Portrait of Nadezhda Mikhailovna Sapozhnikova, Nikolay Feshin – overview 
- Posted by Nikolay Ivanovich Feshin
- Museum: State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan
- Year: 1916
Overview of the painting :
Portrait of Nadezhda Mikhailovna Sapozhnikova – Nikolay Ivanovich Feshin. Oil on canvas. 121 x 131 cm
Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin is called the master and virtuoso of painting. He is equally talented in everything – in the expression of impressionism, in modernity fashionable at that time, in classical academicism.
But, the basis and peak of his activity is a portrait. There are many, mostly people close to him, acquaintances, relatives, students. Looking at the gallery of paintings, you can see a common model – Sapozhnikov Nadezhda Mikhailovna. She is a student of Feshin, an assistant and a philanthropist, a faithful friend of the artist.
Nadezhda Sapozhnikova, daughter of a rich Kazan merchant, came to study at the Feshin workshop in 1904. She has creative inclinations, hard work, a desire to become an artist. The student is four years older than the teacher and soon they become good friends. Feshin appreciates her goodwill and education, clarity and sharpness of the mind, non-female determination and energy.
One of the famous paintings of Feshin – “Portrait of Sapozhnikova N.M.”(against the background of wallpaper), written in 1916.
Sapozhnikova is not beautiful in understanding this word, but smart eyes, penetrating and openly looking at the author, a pleasant oval of the face, a hand with an elegant bend holds a fan, a white ball gown, a carelessly folded shawl – all this is seized instantly and “clenches” the look.
The composition is built against the backdrop of painstakingly and with love written patterns on the wall. Wallpaper of a soft, golden shade shades Nadezhda Mikhailovna, create an atmosphere of softness, give charm, and with the author you are fond of and imbued with understanding the personality of a young woman. After all, for Feshin, beauty is the individuality of the model, its character and expressiveness. And in Sapozhnikova there is an extraordinary personality, both activities and hidden energy.
As in many works of Feshin, there is some incompleteness in the picture. Maybe the author was going to finalize it, or maybe he wanted to let the viewer feel and evaluate the process of creating a masterpiece.
Friendship between two creative people lasts until the departure of Nikolai Ivanovich to emigration. Subsequently, Sapozhnikova left Kazan for Moscow, where she died in 1944.