Beyond the severity: portrait of the 1990s in the painting of Igor Simonov

Abstract

The late paintings of the Ural artist Igor Simonov, known to the viewer with paintings of the “severe style”, are least noted by both the public and critics. The article is devoted to the description of three paintings by the artist of this period of creativity, which determined his main ideological and artistic orientations. The “Allegory” (1988) opens another stage of the recent master of “severe style”, becoming the forerunner of new forms of art in the 1990s. The painting “Our Locomotive...” shows a person in public life after perestroika, displayed on canvas to a portrait image. “Self Portrait 1997” gives an idea of the breadth of the artistic talent of I. Simonov in the conditions of the artist's self-awareness in a completely different, unusual environment for life and work. This is a quasi-portrait of the era and the tragedy of its contemporary in the mirror of history. Other paintings of this time are mentioned occasionally in the article, supplementing our knowledge about the creative heritage of the artist, who lived most of his life in the Urals, in Sverdlovsk (later Ekaterinburg), until 2019.