Viktor Emilyevich Braginsky is an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, a member of the Artists’ Union of Moscow and Russia, pastel and graphic artist, Professor of the Department of Drawing and Painting of VGIK Faculty of Art.
Viktor Emilyevich was born in the family of the famous writer and playwright Emil Braginsky in 1954. He studied at VGIK Faculty of Art.
Viktor Braginsky considers Alexey Mikhailovich Gritsai to be his teacher. "Alexey Mikhailovich came up to a low chest of drawers opened one of the drawers and took out a large wooden box. What I saw inside amazed me. Hundreds of colored crayons of infinite hues were placed in special recesses. It seemed that all the colors of the world had found their home here. I passionately desired to touch these pieces of magic at once, and despite my timidity I asked permission to try to draw something myself. That was the first time in my life I had ever touched pastel, I couldn’t even imagine that this material would come into my professional life for ever. Years passed — years of study and formation of me as an artist. The bitterness of failure was rewarded by rare moments of joy when I finally managed to create what I had imagined. For more than 40 years I have been working in the pastel technique and all these years I thankfully pronounce the name of the wonderful artist Alexey Mikhailovich Gritsai, who opened the wonderful world of art to me.”
Since 1977, V. E. Braginsky has been constantly participating in art exhibitions, more than 140 ones so far. Among the recent exhibitions there are "Walking among the Notes" in the Gallery on Kashirka, the exhibition of VGIK teachers in the Federation Council, as well as his solo exhibition "Moroccan Album", which was held in the museum "Picture" in Zheleznodorozhny, Moscow oblast. He is currently preparing for his solo exhibition at the Orel Museum of Fine Arts.
Viktor Emilyevich is working on the series of paintings "The Silence of the Russian North", the works of which are dedicated to the empty provincial towns and dying villages. “I would like to draw public attention, maybe attention of government to this problem. Art is the only thing that can develop a sense of belonging to the presented problem, can give birth to emotions and feelings that will be in tune with the feelings of the author."
The most usual and ordinary motives can become the matter of his work, he admits: "I love the melting snow that exposes the earth, the sky reflected in endless puddles, the decks covered with snow and the trees in the water." His favorite places are in the central Russia, its unpretentious, but attractive beauty. Forgotten by God and man places, in a middle of nowere, rickety fences, dilapidated houses, ravines overgrown with weeds – everything is everyday, even shabby, but warmed by such a piercing sense of belonging to the Homeland. He likes to convey the most subtle states of nature – fogs, sunrises, border crossings of day and night, expanse, using an exquisite color of brown and lilac shades, musicality of linear and tonal rhythms. He often paints oil sketches to capture the fresh perception of nature, later translated into a pastel. The spring flood, the flooding rivers, white, bare trees in the water and some inexplicable flutter of the air are one of the his frequent landscape motives. Pastel art makes it possible to see all these shades like no other painting technique.
Viktor Emilyevich travels a lot – as an artist, he is susceptible to the unique beauty of other countries. The master seeks to see the most specific and full to reveal the image of a foreign country. Here is a receipt what objects does he put on the picture to clearly indicate their locatation to the viewers – the architecture of houses with an infinite number of chimneys, trimmed green bushes – and we have an exquisite English landscape. And these are not the usual views known from the guidebook, but the poetic motives that attracted the artist's attention.
V. E. Braginsky has been awarded by diplomas of All-Union and All-Russian book competitions, a diploma of the Moscow City Duma. He is the winner of the first prizes of international events and competitions of pastel art in France (Rouen, Leon), Spain (Oviedo) and Poland (Krakow). The artist's illustrations for the works of Hans-Christian Andersen are in the collection of the Museum of the great storyteller in Odense, Denmark.
Viktor Emilyevich has been recognized as a "Honored Artist of the Russian Federation" by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation. The master's works are kept in museums and private collections in Russia and abroad.
