Shishkin and Photography by James Gurney

Kaustav

Monday, September 21, 2015

Shishkin and Photography

Ivan Shishkin, Woodland. 1889. Oil on canvas. 39 1-2 x 29 in. Date 1889

Although he was a devoted and prolific outdoor painter, Russian landscape painter Ivan Shishkin was also a big fan of photography, according to an article in the Russian archives.

He became closely involved with photos while working in Andrey Karelin's photography studio in 1870, coloring black and white photos for an album that was presented to emperor Alexander II.

Shishkin encouraged his students to work from photos, especially in the depths of winter, for example, when painting outdoors was impractical. Shishkin wrote in one of his letters:

"... Let me give you one major piece of advice, that underlies all of my painting secrets and techniques, and that advice is — photography. It is a mediator between the artist and nature and one of the most strict mentors you'll ever have. And if you understand the intelligent way of using it, you'll learn much faster and improve your weak points. You'll learn how to paint clouds, water, trees — everything. You'll better understand atmospheric effects and linear perspective and so on..."

Shishkin enlarged details with a magnifying glass, and he also used a projector. When he came to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1897, he specifically mentioned the need for a "magic lantern" type projection device to aid in student learning, not only for enlarging photos, but for presenting drawings at a larger scale.

Although photographs were used widely by artists during his time, Shishkin was conscious of not mindlessly copying. He told his students that the way an artist uses a photo will reveal the artist with talent, because "a mediocre artist will slavishly copy all the unnecessary detail from photos, but a man with a flair will take only what he needs."

Shishkin's enthusiasm for modern tools like photography is not surprising during an era of technological innovation, and in an age of positivism, which placed a value on verifiable facts. His friend, portrait painter Ivan Kramskoi also used photography, and he probably used one to guide his portrait of Shishkin below:

Portrait of Shishkin by Ivan Kramskoi

But Shishkin never regarded photography as a substitute for painting outdoors from life. Kramskoi marveled at his productivity: "He paints two or three studies a day and completely finishes each of them."

Shishkin wrote: "In the case of art - be it art, architecture, such practice is of the greatest importance. It alone allows the artist to appreciate the substance of the raw material which nature presents. Therefore, the study of nature is necessary for any artist, but especially for the landscape."

Shishkin knew as much about individual plant forms as did the professional botanists of his day. He probably would have agreed with the critic Adrian Prakhov, who said, "I love the original character of every tree, every bush, and every blade of grass, and as a loving son who values ​​each wrinkle on the face of his mother."

Shishkin said, "Work every day as if it is your daily duty. There's no need to wait for inspiration! Inspiration is the work itself!"
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Thanks to Samir Rakhmanov for the link and the help with translation.
Previously on GJ: Using Photo Reference

BOB73

I'm not surprised Shishkin knew about plants and botany. I see artists at the arboretum often. All the plants and trees have labels and sometimes they will be holding a leaf or flower petal while they sketch or paint. My barber is pretty old. But not that old. Maybe he learned from Shishkin's barber. 

Kaustav

@BOB73 I don't know much about trees or plants. I only looks at shapes and work like a forger. I have to ask either my uncle or his daughter-in-law for some study material regarding shapes and leaf structures of common trees in India. Both are PhDs in botany and my uncle is a highly respected scientist. He is working for the last half a century! and there you have a guy like me!

BOB73

You don't need a PHD. You need a guide book with color illustrations on the local trees and plants in your region I'm sure there is one available at your nearest library or you may have to wait till your next trip to the big city Delhi?

https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/who-we-are/9-trees-that-grow-in-india-and-all-you-need-to-know-about-them-243667.html

http://www.walkthroughindia.com/lifestyle/9-most-common-indian-trees-sacred-and-fruitful/

http://www.ecoindia.com/flora/trees/

http://www.walkthroughindia.com/nursery/top-10-most-dangerous-plants-found-in-india/

Kaustav

BOB73 said:

You don't need a PHD. You need a guide book with color illustrations on the local trees and plants in your region I'm sure there is one available at your nearest library or you may have to wait till your next trip to the big city Delhi?

Yeah. But I need a very good one. There are a lot of misleading images in the web.

BOB73

When you paint them on the far side of the river, who will know?

BOB73

Misleading true. One of those looked like a red-tipped futonia like I had around my house for 40 years until Hurricane Harvey. The Banyan trees there look like the ones I saw in Florida. The teak trees and Mahogany are different but similar to the ones in South America and the Philippines. 

BOB73

I had to dig deep to find this but it's exactly what I was looking for.
https://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Guide-Trees-Shrubs-Guides/dp/1909612820/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1548922534&sr=1-1

Kaustav

Thanks @BOB73 I just added it in my wish list

TedB

More remarkable when you consider that Shiskin was working with b/w images, likely taken with large-format glass-plate cameras.  One huge genefit of glass-plate photo emulsions is the extraordinary level of granularity they record.  Way better than the roll-film that followed, especially "modern" color film.  Or even many of today's digital DSLR cameras.

I place reference photos in three degrees of experience and gesalt;
1. The photograph you took yourself.
2. The photogragh of a place you've been and experienced yourself, but someone else framed and shot.  Perhaps a historial view, or a different season.
3. The photograph of an unknown place to you.

I have a digital camera that takes very good b/w primary images.  They're much better than later converting color-to-grayscale in the computer, though I don't know which of the several b/w protocols my camera uses.  Often I take color and b/w images of the same sugject or location.  Primary b/w images record value and form more clearly.

ArtGal

@Kaustav thanks for sharing this, most interesting.  in Russia every child knows Shishkin - not because everyone is into arts but there is popular chocolate  candy with his "Morning in the pine forest" painting on the wrap.   

tassieguy

Shishkin is my hero. I want to be a Shishkin of the south. His paintings do it for me like few others. In his grand spaces I can smell the conifers and feel the sun on the wheat fields.  Timelessly beautiful. 

tassieguy

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