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T. M. Stepanskaya, L. I. Nekhvyadovich
164 the picture The Peasant Dinner. We see the scene, full of inner significance and almost ritual solemnity. An old woman puts a dish of food on the table with gravity, whilst a young peasant is cutting the bread. His soft glance is turned to his wife, who has taken off her quilted jacket, and is gazing admiringly at her child. There is a feeling that she attracts him with her careful movements. Her face is lit with the expression of motherliness and hidden sadness. This barely perceptible expression, subtle, coming from eyes, adds to the heroine’s spirituality. Essentially, in this picture, Shibanov conveys the poetry of peasant life and, at the same time, its hidden sadness. The figures are depicted full-sized; they are placed in a group, close to each other. The action comes to the foreground. There is magnanimity in the position of the figures, in their calm actions. The location of the figures is subject to the rules of circular composition: the lines of silhouettes repeat each other, connecting individual figures to an organic whole. The detailed depictions of ordinary items such as a bowl food, a loaf of brown bread and the icon in the corner are attributes personifying the fundamental principles of peasant life. The graphic structure of the picture, the balance of colours in red-brown and golden-pink shades conjure thoughts of Russian ethnocultural traditions as a possible source of inspiration for the Russian master.
An ethnographical approach is also evident in Shibanov’s Celebration of the Wedding Contract. The authors specifically highlight this picture from amongst all the artistic heritage of the 18 th century for the way in which it demonstrates the painter’s interest in depicting scenes from peasant life, underlining the peculiarities of everyday life typical of that district. The precision with which the costumes and headgear worn by Suzdalian peasant women are depicted, not to mention the detail in the embroidered motifs of the bride’s dress, follows from this. The picture’s compositional structure has the following features: the location of figures is symmetrical with the main figures - the bridal pair - in the centre; they are emphasised by light and colour, in full accordance with academic rules. Seated male figures on the right and left denote the foreground, while a woman in a smart kokoshnik (decorative head-dress) is placed behind the young pair. The compositional and colouristic layout indicates the impact of the principles of historical painting. Y. V. Bruk correlates this phenomenon with general tendencies in Russian artistic culture: “In their drive for authenticity, the Shibanov’s pictures find their place in the range of such phenomena of Russian culture in 1779 as the first collections of national songs; the first ‘dictionaries’ and ‘lexicons’ providing www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro Ethnocultural Traditions as a Basis of National Originality of Schools of Art
165 descriptions of folk festivals, plays, legends and superstitions; [and] the first comic operas, where vernaculars and dialects are used.” 18
th century agree that Russian genre painting begins with the works of A. G. Venetsianov (1780-1847). 19 The novelty of their ethnographical narrative and the originality of their artistic manner ensured the persistent significance of these works for many decades to come; indeed, they are seen as defining the national originality of the Russian School. Russian genre painting is seen as a variant of the peasant genre. In Russian genre painting, peasant scenes are accompanied by nature, set against a background depicting the landscape. The fine art expert M. Allenova characterises the value of Venetsianov’s artistic heritage, writing: “Through his works, Russian art attained its picturesque language, its patterns of rhythm and colour, where not only the ‘face’ was expressed, but also the character, ‘the soul’ of Russian nature - the plain rural landscape of the Russian interior with a dim high sky, long soft lines [and] the melancholic colour of a monotonous desolate vastness.” 20
Summer (1820), The Soldier’s Return (1830) and Zakharka (1825), testify to this. The determination of nationalist issues resulted in the development of national-historical painting in the Russian fine art of the mid-19 th century. 21
This theme was vividly expressed in the arts of historical and genre painting, which were closely interrelated. National-historical narratives were subject to significant change, but one that remained constant over a long period of time was the connection of historical themes with modernity. As the art historian, A Benois, states, “Historicism, as if embedded in modernity, became the internal property of art, overcoming genre boundaries.” 22
In the second half of the 19 th century, the development of the Russian School took place under conditions of the formation of a national identity and the search for a new, personal identity by the Russian man; a movement which found personification in images of Russian nature. In academic literature, there is no definitive agreement on either the chronological boundaries of the Russian landscape painting tradition or the content of this genre. Among the variety of viewpoints, the fundamental one is the comparative-historical concept, developed by A. A. Fedorov-Davydov, 23 F. S. Maltseva, 24 V. S. Manin 25 and V. A. Lenyashin. 26 Defining the 18 Bruk 1990, p. 231. 19 Yakovleva 2005, p. 13. 20 Allenova 2008, p. 100. 21 Yakovleva 2005, p. 17. 22 Benua 1998, p. 33. 23 Fedorov-Davydov 1986. 24 Maltseva 1952. www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro Yüklə 12,44 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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