A Talent with Tragic Fate. 200th Anniversary of Grigory Soroka’s Birth

27 November 2023 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Grigory Vasilyev, a serf artist commonly known by his nickname Soroka. He was a serf of the Milyukov landowners who lived in Ostrovki estate, Vyshny Volochyok District, Tver Province. Alexei Venetsianov, an academician and painter, famous for his commitment to the teaching of young artists, lived nearby – in Safonkovo estate. Grigory Soroka became one of his last favourite students. Unfortunately, he benefited from Venetsianov’s advice and patronage for quite a short time – from 1843 to 1847. After the death of his teacher, Grigory Soroka continued to make a living from art but, over time, most of his works lost their attribution and became part of the numerous anonymous works created by Venetsianov’s students.

The major part of Grigory Soroka’s artistic heritage can be found in the collection of the State Russian Museum. Here, the first personal exhibition of the artist was held in 1975. Over the past 50 years, the list of his works has changed significantly: the wrongly attributed works have been withdrawn; the painting View of Ostrovki Estate (Tver Regional Art Gallery) and the graphic work Portrait of A. K. Bogdanov (State Russian Museum), that were considered lost, were found; a previously unknown drawing of Lidia Milyukova (ROSPHOTO State Museum and Exhibition Centre) and a signed icon of St Barbara (private collection) were discovered; and documents related to Soroka’s icon painting were published.

The artist’s earliest works at the exhibition are drawings from his pocket sketchbook, in which he drew a dozen and a half peasant portraits in 1842. Members of the Milyukov family were the main subjects of his paintings. The displayed portraits were cleared of the later inscriptions and traces of amateur restoration. The exhibition features three versions of the portrait of the elderly Alexei Venetsianov, who made the serf artist known to the public in the early 20th century.

Most of Grigory Soroka’s landscapes depict views of the Ostrovki estate and the shores of Lake Moldino, where the artist spent almost his entire life. The artist’s suite with views of the Spasskoye-Lepekhino estate can be considered the best of his works. The estate was owned by relatives of the Milyukovs and located in Tambov Province about 746 kilometres from Lake Moldino.

The current exhibition features more than 50 paintings and works of graphic art from the collections of the State Russian Museum, the Hermitage Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the ROSPHOTO State Museum and Exhibition Centre, and the Tver Regional Art Gallery. In addition to Soroka’s works, the public will see paintings by his contemporaries from the Venetsianov circle: Fyodor Slavyansky, Lavr Plakhov and Mikhail Erassi, as well as lithographs that served as analogues of samples to be copied by icon painters in the first half of the 19th century.