The Great Patriotic War in the paintings of Viktor Zoteev

Abstract

This article is devoted to but very important theme in the work of the Altai artist Viktor Zoteev — the theme of the Great Patriotic War, in which the artist was a participant. The relevance of the work is determined by a number of conditions. First, in the year of the 75th anniversary of Victory, the events of the war are rethought again and again in science, public relations, and culture. In this regard, the creative experience of these events, reflected in the works of their eyewitness V.A. Zoteev, is of interest as a kind of historical source. Secondly, Viktor Zoteev is known primarily as a landscape painter, and the disclosure of a new, battle, facet of his work expands the understanding of this artist. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author analyzes works that have not been previously studied. Using the method of art history analysis, three works by V.A. Zoteev are studied: a still life and two subject paintings. The peculiarities of the compositional construction of each work are investigated, biographical connotations with the events of the artist's life are revealed, the general ideological and worldview basis is determined. The study shows that the theme of war and the artist's appeal to it did not form a special direction in his work. These are milestone pictures associated with the personal experiences of V.A. Zoteev and reflecting not only specific events and images, but the general metaphysical meaning of war and victory.