Mythological consciousness and its metamorphoses in the fine arts of Kalmykia in the second half of the 20th century
No. 3 (38) (2025), Eurasian Heritage
No. 3 (38) (2025)

Mythological consciousness and its metamorphoses in the fine arts of Kalmykia in the second half of the 20th century

Eurasian Heritage
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.03.001
Published 2025-09-30
Svetlana G. Batyreva
Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov, Elista, Russian Federation

eLibrary ID sargerel@mail.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4268-0705

Выпуск № 3 (38) 2025 журнала "Искусство Евразии"
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Keywords

art of Kalmykia, contemporary art, mythology, mythological consciousness, archetype, heritage and continuity, ethnic identity, cultural nomadism, postmodernism,

How to Cite

Batyreva S. G. Mythological consciousness and its metamorphoses in the fine arts of Kalmykia in the second half of the 20th century // The Art of Eurasia, 2025. № 3 (38). P. 14-43. URL: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.03.001.
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Abstract

The aim of the reconstruction study is to identify and characterize the mythopoetic trend in the fine arts of Kalmykia in the second half of the 20th century. The relevance and novelty of the topic are determined by the need to study the little-covered aspects of the development of Kalmyk art of this period. The methodology of the historical and cultural approach is based on the principles of system analysis of processes and phenomena of art, applying methods of art history, cultural studies, philosophy, and sociology. Works from museum and private collections make it possible to trace local features of the development of art in Kalmykia in the second half of the 20th century. The surviving relics of the figurative thinking of the older generation give rise to creative searches leading from the traditions of socialist realism to the phenomenon of the archaic mythopoetic space in works of painting and graphics. Generated by pre-Buddhist archaism, which entered the world-view of Buddhism, figurative memory preserves mythological foundations, determining the development of contemporary Kalmyk art. The study found that it is this continuity that inspires the message of revival among the artists of the 1960s, who restored the mythopoetic integrity of culture as the basis for the creativity of the generation of the 1970s. The search for ethnic identity, identified with the artistic movement of “cultural nomadism” in Kalmyk art of the 1980s and 1990s, brings a new wave of revival of mythological consciousness. It is characterized by an appeal to the ancient Mongolian sources of Kalmyk culture, expressed in artistic motifs associated with the history and heritage of ancestors. In the era of globalization, this trend is comprehended as part of an expanded understanding of the ethnic identity of modern nomads in the context of world culture. The world-view of Kalmyk artists, open to these trends, is combined with the postmodernist trends of the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries; in creative searches, a new view of continuity in art is born, the analysis of which is of interest to art criticism.

https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.03.001

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