The artist – layers
Almost all the paintings of Arkady Plastov are devoted to the life of peasants. Having completed training at the Stroganov Central Art and Industry School (1912-1914) and at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1914-1917), layers returned to his native village of the Simbirsk province (now Ulyanovsk Region) and devoted his work to its residents. The artist was always interested in the plastic side of painting (not without reason he studied at the sculptural department), but first of all, painting in itself as a certain material substance, with the help of which one can convey the reality of true, natural matter.
In the picture "Noon" every smear, saturated with color and light vibrates and breathes. Her plot, as always with Plastov, is simple, grabbed from life. On a sultry day, a man and a woman drove up on a motorcycle to the well and wash their faces heated by the sun with cool water, and in the water, in the depths of the well, the sun itself sparkles and it is also imprinted on their faces, robes, herbs.
Similar to precious fabric, the picturesque surface of the canvas is woven from thousands of various strokes. Organ sound of colors, elusively complex overflow of light, a tense game of contrasts – everything is subordinated to the expression of joy and fullness of human existence. Zenith of the day, zenith of the life of nature – zenith of human life. The timeless topic of art. Although the contemporary artist reality is indicated by a characteristic detail – a motorcycle whose iron building is visible through the lace of green grass – it, this reality, as if it is not related to the picturesque truth of the canvas. Continuing the traditions of Russian romanticism of the XIX century, and, above all, Bryullov and Venetianov, Arkady Plastov reveals the idea of a harmonious merger of man and nature in "half days". And does this with conquering freedom on the material of a simple, everyday life, but with that genuine significance that distinguishes high works of art.
