight of the Germans from Novgorod”, “The End” (1947-1948), “Old Masters” (1936-1937). They made pastel drawings - “I. V. Stalin and V. M. Molotov", "I. V. Stalin in Kureika”, “Barricades on Presnya in 1905”, “Chkalov on the island of Udd” and others.
The members of the team also worked separately - in the field of portrait and landscape.
Works and exhibitions
Extensive collection artwork, written by the Kukryniks, was collected in the private collection of the Mamontov family.
Since April 30, 2008, the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve has exhibited a posthumous exhibition dedicated to Victory Day, “History through the eyes of the Kukryniks. 1928-1945. Military poster. Caricature. Painting. Graphics"
Quotes
Our team, to tell the truth, consists of four artists: Kupriyanov, Krylov, Sokolov and Kukryniksy. All three of us treat the latter with great care and concern. What was created by the collective could not be mastered by any of us individually.
... Creative disputes occur in isolated cases, but they do not violate unanimity in the work. But it is joyful to see how one of ours is enriched general work bringing into it the best that each of us has. And everyone contributes, without sparing or saving it for themselves personally. In such work there should be no painful pride or indifferent attitude.
Kemenov V. S. Articles about art. - M., 1965. - P. 104-105.
Kukryniksy in art
- Painting “Kukryniksy” (Portrait folk artists USSR M. V. Kupriyanova, P. N. Krylova, N. A. Sokolova) (1957)
The creative association of artists Kukryniksy, which became famous in the 30-40s of the 20th century for its satirical works, is today almost unknown to new generations. Artists played an important role in the culture and politics of the Soviet Union.
VKHUTEMAS - meeting point
The highest artistic and technical workshops, created in 1920 and known throughout the world as VKHUTEMAS, produced a large number of designers and artists who significantly influenced not only Soviet culture, but also left a mark on world art.
In particular, this is where the Kukryniksy artists began their journey, who came here in different ways and from different places, but with one goal - to learn how to create beauty. Mikhail Kupriyanov and Porfiry Krylov met in 1922 while working on issues of the VKHUTEMAS wall newspaper “Arapotdel”. They signed their works with the abbreviations Kukra and Krykup. They were later joined by student recruit Nikolai Sokolov, who had long signed his works as Knicks. This is how the famous student appeared, united not only by a love of art, but also by a common worldview. Their element was laughter, they subtly noticed humorous features in the surrounding reality, and this became their starting point in cooperation.
Community of like-minded people
Kukryniksy artists are a unique phenomenon in world culture. Simultaneous work on works required a close connection and closeness of views from them. They were united by a creative platform - they sought to notice the funny and express it in drawings. V. Mayakovsky played a major role in the formation of the community; he embodied their thoughts and moods. His “Windows of Satire of Growth” became a real university for cartoonists. The poet also drew attention to the interesting group and invited them to design the production of “The Bedbug”; later they would create a series of sketches based on this work. This work crystallized the features of their artistic method, they drew courage, accuracy and topicality from Mayakovsky.
The biography of the team is associated with the creation of a unique phenomenon in fine arts, it was called “positive satire.” The second person who played the most important role in the formation of the Kukryniksy was Gorky. He not only helped them find work, but also set them on the right ideological path. It was he who encouraged their interest in politics and helped them understand the party line. The main thing in their work was truly satirical works - mocking and caustic. For several decades, from the mid-20s to the end of the 90s, the artists were close friends, and this allowed them to create together.
Artistic method of Kukryniksy
Kukryniksy artists were able to create a unique method of working on the work. existed before them, but there were no such ones in which all creative individualities were erased in the name of the collective “I” of the artist. They worked in such a way that the potential of each creator was embodied to the greatest extent in the final product. As a result of close unity, a recognizable satirical style of the artists emerged, which was most fully realized in posters and caricatures, but is also discernible in paintings. They worked on the work in turns, the drawing went around in circles, each added their own touches to it, and a collective product was obtained.
The Kukryniksy always adhered to two principles: nationality and party affiliation. They understood art as service to the Motherland, and they carried the heroic mood of the era of the 20s throughout their entire creative life.
Milestones of the creative path
The Kukryniksys began working together as cartoonists in the famous wall newspaper "Arapotdel", which sharply ridiculed cosmopolitans and formalists, implementing the party line. Since 1924 they began to produce illustrations for literary works. They illustrated young writers and even developed a genre called visual criticism. Maxim Gorky drew attention to unusual illustrators and advised them to draw themes for art more widely from life, and not just from literature. At the end of the 20s, the Kukryniksy’s cartoons were published in all literary magazines, they became close to many writers. They exposed literary vices: boredom, abstruseness, formalism. And today many of their cartoons have not lost their relevance.
Since 1925, the group has actively collaborated with Soviet media, publishing caustic caricatures of social vices. Gradually their fame grew, and every reader, opening a newspaper, first looked for these drawings. During this period, their technique was honed, they were especially good at drawings in ink, and their cartoonish, sarcastic presentation attracted them with its sharpness, atypical for the Soviet press. Their series, such as “Transport” in the Pravda newspaper, brought them serious fame. They become the mouthpiece of the era.
In the pre-war years, the Kukryniksy found themselves in a new genre - political posters. During war years, it becomes a real weapon against the enemy. Kukryniksy, whose posters helped the people of the Soviet Union during the most difficult times, became a powerful ideological instrument of power. Their poster “We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!” appeared on the streets of the country already in June 1941. They served their homeland and went through the entire war with soldiers and leaflets. They also worked in the TASS Windows project, which covered the news in the form of a poster and supported the morale of the nation. After the war, they received accreditation for the Nuremberg trials and conducted their sarcastic reporting from there. The Kukryniksy became true classics of Soviet caricature; they were known all over the world and received many professional awards.
The third direction in which the Kukryniksy worked was painting. They painted genre paintings on historical themes, laying the foundations for a new direction in art - socialist realism. During the period of restoration of the country, the Kukryniksys worked a lot in the press, were engaged in book graphics, and painted pictures. In the 60s they create large number illustrations for Russian classics. Moreover, each artist creates independently. In the 80-90s, due to age, artists work less, but their creative union did not disintegrate until the end of their lives.
Significant works of the Kukryniksy
The Kukryniksy artists were very productive; many wonderful works came out of their pencil and brush. The most notable were: a series of satirical portraits “The Face of the Enemy”, which combined the expressive capabilities of posters and easel painting, the triptych “Old Masters”, illustrations for the collected works of Gogol and the works of Gorky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ilf and Petrov, as well as numerous posters of the war years. The latter include “Museum of the Beaten”, “Plan for the Encirclement and Capture of Moscow”, “Debt is Red in Payment”, as well as the paintings “Tanya”, “Flight of the Germans from Novgorod”, “The End”.
Exhibitions and legacy of the Kukryniksy
In 1932, the first exhibition of Kukryniks took place, organized by Maxim Gorky. Political and everyday caricatures, paintings, book graphics. In 1952, a significant exhibition took place at the USSR Academy of Arts, at which the work of the Kukryniks, as well as autonomous works of artists belonging to the association, was widely and fully presented. In 2008, a retrospective exhibition of the Kukryniks took place.
Cartoonists, whose heritage is closely connected with the history of the Soviet state, have repeatedly received the highest state awards and prizes. Their work is stored in the largest museums in Russia.
The creative path of Mikhail Kupriyanov
Mikhail Kupriyanov was born in the small town of Tetyushi on the Volga. Since childhood he loved to draw, he studied in Tashkent at the Central Art Workshops, where he was sent on a youth voucher. For special academic success, he was sent to study in Moscow at VKHUTEMAS, where he became a member of the Kukryniksy.
Independent creative life Kupriyanova's career was successful, he realized himself as a painter. He loved the landscape genre. Today his series of paintings with views of Leningrad, the Caspian Sea and the Moscow region are known.
Graduated from life path in 1991.
Artist Porfiry Krylov
The second member of the Kukryniksy community is Porfiry in Tula. Since childhood, he showed artistic abilities, studied in an art studio, then entered VKHUTEMAS. In addition to his activities in Kukryniksy, he worked a lot as a painter, painting portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. His works are in the collections of many museums around the world. His house-museum is open in Tula.
Porfiry Nikitich died in 1990.
Creative biography of Nikolai Sokolov
Muscovite Nikolai Sokolov studied at the Proletkult art studio, after which he entered VKHUTEMAS and became the third member of the Kukryniksy. Sokolov became a talented painter. His favorite genre was lyrical landscape. His works “Lermontov Places”, “Abramtsevo”, “Evening on the Volga” and others are kept in the best museums in Russia.
Nikolai Sokolov died in 2000.
Propaganda postcards and posters from the Great Patriotic War to the modern generation known as museum and exhibition exhibits, from relevant thematic publications and films. The most apt and memorable works of this cycle were created by artists Kukryniksy. The community of these young people is a rare combination of talent, common interests, mutual support and complementation of each other. The authorship of this team includes not only graphic works. The Kukryniksy were equally successful in creating paintings, illustrations for literary publications, and tried their hand at designing theatrical scenery and sculpture. Who were these talented people?
How was Kukryniks born?
Talented young artists Kupriyanov, Krylov and Sokolov began their journey in art in different ways, and their first teachers and schools were completely different, and were born in different cities. They met within the walls of the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops, abbreviated as VKHUTEMAS. At first Kupriyanov and Krylov became friends. Their funny caricatures and caricatures decorated student newspapers and were signed with the names of Krykul or Kukry. “Knicks,” or Nikolai Sokolov, joined the guys two years later, and then his initials were added to the anagram.
Collaborative creativity
The cheerful trio became known to a wider public after they began working in the Komsomoliya magazine, of which he was the editor-in-chief famous poet Zharov. This was in 1924. The guys created caricatures and funny satirical drawings easily. It looked something like this: one took a sheet and began to draw, then the drawing was passed from hand to hand. What came out in the end was amazing and ingenious.
After some time, many celebrities began ordering friendly cartoons from their friends. The first five-year plans and the construction of a new state economy captivated friends. They traveled around the country, the topics for creativity became more serious than a light joke. Kukryniksy’s artists satirically denounced unscrupulous performers and the political situation around the Land of Soviets.
The team's propaganda work during the Great Patriotic War brought particular popularity to the team. Many events took place in the lives of the artists themselves and in their circle, but the trio managed to maintain their community until 1990 and disbanded only after Krylov’s death. The Kukryniks are called the founders of a new direction in art - journalistic graphics.
Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903-1991)
A talented boy was born on the banks of the Volga, in the small town of Tetyushi. Even in his childhood, his watercolor landscape won a prize at a city exhibition. The events of the turbulent revolutionary times were not conducive to artistic pursuits - it was necessary to survive in the new environment. This circumstance brought Misha Kupriyanov to the coal mines of Turkestan.
But a happy accident brought him together with people who recognized his talent and sent the guy to study at an art boarding school, and after graduation, to VKHUTEMAS. Kupriyanov painted several successful landscapes, but most of all he was drawn to the cheerful and funny. It is no coincidence that he met an equally cheerful comrade on his way.
Porfiry Krylov (1902-1990)
Unlike his new acquaintance, Porfiry was seriously attracted to watercolor painting; at VKHUTEMAS he completed a course in this specialization. The son of a Tula arms factory worker impressed university teachers with his youthful works. Krylov's hobby - warm and sensual landscapes. In later works, Krylov emerged as a portrait painter. It was this artist who was entrusted with making portrait sketches of the criminals of fascism at the Nuremberg trials. But with all these talents, it was the Kukryniksy community, the work of a graphic artist, cartoonist, decorator, and illustrator, that brought the greatest popularity to the artist.
Knicks
Like the other members of the famous troika, Nikolai Sokolov (1903-2000) came to his own graphics, distinctive from the rest, in his own way. What was common to all students of the art workshop was a passion for their favorite activity with early childhood. Sokolov was no exception. He considered his mother's gift, a box of watercolors, to be his most vivid and exciting childhood memory. The boy came to the art studio while working as a clerk at the Rybinsk Water Transport Department. It was then that in active young man showed interest in displaying events public life in the form of posters, leaflets, posters. It is not surprising that this hobby brought Sokolov together with Kupriyanov and Krylov. So the Kukras were supplemented by Nyx.
Graphics by Kukryniksy
The Union of Gifted Creative People gave the world an unsurpassed master of journalistic graphics and artistic satire. There was no such event in the country and in the world, starting in the thirties of the last century, to which the Kukryniksy artists would not respond. Their humorous cartoons on everyday topics are still no less successful. The talent of friends in propaganda leaflets and posters from the Second World War turned out to be especially valuable. The graphics of that period are striking in their accuracy and ability to raise the morale of the army.
Individual painting
Despite more than half a century of close collaboration, the Kukryniksy artists each retained their own individual vision of the world. Both jointly created paintings and individual works of each master became valuable works of art. After them, no one has yet managed to create such a team where the peak of joint popularity would be reached and the uniqueness of individuality would be preserved.
