The image of the human as a central component of Vasily Chekrygin’s creative and theoretical system

Abstract

The article examines the image of human as the central essential element of Vasily Chekrygin's artistic and philosophical world-view. It analyses the artist's key theoretical works, which reveal the humanistic and metaphysical status of the human image. The study demonstrates how Chekrygin uses the concept of the image to come up with the idea of transfiguring the world through art, specifically through two projects for monumental frescoes: “Genesis” and “Resurrection”. The study is based on archival manuscripts from the Nikolai Khardzhiev foundation in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, as well as previously published works by the artist. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of the artist's texts and compares his creative projects with theoretical ideas. The article hypothesizes a connection between Vasily Chekrygin's art and classical aesthetics, the Russian avant-garde, and the iconographic tradition.

https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.03.012

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