27 DECEMBER 2019 Y.
The paintings of sunny artist Pavel Benkov reflect really Uzbekistan: soft, nice, simple and gentle expressive. In this case, impressionism is best suited to show such sensuality & life of this unusual peace of the world, which you can find even in the hardest stone.
Arriving here once in 1929 to work for some time in another land, he stayed here forever. Such a bright sunglow was the discovery for the great Russian impressionist of late 18th - early 19th centuries. The painter could not live without sunlight. Until the end of his life, Pavel Petrovich had been working on the eastern land, where he found the flame necessary for his soul and even received the title of Honored Artist of Uzbekistan 9 years after his arrival.
Unlike Russia in that period with portraits of aristocracy, balls, and still lifes that are common for this period, Uzbekistan was a hot embodiment of freedom thought and creativity. And its incredibly colourful palette whispered inside the master about inspiration & endless fascinating work ahead.
Travelling through the cities of our country, the painter is looking for ideas for creating future masterpieces. He was attracted by the secluded corners of the traditional mahalla, courtyards with trestle beds and vines, rich greens, the streets among clay houses in villages, the local residents’ aesthetic - turbaned men & long black braids of girls in clothes made of rainbow adras. Benkov finds in all this his eternal passion, inspiration, strength, and the desire to create. “My arrival in Uzbekistan can be called a special period ... In Uzbekistan, I began to move on to complex compositions.” P. P. Benkov wrote in his memoirs.
He used to work in the fresh air, so his paintings seem to be alive: it seems that the breeze is swaying branches of trees, sunbeams are playing, people & animals are always in motion, their views are permeated with calm and warmth.
The first years of Pavel Benkov’s life here presented us with paintings of “Vostochnaya Street” 1929, “Bazaar in Bukhara” 1929, “Chor-Minor Mosque” 1929, “Under the trading domes of old Bukhara. Teahouse "1932," A girl from Khiva "1931.
The last canvas, reflecting the painstaking job of a young girl, draws into the process of life and work cource. She dressed in modest airy clothes & tyubeteika and sits on the ground on a summer day. Her hands are gracefully and neatly busy with deal-making fabric on spinning wheel. The girl’s face is very young, focused, but at the moment time happy and calm. She is immersed in work. Behind her, the viewer observes the background from the corner of the clay courtyard. Behind the walls, the architecture of ancient Khiva is hidden probably. The canvas was painted with oil paints.
The poetic & free look of the Uzbek beauty has a pleasant attraction: one feels the saturation of yellow patterns on her red dress, as well as the distinctive sound of a spinning wheel. This is what this artist sought - his main idea was to make the picture alive.
"A girl from Khiva" is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Russian artist with an Uzbek soul and sun in eyes, fascinated by Uzbek domes and minarets, has become a virtue of local & foreign culture, showing Uzbekistan in colours of love and happiness.