Aristarkh Lentulov: the ringing of bells in colors.

Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov (1882, 1943) was one of the brightest artists of the Russian avant-garde. His canvases sound like a festive peal: color shatters, ignites, and assembles into a triumphant image of Moscow.
Lentulov was born in the Penza province to a rural priest's family. He studied at the Penza and Kiev art schools, then at Dmitry Kardovsky's studio in St. Petersburg. His academic training did not hold him back: in 1910, he, along with Pyotr Konchalovsky, Ilya Mashkov, Robert Falk, and Alexander Kuprin, founded the group "Bubnovy Valet". The name deliberately shocked the public, while the artists combined lessons from Cézanne with folk lubok and signage.

In 1911, Lentulov worked in Paris at the "La Palette" academy, where he became acquainted with cubism and the color experiments of Robert Delaunay. He did not copy the French but created his own style, where the geometry of cubism met the ornamentation of ancient Russian architecture. Thus, his main masterpieces emerged: "Vasily the Blessed" (1913), "Moscow" (1913), and "Bell. Ivan the Great's Bell Tower" (1915). The churches in them seem to shatter into shining facets, and the space vibrates, conveying not the sight of the city, but its music.

Lentulov worked extensively for the theater, particularly designing performances for the Chamber Theater of Tairov. After the revolution, he taught at Vkhutemas and nurtured an entire generation of artists. In the 1920s and 1930s, his style became calmer and closer to realism, but his love for rich color remained with him until the end.

Today, Lentulov's works are housed in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum. They remind us that the Russian avant-garde grew not only from disputes with tradition but also from a deep love for it.