N.S. Barsamov and his followers — Crimean artists of the 20th century

Abstract

This article aims to address the work of Crimean artists of the twentieth century, determine the significance of N.S. Barsamov's activity for the cultural life of Theodosia, and identify the artistic and content priorities of his students S.G. Mamchich, V.A. Sokolov, N.A. Shorin, and P.K. Stolyarenko in the early stages of their creative development. Furthermore, the work presents facts from the biography of N.S. Barsamov, which serve to illustrate the significance of his role as the director of the Theodosia Picture Gallery named after I.K. Aivazovsky and the founder of the painting school. The study's artistic material comprised paintings from the Theodosia Picture Gallery named after I.K. Aivazovsky, and the Simferopol Art Museum. The articles published in specialised journals and art history collections, exhibition catalogues (all-union, republican, personal, individual art associations), memoirs and letters of the participants in the process were subjected to detailed analysis. A system-historical genre analysis enabled the construction of a genre chronotypology for the artists' work. The formal and stylistic analysis was employed to examine individual works and identify common features. The comparative-analytical method facilitated the study of the formation of each representative of the considered painting direction and the identification of common trends and the influence of predecessors.