Editorial

Dear Readers!

Here is the first issue of “The Art of Eurasia” Journal this year, and it is dedicated to the outstanding artist of Russia Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, whose 175th anniversary is widely celebrated in our country. We are sure that you will find a lot of new and interesting things about the work of this artist in the “Forum” section. But since Surikov had an impact on all the art of Russia and, of course, Siberia, the echoes of this influence sounds in articles from other sections. I will briefly introduce each of them.

In this issue, a section “Eurasian Heritage” includes a variety of topics. In some articles, the authors also touch upon social issues, for example how to avoid kitsch in market conditions when making and painting the Semenovskaya matryoshka (Semenovo's matryoshka), a nesting doll, which has become an amazing phenomenon of national folk culture. Exploring the Russian icon more and more deeply, art critics discover the characteristic features of various icon painting schools, and we present one of them — the Kostroma school of icon. And in Siberia, on the banks of the Yenisei River, our authors also study unique collections of icons, where the image of Our Lady of the Sign, especially revered by Siberians, stands out brightly.

The art of the 20th–21st centuries is unparalleled in the variety of its manifestation forms. Artworks made in styles that have developed a few centuries ago, and those that have arisen literally before our eyes, often peacefully side by side at exhibitions. On the one hand, this creates a wide panorama of art for the viewer, where everyone can find something that will especially touch his soul; on the other hand, this diversity gives impetus to the entire artistic process. There is sometimes an indirect, and sometimes a direct influence of different currents on each other. Of course, in this case there is a place for salonism, imaginary thoughtfulness, and the replication of techniques is also evident. But it is believed that the living process of art in its complex seething will cast aside the empty and anti-artistic and will crystallize genuine discoveries. For example, realism is the oldest direction in which everything has already taken shape, all methods and approaches are known, but before our eyes a line has begun to form that can be called a “new classic”. This is not the same as hyperrealism and photorealism, although it gravitates towards a good study of the art form, and there are big differences with the “severe style”. Philosophy and the spirit of romance are manifested with great force here. The origins of this direction and some of its characteristic features can already be seen in the articles of our authors.

These principles — the desire for a perfect artistic form and philosophy — partly connect the sections “Forum” and “Art of the 20th–21st Centuries” through the work of V.I. Surikov. It was well studied during his lifetime, but, as often happens, some of its most important stages are only now receiving decent coverage — for example, the Italian period in the life of the artist, which, in turn, prepared a powerful take-off of his painting in “Boyarynya Morozova”. New publications about the artist, on the one hand, close the existing gaps and help to better understand his heritage, and, on the other hand, the scale of his personality becomes more and more obvious. He appears as a major thinker and even a prophet, a person who not only understands history in facts and events, but captures its deep spiritual foundations. The painter brings this awareness to his works, which become “pivotal” for the entire Russian culture. Understanding this makes us again and again turn to his paintings, as to the novels of F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy — both in “fatal moments”, and in everyday life, when a person faces a choice, which way to go, how to live — according to conscience or by compromise. The heroic, courageous and wise art of Surikov gives delight to the soul with its beautiful artistic forms, and at the same time unobtrusively conveys ideas about unshakable values, about spiritual bonds that are extremely important in an era of change.