Herzen Theodore. Monumentalist, graphic artist, painter. People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR, member of the Council of Artists of the USSR and the Kyrgyz SSR (1970), Laureate of the State Prize named after Tokgogul. Tokgogul. Theodor Theodorovich Gertsen was born on 15 March 1935 in the village of Orlovka (now Ak-Dyobyo, Talas region). He received his initial artistic education from his father Theodor Gergardovich Herzen, an educated man, a collector of books on art, paintings, reproductions from the canvases of masters, a teacher of drawing and drafting at school. The... далее

Herzen Theodore. Monumentalist, graphic artist, painter. People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR, member of the Council of Artists of the USSR and the Kyrgyz SSR (1970), Laureate of the State Prize named after Tokgogul. Tokgogul. Theodor Theodorovich Gertsen was born on 15 March 1935 in the village of Orlovka (now Ak-Dyobyo, Talas region). He received his initial artistic education from his father Theodor Gergardovich Herzen, an educated man, a collector of books on art, paintings, reproductions from the canvases of masters, a teacher of drawing and drafting at school. The childhood of the artist fell on hard war years. His father was sent to the labour front, to the Urals, like all the adult German population of the settlement. Disasters and deprivations of collective farm life fell on the shoulders of women and children. The war hardship, clinging to the memory of childhood, will be reflected later in a series of engravings ‘From the History of My Collective Farm’ (1976): ‘Gone Men’, “Letter to the Front”, “Bread to the Front” and will be shown at the exhibition dedicated to the Great Victory (1980). In 1951 he entered the mining and industrial school in Kyzyl-Kiya and after graduation he worked as an electric locomotive driver, not leaving the dream of becoming an artist. In 1954 he entered the Frunze Art School. His teachers were I.D. Miroshnichenko, V.P. Zhukov, F.M. Stukoshin. His fellow students were A. Osmonov, V. Maksimov, B. Jumabaev. The senior and junior courses were attended by artists who became famous masters over the years - V. Butorin, A. Gorev, E. Toktogonov, V. Kopotev, A. Botokanov, V. Ulitin and others. In 1957 the first participation of Herzen in the art exhibition dedicated to the Republican Youth Festival took place. In the year of graduation from the school - 1959 - Herzen attempted to enter the Moscow Art Institute named after V. I. Surikov. But, being late with the documents, returned home with a firm conviction to enter next year. He wrote slogans, drew satirical leaflets, made hundreds of studies from nature - landscapes, portraits. In the same year he repaired the old premises of the club, given to him as a workshop, held an exhibition of his works. And soon together with his father turns it into an exhibition hall (1960), where a travelling foreign exhibition of works by Romanian graphic artists is shown. This was followed by an exhibition of works by Kyrgyz graphic artists: L. Ilyina, A. Mikhalev, A. Ostashev, I. Belevich, A. Sgibnev, N. Efremenko, M. Omorkulov and others. Once again a personal exhibition of works by Theodore Gertsen. The influx of spectators to the Orel Gallery exceeded all expectations - wrote the newspapers of that time. In 1960, having won a great competition in the entrance examinations, Herzen became a student of the Moscow Art and Industry Academy named after S. G. Stroganov, choosing the faculty of monumental and decorative painting. Classes are conducted by major Soviet masters - V.K. Zamkov, V.F. Bordyuchenko, A.H. Maksimova, N.I. Belyanina, V.A. Ermolova. At this time in the creative destiny of Theodor Herzen he married to Dil-Firuz Ignatieva, who became not just a wife, but an equal colleague with whom he could discuss professional issues of art. Her still lifes and landscapes of exquisite colour enriched Kyrgyz art. The result of his studies at the institute was Herzen's diploma work ‘National Song Festival’, for which he received an excellent mark. The painting was designed and executed in the foyer of the Kyrgyz Drama Theatre in Frunze. Herzen's work stood out as a special direction in the formation of monumental art of the republic. He was alien to over-generalised figurative and stylistic forms, devoid of concrete content of the theme. Herzen was close to the artistic solution, based on the plot and thematic basis. Works in graphics and monumental painting are interrelated and are characterised by the unity of style and approach to the solution of figurative problems. The central place in his work of recent years is occupied by a cycle of illustrations for the 4-volume edition of the epic ‘Manas’. Several years of hard painstaking work have summarised all his experience of working on Kyrgyz themes. скрыть