The artist Fyodor Yakovlevich Korablyov (1939–1997) was born to a generation of children of war. His personality was built in severe trials. At the age of seven, he fell ill with bone tuberculosis, and the rest of his life was a constant battle with this disease.
He spent many years in bed with his leg in a cast. During this period, Fyodor became passionate about drawing. In 1960, the Art and Graphic Faculty of the Nekrasov Kostroma State Pedagogical Institute was developed on the basis of a local art school. Fyodor Korablyov was one of its first students.
He began studying with great enthusiasm. According to the artist Boris Vladimirovich Smirnov, who was Korablyov’s classmate, the portrait “Girl in a Green Jacket” was one of the assignments in life painting class during their fifth year at the Art and Graphic faculty.
The artist depicted the girl in profile. In the picture, she is dressed in a dark green jacket and a gray hat with a black ribbon. The portrait is painted with energetic, concise and precise impasto (thick) strokes. Even in his student works, the style of the future master painter is noticeable.
Upon graduating from the institute in 1965, Korablyov stayed there to teach painting, drawing and composition. The young teacher, passionate about art, shared his experience and knowledge with his students while at the same learning from them.
Korablyov often made
life-drawings or still lifes together with his students in order to clearly
explain and show the process. Many of the artists presented in the exhibition
were Fyodor Korablyov’s students. One of his first students, the famous artist
Viktor Sergeyevich Shlyundin, remembered his teacher with great fondness: