Fedot Sychkov

Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov was born in Penza Governorate, in the village Kochelaevo of Narovchatsky Uyezd, now Kovylkinsky District of Mordovia in 1870.

One of the famous works of this period is the picture "Founding of Arapovo Station" (1892), made for Ivan Arapov, general from St. Petersburg who lived on his estate near Kochelaevo.

Despite the fact that during these years course of Imperial Academy of Arts Sychkov studied the battle-painting after graduation he found his vocation as a portrait and genre painter.

His works attracted by the brightness of the portrait characteristics, accurately build the plastic multi-track to the ability, find expressive poses and gestures that give special emotional openness of the images.

The trip abroad in 1908 became one of his brightest vital impressions.Acquaintance to masterpieces of the West European art became a powerful impulse for further creative activity of the painter, lifted it on qualitatively new artistic level.

He brought from Italy and France a lot of scenery.Grandiose buildings of ancient Rome – Arch of Constantine, Forum, Colosseum appear in them as symbols of former greatness of the antique empire.

The color range constructed on combinations of light yellow-green and blue tones, transfers a hot haze of the southern air in which as if outlines of monuments of an antiquity melt.However at doubtless art advantages of these landscapes, the artist's soul most completely reveals in the works devoted to native places.

Tirelessly he painted the native village, crooked fences, ingrown into the land of the hut, the spring floods overflowing Moksha.

At the heart of landscapes – deep poetic feeling, a worship of the master for beauty of the Russian nature exciting in the modest charm.

Sychkov continued to participate actively at this time in exhibition life of Moscow and Leningrad, but in Mordovia, very few people knew about it.

However, the appeal to this subject cannot be considered as a courtesy towards the authorities as Mordovian ethno - the culture caused long ago interest in the master to what numerous photos from Sychkov's archive testify.

Dozens of sketches, the etudes of the Mordovian national suit preceding creation of such known pictures as "Teacher-Mordvinian" (1937), "Tractor Driver, Mordvinian" (1938).

Some traces of the influence of social realism can be found in the custom panel "Harvest Festival" (1938) and "Presentation Of The Eternal Act Of Free Use Of The Land" (1938), pompously praising a hard working Soviet man.

Among the works of 1940–50s, created by the artist in the eighth decade of his life, stand out "Return From School" (1945) and "Meeting With A Hero" (1952).

In 1970, the 100th anniversary of the birth of the eminent painter was published by order of the Ministry of Culture of Mordovia on opening the artist's memorial museum.