RUSSIAN ARTISTS Stepanov Alexey Stepanovich (1858-1923)

The modest, delicate, kind A. S. Stepanov, "Stepochek", as everyone called him, was loved and respected by friends — S. V. Ivanov, N. P. Chekhov, the brothers S. A. and K. A. Korovin, I. I. Levitan, M. V. Nesterov — and by numerous students, among whom were P. D. Korin, A. A. Plastov, L. V. Turzhansky and others. After Stepanov's exhibition Korin said: "It's as if I read Pushkin's poems. So simple, simple, and yet elevated... What can be said about him? He was an artist. That's all you need to say. Everything about him was simple, without effects. He had a soul, and that is the most important thing. But at the same time he had high artistry, incomparable skill. He sparkled in his great simplicity."

Alexey Stepanovich Stepanov

Stepanov lost his parents very early. From the age of seven he was raised by a guardian, who insisted that the young man in 1879 graduate from the Land Surveying Institute in Moscow and take up the profession of a surveyor.

However, he did not work in that specialty, and in 1880 entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MUZHVZ). He studied in I. M. Pryanishnikov's class, was successful, and in 1884 graduated from the school with a large silver medal.

"Portrait of I. I. Levitan"
Paper, pencil. 21.5 x 13.4 cm
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

In the second half of the 1880s Stepanov spent several summer seasons working together with I. I. Levitan — first near Zvenigorod, then on the Volga. Alongside Levitan he is considered one of the creators of the so-called mood landscape, in which the artist does not merely seek in nature a motif matching his inner state, but psychologizes the landscape, transferring his own thoughts and feelings into it.

"Autumn"
Canvas, oil. 54 x 80 cm
Kirov Regional Vasnetsov Art Museum

Autumn. 1896

Lake Udomlya. 1912

"Winter. Hoarfrost"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
Memorial Museum-Estate of the artist N. A. Yaroshenko

"Winter Landscape"
1910
Canvas, oil
Buryat Republican Art Museum named after Ts. S. Sampilov

"March"
Canvas, oil
Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum

"Thaw"
1904
Canvas, oil. 58.3 x 79 cm
Khimki Picture Gallery

"Early Spring"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
Volgograd Regional Museum of Fine Arts

"The Sea"
1923
Canvas, oil
Ples State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

"Arbor with Flowers"
Study
Canvas, oil
Ples State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

In 1905 Stepanov was awarded the title of Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts for the painting "Morning Greeting." The painting was exhibited at the 25th Peredvizhniki exhibition, the 24th exhibition of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and in 1900 at the World Exhibition in Paris.

"Morning Greeting"
1897
Canvas, oil 61 x 99 cm
Pskov State United Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

Stepanov's works are plein air in character: painted broadly, sketchily, with a thin transparent stroke, very softly, using few colors ("Use fewer colors," he later advised his students). Stepanov liked to depict a village road along which peasant horses pull sledges or carts ("Goose", 1910-15; "Along the country road in winter", "At the porch", both 1913-14; "They Left", 1914).

"Along the Winter Road"
Cardboard, watercolor
State Central Museum of Musical Culture named after M. I. Glinka

"Winter Landscape"
1910
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery

"In a Row"
1911-17

"Remote Province"
1900s
Canvas, oil. 62 x 97 cm
State Vladimir-Suzdal Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

Every summer from 1906 to 1914 Stepanov lived in the estates Lubenkino, Garusovo and Berezhok of Vyshnevolotsky Uyezd (now Udomelsky District) of Tver Governorate. The house in which Stepanov lived in Garusovo is depicted in the painting "They Left."

"They Left"
1914
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery

"In Winter"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
Alupka State Palace and Park Museum-Reserve

On the Sledge

"Sledding at Maslenitsa"
1910
Cardboard, tempera. 49 x 68 cm
Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Arts

"Inn"
1912
Canvas, oil
North Ossetian Republican Art Museum named after M. S. Tuganov

"Village in Winter"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil. 42 x 68 cm
Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Arts

"At the Trough"
1916
Canvas, oil
Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum

He liked to depict peasant children watching the surrounding world — bare, poor, autumnal, but native and wide ("Cranes Are Flying", 1891; "Children on a Bundle of Brushwood", 1899; "At the Outskirts", 1915-16).

"Cranes Are Flying"
1891
Canvas, oil 620 x 110 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow

"Children on a Bundle of Brushwood"
1899
Canvas, oil. 47.5 x 72 cm
Ulyanovsk Art Museum

"Evening Dawn"
Canvas, oil
Krasnoyarsk Art Museum named after V. I. Surikov

At the Fence

"On the Terrace"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum

Conversation of the Godmother

"Round Dance"
Canvas, oil
Buryat Republican Art Museum named after Ts. S. Sampilov

"In a Boat"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after V. P. Sukachev

"Friends"
Canvas, oil
Tver Regional Picture Gallery

A trip to Europe, and specifically the paintings of the French Impressionists, had a certain influence on the artist's work, although contemporaries denied this. As a result of the trip Stepanov painted the work "Washerwomen in Vichy."

"Washerwomen in Vichy"
1895
Canvas, oil. 41 x 55.5 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery

Old Alley

He enthusiastically painted hunting scenes ("After the Hunt. The Return", 1907; "The Killed Elk", 1900-10; "With Greyhounds", 1910s; "They Saw", 1917).

"Gathering for the Hunt"
1900s
Canvas, oil
Saratov State Art Museum named after A. N. Radishchev

"Hunting"
1885
Canvas, oil
Memorial Museum-Estate of the artist N. A. Yaroshenko

"After the Hunt"
1894
Canvas, oil 58.5 x 100.3 cm
State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan
Kazan

"Hunting Wolves with Hounds"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil. 122.5 x 76 cm
Tyumen Museum of Fine Arts

With Hounds on the Hunt. 1900-1910

"Hunting with Greyhounds"
Study
Plywood, oil. 36 x 53 cm
Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after V. P. Sukachev

Stepanov loved animals and had the rare ability to convey their habits and even their psychology ("Elks", 1889; "On the Hunt", 1909; "Elk and Laikas", 1910; "Wolves at Night", "Wolves by the Fence", both 1910s; "Awaiting Dinner", 1910).

"Elks"
1889
Canvas, oil. 47.8 x 80.8 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery

"Elks"
1919
Canvas, oil
North Ossetian Republican Art Museum named after M. S. Tuganov

"Wolves at Night"
1910s.

Wolves. 1912-1915

"Wolves in a Winter Forest"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery

"She-Bear with Cubs"
Colored paper, gouache 23 x 33 cm
Private collection

"She-Bear with Cubs"
1919
Canvas, oil
Nizhny Tagil Art Museum of Fine Arts

"Horse"
1911-1920
Canvas, oil
Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum

"Little Horse"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum

"At Pasture"
Canvas, oil
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

"Cows at the Watering Place"
1908
Canvas, oil. 67 x 80 cm
Sevastopol Art Museum named after P. M. Kroshitsky

"Stable"
1910s
Canvas, oil
Ples State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

"Herd"
1910s
Canvas, oil
Taganrog Picture Gallery

"Flock of Sheep"
1900s
Canvas, oil
Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts named after P. S. Gamzatova

"The Killed One"
1911-1920
Study
Paper, watercolor
Memorial Museum-Estate of the artist N. A. Yaroshenko

At the Field. 1909 - 1911

"Outskirts"
1914
Canvas, oil
Sumy Art Museum

"Study with a Cow"
Study
Canvas, oil
Novokuznetsk Art Museum

The genre in which the artist preferred to work can be called landscape-animal painting. M. V. Nesterov considered Stepanov the best animal painter after V. A. Serov. Serov also highly valued this gift of the artist and insisted on inviting Stepanov as a teacher to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

For about twenty years (1899-1918) Stepanov headed there the "class of animals." Students adored him. Very little is known about the artist's personal life — shortly before his death he destroyed his archive. But he is entirely present in his paintings.

"On the Volga"
1897
Canvas, oil. 55 x 133 cm
Samara Art Museum

At Work. 1895

Woman on a Sofa. 1912

"Peasant"
Circa 1890
Canvas, oil
Ples State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

"Lilac Alley"
1900-1910
Canvas, oil
State Literary Museum

Estate in Summer. 1882
"Estate in Summer"
1882
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery

"Flowerbed in the Park"
Cardboard, oil. 23.3 x 33.7 cm
Khimki Picture Gallery

"Arrival of the Teacher"
1889
Canvas, oil. 58.5 x 79 cm
Chuvash State Art Museum

"Portrait of S. P. Kuvshinnikova"
1888-1889
Canvas, oil
State Literary Museum

"Portrait of Medyntsev"
Canvas, oil
Tver Regional Picture Gallery
Nikolay Vasilyevich Medyntsev — merchant, collector, and father-in-law of the artist A. S. Stepanov (1902)

"Boulevard"
1919
Paper, watercolor
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

"Ferry"
1919
Canvas, oil
Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts

Ballet. 1908-1909

Particularly interesting is Stepanov's gouache "Grand Opera", executed, at first glance, in a manner so evidently and creatively inspired by the Impressionists that it can cause an attributional mistake even among major specialists of late 19th-century French art. In "Grand Opera" (c. 1922), with free brushstrokes, indistinct yet deep and muted colors, trembling and vague yet characteristic silhouettes of figures in the twilight of the auditorium and the melting, brightly lit white shadows of ballerinas moving across the stage, Stepanov comes so close to Degas that many attributed this small study either to Degas himself or at least to an artist from his circle. M. A. Dobrov testified to Stepanov's admiration for Degas's work and his fascination with Degas's masterful drawing. But it would be wrong to see in this study blind imitation of French Impressionism. It is an inspired, excited, but still merely practical exercise, caused by the artist's characteristic desire to learn until the end of his days. Deeply and truly, Stepanov was moved only by the Russian theme.

Attention should be paid to the statements of Stepanov's students denying the presence of Impressionism in his work (A. P. Panfilov, V. A. Filippov, B. N. Yakovlev and others).

There is a profound difference between Impressionist painting and Stepanov's painting, rooted in the very principle of their art. The Impressionist masterfully captures an instantaneous impression. But being faithful to the moment, his work loses something of the permanently occurring essence present in every phenomenon, in every thing.

Stepanov strove to take the most essential, precisely that which gives tone and character to a phenomenon, discarding the unnecessary, looking into the very core of the subject. Behind his light, quick, airy painting there is much skill, but also a lot of labor.
"This is not Impressionism," says A. P. Panfilov. "He took gently, but directly." Therefore, in his animals the "fur is always visible," although it is hard to imagine anything farther from naturalism than Stepanov's art.
Years of persistent work, thousands of field observations, painstaking study of animal anatomy, and along with all this mastering in artistic practice of all painting materials — paints, solvents, canvas, cardboard — all this underlies Stepanov's method.

That is why he did not allow his students to imitate him. He knew that such imitation could only be external and harmful. He taught them to see, to choose the main thing, to remember; he taught them to exercise the eye in distinguishing the finest tonal shades.

Self-portrait. 1922

In 1920 Stepanov became seriously ill but continued to work. One of Stepanov's last works, "The Swing" (1923), was acquired for the Carnegie Institute collection. Alexey Stepanovich Stepanov died in 1923 and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery.