Editorial

Dear Readers!

Here is the next, 21st issue of "The Art of Eurasia" Journal. Since 2015, we have gone through a period of formation, discoveries and acquisitions, numerous acquaintances and confirmed in the idea that we have chosen the right path. Gradually, from issue to issue, we walk with you through the huge museum, the treasury of creativity and spirit — the art of Eurasia.

The section "Eurasian Heritage" opens with an article about the amazing art of gold sewing of nomadic peoples. It is difficult to imagine a person who would be indifferent to this amazing type of folk art. Expensive fabric and metal threads demanded the greatest skill and creative eye — most often, alas, unknown craftswomen. From an artistic point of view, the main effect in these works is achieved by the complementarity of a heavy cold pattern made with a metallic thread with a characteristic shine and a soft expensive fabric, usually velvet.

The heroes of the articles in the section "Art of the XX–XXI Centuries" Vasily Perepletchikov and Maria Maslennikova are separated by time — almost a century — and the manner of painting, and the choice of motives, but they are united by love for the landscape and filling it with a poetic spirit. You will see the facets of the lyrical Russian landscape, which rightfully occupies a leading place in Russian art.

“Forum” is our traditional rubric. It sets the theme for the entire issue, turned out to be very rich and reveals, as it turned out many nuances in one of the endless topics for art critics — patronage and collecting. Here you can again get acquainted with the materials of the very successful conference "From the history of collecting: patrons, collectors, founders of museums", conducted under the leadership of E.D. Fedotova at the Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Arts. Reading these studies, one never ceases to be amazed at the passion and scientific-collecting thoroughness of the collectors. Through the lines of essays, it is as if you see what joy the new acquisition brought them. Many of the collectors, for example, E. Nutovich, have a special, not every art critic inherent sensitivity, which allows her to see in the work, seemingly carelessly executed on sackcloth, the true moment of creativity. Such articles help us to plunge into the atmosphere of the workshops of unrecognized, but genuine artists who unexpectedly love Pasternak's poems, sharpen our eyes on contemporary art, draw attention to masters who are not busy with empty speeches on television screens, but simply create amazing things every day.

Art collectors play not only the role of pioneers in the art world. Very often they return the attention of art critics and art lovers to types of creativity that are undeservedly in the shadows or were suddenly forgotten. As, for example, it happened with the Florentine mosaic, which unexpectedly found its museum in the family of L. and B. Oshkukovs in St. Petersburg. This amazing type of stone-cutting creativity appears in Florence in the 16th century and quickly spreads throughout Europe. In Russia in the 19th century, it receives its development thanks to I.V. Sokolov. Compositions, whole paintings, sometimes of a monumental nature, made in Florentine mosaics, have one intriguing property. They, of course, attract with their general appearance and plot, make you experience admiration for the selection of stones, the subtlety of execution, sometimes similar to watercolor and oil painting, the thoroughness of processing each stone-smear. But for the attentive viewer, they reveal the beauty of the stone itself. You need to try to immerse yourself in one fragment at least once, to feel the infinity of color transitions, a kind of magma that seems to come to life and sometimes literally “boils” in every stone. If this was revealed to the viewer, then it means that the master succeeded, as the stone cutters at the Kolyvan stone-cutting factory said back in the 18th century, “to give strength to the stone.”

In the traditional heading "Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography", which contains translations of the multi-volume work of Academician Lokesh Chandra, we present an article about one of the ten outstanding disciples of Buddha — Ananda. His name is translated as "joy and happiness", and always in all images he appears with an amazing smile and with a face filled with genuine happiness. Even without knowing about his fate and his colossal role in the spread of Buddhism, the viewer, looking at his image, seems to be filled with a feeling of calm and light joy. His image is one of the favorite and many times used in Buddhist iconography, so an article about Ananda will be both interesting and useful for everyone who conducts research in the field of Buddhist art and meets him, for example, at exhibitions.

The "Academy News", one of the most lively and varied sections on the subject, introduces the work of artists who play a leading role in the modern art process in our country.

There is an amazing property of art. Regardless of when, by whom and in what material it was performed, — the work will always find its audience. One has thousands of spectators, the other has only a few, but this meeting isinevitable, since each sincere work is saturated with the special energy of Creativity. It is believed that not everyone is endowed with this gift, but it is better to say that not everyone dares to start creating. Every person has an artist in his soul. And sometimes, where you don't expect, an explosion of this creative energy, the flower of art blooms. I know of many such examples. So, I was friends with the Altai artist Nikolai Chedokov from the village of Chemal in the Altai Republic. He never studied art, fate was merciless to him, he had to go through many ordeals, including a camp imprisonment. But suddenly, being a forester, in his declining years he begins to paint pictures — on anything and the most simple, unprofessional paints. And how much wisdom and creative fervor turned out to be in them! The energy of creativity cannot be stopped, and, perhaps, thanks to it, the world still exists, and has not plunged into the inferno of wars and violence. We will continue to talk about this from issue to issue.