No. 2 (25). 2022. Icon painting in museum collections
Stupin, S.S. (2022) ‘Half-century-long afternoon. The creative worlds of Vera and Sergei Kondulukov: painting 1971–2021’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 14-25. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.001.
Abstract. The article presents an analysis of the work of contemporary Russian painters, Honored Artists of the Russian Federation, professors of painting at Togliatti State University Sergey and Vera Kondulukov. The author uses formal-stylistic and comparative methods, as well as referring to the psychoanalytic tradition of interpreting art in terms of the dichotomy of introversive and extraversive (C. Jung's classification) and the aesthetic-philosophical opposition of Apollonian and Dionysian (F. Nietzsche's classification) types of creativity. The most representative works of the authors in terms of genre and themes are studied, primarily portrait and landscape painting. An important issue of research is the problem of tradition and innovation in the work of the Kondulukovs: the author concludes that belonging to an academic school does not limit, but potentiates the creative freedom of masters, since highly professional mastery of academic techniques allows artists to solve complex and diverse plastic tasks. In the context of Ivan Kramskoy's, Petr Ossovsky's and Ivan Lubennikov's interpretation of the "nationality" of Russian art, the researcher interprets the work of the Kondulukovs as the transmission of a living tradition to new generations of artists of contemporary Russia. The novelty of the publication lies both in the application of these research strategies to the artistic heritage of Sergei and Vera Kondulukov, and in the understanding of the artists' own reflections on the problems of philosophy of art and aesthetics. This article publishes for the first time materials from an interview recorded by the researcher with the Kondulukovs in January 2022 in their workshop in Tolyatti. The publication is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the joint creative path of the artists (1971–2021) with emphasis on the originality of the manner and plastic thinking of each of the masters.
Keywords: Sergei Kondulukov, Vera Kondulukova, contemporary painting, academicism, tradition
Yuanpeng, H. and Tingting, Q. (2022) ‘The Yellow River in modern Chinese painting: artistic image and means of its expression’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 26-35. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.002.
Abstract. Modern Chinese artists, expressing the image of Yellow River, use special means of artistic expression to convey thoughts and emotions related to the perception of nature and life in general. The individual language of the painter is the means that maximizes the artist's creative intent. And each successful work emphasizes the unique methods of artistic expression of the master's idea. The originality of the individual form of expression is also influenced by the environment in which the creative personality of each artist is formed, the cultural context (regional cultures are also of great importance), the long-term formation of an individual way of thinking and the education that the painter receives. The peculiarity of the regional cultural heritage and the special landscape of the Yellow River Basin have created the original style of many artists. The study of an individual artistic language is associated with several aspects: spatial composition, coloring, stroke structure, and others. This article analyzes the image of the Yellow River in modern Chinese oil painting, as well as the individual approach of a number of artists to its expression.
Keywords: image of the Yellow River, Chinese painting, spatial composition, color, stroke texture
Antropova, I.A. (2022) ‘Expeditions of the Russian Museum to the White Sea Karelia (1958–2021)’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 36-45. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.003.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the more than 60 years of history of the study of the White Sea Karelia by the employees of the Russian Museum. The main stages of expeditionary research, starting from the 1950s, are given, which aimed at a general survey of the territory, identifying the surviving monuments of antiquity and exporting the most valuable and affected of them to Leningrad. The author gives a description of the most interesting finds: icons, books, worship crosses, including a wooden carved Crucifixion from the Muezersky Monastery. Such methods of working with found artifacts as wood identification, radiography and shooting in ultraviolet rays, analysis of the chemical composition of author's and innovative painting layers and metallized coating of icons are characterized. It is noted that in connection with the advent of modern technologies, the ongoing work is reaching a new level of research.
Keywords: Russian Museum, Karelia, wooden architecture, icon, worship cross, Muezersky Monastery, Kem
Afanasyeva, O.V. (2022) ‘An icon within a tradition: ‘Fatherland’ with seventeen plot stamps from the collection of iconography of the Vetka Museum’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 46-55. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.004.
Abstract. The article presents an analysis of one of the icons from the rich collection of the Vetka museum of Old Believers and Belarusian traditions (Republic of Belarus). The author suggests a possible circle of authors of this icon, gives a general description of the icon, analyzes in detail the central part and all seventeen plot stamps. The study shows that the performer or customer of the icon seeks to create a special type of work — an iconostasis icon, which reflects his interest and sufficiently deep immersion in the dogmatics of Orthodox teaching, and in a variant of ascetic and monastic-monastic manifestations. There is a noticeable search for views reflected in a particular church meeting of Old Believers-Vetkovites, included in the traditional way of life and an established system of beliefs. The analysis uses the method of archival research, historical and art criticism analysis, the study of the questions of Orthodox dogmatics in the system of artistic means of expression.
Keywords: icon,Old Believers, beglopopovtsy, “Fatherland”, Maryino, Vetka Museum, Republic of Belarus
Borshchenko, L.M. (2022) ‘From the history of the study of icons of the 18th – early 20th century in the existing churches of the Luhansk region’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 56-63. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.005.
Abstract. The article examines the results of a scientific study by employees of the Luhansk Art Museum of icon-painting monuments of church art of the late 18th – early 20th centuries in the Luhansk region. The author gives a brief historical picture of the development of icon painting in the region. The study indicates the main temples in which the ancient icons that have preserved to this day are concentrated, describes the most prominent of them. The researcher distinguishes two large groups of studied icons: painted for churches and small icons for home worship. Each of the groups has its own hierarchy in terms of the level of professional training of icon painters.
Keywords: Lugansk region, museum, churches, icon, Svatovo icon, Starobelsk icon, Slobozhanshchina icon, riza-covered icon, shrouds, sewing, Old Believer icons
Bychkova, T.A. (2022) ‘Altai icon painter Grigory Gurkin’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 64-79. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.006.
Abstract. The article presents the icon painters of the Biysk workshops of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, who left behind a huge legacy, before attributed to the Suzun masters for almost four decades. Information about the icon-painting workshops of Sazonov and A.A. Borzenkov in Biysk is also presented for the first time. The famous Siberian artist Grigory Gurkin also worked in icon-painting workshops at different periods of his life, he was engaged in icon painting for almost three decades. The activity of Gurkin as an icon painter is considered for the first time in this article. This study reveals for the first time the images made by G.I. Gurkin from a huge layer of monuments of folk icons that existed on the territory of the former Tomsk province.
Keywords: Gurkin, Borzenkov's workshop, Sadonov's artel, Suzun icon, Altai Spiritual Mission
Vazhkaya, M.A. (2022) ‘Vazhkaya, M. A.’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 80-85. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.007.
Abstract. 25 icons from the collection of the artist Tatyana Alekseevna Mavrina (1900–1996) entered the Department of Private Collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in 1994–1997. The collection is distinguished by a creative approach in its formation. Most of the icons are of a folk character, perfectly combined with the Russian spinning wheels of the 19th century, which preserve ancient Russian traditions, or watercolor works by T.A. Mavrina. The study presents several icons from the collection of the artist Tatyana Alekseevna Mavrina. They allow you to see the collector's desire to collect bright examples of ancient Russian icon painting of the 15th–17th centuries. Some of the icons were before mentioned in art research (belt images of the archangels Michael and Gabriel from the Deesis Rank, the icon “The Battle between Novgorod and Suzdal”), while the icon “Mother of God enthroned and Nikola Mozhaisky with some saints on the fields” is described in detail for the first time. This article covers only part of the study of iconography from the of Tatyana Mavrina collection necessary for the introduction to the scientific circle of the samples of Russian icon painting of the 15th–17th centuries.
Keywords: icon, Tatyana Mavrina, “northern writing”, Novgorod icon painting, Moscow school of icon painting, Nikolay Kuzmin, Valerian Velichko
Kiryanova, O.G. (2022) ‘Representation of icon painting in the expositions of church museums’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 86-93. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.008.
Abstract. The article is an analysis of the conceptual features of the exposition of works of religious painting in the expositions of museums of the Russian Orthodox Church. Over the past two decades, the number of museum institutions attached to religious organizations of the Russian Orthodox Church has increased significantly. Today they represent a separate, actively developing segment of the national museum network. The implementation of joint exhibition and educational projects with church institutions involves familiarization with the practices and principles of the formation of expositions existing in this environment, which are largely non-standard. These practices also relate to the issue of displaying iconography, especially in confessional museums of a complex thematic profile, as well as military-historical and memorial ones. This problem has previously attracted the attention of art historians and museologists (N.P. Zheleznikova, E.A. Polyakova, P.S. Kovalenko, L.S. Alekseeva, ets.). Among the latest research E.V. Volkova carried out the classification of modern ways of exhibiting church art, depending on its interpretation. However, the mentioned studies either reflect purely regional experience, or consider the totality of exhibits of church museums without isolating pictorial monuments, or fix the exposition and exhibition solutions of secular museums. In the proposed work, for the first time, an attempt is made to characterize the principles of including icon painting in the subject range of church expositions, based on their thematic profile. The work is based on the method of included observation, as well as the analysis of information on the websites of church museums. As the author states, in the museums of the Russian Orthodox Church of non-artistic profile, the significance of the icon as a work of fine art is secondary; iconography is presented as a monument of religious culture, material evidence of events in church history, and is also used as auxiliary materials for missionary and educational work.
Keywords: religious art, iconography, icon, church museum, sacristy, cultural heritage
Klubkov, A.A. (2022) ‘Russian enamel in the collection of Orthodox art of the State Art Museum of the Altai Krai’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 94-103. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.009.
Abstract. The article is devoted to copper-cast plastic of the 18th – early 20th centuries. The subject of the study is the artistic enamel of the main centers of Old Believer art. The source base was the collection of the State Art Museum of the Altai Krai. Works from private collections are also used as auxiliary material. Comparative-historical and comparative-stylistic methods were used. The differences between the Old Believers' enamel and the Old Russian are described. The influence of some trends in jewelry art of the second half of the 19th century on the enamel work of Moscow Old Believers copper foundries has been established.
Keywords: Russian enamel, artistic enamel, Old Believer art, copper icons, Altai
Krupina, O.V. (2022) ‘Newly discovered icon ‘The Intercession of the Theotokos’ by the Vyatka icon painters Kuznetsov from the collection of the Vyatka Art Museum’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 104-111. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.010.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the icon “The Intercession of the Theotokos (the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary)” from the collection of the Vyatka Art Museum. The researchers discovered the icon of the expedition to Lalsk in 1976. The state of preservation of the monument caused serious concern. As a result of the planned restoration, it was possible to obtain one of the remarkable examples of icon painting art. In addition, a signature was discovered, allowing the icon to be dated 1734, and the names of the Kuznetsov dynasty of icon painters were also discovered. The iconography of the Feast of the Intercession of the Theotokos chosen by the authors is of research interest. As well as the reflection in it of the traditions of the leading iconographic schools of Russia and local customs. The icon is another newly discovered signed and dated monument of Vyatka icon painting of the first half of the 18th century.
Keywords: icon, the Intercession of the Theotokos, Vyatka Art Museum, icon painter, Kuznetsov, dynasty, restoration
Nabokova, I.I. (2022) ‘Collection of Kosmozero icon painters Abramovs in the collection of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 112-123. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.011.
Abstract. The article is dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the death of the famous icon painter from Zaonezhye, Mikhey Abramov. The Abramovs' icon-painting workshop, famous throughout Zaonezhye, operated for a century. The icons painted by the Abramovs were both in home peasant iconostases and in many churches of the Olonets province. At present, most of the Abramov icons have been lost or are kept in the collections of museums in the Republic of Karelia without attribution. The funds of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve store the most complete collection of icon-painting works of Kosmozero icon painters. The article discusses the history of the formation of the museum collection, characterizes the icons painted in this workshop, including the unique signature icons of Zaonezhsky iconographers. The author cites the memories of fellow villagers and family members about the organization of work and the life path of the last icon painter of Zaonezhie, Ivan Abramov. The article also raises the question of the fate of the collection of icons and equipment of the Abramov workshop, taken to Finland during the Finnish occupation of Soviet Karelia in 1943, and considers the possibility of replenishing the collection at the present time. The study is based on documents from the National Archives of the Republic of Karelia, the National Archives of Finland (Helsinki), materials from the Scientific Archives of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve, including expeditionary records.
Keywords: icon painting, icons, attribution of museum objects, Abramov workshop, Mikhey Abramov, Ivan Abramov, Zaonezhsky peninsula, Kosmozero, Kizhi, Karelia
Nechaeva, G.G. (2022) ‘Our Lady of Fire: features of iconography and painting in the culture of Vetka’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 124-133. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.012.
Abstract. The article describes and analyzes the image of the “Our Lady of Fire”. Examples of this rare iconography are kept in the Vetka Museum of the Old Believers and Belarusian Traditions (Republic of Belarus). The main stages of formation and variety of variants of the image, its participation in complex compositions of integral complexes of icon-painting monuments, originating from the local Old Believer traditions of the Vetka and Starodubye region are presented, as well as its role in the Old Believer culture of Vetka. On the example of local monuments, the picturesque features of the embodiment of the image are analyzed. The author analyzes the iconography of the multi-part icon with the inclusion of the image of the Mother of God of Fire in symbolic and semantic aspects. In particular, it is shown that the spiritual meaning of the image was close to the monastic circle and the hermitage movement of Vetka and Starodubye, the mystical traditions of hesychasm, and the theme of fire-like images and the depth of the symbolism of fire represents a harmonious iconographic program of the Vetka school of icon painting.
Keywords: Our Lady of Fire, iconography, Old Believers, culture of the Vetka
Ponomarev, A.V. (2022) ‘The history of the study, attribution, restoration and digital reconstruction of the original appearance of the icon ‘Savior Not Made by Hands’ from the exposition of the Smolensk Art Gallery’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 134-141. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.013.
Abstract. The article describes the history of the study, restoration and attribution of the icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” from the exposition of the Smolensk Art Gallery. A review of publications shows the history and picturesque features of this monument, as well as the process of controversy around its dating and iconographic features. The author summarized the conclusions of the researchers' stylistic analysis and combined them with the data obtained during the restoration and macro photography of the surface of the monument in natural light and ultraviolet rays. According to their results, a digital reconstruction of a number of features of the original appearance of the work was carried out. In accordance with the surviving fragments, it was possible to replenish the completely lost fragments of the margins and background. With the use of a graphic editor, a number of features of the original pictorial concept of a medieval artist were reconstructed, minor losses in the drawing and abrasions of the paint layer were replenished. Late interventions in the pictorial structure of the work, left during the restoration, were partially removed and the original form of the halo was reproduced. Comparison with a number of stylistically and chronologically close monuments and preserved author's inscriptions on the board allowed the researcher to reconstruct the probable specifics of the original outline of the symbols inside the halo and the figures of the archangels. The color of the original background was restored from photographs of pigment stains, fragments of which were revealed during restoration. The result of the work was a visual representation of a number of graphic and pictorial features of the work, identified by researchers and restorers. The image reproduces the main set of pictorial techniques of the original work, which, in combination with a physical monument, will allow future researchers to understand much more accurately the specifics of its position among other monuments of Pskov icon painting of the 15th century.
Keywords: ancient Russian art, Pskov icon painting, Savior Not Made by Hands, research in ultraviolet rays, digital reconstruction
Prokopets, S.E. (2022) ‘Following the traditions of the Russian school of icon painting as a phenomenon of the revival of icon painting in the Luhansk region’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 142-149. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.014.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the revival of the Russian school of icon painting in the Luhansk region. In particular, the processes of reproduction of Russian icon-painting canons are shown in the context of professional training of icon painters at the Lugansk state academy of culture and arts named after M. Matusovskiy. The icon-painting department at the Academy has existed for six years. It was the canons and various stylistic features of the Russian schools of icon painting that formed the basis of professional training at the Academy. The study showed that icons made in the traditional Russian icon-painting style are in demand in the churches of the Luhansk region.
Keywords: tradition, icon painting, Russian school of icon painting, icon painting workshop, icon painting training, canon, iconography, Lugansk region, Lugansk academy of culture and arts
Subbotina, E.V. (2022) ‘Riza-covered icons of the late 18th – early 20th century in the collection of the Primorye State Art Gallery’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 150-165. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.015.
Abstract. Icon painting and oklad (“covered” or “a riza”) forms the overall appearance, often simultaneous with painting. In a utilitarian sense, the covered preserves the painting from mechanical and corrosive damage. The article presents the covered icons of the late 18th – early 20th centuries in the collection of the Primorye State Art Gallery. The author proposed their grouping according to the peculiarities of riza’s design, which is of significant importance in the exposition work of museums. The features of icons with basma rizas, embroidered rizas, rizas made under the influence of Baroque and Classicism styles, riza-covered icons and icons with a mortise cross are considered. The study also raises the question of the aesthetic interaction of the elements of sculpture, graphics, painting of the icon and its setting.
Keywords: icon, riza, riza-covered icon, provincial jewelry centers, Nevyansk icon painting school, the Old Believers, Primorye region, Primorye State Art Gallery
Suloev, I.N. (2022) ‘The history of the study of Kostroma Church art from 1958 to 1991’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 166-171. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.016.
Abstract. The article provides a detailed overview of the restoration work in the Holy Trinity Ipatiev Monastery and other churches in the city of Kostroma, which were carried out from the late 1950s – early 1960s. It is shown that Kostroma art critics deduce the beginning of the formation of the style of Kostroma icon painters from the Moscow school of icon painting. It is noted that during the opening of frescoes and icons by restorers, new masterpieces of ancient Russian art were discovered, which were described and introduced into scientific circulation. The main stages of this restoration and research work are given; names of leading experts are named. It is explained that the work was carried out first at the all-Russian, then, much later, at the regional level, which was due to the lack of a sufficient number of restorers and art historians in Kostroma.
Keywords: restoration, church art, frescoes, icons, Kostroma
Shakleina, E.I. (2022) ‘Icon ‘Archistratege Michael the Voyevoda’ from the collection of the Krasnoyarsk Art Museum named after V.I. Surikov: philosophical and artistic analysis’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 172-179. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.017.
Abstract. This article deals with the analysis of the iconography of the image of the Archistratege Michael the Voyevoda (Commander of the Heavenly Host), painted by a Yenisei master in the 18th century. Differences in the image with the traditional rendition are revealed, the symbolism of color, composition features are indicated. The meaning of the attributes accompanying the image of the Archangel Michael is revealed. The features inherent in the icon painting of the Yenisei Siberia are noted, in which, in general, certain liberties in iconography and style are characteristic, which can be explained by the remoteness of local icon painters from strict metropolitan censorship, and their lack of professional education. The relevance of the image for the time of its writing is also considered: the appeal to the image of the Archangel Michael is explained by his wide veneration in Siberia, as the patron of the Russian army and the Cossacks.
Keywords: Russian icon painting, iconography, Archangel Michael, Voyevoda, Yenisei Siberia, Orthodox art
Shkolina, E.V. (2022) ‘New facts of the biography of the Altai icon painter V.F. Balykin’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 180-187. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.018.
Abstract. This article presents new facts from the life of the Altai icon painter Vikula Balykin, which became known after studying the documents in the State Archive. The author conducted this study in anticipation of the publication of the museum's scientific catalog with a detailed description of the author's iconography and a biographical article. It is important that the inaccuracies of past research in the artist's biography were revealed, members of his family were identified. The question of apprenticeship, which has been raised more than once by art historians who have observed the master's diverse work, also became obvious. The article uses sources about the life and work of Balykin, which were not previously mentioned in the bibliography of studies about this icon painter.
Keywords: icon painting, Old Believers, Vikula Balykin, icon painter, Orthodox art, Altai
Ryndina, A.V. (2022) ‘Grieving Saviour in Rrussian carvings of the 18th – 19th centuries: moving from traditions to new solutions’, Iskusstvo Evrazii = The Art of Eurasia, (2), pp. 188-203. DOI: 10.46748/ARTEURAS.2022.02.019.
Abstract. The article tries to systematize a great variety of Russian carved images of Christ’s Passion, without delving into detailed analysis of the stylistic characteristics and nuances of the carving, which study seems possible only at the next stage. Among the wooden statues, three main types can be identified: sacral and spatial (Christ in prison), symbolic and liturgical (Grieving Saviour) and, finally, the group most difficult for semantic interpretation, which can conditionally be attributed as historical (Perm sculptures, Christ is depicted in girded garment). Orthodox art is “inseparable from theology” (J. Meyendorff), thus European anthropocentrism and illusionism did not root into Russian ecclesiastical sculpture, despite an unconditional impulse from outside. Wooden sculpture is saturated with liturgical meaning, which always was primordial for Russian church art, and even not eradicated in modern times (P. Muratov considered Russian art to be “unrelenting”). It distanced itself both from Renaissance imitation and from late Gothic and Mannerist mysticism. At the same time, carving has not become just a part of folklore, a folk art, but became an “icon of Christ’s Passion” in the church artwork of the New Age. This is the reason for the deep introduction of the Grieving Saviour image into Russian devoutness, folk poetry and interior church decoration in the 18th–19th centuries up to the Art Nouveau times.
Keywords: Russian church art of the 18th–19th centuries, church wooden sculpture, Grieving Saviour