12.09.1951 – 15.08.2015 Aleskandr Petrovich's creative career was rich, but tragically tortured and short. He recently passed away. He started his working life as a rural interior decorator in escort troops, then a military pilot and a wing commander, before finally becoming an impressionist and lyrical poet.
Life and destiny
Aleksandr Petrovich Pavlov was born into the family of the famous artist – Pavlov Peter Ivanovich.
His father was descended from impoverished peasants. When he was 23, he went to the Hermitage. He had never been to a museum before and was amazed by the works of famous artists. He spent the next 5 years in Stalin’s labor camp. It was only in 1939 that he entered art school. Then the war started and he worked as a“GAS”-2a driver. For him, it only became possible to graduate from art school after the war ended in 1948. He was 38 years old on Graduation Day and he went on to teach at art school. He waited 22 years to become an artist.
- It was only when I retired at age 60 that I became an artist. Before that I was a teacher. – Petr Ivanovich said. Aleksandr Petrovich, his son wasn’t interested in painting for nearly 25 years.
Aleksandr grew up surrounded by art, but art didn’t attract him. It bored him. He preferred football or fishing. He began art school in his 5th year at school. He studied there unwillingly for 2 years, then he began to enjoy it. When he finished 8 form, he began to study at the School Of Art. However, his marks were far from brilliant.
- Why do you shame me publicly? You are the worst in the class. –Pavlov told his son.
- So, what must I do to be the best? – asked Aleksandr, ashamed.
- Only hard work can help you. For example, try to walk in the countryside in the summer time and paint something.
His fathers’s disappointment hurt Aleksandr and he spent the whole of that summer painting. When he resumed his studies, he noticed that his painting had significantly improved and he soon became the best student in the class. He graduated art school with honours ! He started studying at the famous Saint Petersburg institute ‘Repinka’– Leningrad State Academic Institute of Art, Sculpture and Architecture. But his exam marks were poor.
- Professor, why did you gave me a poor mark? That student’s work is much worse, and you gave him a good mark. – Alexander demanded.
- Because this student can still be taugh, but you cannot. You are ready. Go and paint! – answered the professor.
He proceeded to go to Bolshoe Selo, where he worked for 3 years after finishing art school. He was surrounded with simple people. They drunk, smoked, used bad language and laughed at the young interior decorator. They used to say: “What kind of man are you, if you don’t drink? Drink!” The young artist was allowed to avoid conscription to the army. Once, he painted a placard typical of that period, declaming “Decision XXIV of party congress in b…”. To this day it remains unfinished, with only the letter“b”. Something distracted him and he forgot about unfinished placard. In the morning, a military commissar called him and said furiously: “I’ll show you!!! You will go to the the real b…!!! You are going to the army!!!” This was how he ended up in the army.
He drove prisoners. Life in the army was extremely boring for him. He decided to take a holiday. The plan was genius. Soliders in the army were allowed to apply to military college. Every college entrant was given 30 days to prepare as well as a month of exams.
- I am a maximalist and if I am to choose a military college, I will choose the most prestigious – summer college. The best one. –Aleksandr Petrovich said. This led him to study at Orenburg Higher Military Aircraft School and graduated with honours. During his 25 years of service, he became wing-commander, was part of 5 military communities, mastered 6 types of airplanes and participated in military operations in Vietnam, Cuba, Syria, Germany and Chechnya. He was rewarded with the Nesterov medal. He was a taught in Orenburg Military School. In 1996 he was transferred to the reserve unit.
For 5 years he worked in Orenburg’s Emergency Control Ministry as a decorator and grantor. His works were gifted to people of high rank – such as Sergey Schojga and Viktor Chernomyrdin.
In 2000 he turned to Yaroslavl. His father was 90 and together they put the finishing touches to his personal exhibition. Aleksandr began to complete some of father’s woks. On one work he painted the sky, on the other he detached birch-trees . After working with placards and wall papers in the civil service, he returned to real art. He progressed to open air and landscape paintings. In 2002 he became a member of the Union of Artists.
Plein air in Tobol (in 2002) turned his life upside down – he became an impressionist and even avant-gardist. He wondered how easily he could change the manner of painting. You can see landscapes, painted in realism, and bright water-color which still thrive, and canvases of oil painting. All his works are filled with light, color, and sincere emotions.
He poured his soul into every work. Even a simple village house was transferred into a masterpiece by his talent. Aleksadr Petrovich adored painting water. He has a series of works dedicated to “Smaller Rivers of Russia”, where water merges with the sky and becomes a whole.He was also interested in urban landscapes and had a personal exhibition “Yaroslavl and its Alleys”. His pastel works were exhibited in Italy and Serbia.
Yaroslavl’s Open Air Center houses some water-colors by Aleksandr Petrovich (painted during Literary-art plein air and in Nekrasovsky events). These works are sumptuous and bright.
His poetry was also sincere and natural.
In Memory Of The Artist.
He is simple as the wind,
And inexhaustible as waves.
He is treated with memory as ground.
His canvases are filled with treasure,
Like the hold of the ship with precious cargo.
He lived and sang. Quiet and muted.
In fields, in forests. In expanses and silence.
Don’t they really don’t know that it is genuinely simple
To drink in as air the music of the soul?
Birches, rivers, grass and sunsets,
You noticed everything.
Palette of life is filled by you,
And it lives in you. Always. At present. Now.
Material by Vladimir Kobylinsky and Larisa Drach.
http://www.vancouverexpress.ca/archives/8085
http://yarcenter.ru/blogs/larisa-drach-/vody-brody-reki-gody-i-veka-77686/
Education:
1970 – Yaroslavl Art Specialized School.
1976 – Orenburg Military School. He had completed a study with a gold medal.
1995 – He was rewarded with P.Nesterov’s medal for active service in Chechnya. He is a member of the Union of Russian Artists.
2002 – International exhibition “Europastel”, Province of Cuneo, Italy.
2006 – Anniversary exhibition in the Union of Artists, Yaroslavl.
2007 – Personal exhibition “Yaroslavl alleyways”, hall Nuzhina, Yaroslavl.
2008 – X Regional Art exhibition “Artists from Central Parts of Russia”, Yaroslavl.
2009 – Personal exhibition “Yaroslavl and its alleyways”, Yaroslavl museum.
2011 – All-Russian Art exhibition “Artists to Fleet”, Vladivostok.
2013 – “Artists from Central Parts of Russia”, Lipetsk.
2015 – “Poetry and painting –is a baton of times”, Yaroslavl.
He was a member and participants of exhibitions of art association “A sail”. His works are housed in a lot of private collections.
Contribution To Open Air Events: