Taking a Snow Town is a painting by the Russian artist Vasily Surikov (1848–1916), completed in 1891. It is kept in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (inventory Zh-4235). The size of the canvas is 156×282 cm.Государственный Русский музей — Живопись, XVIII — начало XX века (каталог). — Л.: Аврора и Искусство, 1980. — 448 p.Государственный Русский музей — каталог собрания / В. А. Леняшин. — СПб.: Palace Editions, 2017. — V. 7: Живопись второй половины XIX века (Н—Я). — P. 149. — .Суриков В. И. Взятие снежного городка. 1891 (HTML). Виртуальный Русский музей — rusmuseumvrm.ru. Дата обращения: 18 July 2019. Archive: 13 April 2019. The painting depicts the climax of an ancient folk game popular among the Siberian Cossack community. According to tradition, the game was organized on the last day of Maslenitsa, and the artist, who grew up in Krasnoyarsk, observed it many times during his childhood. Surikov worked on the canvas during his stay in Krasnoyarsk from 1889 to 1890, and finished it after his return to Moscow. Many of his relatives and acquaintances served as sitters.
The painting Taking a Snow Town was presented at the 19th exhibition of the Peredvizhniki Society Travelling Exhibitions, which opened in March 1891 in St. Petersburg.Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. p. 307.Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. p. 352. In 1899 the canvas was bought from the artist for 10 thousand rubles by the collector and art patron Vladimir von Mekk. In 1900 the painting was part of the Russian exposition at Exposition Universelle in Paris, where it was awarded a personal medal,С. М. Грачёва. Суриков Василий Иванович (HTML). Большая российская энциклопедия — bigenc.ru. Дата обращения: 18 July 2019. Archive: 26 May 2019. and in 1908 several paintings from von Meck's collection, including Taking a Snow Town, were purchased for the collection of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III (now the State Russian Museum).
The critic Vladimir Stasov noted that Surikov's work "though far from being equal to his magnificent painting Boyaryna Morozova, probably belongs to the most remarkable paintings of the Russian school". The artist and critic Sergei Goloushev (literary pseudonym — Sergei Glagol) considered the painting Taking a Snow Town a high point in Surikov's work as a painter". The art historian Vladimir Kemenov called Taking a Snow Town a joyful and cheerful picture. In his opinion, the artist managed to convey "sincere passion of the Siberian game", as well as the image of the people, in which "huge reserves of heroic forces, cheerfulness, fun are bubbling".
History
Previous events and the working process
In the summer of 1887, after completing the painting Boyarda Morozova, Vasily Surikov, together with his wife Elizaveta Augustovna and daughters Olga and Elena, went to his native Krasnoyarsk, where his mother Praskovya Fedorovna and brother Alexander lived. There he stayed until late autumn, made many sketches of urban and peasant life, and painted a large portrait of his mother (now in the State Tretyakov Gallery). At the end of the trip, Surikov planned to create a large canvas on Siberia, but his creative plans were interrupted by his wife's serious illness. Apparently, the trip to Siberia affected her health, and she died a few months after their return to Moscow, on April 8, 1888. Surikov was deeply affected by his wife's death; in a letter dated April 20, 1888, he wrote to his brother: "Since February 1, Lisa's illness began, and I have not had a moment of peace to write a word to you. [...] I, brother, am going mad. On April 8, at 2.30 o'clock, on Friday, the fifth week of Lent, she, my little dove, was gone. [...] It's hard for me, brother Sasha. [...] Here, Sasha, my life is broken; what will happen next, and I cannot imagine".Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. pp. 76-77.
In order to change the environment and to distract himself from heavy thoughts, in May 1889 Vasily Surikov came back to Krasnoyarsk with his daughters, where this time he lived for about a year and a half. The girls studied at the gymnasium, and the artist's brother Alexander tried with all his might to entertain Vasily and restore his interest in life and creative activity. Almost every day they drove around the city or visited its suburbs, places known to the artist since childhood. Life among people close to him, familiar surroundings, trips to the countryside and fresh impressions of Siberian nature: all this contributed to the acquisition of peace and health, the restoration of creative forces. Surikov returned to work — painted portraits of his relatives and friends, old Krasnoyarsk houses, mountain landscapes and views of the Yenisey, as well as various scenes from the life of Siberians. According to his own recollections, quoted by Maximilian Voloshin, he "went to Siberia", "shook himself up", "and then turned from drama to great cheerfulness".Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. pp. 187-188.
It was then that Vasily Surikov had the idea of painting a large canvas on the theme of "taking a snow city" — an ancient folk game popular among the Siberian Cossack community. The last day of Shrovetide was spent by many Krasnoyarsk residents in the surrounding villages, where "cities" with crenelated walls, snow cannons and figures were built out of snow and ice. The participants were divided into defenders and attackers. A rider on horseback had to break through the ranks of the town's defenders, break through the gate, and knock down a snow bar.Государственный Русский музей. Живопись XII — начала XX века / В. А. Пушкарёв. — М.: Изобразительное искусство, 1993. — P. 100. — (Музеи мира). — . In the past, the "town's taking" were being organized in the village of Torgoshino were particularly famous, and by the late 1880s or early 1890s "towns" could be found only in the villages of Ladeiki and Beryozovk. Surikov's relatives on his mother's side, Praskovia Fyodorovna (née Torgoshina) lived in Torgoshino. The artist said that in his childhood years he repeatedly observed this folk entertainment: "Beyond Krasnoyarsk, on this bank of the Yenisei, I saw for the first time how the 'city' was taken. We were coming from Torgoshins. There was a crowd. A snowy city. And a black horse passed me by, I remember. That's right, it's in my picture and it stayed".
Surikov worked on the picture in Krasnoyarsk. According to Alexander, the artist's brother, "for the work of this painting Vasya has become less bored with his wife, in a word, to some extent came to his senses, began to visit and we had acquaintances".Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. pp. 222-223. In 1890, during Shrovetide, Vasily and Alexander visited the village of Ladeiki (also called Ladeika or Ladeyskoye), located not far from Krasnoyarsk. At the artist's request, the young people of Ladeyskoye built a snow city and organized its "capture"Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. p. 222. — this performance cost the brothers "three buckets of vodka". From nature, Surikov made several sketches in color and pencil. According to some sources, the staging of the capture of the Snow Fortress took place in the courtyard of the Surikovs' house-museum in Krasnoyarsk — there local Cossacks took part in the construction of the city.Гор. Е. С., Петров В. Н. (1995). Суриков. Жизнь замечательных людей (in Russian). М.: Молодая гвардия. p. 157. When he was working on the painting, the sitters were his brother Alexander, his great-niece Tatiana Domozhilova, Ekaterina Rachkovskaya and many other acquaintances.
Surikov began work on the large canvas in the largest room of his house in Krasnoyarsk. A few months later, in the fall of 1890, the artist returned to Moscow from Krasnoyarsk, taking with him a canvas rolled up on a shaft. In a letter to his mother Praskovya Feodorovna and his brother Alexander in early 1891, Vasily Surikov wrote: "I put the painting in a gold frame. It is very beautiful now. I have finished it. Soon, in the beginning or middle of February, it will be sent to an exhibition in St. Petersburg. I don't know what impression it will make. My brother, I have not shown it to anyone yet".Василий Иванович Суриков. Письма. Воспоминания о художнике / Н. А. Радзимовская, З. А. Радзимовская, С. Н. Гольдштейн. — Л.: Искусство (Ленинградское отделение), 1977. pp. 82-83.
The 19th Travelling Exhibition The painting Taking a Snow Town (with the subtitle Old Cossack game in Siberia on Maslenitsa)Товарищество передвижных художественных выставок. Письма, документы. 1869—1899 / В. В. Андреева, М. В. Астафьева, С. Н. Гольдштейн, Н. Л. Приймак. — М.: Искусство, 1987. — P. 392. was presented at the 19th Exhibition of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions ("Peredvizhniki"), which opened in St. Petersburg on March 9, 1891, and moved to Moscow in April. After that, Surikov's canvas travelled with the exhibition to Kharkiv, Kyiv, Elisavetgrad, Odesa, Chișinău, and Poltava. The painting aroused special interest in the public, also because at the two previous exhibitions of the Partnership (17th and 18th) the artist's works were not exhibited. In addition, the surprise (and sometimes confusion) of the artist's contemporaries was caused by the fact that in the new painting Surikov departed from his "tragic role", which could be attributed to his previous large-format works — The Morning of the Streltsy Execution and Boyarda Morozova.