Dmitry Isidorovich Mitrokhin, who lived a great creative life, had the good fortune to study, to cooperate, to be in close relations, to be in associations and societies with many artists, among whom there were those whose trace in the art of the 20th century is comparable to the influence on the course of history of the most important discoveries of the era. The first lines of the artist's autobiographical notes contain the names of
M.F. Larionov,
N. S. Goncharova and
A. V. Fonvizin, who studied side by side and were friends with him -
S. T. Konenkov and
S. V. Malyutin, with whom he worked in the ceramic artel "Murava". In
Paris, Dmitry Mitrokhin, despite the constrained circumstances and constant employment with work ("high life was not for me"), communicates quite a lot. Almost seventy years later, he recalled his visits to the salon of
E. Kruglikova, which, like her Paris workshop, turned into a kind of Russian cultural center, where the "high society" gathered, "but for all those present, art was the main thing", - visits to
Maximilian Voloshin, in whose house, according to the artist, he felt "more at ease", where many compatriots who were flying around
Lutetia also dropped in, and where he once had a chance to meet with
Konstantin Balmont (they were briefly acquainted with 1904), "who brought his daughter, a girl, in a red coat" - here she is in memory of a 90-year-old artist! And these memories are filled with vivid content, visible images of sketches, when he talks about the immediate purpose of his stay in the then capital of arts. . Talking about his Parisian times, it is not by chance, and not without a tinge of pride, he notes that posters of
Toulouse-Lautrec were still hanging on the streets of the French capital - according to D.I.Mitrokhin himself, who had a strong influence on him - as, indeed, and on
Paul Klee, with whose influence, for some time, was bizarrely combined in the line of the artist's work that he was aware of - as well as the impact, at certain stages, of his great interest in the art of
Henri Matisse and
Paul Cézanne,
Constantin Guise. In different periods of comprehending the paths of expressiveness and mastery, this interest was focused on their different manifestations, and with a different measure of their impact on the artist's worldview, - then ephemeral and almost opportunistic, and therefore easily and painlessly overcome, what were, for example,
salon,
beardsley,
modern trends, - those that required a longer "neutralization", purely decorative,
stylized ornamental, popular
prints and
printed motifs, or, on the contrary, in the form of a deep, essential understanding, which was realized in the artist's system of views - Western European and Japanese engraving - on fundamental principles that were not limited to an understanding of technology - engraving in general,
drypoint, chiaroscuro,
lithography, in particular. "But, having gone through these hobbies,"
M.V Alpatov squeals, "he returned to such values of art that outgrow the boundaries of time and space and exist everywhere". It is significant that in the very first words about the beginning of his apprenticeship, the artist recalls the library of the school, "about the enormous and exciting happiness" that "gave the collection of engravings of the
Rumyantsev Museum". He has developed several dozen
publishing brands, trade emblems and labels. In the field of "small forms", which was mastered by DI Mitrokhin back in the 1910s, a book sign occupies a special place. A master of composition, well versed in both the decorative and graphic components of the book, subtly feeling its nature, he made almost fifty ex-librises (most of them belong to 1919–1923) - these works are ranked among the best created in this genre in Russia. But in the period from the end of the 1920s to the mid-1930s, the artist moved away from book graphics, only periodically and without previous interest returning to it. After the war, he rarely does any work for publications. An exception can be considered illustrated and designed by D. I. Mitrokhin in 1959 "French fairy tales" (M. GIHL), and one of the last - the book of memoirs by
M. V. Nesterov (M. "Art"), designed by him in the same year. The work of D.I.Mitrokhin underwent changes over the course of almost half a century of his vigorous activity in this field, as if anticipating the artist's appeal to the only possible for him, but also the most vivid, unique form of application of his talent - drawing, which from a certain moment will be destined to become universal expressive means of his worldview. One gets the impression that the same "preparatory" function was performed by other types of easel graphics, as if they helped the artist find this lapidary, intelligible, but far from monosyllabic language of the works that are basic in terms of content and capacity of the individual, completely independent graphic handwriting. - this inevitable need to overcome the "academic impasse", finally exhausted itself of photonaturalism, but also - salon, taste, "manners", "imitations" and "reconstructions", when the imprinted objects were devoid of content; however, non-figurative art at some point reached the "great limit" - indifferent, both to the author and to the "consumer" of art, forms (in response to the dispassionate play of themselves) again became only a pretext, and not an expression of thought. Initially, D. I. Mitrokhin, by the will of fate, ended up in the camp of those who were closest to the salon, but then in Russia it was the inevitable path of aesthetics, opposed to the dominance of vulgarity, which unceremoniously invaded art; he experienced other influences, step by step overcame them two-thirds of his way, while remaining, moreover, a first-class master. "The way back", but the way to "new spaces", was also difficult before the time, when "a new voice broke through" it is painful. "Orders from publishers are being stopped. Customers are disappointed - the former master virtuoso does not exist". According to L. Chag, the artist had to start with studies, timid drawings, the "mud" of student still lifes, black shadows. This wise artist returns the "objectivity" to the depicted - with only one difference: now the "components of the narrated" are spiritualized, he endows them with a new sense of participation, without the need for a sentimental-decorative, super-realistic or prohibitively generalized - they are not indifferent to the viewer, through their claiming the right to a confidential, sincere dialogue between the artist and him... The author is a representative of the same "main forces" (once a Polish artist asked about the time of their arrival), who do not proclaim their novelty, without declaring themselves in military terminology as "vanguard units" (which ceased to be such, as soon as they were taken into their arms by mass culture, and are announced everywhere), calmly and consistently, without advertising and affectations, started doing well your favorite business, giving new meaning and space - there is no need for giant formats to express big thoughts. These cycles do not need to be systematized - everything is already clear: glass, pharmacy dishes, fruits, fish, flowers, dried flowers... By the way, the flowers here are not just beautiful plants or their varieties, they have not only the qualities of living things, but also the properties to convey the shades of the mood of their "second" creator - a conscientious, patient and thoughtful student of the "first". Thanks to the care of the author, pharmacy bottles actively exceed their utility. Fruits rejoice, nuts are lurking, shells are about to fight, there are chairs - continuation of its owners, and not vice versa. "There were also 'Anderson's' plots - a needle and a pin, a skein of twine. Handicraft toys - whistles, horses, roosters, wooden, painted eggs - appeared in the drawings in the most unexpected incarnations and interpretations: they changed color, proportions, were transferred to an imaginary space, scenes, "little tragedies" were played out". The dry branches of an old tree are generously strewn with flowers. == Artistic associations in which D. I. Mitrokhin was a member ==