the Russian academic school
Painting
Objectives for the Paining Department
And the science in its highest expression becomes an art.”
P. Chistyakov
Painting Department of the Russian Academy of Art sets before students first of all educational tasks, such as:
1)
composing objects;
2)
drawing objects conveying their proportions with maximum accuracy and
demonstrating understanding of the three-dimensional properties of the object s
as well as applying anatomic knowledge when
working with a live model;
3)
solving tonal and color problems;
4) catching and convey the likeness of the model
5) going beyond set educational tasks expressing creatively one’s artistic vision as well as conveying psychology, concept and unique character.
Students
go through the educational process and grow performing the tasks which increase
in complexity with each new setup. The main
emphasis at the Russian Academy of Art is laid upon the training of the
students’ eyes and developing their taste. It means that professor faces a
difficult task to find a unique approach to each student and teach them to
evaluate tonal and color relationship aiming to reach maximum likeness to the
model. The educational process is based on the analytical approach to painting
when professor sets certain tasks before the student and checks how they are
completed by the student. In this way student gains skills in working over the
painting step by step and moves from stage to stage and from more simple to
more complex tasks in painting.
Working over painting analytically
also means ability to “open” the canvas moving from general (looking for the
overall colors of the objects matching the real life and perceiving them in a
generalized way as larger color spots) to particular (more detailed analysis of
the color relationships).While doing this, student should develop the painting
in such a way that the painting would appear finished at each progressive stage.
This method has been applied by the Russian Academic school for many years.
Leonardo da Vinci wrote:
“The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies everything placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence”
For this very reason at the Russian Academy of Art students are taught how to not just copy, but analyze the model. Different subjects as Drawing, Perspective, Anatomy, Chromatics and Composition, give to the beginning artists necessary knowledge and enable them to observe their own their mistakes in the process of painting and correct them applying that knowledge. The knowledge that students get in the process of studying at the Academy develops them as future artists who are able to express their artistic vision.
