Nikolai Nikolayevich Ge
(1831 - 1894) |
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portraiture, genre scenes, religious subjects Art Work
| Name: |
Nikolai Nikolayevich Ge |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Voronezh, Ukraine |
| Nationality: |
Ukranian |
| Birth: |
1831 |
| Death: |
1894 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
portraiture, genre scenes, religious subjects |
| Medium: |
oil painting |
| Method: |
oil painting |
| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
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Biography
From 1841 Ghe studied for six years in Kiev, at first at a private boarding school, then at the grammar school, and it was here that he began to take a serious interest in drawing. In 1847 he entered the mathematics department of Kiev University and after a year transferred to St. Petersburg University. One of the main influence on young Nikolai was Karl Bryullov, he valued his whose creative independence and not following the artistic canons. He acclaimed Bryullov's painting The Last Day of Pompeii, the influence of which can be discerned in many of Ghe's early works, including his diploma piece on a Biblical subject Saul with the Medium at Endor (1856, RM).
In 1857 the artist went abroad to Germany, Switzerland and France, and then settled in Italy, where he became interested in classical history and drew several studies with very dramatic plots: The Death of Virginia, The Love of the Vestal Virgin, etc. But soon he realized that the events and heroes he was depicting were alien to him. He became firmly convinced that an artist can paint 'only what is really dear to him, only that which he holds sacred in his heart.
One of the most well -known paintings was The Last Supper (1863, RM). The Gospel story is reinterpreted here as a human drama. Christ is portrayed deep in thought, tragically shocked by the recreancy of one of his apostles.
Nikolai Ghe had an unusual method of working. He did not make preliminary sketches but pictured a whole scene at once in his mind and then looked for a model, transforming it to fit his plan. For Christ he used a photograph of Herzen; for John the wife of the artist A. P. Zabel posed; and Peter is modeled on the artist himself (it is remarkable that at the age of 32 he saw himself as he was to become thirty years later).
As a result of this work, Ghe was elected to the Academy of Arts.
After a short stay in St. Petersburg Ghe returned to Florence where he spent another six years working on subjects from the Gospels. The most impressive of these works were The Heralds of the Resurrection (1867, TG) and Christ in the Garden at Gethsemane (1868).
In Italy the artist also painted a series of landscapes, including Transportation of Marble (1868, RM) and Marble-Cutting at Carrara (1868, State Museum of Russian Art, Kiev). Both are characterized by the artist's interest in reproducing light and air effects, by the purity and saturation of color, and by the juxtaposition of contrasting colors to convey bright illumination. However, Ghe regarded landscape as a subsidiary genre, essential for the study of nature but of no independent importance.
Several portraits also date from this period, notably of people who were close to Ghe: for example. Portrait of the Artist's Wife and Son (1859, RM) and, of particular interest, a portrait of Alexander Herzen (1867, TG). The portrait of Herzen is painted with great sympathy for the writer, who was spiritually akin to the painter and highly regarded by him. It is a deeply psychological work with a simple composition: Herzen's brightly illuminated face stands out against a dark background. One is aware of a complex inner world, intelligence and subdued sadness. The artist smuggled the canvas back to Russia.
While living abroad, Ghe was well informed about artistic events at home. In 1867 he made the acquaintance of the artist Grigory Myasoyedov and together they conceived the idea of a society of artists. In 1869 Ghe returned to Russia and, living in St. Petersburg, actively collaborated with Kramskoi in organizing the Society of Peredvizhniki It was in this period that Ghe's work came closest to the democratic realism of the Peredvizhniki. This can be seen, for example, in his producing a painting on a subject from Russian history, Peter the Great Interrogates Tsarevich Alexei (1871.)
In this painting Ghe displayed an understanding of the dialectical historical development of the struggle between the reactionary and the progressive. The drama of father and son outgrows the sphere of personal relations. By bringing together the world-outlooks of both, the artist exposed the meaning of that turbulent, critical age, and also linked the image of Peter with the vital idea of his own time--readiness to sacrifice the personal for the sake of the interests of society.
Ghe strove to convey the historical atmosphere authentically and made a special journey lo Peterhof, from where he, in his own words, 'brought back the whole background of the picture in my memory'. He studied the portraits of Peter and Alexei in the Hermitage and also legal documents relating to the case of the Tsarevich. Such a method of working on a historical theme was new in Russian art, and Ghe became one of the founders of realist historical painting.
During 70th and 80th artist concentrated mainly on portraiture, his aim being to record the outstanding figures of his time for posterity. He was interested not in the changing stales of his models but in conveying their permanent qualities. He was attracted by people in full possession of their faculties, people of intelligence and energy. The faces he painted were full of expression, the composition of his portraits was lucid and simple, the coloring austere: cf. for example, the portraits of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (1872,) and Lev Tolstoy (1884,).
Later Nikolai Ghe came into disagreement with the peredvizhniki Like them, he considered protest against the ugly forms of reality and against the suppression of the human personality to be the basis of art, but the purpose of art was, for him, to express an ideal, perfection.
In 1875 went to live on a farm in Voronezh Gubernia. The last period in his art was devoted almost exclusively to themes from the Gospels. He sought more acutely expressive imagery and greater emotionality in his works.
In Ghe's last works, the image of Christ underwent an evolution. Ghe wanted to shock people with the sufferings of Christ, to make them think about the vital questions of life, about moral problems. His choice of subjects was telling: The Judgment of the Sanhedrin (1892, TG), Golgotha (1892, TG), Crucifixion (1894, TG).
The small work Golgotha is extremely powerful in its expression of suffering. The expansive brushwork, the fragmentary composition, the generalized form and the sharp lines all contribute to the heightened expressiveness of the image. In his final works Ghe paved the way towards the new art of the turn of the century.
In 1882 the artist met and became friends with Lev Tolstoy- famous Russian writer.
Nikolai Ghe died in 1894 on his farm in Voronezh Gubernia.
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Samples of Work
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