Yuri Vasilyevich Volkov (1921-1991) was a Russian painter who painted field studies to understand light effects for his studio paintings.
He dropped out of art school, having completed only two courses. He studied directly with military painters to learn their methods.
From the water's edge, he painted the transparency and reflectivity of the shore waters.
He was interested in how you could see the pebbles through the shallow water and the way the far planes of the water reflected the sky colors.
He also painted studies of models posing outdoors in natural light to aid him in his battle paintings.
His studio paintings include seaside scenes with lots of people playing and bathing...
...and joyous scenes of home and harvest. Presumably these composition were "built" from studies made on location. But Volkov is best known for his battle paintings.
Volkov was injured in World War II, captured by Germans, and escaped three times from POW camps.
According to the Russian Wikipedia page, "he painted from life, made mannequins himself, for which he studied anatomy."
"He compiled an extensive collection of military props, uniforms, and trophies, which he began to collect at the front."
Journalist B. Sluchanko, who visited him in 1956, wrote: “Everyone who entered the workshop could involuntarily think that he was in the defeated German headquarters."
"Overcoats, black German uniforms, helmets lay in bulk, the silver of the officer's shoulder straps glittered dully, the barrel of the machine gun was threateningly darkened ... ”
But Volkov's memory of the war didn't always match with the official interpretations, so he passed up many opportunities to create official history paintings.
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Thanks, Shane White
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