Rasorguyev, Sergey Nikolayevich

(b. 1896 Moscow — d. 1943 Moscow) Graphic artist

1914—1918: Studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

Took part in exhibitions beginning in 1927.

1927—1928: Member of the Moscow Press House’s Association of Graphic Artists.

1929—1930: Member of the Thirteen group.

1922—1930: Worked at the Gudok newspaper.

1930s: Worked at Molodaya Gvardia Publishing House.

“The history of the group [Thirteen] began in the offices of the Gudok newspaper. At the time there worked talented young writers — Bulgakov, Olesha, Ilf, Petrov, Katayev, Shklovsky — and promising artists — Kuzmin, Milashevsky, Daran, Rastorguyev and others. <…>

Until recently there was very little information about Sergey Nikolaevich Rastorguyev… The meeting with Kuzmin and Milashevsky led to Rastorguyevs participation in the exhibitions of the group [Thirteen].

There are very few of Rastorguyev’s works in museums. Scarce personal data from the manuscript department of the Tretyakov Gallery, a short article from a newspaper published before the war — that is almost all that was known about the artist. Meeting his family made it possible to recreate the artist’s personality. the character of his work. The artist’s widow Lyobov Georgievna Rastorgoyeva kept numerous folders of drawings and watercolors. There were discovered works of the late 1920s — early 1930s — the time of the Thirteen — and especially many of the watercolors of the later years. Rastorguyev’s typical subjects were streets and squares of Moscow and seaside towns, architectural monuments of Leningrad, city beaches and sports grounds. <…> His passion for the unique individuality of urban landscapes and ingenuous and natural way of depicting his surroundings link him to the Thirteen. The artist created landscapes full of air and light with soft, big strokes or using the “wet” technique, later making a contour in the paint with a stick.”

Mirra Nemirovskaya

Khudozhniki gruppy Trinadtsat. Iz istorii khudozhestvennoy zhizni 1920—1930-kh gg. [The Artists of the Thirteen group: From the History of Art in the 1920s—1930s]. M.: Sovetsky Khudozhnik. 1985. Pp. 16, 28—29.