Sergey Zagraevsky
Encyclopedia
Professor Dr. Sergéy Zagraévsky (Russian: Серге́й Вольфга́нгович Заграе́вский. Hebrew: סרגיי זגרייבסקי) (born August 20, 1964, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

) is a well-known Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

-Jewish painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, architectural historian
History of architecture
The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates.-Neolithic architecture:Neolithic architecture is the architecture of the Neolithic period...

, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and theologian.

Biography

Zagraevsky was born to architectural historian Wolfgang Kawelmacher (1933–2004) and poet and dramatist Inna Zagraevsky (born 1933). His name may also be transliterated into Hebrew as סרגיי זגרייבסקי, and to Zagrajewski, Sagrajewski, Zagraewski, Zagraevskiy, or Zagraevskij in English.

He began to paint at school and his first teacher was the well-known Russian painter Tatiana Mavrina.

Until the middle 1990s, Zagraevsky studied the scientific problems of system analysis alongside the arts. During this decade, he became a professional architectural historian and theologian while continuing with his painting. In 1998 he began to focus completely on arts, humanities and public activities, using the organizational experience gained as chairman of the Artists Trade Union of Russia
Artists Trade Union of Russia
Artists Trade Union of Russia is an All-Russian trade union of artists , art historians, museum and gallery workers etc.- About :...

, one of the most authoritative artists' organizations in Russia. He also held more than ten personal exhibitions in Moscow and took part in numerous other group ones.

Between 2002–2005 Zagraevsky lectured at the Moscow Institute of Restoration Arts, and he now he gives lections at the Russian University of Intellectual Property and in the Vladimir-Souzdal Museum. The main themes of his architectural history research are ancient Russian white-stone buildings, the early architecture of Moscow and architectural connections between ancient Russia and Romano-Gothic Europe. His doctoral thesis was "North-Eastern Russian architecture from the end of 13th - first third of the 14th century".

Zagraevsky is chief editor of the reference work "United Artists Rating
United Artists Rating
“United Art Rating” — rating, published since 1999 by Artists Trade Union of Russia; one of instruments of art market regulations.- About :“United Art Rating” is published as a periodical reference book, registered as mass media.XVII edition of the reference book includes the names, dates of life...

" as well as the author of a number of books on philosophy, theology, the history of architecture together with children's stories and many articles on art critics. He is the founder and curator of "RusArch" - the electronic scientific library on History of Old Russian architecture.

In 1992 he became a doctor of technique then a professor in 2005, and received his doctorate in architecture in 2004, Zagraevsky is also a full member of Russian art critics Academy (since 2001), a member of the AICA
International Association of Art Critics
The International Association of Art Critics was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. AICA was initially affiliated with UNESCO as a non-governmental organization...

 (since 2004), a member of Writers union of Russia (since 2001)
and an Honored culture worker of Russia (since 2009).

Art

Zagraevsky's art does not belong to the classic primitive or naïve
Naïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...

 schools, which includes paintings by Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...

, Niko Pirosmani and Grandma Moses
Grandma Moses
Anna Mary Robertson Moses , better known as "Grandma Moses", was a renowned American folk artist. She is often cited as an example of an individual successfully beginning a career in the arts at an advanced age. Although her family and friends called her either "Mother Moses" or "Grandma Moses,"...

  since neither the formal nor actual parameters of primitive art are met. Instead, his style is best described as "primitivism
Primitivism
Primitivism is a Western art movement that borrows visual forms from non-Western or prehistoric peoples, such as Paul Gauguin's inclusion of Tahitian motifs in paintings and ceramics...

", a genre which includes the "primitive" paintings of many artists who had an academic apprenticeship and extensive experience in other styles such as Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...

, Mikhail Larionov
Mikhail Larionov
Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov was an avant-garde Russian painter.-Life and work:...

, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

 and Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...

. However, there are some differences in Zagraevsky's style; his landscape paintings are very close to the "childish" while only reverse perspective, the absence of chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....

 and aerial haze, the relatively accurate portrayal of parts twin his works with the classic plastic of primitive. Zagraevsky also uses predominantly open colors, which give his paintings exceptional brightness and comparable only to children's painting. There is no humor nor gore, both of which apply to the creativity of children, unless they attempt to draw based on instructions from adults.

Within the last decade, Zagraevsky's works have become slightly more generalized and his paintings more mixed but without detriment to their brightness. Details are drawn less carefully although the works remain "childish", with the hand of an experienced artist visible only in the stability of the stroke, the virtuoso technique of painting and drawing, the compositional and the color balance. A number of recurring "proprietary" features such as a "flattened" sun, squat trees with huge roots, multi-colored water, "album-styled" flowers and windows also appear in these paintings.
In the 1990s Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author song"...

wrote of Zagraevsky::
When he moves on a picture his fist,
God is at his assist.
God is with him all his way.
That is the painter Sergey.

Monographs


Selected articles


Theology


Social philosophy

  • "Third Rome" or "Third world"? (Russian: Третий Рим или третий мир? Справочник «Единый художественный рейтинг», вып. 7. М., 2003. С. 6-12.)
  • The past, present and future of the Jewish nation (Hebrew: על עבר, הווה ועתיד של אומה יהודית, Russian: О прошлом, настоящем и будущем еврейской нации. Электронная публикация. М., 2009.)
  • Death penalty or life imprisonment? (Russian: Смертная казнь или пожизненное лишение свободы? Электронная публикация. М., 2008.)
  • Arts and the fall of Soviet power (Russian: Искусство и гибель советской власти. Справочник «Единый художественный рейтинг», вып. 4. М., 2001. С. 17-26.)
  • Alcohol and alcoholism in Russia (Russian: Об алкоголе и алкоголизме в России. Электронная публикация. М., 2009.)
  • Democracy and dictatorship in Russia (Russian: О демократии и диктатуре в России. Электронная публикация. М., 2010.)

Literature

  • Twelve months. Book for children (Russian: Двенадцать месяцев (книга для детей). М., 1998.) ISBN 5-876955-005-X.
  • My XX century. Memoirs (Russian: Мой ХХ век (мемуары). М., 2001.) ISBN 5-94025-009-2.
  • Ivanushka in the Land of tales (Russian: Иванушка в стране сказок (трилогия). М., 2005.) ISBN 5-94025-069-6.

Art criticism

  • On some problems of basic terminology (Russian: О некоторых вопросах базовой терминологии. Справочник «Единый художественный рейтинг», вып. 11. М., 2005. С. 16-25.)
  • "Spiritual autism" (Russian: Духовный аутизм. Справочник «Единый художественный рейтинг», вып. 5. М., 2002. С. 67-76.)
  • "Spiritual autism" (Russian: Еще раз о «духовном аутизме». Справочник «Единый художественный рейтинг», вып. 7. М., 2003. С. 51-64.)
  • The congress of Moscow artists union or a feast during the plague? (Russian: Съезд Московского союза художников или пир во время чумы? Газета «Московский художник», № 2, 2003. С. 5.)
  • Arts and virtual reality (Russian: Искусство и виртуальная реальность. Справочник «Единый художественный рейтинг», вып. 5. М., 2002. С. 42-52.)
  • What to consider as masterpieces? Again about "Art of XX century" (Russian: Что считать шедеврами? (Снова об «Искусстве ХХ века»). Газета «Культура», № 25 (7233), 6-12 июля 2000 г.)
  • The ship and its team (to the 10 years jubilee of the Charter of Russian Academy of arts (Russian: Корабль и его команда (к 10-летию Устава Российской академии художеств). Электронная публикация. М., 2007.)

Protection of historical and cultural heritage


Catalogues of Zagraevsky's art works

  • Сергей Заграевский / Sergey Zagraevsky. — М., 1998.
  • Сергей Заграевский / Sergey Zagraevsky. — М., 2007.
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