The unfulfilled museum collection of works by G. S. Vereiskiy: The artist’s autobiography as a key to his creative heritage

Abstract

In 2021, the 135th anniversary of George Semenovich Vereiskiy (1886–1962) was celebrated. Vereiskiy was a talented, methodical, and self-disciplined artist who focused on the subject of his work. He was a member of the “World of Art” association, curator of the State Hermitage’s Department of Engravings, teacher of painting, laureate of the second degree of the Stalin Prize (1946), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1962), honored worker of the arts, and member of the Academy of Arts. Vereiskiy was involved in various forms of art, especially drawing and painting. He worked in many genres (portrait, landscape, interior, still life, residential and industrial genres). In his drawings and lithographs in the 1920–30s, he was a pioneer of industrial themes. The main source of his work was love for Russian nature (his landscapes are imbued with a soft lyricism). His clarity of perception of the surrounding reality and high civil position enabled him to make the most important aspect of art — a portrait. Without exaggeration, it can be argued that Vereiskiy for more than half a century created a large portrait gallery of his contemporaries, from science and artists to the Knights of St. George from the First World War and military officials of World War II (1941–1945). Vereiskiy’s artistic heritage is very extensive and it is still waiting for its explorer. This article was created in order to establish a precursor for the study of the artist’s creative heritage, fragmentarily concentrated in a number of museum collections, which are discussed below. The reference point to the artist’s creative heritage is his autobiography, which the article introduces into scientific circulation for the first time.