Art and Literature Scientific and Analytical Journal Texts 3.2014

Bruxelles, 2014 EDITORIAL BOARD Chief editor Burganova M. A.

Bowlt John Ellis (USA) — Doctor of Science, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures in University of Southern California; Burganov A. N. (Russia) — Doctor of Science, Professor of Stroganoff Moscow State Art Industrial University, Full-member of Russia Academy of Arts, National Artist of Russia, member of the Dissertation Council of Stroganoff Moscow State Art Industrial University; Burganova M. A. (Russia) — Doctor of Science, Professor of Stroganoff Moscow State Art Industrial University, Full-member of Russia Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia, member of the Dissertation Council of Stroganoff Moscow State Art Industrial University, editor-in-chief; Glanc Tomáš (Germany) — Doctor of Science of The Research Institute of East European University of Bremen (Germany), and assistant professor of The Charles University (Czech Republic); Kazarian Armen (Russia) — Architectural historian, Doctor of Fine Arts in The State Institute of Art History, Advisor in Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences; Kravetsky A. G. (Russia) — Candidate of Sciences, research associate of Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Lavrentyev Alexander N. (Russia) — Doctor of Arts, Professor of Stroganoff Moscow State Art Industrial University and Moscow State University of Printing Arts; Alessandro De Magistris (Italy) — PhD, Full-Professor of History of Architecture Politecnico di Milano Department of Architecture and Urban Studies; Misler Nicoletta (Italy) Professor of Modern East European Art at the Istituto Universitario Orientale, NaplesPavlova I. B. — Candidate of Sciences, Senior Researcher of Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences;

ISSN 2294-8902 © TEXTS, 2014 Pletneva A. A. (Russia) — Candidate of Sciences, research associate of Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Pociechina Helena (Poland) — Doctor of Science; Profesor of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn; Pruzhinin B. I. (Russia) — Doctor of Sciences, Professor, editor-in- chief of Problems of Philosophy; Ryzhinsky A. S. (Russia) — Candidate of Sciences, Senior lecturer of Gnesins Russian Academy of Music; Sahno I. M. (Russia) — Doctor of Sciences, Professor of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia; Sano Koji (Japan) Professor of Toho Gakuyen University of Music (Japan) — Professor of Toho Gakuyen University of Music; Shvidkovsky Dmitry O. (Russia) — Vice-President of Russian Academy of Arts and its secretary for History of Arts, and Full member; Rector of Moscow Institute of Architecture, Doctor of Science, Professor, Full member of Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences, Full member of the British Academy; Tanehisa Otabe (Japan) — Doctor of Sience, Professor, Head of Department of Aesthetics at Tokyo; Tolstoy Andrey V. (Russia) — Doctor of Sciences, professor in the History of Art at the Moscow State Institute of Architecture, a Full- member of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts and President of the Russian National section of International Association of Art Critics (AICA) affiliated with UNESCO; Tsivian Yuri (USA) — Doctor of Science, Professor, University of Chicago, Departments: Cinema and Media Studies, Art History, Slavic Languages and Literatures;

Editor Smolenkova J. (Russia)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Natalia M. Nikulina The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image in the Cultures of the Ancient World 6

Nikolay K. Solovyev Residential and Palatial Interiors of Medieval Russia 16

Ludmila V. Gavrilova The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter, as an Example of Distinctive Features of the Artistic Style of the Heirs of P. Pashkov Studio 29

Elena V. Noskova An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics of the Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries 37

Ellada E. Mamеdovа An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture by the Example of the Soviet Constructivists 50

Pan Yaochang The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society 57

Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art 75

Svetlana A. Minko Soviet Thematic Picture in the reflection of criticism during the period of 1930s-1950s 93

Maria A. Burganova Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens 108 Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image

Natalia M. Nikulina Ph.D. in History Ph.D. in History of Arts Lomonosov Moscow State University [email protected] Moscow, Russia THE PILLAR AS A FUNCTIONAL AND ARTISTIC-SYMBOLIC IMAGE IN THE CULTURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Summary: This article is dedicated to the most ancient period of the architecture of history. The author traces the process of its development on different territories. Notwithstanding the differences of typology, of planning and formal solutions, of material and technical equipment, ancient architecture represents an integrated body. It was united not only by the post-and-beam building method, but by the similar understanding of its basic components as well. Religious, cultural and historical traditions determined the correlation of functional and symbolic elements, of functional and decorative parts. Analysis of such an important architectural element as the pillar, the bearing part of the construction, demonstrates the evolutionary process of the years 4000s till 1000s BC. Keywords: ancient architecture, beam and stanchion construction, architectural mainstay, religious, cultural and historical traditions, functional and symbolic, functional and decorative.

It is known that architecture had a leading role among the other arts in all territories of the ancient world. Particularly architecture with its scale, functionality, plastic and decorative expressiveness was able to fully embody the religious, political and artistic ideas of its time, based on cultural and historical traditions of the region in question. Architectural constructions included works of sculpture and monumental relief, paintings and applied artworks, reflecting a certain level of development of these forms of artistic expression. As a result,

— 6 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image a complex and an extremely capacious image formed, and synthesis has always been its feature. In different parts of the ancient world each historical era left several architectural works: original in typology, in their planning and formal solutions. They are unique, but with all their particularities they share common features of architectural ideas and principles, despite the differences in building materials, natural conditions and technical capabilities. Not only the building method — the post-and-beam system, which prevailed on that stage of architectural development was general, but a similar understanding of many of its components as well. Alongside their actual functionality they often had a very important symbolic value, which sometimes did not correspond with the tectonics. The interaction between the tectonic — functional and the symbolic — decorative in different areas and at the same period of time was essentially very similar. Particularly this can be seen by the example of how the pillar — an important supporting part of the post-and-beam construction, is designed. The earliest pillars for large-scale architectural buildings of the ancient world were pronouncedly functional, had an increased margin of safety required for large constructions with heavy roofing (for example, freestanding Sumerian round pillars of adobe bricks in the gallery of the so-called Red building in Uruk of the end of the 4th millennium BC; Egyptian limestone pilasters with vertical orthostats in the mortuary pyramid complex of Pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara and powerful granite piers in the pyramidal temples of Pharaoh Khafre at Giza, the first half of the 3d millennium BC). In all cases a symbolic is present in the design but it is not visually dominant. In Sumerian architecture mudbrick round pillars are decorated with colored ceramic mosaic imitating reed weaving; stone semi-columns of the Egyptian complex at Saqqara are presented in the form of a bundle of papyrus stems; and the square pillars in Giza are not made of pink granite by coincidence, which was quarried far away from the construction site — in the south, at the first Cataract of the Nile. Symbolism of fertility, eternally renascent life are reflected in both cases, however, the determining factor in the design is the tectonic and functional origin.

— 7 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image

The role of symbolic in the religious buildings did not only increase, but even became dominant in the middle and the second half of the 3d millennium BC. It was so great in content and so significant in the plastic and graphic design that it seemed to neutralize the functional. In Egyptian architecture of this time the so-called false pillars — stone palmlike, papyrus and lotus columns, appeared, which were used in the interiors of funerary complexes. The interior space was conceived here sometimes as a mystical palm grove, or as a thicket of papyrus or lotus flowers rising from the fertile primeval earth. The shafts and capitals of these columns, decorated with palm leaves, lotus buds and unopen papyrus umbels, rise towards the sky in the starlit night. In this case the overlapping has no visible weight, so the columns may therefore be atectonic. Palm leaves, bunches of buds are initially not able to withstand the heavy load, but it is only in a real not in a heavenly design. In Mesopotamia, unlike Egypt, there was no existing type of floral columns, but here as well the pillar is more symbolic than tectonic. The pillars of a covered porch — a grand entrance into the temple of the Ubaid goddess Ninhursag from the Early dynastic period, may serve as an example. The shafts of two circular pillars at the door of this temple are decorated with a colored stone mosaic that repeats the scaly tiered pattern of a palm tree bark. The shafts of two pillars at the bottom of the staircase are decorated with gilded copper. They also imitate slender shafts of young palms. Symbolic decorative origin determines the nature of the figurative design here as well, while the functional is weakly revealed. Semantic accent is on the iconic by meaning image of a palm tree, bearing life and prosperity for the Sumer land and cities. At the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC the functional and the tectonic again became quite visible in the monuments of ancient architecture. The pillar stopped to be false, purely symbolic; it was again regarded as a supporting part of the construction. This happened not only due to the development of inner architectural processes, but also due to the changes in the historical situation. The Middle Kingdom era (chronologically 21–18 centuries BC), a new stage in the life of Egypt, is associated with the Theban 11–13th Dynasties coming to power; they largely

— 8 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image

1. Egyptian papyriform columns in Luxor Temple of Amun-Ra. XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom, the era of Amenhotep III, the end of the XV — beginning of the XIV century B.C. focused on their local southern tradition. For architecture it meant, first, the expansion of rock-cut building, and secondly, the formation of a new type of religious buildings and their decorative plastic design. Primarily real pillars were needed in rock-cut monuments of this time, so builders used pillars of limestone and so-called proto-Doric columns, octagonal pillars, which had similarities with the Greek Doric order. Columns with floral ornament continued to be made, but less often, mainly in places of special religious significance. A typical example, from the little that remained of this era’s landmarks, is a terraced rock- cut mortuary temple of Mentuhotep I (II) in Deirel-Bahari from the beginning of the 11thdynasty. Its typology would then have a serious impact on the further development of the whole Egyptian architecture (not only on rock-cut, but also on the land level temple complexes). Only geometrically shaped pillars were used in the outer porticoes, hypostyle and peristyle halls and the temple sanctuary. They alternate, filling

— 9 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image the interior space and the tiers of the facade part, detect and define the nature of the constructive solution as a whole. At this time in Mesopotamia, there was a return to the ancient tradition, to archaic round brick pillars (but unlike the earlier one the brick was figured and burnt). Such retrospectivism was in the spirit of late or Neo-Sumerian period, which revived this culture past achievements. The escalation and expansion of interior spaces in erected buildings required an elaborate pillar system, and it was used by Sumerian builders. This is confirmed, in particular, by architectural remains of ensi Gudea’s palace complex in Lagash. The situation that was emerging in the ancient architecture of the 2nd millennium BC, is particularly interesting. At this stage, actually functional and floral symbolic pillars existed in parallel and were used depending on the nature of the building or complex. An apparent transformation of a plastic floral column image, secondary stylization of its constituent elements occurred. In the early period it had quite generalized natural forms, but then the stylization started to intensify, reflecting the tectonic origin as well. As a result, a balance between the functional and the symbolic was first achieved, then this balance was disturbed in favor of the functional, structural, which began to dominate. The functional subordinated the symbolic image. Egyptian architecture of the New Kingdom, the time of the 18–20th Dynasties (this is the beginning of 16 — mid 11th centuries BC.) clearly shows the entire course of changes and their logical result. Papyriform columns began to be the most popular type, which exist in two versions: as a bunch of stems and buds in the capitals and in the form of a high shaft with an open bell-shaped umbel facing upwards. The large-scale construction, started in this era, was grand in its scope, comparable only to the Old Kingdom period. Rock, half-rock and land level buildings were erected in the Thutmosid period as well as the Ramesside period. Huge temples of Amun-Ra at Karnak and Luxor in the northern and southern suburbs of Thebes were complexes of paramount importance. In accordance with religious ideas, floral papyriform columns, which reflect two stages of transformation, that took place in the Egyptian New Kingdom architecture, were widely used in them. Colonnades

— 10 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image of the main peristyle courtyard, hypostyle and the sanctuary in the temple of Luxor (the time of Amenhotep III, late 15th — early 14th centuries BC) show results of the first stage. The enlargement and generalization of forms, elongation of proportions, the increase of a base’s and capital’s role significantly changed the look of ancient type papyriform columns. They became more decorative, more complex in plastic, and at the same time they lacked structural clarity. The optimal solution, that successfully joined the functional and the symbolic, was found. The second stage of transformation is associated with the time of the 19th dynasty (reign of Seti I and Ramesses II). Its result is reflected in the colonnades on the side parts of the famous hypostyle at Karnak. Lower papyriform columns, twelve metres in height, supporting heavy joists, stand in close rows near tall papyriform columns of the passage, 20 meters in height, which had a smooth shaft and an open umbel in the capital (and they are similar to the ones used in the passage of the Luxor Temple). They are no longer a bunch of stems and buds of papyrus, as it was before. There is one powerful shaft and only one papyrus bud, as if absorbing all the rest. This design maybe loses the Luxor harmony, but instead it receives an incredible potential strength, tectonic and plastic expressiveness of forms. It should be noted that during the Ramesses III period another kind of papyriform columns — the one with an expanded bell-shaped umbel in the capital, also gets heavy shortened proportions, although this was clearly contrary to the symbolic image content (the umbel opened only on those papyruses, the stalks of which rose high and were close to the sun). The point that the columns of the floral type began to be used in this period together with the columns in Egyptian architecture (what is observed not only in the rock, but in the lowland complexes of the Ramesside time) is not a coincidence and it seems symptomatic. Floral columns were known in the architecture of neighboring Egypt’s territories as well (lily and palmate columns could be seen, for example, in the Phoenician buildings). Interestingly enough, a similar process of the strengthening of the tectonic origin can be observed here, which is sought for, stylizing the symbolic form. A palmate column in this region is quite different than in Egypt, because here it was not so

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2. Aegean columns in The Hall of a Large Staircase. The east wing of the Palace of Knossos in Crete. XVI century B.C. — first half of XV century B.C. directly related to the original image. It has an even and high shaft, a base and a capital in the form of tiers of volute-like curls imitating the crown. The design is conventionally symbolic, decorative, but the tectonic is inherited from the very beginning. Over time, it could only increase. Zoomorphic columns, which were also used in the Eastern Mediterranean, are of interest as well. They had a stone capital in the form of fused iconic animals placed in opposite directions, most often it was a bull or a lion. Shortened proportions of these figures, the intensity of their postures reveal the pillar tectonics quite definitely. Later on, these columns would be used in the Assyrian and Achaemenid Iranian architecture. The symbolic and the functional are already in a stable harmony here, and the decorative of imaginative solutions appeals to the ruling palace style of these cultures.

— 12 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image

Monuments of the Aegean world and the Hittite Kingdom, which stand out with their typology and interesting design solutions, originality in understanding of architectural forms, have a special place in the architectural panorama of the 2nd millennium BC. A curious type of pillars were used in Crete and Mycenaean Greece — a column, the shaft of which extends upwards; the Hittites, in addition to an interesting palmate column with a cannelured shaft and a pair of volutes in the capitals, had an anthropomorphic pillar, which was a deity figure standing on the back of a cult animal. The idea of such stressed tectonic design is amazing, where the plastic image, replacing some architectural component (a figure of a deity, lion, Sphinx) or a separate architectural element (an elastically bending volute in a column capital), does not only visibly identify a connection with the construction, but also enhances a feeling of a clear coherence and interdependence of all its parts. The Hittites, who built from hard stone and used cyclopean masonry, parabolic arches, false vaults and relief orthostats in their architecture, felt particularly well the specifics of stone, its possibilities as a building material, even worshiped it as a sacred object. Everything in their buildings was inspired with by the idea of tectonics, and their original designs are from it. An Aegean column, expanding not downward but upward, may seem impractical. It is very functional and tectonic. Pillars of this type are still put in mines and caves, because they are considered to be more reliable. At his time, Arthur Evans expressed the assumption about the origin of the Aegean columns from the early Minoan cave type sanctuaries. Apparently, he was correct. Well primed oak shafts of these columns, painted in different ways depending on the purpose of the room, their powerful stone capitals and bases give the impression of great strength, they are really functional, especially with such a light roofing. A cone-shaped pillar allows to support a large area of a ceiling, and a round shape of a volume capital, bearing a load of the floors, plastically reveals the idea of bearing. Columns of the same type were the main sense bearing part of Cretan and Mycenaean altars, as evidenced by dozens of works of art (graphic, plastic and glyptic). The symbolism of the tree of life, eternal rebirth, fertility and understanding of a deity

— 13 — Natalia M. Nikulina. The Pillar as a Functional and Artistic-Symbolic Image itself, who is served by cult figures of animals guarding the altar, mostly bulls or lions, is hidden behind this image. Greek architecture was, of course, the brightest page in the history of ancient architecture in the 1st millennium BC; it was a logical culmination of the path that was passed by the ancient world before in this field of art. Greek architecture, developing on the basis of the early order systems (Doric and Ionic) established here, had already reached great heights in the 6th century BC. Through the use of modular construction principle, the Greek masters were able to achieve a remarkable consistency of all parts of the post-and-beam construction, subordinating constructions and decor, the interconnectedness of the whole on the basis of multiple analogies and repetitions, proportional matching, plastic and scenic accents. Harmonically connected with the natural environment, large and small order buildings, polis temples and all Greek shrine complexes were addressed to the world of the gods as well as to the human world, being an interesting synthesis of all kinds of artistic creativity. Classical monuments of Greek architecture became the basis for the later development of the European and world architecture, but we must not forget that foundations of the Greek art of building were laid not without the involvement of the ancient cultures that preceded the Greeks, and they had their major achievements and developed traditions.

REFERENCES 1. Akurgal, E. 1961, Die Kunst der Hethiter. München. 2. Aldred, C. 1994, Egyptian Art. London. 3. Arnold, D. 2003, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture. Cairo. 4. Badawy, A. 1954–68, A History of Egyptian Architecture, vol. I–III. Cambridge- Berkeley. 5. 2009, Bronze age architectural traditions in the eastern Mediterranean, diffusion and diversity. /ed. by A. Kyriatsoulis. Weilheim i. OB. 6. Bryce, T. 2005, The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford. 7. 1973–1982, The Cambridge Ancient History. Second edition, vol. 2–3. Cambridge. 8. Dickinson, O. 1994, The Aegean Bronze Age. New York. 9. Faure, P. 1970, La vie quotidienne en Crète au temps de Minos (1500 av.J. — C.). Paris.

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10. Frankfort, H. 1954, Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. New Haven- London. 11. Heinrich, E. 1982, Die Tempel und Heiligtümer im Alten Mesopotamien. DAI, Denkmäler antiker Architektur, vol. 14. Berlin. 12. Heinrich, E. 1984, Die Paläste im Alten Mesopotamien. DAI, Denkmäler antiker Architektur, vol. 15. Berlin. 13. Kramer, S.N. 1963, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture and Character. Chicago. 14. Marinatos, S., Hirmer, M. 1960, Crete and Mycenae. London. 15. Matz, F. 1956, Kreta, Mykene, Troja. Die minoische und homerische Welt. Stuttgart. 16. McEnroe, J.C. 2010, Architecture of Minoan Crete. Constructing Identity int he Aegean Bronze Age. Austin. 17. Naumann, R. 1971, Architektur Kleinasiens von ihren Anfängen bis zum Ende der hethitischen Zeit. Tübingen. 18. Oppenheim, A. 1977, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago. 19. 2010, The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean. /ed. by E. H. Cline. Oxford. 20. Parrot, A. 1961, Assur. Paris. 21. Parrot, A. 1961, Sumer. Paris. 22. Preziosi, D., Hitchcock, L. 1999, Aegean Art and Architecture. Oxford. 23. Rykwert, J. 1996, The Dancing Column. On Order in Architecture. Cambridge. 24. Schäfer, H. 1963, Von Ägyptischer Kunst: eine Grundlage. Wiesbaden. 25. Schäfer, H. 1974, The Principles of Egyptian Art. Oxford-New York. 26. Scoufopoulos, N.C. 1971, Mycenaean Citadels. SIMA 22. Gothenburg. 27. Smith, W.S. 1958, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt. Harmondsworth. 28. Strommenger, E., Hirmer, M. 1964, The Art of Mesopotamia. London. 29. Vandersleyen, C. 1975, Das alte Ägypten (Propyläen Kunstgeschichte, 15). Berlin. 30. Whittaker, H. 1997, Mycenaean Cult Buildings: A Study of Their Architecture and Function in the Context of the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean. Bergen. 31. Wilkinson, R.H. 2000, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. London.

— 15 — Nikolay K. Solovyev. Residential and Palatial Interiors of Medieval Russia

Nikolay K. Solovyev Doctor of Arts, Professor, Head of the Department of Theory and History of Decorative Arts and Design Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial Academy [email protected] Moscow, Russia RESIDENTIAL AND PALATIAL INTERIORS OF MEDIEVAL RUSSIA

Summary: The article is devoted to residential and palatial interiors of medieval Russia. The author is analyzing wooden peasant dwellings and their equipment, as well as palace stone buildings of the XV–XVII centuries, preserved in Moscow. Keywords: peasant hut (izba), built — in furniture, Russian oven, palace chambers, decorative finish

The oldest residential and palatial Russian interiors have not survived to our time, because, usually they were of wood. However, the tradition of constructing and planning techniques were so persistent, that it is possible to recreate the look of older homes from the preserved samples of the end of the XVIII–XIX century, as well as archaeological and literal sources. Strong traditions in wooden architecture can be explained by constructive characteristics of the material, causing the appropriate architectural forms of buildings and their interior compositional organization. The most common types of peasant houses from ancient times were chetyrehstenok — square hut (which had only residential room and stoop), pyatistenok — five-wall log house (two adjacent blocks divided by a side wall) and shestistenok — six-wall log house (two blocks under one roof, connected by roof and transition). Common types of houses (pyatistenki and shestistenki) were widespread in the Russian North, where there was no villaining, and the harsh winters set conditions for uniting residential and ancillary parts of the house under one roof. Houses

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1. Reconstruction of the interior of the Russian log house were often put on the basements, which served for domestic purposes. The natural interior lighting was provided by kosyaschatymi (having jambs) and volokovymi (cut down from two adjacent bars) windows. Wood, as the only building material caused architectural homogeneity of the residential interiors environment. Walls and ceilings were made

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2. The Imperial Palace complex in Kolomenskoye

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3. Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin. 1635–1636. Masters: A. Konstantinov, B. Ogurtsov, T. Sharutin, L. Ushakov of wooden bars, floor, door panels, shields which closed Volokovaya windows — were made of wooden boards. All built-in equipment and furniture were also made of wood: dining table in the “red” corner of the shrine, benches located at the bottom along the walls, and shelves (politsi) above them, at the human height; golbets — a wooden extension of the furnace with a door, concealing staircase leading into the basement; wall or two-way built-in closet which did not reach ceiling that separated the corner for cooking (shomnysha) with the furnace from the rest of the space; a mezzanine for sleeping and folding things (plank bed), took place over the door. The natural color and texture of the wood could be decorated with bright colorful paintings of wall cabinets, doors and walls of golbets or paneled walls shomnysha (common motifs — floral and geometric patterns, flowers). Woodcarving has been used mainly on the near-wall benches, covered with carved desks and resting on carved legs.

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4. Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin. The interior of the bedroom

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5. Refectory of the monastery of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius. 1686–1692

The only non-wooden part of the interior was a wattle and daub oven, which took important place in the interior composition. Russian stove represents a unique phenomenon of “medieval environmental design” prototype of “container” interior equipment of the XX century, multi- functional “unit” designed to heat the house, cooking and keeping hot food, drying clothes and a place for rest and sleep. In the poor “smoky” (or ‘black’) huts furnaces buried in “black”, had no chimney. Smoke comes out to the house and then goes out through the hole in the ceiling and a wooden pipe (dymnik). Urban wooden houses in the XVI century were either square buildings with four walls, or more complex, consisting of a heated house, inner porch and storeroom, used as a pantry or a shelter in the summer time. These homes usually had basements to keep warm on the ground floor. Three-part structure of the townsmen houses and mansions comes in the XVII–XVIII centuries, takes different compositional variations in concrete buildings. Residential heated rooms (gornitsa) could be placed on

— 22 — Nikolay K. Solovyev. Residential and Palatial Interiors of Medieval Russia two floors. In this situation the staircase was arranged in the hall, storerooms and a kitchen were placed in basement. The structure of a dwelling house, along with warm chambers, which served as bedrooms (pokoi), could include the summer bedroom (terem), located generally at the top, and rooms for family or regalement (povalushi). All of these parts of the house often had different roofs. Increasing number of rooms in the palatial buildings usually led to the emergence of several mansions connected by passages. The most prominent and studied wooden palace of the XVII century is a royal palace complex in Kolomenskoe, built by craftsmen S. Petrov, I Mikhailov, S. Dementiev which stood one hundred years (1668–1768). Seven mansions of different configurations, roof height and form made for the relevant members of the royal family were interconnected by passages, as well as with storage rooms of the palace and the church. Every mansion, in its turn, consisted of a few storerooms with hall and terrace. Such intricate, asymmetrical composition of the palace, gave it fabulous scenic appearance, but caused emotional perception of its interior by way of dynamical movement through the various groups of rooms. In the Moscow Kremlin wooden palace built in the late XV century was replaced by stone buildings (except the residential area, which remained until the XVII century). Their three-dimensional structure clearly shows the influence of wooden traditional architecture: the asymmetrical composition of individual mansions with different roofs set against each other, like wooden huts, or connected by passages, and ambulatories. Only large, Palace of Facets, built in 1487–1491 by Italian architects Marco’s Ruffo and Peter Solari left from that time. Its one-pillar design is very similar to other one-pillar palatial interiors of the XV century Lords court in Novgorod and destroyed refectories of Trinity- Sergius and Simon monasteries. Palace of Facets is a house, square in plan. In the center is a pillar, which supports four arches. Palace of Facets was constructed for court ceremonies, meetings, reception of foreign ambassadors and was the most spacious secular interior of its time in Russia (the area — about 500 square meters, height — more than 9 meters) and was supposed to symbolize the greatness of the Russian state.

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6. Hall of Facets in the Moscow Kremlin. 1487–1491. Architects: Marco Ruffo and Peter Solari

Its interiors changed several times. The walls originally lined with white stone, at the end of the XVI century were covered with fresco paintings on religious and historical themes, which did not come to our days (the current paintings were made in the XIX century). A central pillar originally also had white-stone carvings. From the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square the grand staircase, leading to the entrance hall, was adjoined. Main hall was connected with the entrance by the white stone portal carved with complex ornamental patterns. Above the vestibule was a room where female part of the royal family could observe the throne room through the window. In the second half of the XV and XVI century stone chambers became very popular among noble people in Moscow and other Russian cities, but most of them did not survive to this day. Residential buildings of the XVII century, when the stone building still uses scheme of wooden

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7. Cross chamber of Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin. Master: A. Konstantinov

cells, are in a better state of preservation. Posad buildings have a three- part structure, somehow modified under the influence of its multi-room character: the entrance hall transforms into a wide corridor, with one side of which are ceremonial chamber, and with another — living rooms. Thick walls could contain stairs and restrooms, equipped with special sewer tiles. Configuration of plans became more variable, including forms of “pokoem” (in form of Russian letter “П”) and “glagolem” (in form of Russian letter “Г”) — (houses of Pogankiny and Menshikovy in Pskov). Often the lower floors of these houses, made of stone were the base for the top — wooden floor, and stone chambers were used as ceremonial rooms, and family preferred to live in wooden part of the mansion. Some mansions were built entirely of stone. Height of some such buildings reached three stores and they had arch passages leading to the home church (Assembly of the duma clerk Averky Kirillov in Moscow).

— 25 — Nikolay K. Solovyev. Residential and Palatial Interiors of Medieval Russia

After a fire in 1626, which destroyed a significant part of the wooden buildings in Moscow, including the Moscow Kremlin, authorities have urged rich citizens to build stone houses. At that time (1635–1636) Moscow masters A. Konstantinov, B. Ogurtsov, T. Sharutina and L. Ushakov built a new royal Terem Palace in the Kremlin. Its architectural composition was also influenced by techniques of wooden architecture: the palace stands on the basement, the first two floors, which remained from the palace building of the XVI century. The third floor has an office appointment, and the fourth is residential. Tower chamber with “observing” turret, located on the fifth floor, is surrounded by ambulatory, designed for outing walks. Residential floor layout has enfilade system (doorways are not yet on the same axis). All rooms have similar sizes, three windows on the southern side and located one after another (hall, the front chamber, the feast house, a bedroom with adjoined chapel). Chambers have closed vaults with strikings bordered by carved white stone above the windows and doors. The floors of living rooms were lined with oak parquetry. Walls and vaults of the second half of XVII century were covered with frescoes (paintings, made under the guidance of famous painter Simon Ushakov, not preserved to our days). Interior decoration also included tiled stoves 1, door portals of carved white stone, figured mica windows and embossed leather on door linings. In 1643–1656 A. Konstantinov worked on rebuilding the Patriarch residence — Patriarch palace in the Moscow Kremlin. The main room of the residence — Cross Chamber — is a new step in the creation of the gala interiors of the XVII century. Chamber is a rectangle of 20 × 14 m, covered with a closed vault with strippings above doorways and windows. Window openings were placed symmetrically on the longitudinal walls, and doors — in the middle of the crosswalls. Door openings were flanked by fluted columns with Doric capitals, supporting an entablature ended with a rectangular pediment. The floor was paved with colored tiles, congenerous to the figural tiled stove, located in the corner. Five forged chandeliers harmonically hung along the central axis. The regularity of plan, and the introduction of enfilade elements and order forms to finish the interior influenced by Western European

— 26 — Nikolay K. Solovyev. Residential and Palatial Interiors of Medieval Russia tendencies, anticipated compositional techniques, established in the Russian palace interiors of the XVIII century. At the end of XVII century in the Naryshkin baroque period, a unit of closed vault with strikings becomes general method of overlapping in large staterooms. These vaults were built in the spacious (up to 390 square meters) monastery refectories having no internal pillars: Simonov monastery, 1680–1683, Novodevichy, 1685–1687, Trinity- Sergius, 1686–1692. The last was decorated with a large plastic molds of floral ornament and paintings, baroque detailed walls (with double twisted columns supporting entablature and vigorous pediment), and polychrome interior. All this decorations gave the interior festive image of pomp and wealth. The desire to create wealthy, decorative trim parade interiors can be noted in the homes of famous people. For example, the house of Duke V. Golitsyn on Okhotny Ryad Street (1689), included about 50 rooms on the second floor. Walls were covered with colored broadcloth, wallpapers and embossed leather, enriched with mirrors and pictures, tiled stoves in corners, ceilings decorated with paintings, lusters (chandeliers), made of various materials, including crystal 2, which will be very popular in the next century XVIII in the artistic decoration of Russian palace interiors.

NOTES 1 Terem Palace (as well as the Faceted Chamber, and residence of the patriarch) was heated by a hot air carried by clay pipes leading to living rooms, from stoves, placed in basement. 2 Inventory of the Duke V. Golitsyn included 30 chandeliers, 22 were copper, 2 wood, 1 bone, 2 tin and 3 crystal (“crystal chandelier of six candlesticks and apple at the bottom”). Chandeliers with crystal-attire appeared in Russia in the second half of XVII century.

REFERENCES 1. Aschepkov, E.A. 1950, Russian Wooden Architecture, Moscow. 2. Aschepkov, E.A. 1953, Russian Folk Architecture in Eastern Siberia, Moscow. 3. Gabe, R.M. 1941, Wooden Architecture of Karelia, Moscow.

— 27 — Nikolay K. Solovyev. Residential and Palatial Interiors of Medieval Russia

4. Makovetsky, I.V. 1962, Russian Folk Dwelling. North and the Upper Volga Region, Moscow. 5. 2000, The Moscow Kremlin at the Turn of the Millennium. Compiled by Devyatov, S.V., Zhuravleva, E.V., Moscow. 6. Opolovnikov, A.V. 1986, Russian Wooden Architecture, Moscow. 7. Snegirev, V.L. 1948, Moscow Architecture. Essays on the History of Russian Architecture of XIV — XIX Centuries, Moscow. 8. Solovyov, N.K. 2012, History of the Russian Interior, Moscow.

— 28 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter

Ludmila V. Gavrilova Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial Academy [email protected] Moscow, Russia THE PICTURESQUE DECOR OF THE CHURCH OF METROPOLITAN SERGUIS SHELTER, AS AN EXAMPLE OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE ARTISTIC STYLE OF THE HEIRS OF P. PASHKOV STUDIO

Summary: The article is dedicated to discover mural painting at the domestic church of the hospice named after venerable metropolitan Sergiy Radonezhsky. The author first analize s these fragments of mural as piece of early XX th- century art and offers a detailed description of them. Keywords: Church of St. Serge Radonezhskiy, mural painting, the beginning of the twentieth century, Successors of P. P. Pashkov.

Russian art of the early 20th century is a time of a national romantic rise in Russia, an active national art monument study, and a new understanding of social and moral issues as well, an active search for new artistic tools and techniques that led to an emergence of diversity in creativity. The church of Metropolitan Sergius in Moscow is one of the interesting examples of Russian art of the period in question. The idea of creating a shelter for the terminally ill, except the mentally ill and the hectic, belonged to Metropolitan Sergius. Metropolitan Sergius’s secular name was Nikolay Yakovlevich Liapidevsky (1820–1898). In 1848 he served as an inspector, and then as the rector of the Moscow Academy. In 1861 he was elevated to the rank of the bishop of Kursk and later he became the Archbishop of

— 29 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter

Kazan, Kishinev and Kherson. In 1893 he became the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. Metropolitan was actively engaged in literary and educational activities, in opening and developing new churches, such as the orphanage church of St. Sergius in Tula. In 1889 a piece of land from a domain previously belonging to M. Pogodin was purchased for the future shelter. In the same year on May 25 the foundation for the shelter was first laid. “The construction of the shelter cost 300,000 rubles, not counting the construction of a power station and the cost of land; 300,000 rubles was provided for the shelter maintenance”. The shelter was constructed at the expense of H. Lyamina and built by a prominent Moscow architect S. Soloviev. The architecture of the building is a development of a certain, traditional for the 19th century type of building construction of similar functionality. Its composition corresponds to a classical design of a manor house with a prominent middle part and symmetrical wings. Built in the neo-Russian style, which is based on a reinterpretation of forms of ancient Novgorod and Pskov monuments, it was a two- storey building, built like chambers and it could accommodate about 100 beadsmen. The church was an architectural dominant of the shelter, under which a front lobby was located. The church was decorated with a low hipped roof, three-bay belfry construction (after this project its form “became typical of S. Soloviev’s works in Russian-style”) and a polychrome of tiles, which matched the pale stucco facades. The architecture of Metropolitan Sergius shelter is essential for the development of the neo-Russian style in general — as one of its earliest examples. The shelter was closed after the 1917 revolution. Research institutes of the national health Committee (Tropical, Hygienic, Microbiological) were later housed in the former shelter. The Sysin Research Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Hygiene is now in this building. During the Soviet period the former shelter building underwent a radical rebuilding due to changes in its functions. A third and fourth floors were added. In the middle of the complex on the second floor, that previously housed the church, the building was also overbuilt and

— 30 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter internal alterations were carried out. Unremarkable standard rooms are now on the place where there used to be a house church. But despite these significant changes, murals of the church were partially preserved; they were found in 1986 and restored. A young man with a falcon in his hand is depicted on the surviving section of the mural. An initial letter “T” of a saint’s name has survived on the right side of the mural, hence all points to the fact that the image is of St. Tryphon. Tryphon was a Christian martyr, who suffered for the faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan Decius. According to a Moscow legend, the saint appeared in a falconer’s dream and helped him to find a falcon, thus saving the falconer from the tzar’s anger. Another surviving fragment of the mural was discovered in 2004. It depicts a saint, a bit of a large floral ornament and a seraph in a circle survived above his image; a cloud, with a surviving fragment of an angel on it, is visible above the seraph. Who was the author of these amazing murals? The Shchusev Museum of Architecture stores prerevolutionary photo albums with photos of monumental works made by the Heirs of P. Pashkov studio. A photo of Metropolitan Sergius church, which they painted, is among the photos. It is necessary to say a few words about the artists. The Pashkovs has been known since the early 19th century. They are hereditary painters. In the early 20th century brothers Paul, Nicholas, George and Ivan were the representatives of the artistic Pashkov dynasty. All of them were graduates of the Stroganov School. During their life these artists participated in an implementation of a large number of monumental sites, including such important as: Fedorovsky town, Ratnaya Chamber in Tsarskoye Selo, churches of Medvednikovskaya almshouse in Moscow. Most likely, the author of the murals of the church of Metropolitan Sergius shelter is Ivan Pavlovich Pashkov. Perhaps Nikolai Pavlovich participated as well. For example, it is known that since 1896 the brothers had already cooperated closely on a number of sites: in 1896– 1897 when painting prince Shakhovskoy’s palace in Pokrovskoye- Streshnevo, in 1897 when painting the church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Orekhovo-Zuevo. Although, during the interview with Nikolai Pavlovich, made in 1955, he didn’t mention

— 31 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter anything about his participation in the painting of St. Sergius Church. After graduation Pavel Pavlovich chose a teaching career and as an artist he was engaged in easel painting and drawing, therefore, most likely he did not participate in the painting. Georgy Pavlovich also hardly participated in the painting of the shelter church, as he was still too young (in 1901 he had only entered the Stroganov School). Responding to a question about the participants of the picturesque church decoration, we cannot exclude the architect S. Solovyov, who could have also taken part in the mural sketching. If we can conclude about the involvement of the Heirs of P. Pashkov studio in Metropolitan Sergius church painting in the photos placed in their advertisement photo albums, the involvement of S. Solovyov is impossible to prove for now. Most likely he supervised the project only as an architect. The facade of the shelter and Metropolitan Sergius church, creating together a single architecture, can be seen in a photograph from the Pashkov artists’ album 220–16. The church served as an elegant decoration and a vertical dominant of the facade. A marble iconostasis is seen in another photograph (album 220–17). Interestingly, the silhouette of a belfry, completed with three small domes, corresponds with the elements of the altar barrier, and with a mural, where the saints are placed in a frame, ending with a three-piece silhouette, and with three cupolas over each frame. Thanks to such details the impression of a harmonious combination of the mural, the iconostasis and the church facade is increased. Similar framing of the saints can be observed in the murals of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev, but this is not the only similarity to the famous monument of its time. The style of the church painting greatly resembles Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov and Viktor Vasnetsov’s artistic style. It is seen in the interpretation of the figures painted in a realistic manner, and only slightly stylized. The shelter creator, architect S. Soloviev, did restoration works, a research of ancient Russian art tradition, and even participated in the Moscow Archaeological Society; therefore the cooperation of the artists from the “Heirs of P. Pashkov” studio with the erudite architect coincided with preservation of national traditions in the picturesque attire.

— 32 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter

1. The Church at the Asylum of Metropolitan Sergius. Marble iconostasis In the murals of the Metropolitan Sergius church a large floral design was widely used. In a number of photos (album220, 21–24) from the Pashkov Brothers’ album walls of the shelter (it might be a corridor in front of the church) are depicted, where a floral ornament covers almost the whole walls. Here we can see some similarities with Russian painting of the 17th century. The love of ornamentation patterns was characteristic of all forms of artistic expression of that period. For example, a thick large grass ornament covered all walls, arches, tiled stoves, tableware, fabrics in the Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin. The Pashkov brothers repeatedly appealed in their works to the heritage of the 17th century and one of the best examples of it is their murals in the church of the Medvednikovskaya almshouse, about which artists’ contemporaries wrote that the motifs, that the artists had used, were found in Rostov churches, in particular, “all the walls were decorated with ornaments done in the 17th century style”. The original interior decoration of the Metropolitan Sergius church almost did not survive because of the significant architectural changes.

— 33 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter

From the original architecture the ogives are partially preserved in the corridor today. The balustrade near the stairs has partially survived. The central part of the church is the most focused and rich in paintings; it is where the complex multi-figure compositions can be seen. In this connection, let us look into the multi-figure compositions (album 220–19), preserved in the Pashkov brothers’ album, in detail. The composition was performed on one of the walls of the central part of the church. In this close-up photo the details are best seen. In particular, the seraphim depicted on the sails of the church. There is a text written under the sails taken from the troparion of St. John Damascene in honour of the Virgin Mary. Another photo from the artists’ album (album 220–18), featuring a panel, indicates that at the time of the mural creation the same principles were used: a central axis, symmetry, and a light perspective. The most complete understanding of the church beautiful decoration appears when one compares the restored fragments with the pre- revolutionary photographs. A confident drawing is felt in the fragments, it is clear that the artist had a good academic background which allowed him to cope successfully with the realistic style of drawing. The proportions are somewhere broken and that is only in favor of a particular expressiveness. Thanks to the fragment it is clear that the church murals were made with oil paints. The chosen technique greatly contributed to the realistic style of painting decided by the artist. The fragment, found in 2004, is a corner of the church eastern wall composition. Apparently, it is a part of the right aisle. The composition is very similar to a photo from the Pashkov artists’ album (album 220– 18), but the remaining part of the mural is some other wall, because the fragment shows that the figure of a saint on the preserved part and the rightmost figure in the album are obviously different, as well as the upper part of the composition, the feet and some part of clothes of a figure on a cloud (presumably an angel). Pictures that were published in the works of ancient art researchers at the end of the 19th century could have well served as a source of inspiration for the artists. For example, a seraph from St. Sergius Church

— 34 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter is painted in a manner very close to the image of a seraph from the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Suzdal, printed in a book on the history of ancient Russian architecture in 1899 which was devoted to the study and characterization of ancient Russia buildings. This does not mean that the artists of the Heirs of P. Pashkov studio used these pictures as examples, especially minor differences can be noticed, such as the arrangement of the wings, but it was one of the sources that were available for people at that time as well as for the Pashkov brothers. This sample is much closer to the seraph from St. Sergius Church, rather than, for example, the “naturalistic” seraphim by V. Vasnetsov. For example, a circle with a large ornament coming up around seraphim resembles the image from the same collection but for the year 1896, where circles, with an image and a large ornament around it, are depicted on the portal of the royal doors of the Church of the Resurrection in Rostov. The location of the murals can be specified based on the research of the murals in Metropolitan Sergius church and with the help of the preserved pre-revolutionary photographs and the surviving fragments of the beautiful church decoration. The Heirs of P. Pashkov studio is the author and the performer of the beautiful Metropolitan Sergius church interior which can be confirmed by their promotional album. However, we cannot exclude the possibility of S. Solovyov’s involvement in creating the mural sketches. The analysis of the Metropolitan Sergius church murals shows a high level of performance, but with its own author’s style; it gives a more complete picture of the Pashkov brothers’ creative biography, of the sources of their inspiration (their contemporaries’ creative works and ancient Russian art); it emphasizes the individual style of the Heirs of P. Pashkov studio as well, which can be seen in other works of this studio. The colour palette of the church murals, about which the disclosed fragments give some idea, is based on finely nuanced colour relations inherent to oil painting, while the integrity of the color patch is retained. The murals analysis gives an opportunity to further trace the evolution of the artistic heritage of the Heirs of P. Pashkov studio.

— 35 — Ludmila V. Gavrilova. The Picturesque Decor of the Church of Metropolitan Serguis Shelter

REFERENCES 1. Gavrilova, L.V. 2013, “Artists Pashkovs — students of Stroganov School”, Science, Education, and experimental design. Proceedings of the Moscow Institute of Architecture. Proceedings of the scientific-practical conference, 2013, Moscow. 2. Nersesian, L.V. 1999, “On the origin and contents of the symbolic iconography “In Thee is happy”, Ancient Art. Byzantium and Ancient Rus, St. Petersburg. 3. Pechenkin, I.E. 2012, Sergey Soloviev (in a series “Architectural Heritage of Russia”), Moscow 4. Pechenkin, I.E. 2007, S. Soloviev’s creativity in the context of architectural — artistic practice of Moscow Art Nouveau era. 5. Rogozina, М.G. 2004, “Artists Pashkovs’ Albums”, Russian ecclesiastical art of modern times, Moscow. 6. Fedotov, A.S. 1997, Moscow in the beginning of XX century, Moscow.

— 36 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

Elena V. Noskova Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial Academy [email protected] Moscow, Russia AN OUTSTANDING CRAFTSMAN OF RUSSIAN CERAMICS OF THE LATE 19TH — EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

Summary: The article is devoted to creative, scientific, pedagogical and educational activities of Pyotr Kuzmich Vaulin (1870–1943) — the outstanding master of ceramics, genius scientist-technologist, eminent public figure, theorist and practician. This research emphasizes the importance of creative and technological experiments of P. Vaulin in revival of Russian monumentally-decorative ceramics at the turn of the XX century. The key role of the master in realization of creative plans in clay of leading Russian artists of the era of modern (M. A. Vrubel, K. A. Korovin, brothers A.M and V. M. Vasnetsov, V. A. Serov, I. E. Repin, V. A. Polenov, A. Ya. Golovin, N. K. Roerich) is revealed and co- authorship with P. K. Vaulin in creation of their ceramic works is approved. Keywords: сeramics, reduction glaze, decorative art, modern, M. A. Vrubel, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory. An aesthetic imperfection of mass production products was found during an intensive development of industry in the late 19th century and introduction of its principles to the production of everyday items. A steady demand for copyright products started to form due to a low artistic level of industrial production in Russia. New aesthetic society tastes were formed at that time, society’s interest in the national culture, the study of traditional folk art and handicrafts, which was also fully supported by the state, started to increase. An artistic environment favorable for an emergence of a new style in decorative arts gradually formed at the turn of the 19th- 20th centuries in the process of creating professional workshops and cooperatives. The leading role was played here by famous

— 37 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

Russian artists and painters, who chose ceramics — the most promising and demanded material of decorative arts, which had become an integral part of the Art Nouveau style, for their experimental creative searches. It was then that an urgent need for professional technologists, capable of performing assigned by time tasks, appeared. Peter Kuzmich Vaulin was one of these unique specialists who combined the highest artistic culture, profound knowledge and an extensive practical 1. P. K. Vaulin experience as a scientist- technologist. Unfortunately, the name of the genius Russian craftsman of ceramics, a person of natural gifts — Peter Vaulin, has been undeservedly forgotten today, though, in the early 20th century it was on the lips of the most prominent Russian artists, sculptors, architects and just enlightened people. Not accidentally, Peter Vaulin — who was born in a poor large Uralic family, endowed with an exceptional talent, a clear mind and a strong character, was often compared by his contemporaries with Lomonosov. It is worth recalling that the constellation of the greatest Russian artists, who always played a leading role in the creative activity of S. Mamontov’s workshop in Abramtzevo (M. Vrubel, K. Korovin, brothers A. Vasnetsov and V. Vasnetsov, V. Serov, I. Repin, V. Polenov, E. Polenova, A. Golovin), were just amateurs in the technology of ceramic art. After all, it is not enough to have an art education and talent to work with clay. In-depth knowledge

— 38 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

2. Mikhail Vrubel. Sculpture “Lel”. Majolica, colored glaze, painted polychrome, 1899–1900

— 39 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

3. Mikhail Vrubel. Fireplace “Mikula Selyaninovich and Volga”. Majolica, relief, colored glaze. 1899 and practice in the field of technology were required for pottery making but the famous Russian artists didn’t posses those. Surely they were the authors of ideas and the color sketches, as well as the creators of their works in clay. But they were not directly engaged in the creation of the ceramics color palette and the firing of their works. S. Mamontov’s ceramic workshop could have become an ordinary amateur clay modeling circle without the participation of a major professional and inventor in the field of technology. Peter Kuzmich Vaulin was the brilliant specialist for Abramtsevo studio. He played a key role in the implementation in clay of the leading Russian artists’ creative ideas at the turn of the century and turned “the miracle of chemistry into the miracle of art”.

— 40 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

4. P. K. Vaulin. Details ceramic ornament portal for the Russian pavilion at the International Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden. 1911 For example, “M. Vrubel’s ceramics is unimaginable without the amazing color decor, which largely determined its emotional- color essence. Who was that amazing magician, who realised in material creative ideas of the Mamontov Circle members in Abramtzevo, and who was at the beginnings of the birth of Russian architectural and decorative ceramics of the art nouveau style? The name of this unique craftsman of ceramics is Peter Kuzmich Vaulin, and it should certainly be inscribed in the history of Russian art in gold lettering”, writes V. Maloletkov, Doctor of Arts. We must pay tribute to the talented industrialist Savva Mamontov, who possessed a rare artistic taste and ability to successfully invest in promising businesses and skilled specialists,

— 41 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics who managed to see the young, still unknown wizard Vaulin — a unique performer of his creative aspirations in ceramics. Peter Kuzmich Vaulin was born in 1870 (Cheremisskoye village) in Yekaterinburg province, and came from a peasant family. After graduating the Krasnoufimsk agricultural school in 1890, he was invited to the Kostroma Technical School by the head of the refractory and acid-resistant ceramics workshop. Here he was given the opportunity for a detailed study of the ceramic industry specifics, the secrets of technology and firing on the Russian and Scandinavian plants (Finland). After returning home, the craftsman received an offer to head the ceramic workshop which was organized by Mamontov at his estate Abramtzevo. At that time the cream of the Russian art was working there: I. Repin, V. Polenov and E. Polenov, M. Vrubel, V. Serov, K. Korovin, V. Vasnetsov and A. Vasnetsov, A. Golovin and A. Matveev. Peter Vaulin, a person with natural gifts, talented ceramist and technologist, constantly experimented with a creation of a new ceramic palette: in addition to the traditional oxidation glazes he successfully applied restorative one as well as luster, aventurine, floating and the Crackle technique. When applying the glaze, the craftsman didn’t use such mechanical methods of ceramics decoration such as screen printing, transfer printing, airbrush. The glaze was applied by hand, with a brush on a relief or on a smooth surface of the product. Soft modeling, intensified by decor and shimmering of glazes, make P. Vaulin’s works easily recognizable. His ceramics was remarkable by stylistic novelty, coloristic complexity and personal manufacturing method. P. Vakulin can rightly be called a co-author of the ceramic works made by the famous Russian artists of that time. His experiments led to unique discoveries, due to which the works, created in the Abramtsevo studio, acquired a unique colour spectrum and stylistic innovation. Reduction firing technique, developed by Vaulin, and a complex color spectrum of glazes added depth of the art form, complex colouring and sensual emotion to Vrubel’s ceramic works. During this period, Peter Vaulin, based on M. Vrubel and A. Golovin’s sketches, made the ceramic panel “Princess of Dreams” for the hotel

— 42 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

5. P. K. Vaulin. Ceramic portal for the Russian pavilion at the International Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden. 1911 (currently adorns the library of the Institute of Experimental Medicine. St. Petersburg)

“Metropol”, which became the main element of the color decoration of the building facade. Mikhail Vrubel’s artistic genius and Peter Vaulin’s outstanding technological abilities largely determined the high level of Russian ceramics of that time.

— 43 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

For the first time the Abramtsevo studio works, made of lusterware ceramics, were exhibited at the World of Art exhibition in St. Petersburg (1899). Then they were successfully demonstrated at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900), where Vaulin was awarded an honorary diploma for excellence in the production of majolica. The craftsman recalled later that the secret of making the reduction glazes was discovered by accident. In this extremely complex process he covered the pottery after the first fire treatment with white enamel, which he painted with transparent glazes containing metal oxides. Then, bringing the temperature to 600 C, he put a small woodpile of birch, a crucible with ammonium chloride and copperhead into the hearth, after what the furnace was closed. The firing took place without oxygen, and metal oxides, losing the oxygen, reducing into metals. The horn was filled with pairs of copper, which settled out as glistening spots on the molten glazes. Reduction was also possible and in a normal firing (with access of the oxygen), especially in the smoky parts of the hearth. Often the appearance of a metallized effect on the craftsman’s products was thought to be a flaw. Mikhail Vrubel was the first to see a new direction in the art of ceramics in Peter Vaulin’s technological experiments. Through joint efforts Vrubel and Vaulin raised the craft of ceramics, traditionally considered to be applied, to the heights of true art, which had had no analogues in Russia before. The combination of matte and shiny surfaces, which created an artistic image of a product (completely different, unusual for the Russian ceramics), perfectly corresponded to the Art Nouveau style, the main principles of which were movement, variability, fluidity, the impermanence of form and color. Soon metallized glaze, winning general interest and recognition, became the hallmark of Russian artistic and architectural ceramics of the end of the 19th century. By the beginning of 20th century, through a close collaboration with M. Vrubel, the craftsman had become an undisputed authority in the field of ceramics; he published articles about the technology of glaze making and made reports on this topic.

— 44 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

6. P. K. Vaulin. Dome of the mosque at Trinity Square. St. Petersburg. 1913

In 1903, due to disagreements with the S. Mamontov, Peter Vaulin leaves Abramtzevo to lead a ceramic workshops in the Gogol Art and Industry School in Myrhorod (Ukraine). At that time he was planning to set up his own production of architectural majolica, for which he wanted to prepare the craftsmans-graduates of Myrhorod school. Together with his students, the craftsman craftsmanly created majolica tiles and other architectural elements for the decoration of the Poltava County Council facade. The artist convincingly and seamlessly showed the national colour and ornamentation, what allows to classify the author’s work as his great creative success. In addition to creative and educational activities in the art school, P. Vaulin organized South Russian Ceramic Production in the town Oposhnya. However, the craftsman’s innovative ideas did not find support from the local authorities; in 1906 Vaulin left Ukraine and moved to St. Petersburg. Soon after their teacher his disciples came to the capital

— 45 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

7. P. K. Vaulin. Cathedral Mosque at Trinity Square. element. Fragment. St. Petersburg. 1913

(artists Shovkoplyas, Sitko, Siwash), which became the craftsman’s reliable assistants. At the time the suburbs of St. Petersburg were abundant with Cambrian clay, suitable for the making of artistic products. A ceramic factory was working not far from the village Gatchina in the Kikerino village. In the early 20th century its owners established the Association of the Baltic Pottery and Tile Factory. Majolica panels for facades of houses and churches, for icons, fireplaces and stoves started to be created under the direction of Peter Vaulin, who acquired a part of the company in June 1906. Later, in 1916, the company became the property of the Trading House “P.K.Vaulin and Co”. In Kikerino period the craftsman successfully cooperated with famous Russian artists N. Roerich, S. Chekhonin, N. Lancere, V. Borisov-Musatov, A. Matveev, P. Kuznetsov and with many others.

— 46 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

Architectural and artistic traditions of St. Petersburg of that time were markedly different from Moscow ones. In the Art Nouveau era the Moscow art developed in line with the national-romantic search. In St. Petersburg, European influences, fascination with the baroque heritage, classical and modern European culture were much more noticeable. The architectural ceramics of the portal, dome and minarets in the mosque at Trinity Square (St. Petersburg, 1913) became the craftsman’s great success. For the study of ancient traditions of majolica decoration, Vaulin sent artist P. Maksimov to Central Asia, who recreated a medieval method of manufacturing carved majolica mosaic. This allowed to accurately reproduce the spirit, colour and technology of oriental art. It should be noted that P. Vaulin introduced a novelty into the method of making tiles: the mosaic pieces were not cut out of ceramic dies, but were cast in a soft material, and were fitted tightly, forming a quaint arabesque ornament. On the creation of a colour palette of dark blue, turquoise and blue enamel the craftsman was working for about a year. A portal, created for the Russian pavilion of the Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden (1911) was characterized by an artistic integrity and richness of colour and plastic. Whimsical bird phoenixes, pegasus horses, floral ornaments remind here a stone carving of Vladimir-Suzdal churches. After the exhibition had closed, the ceramic portal, created by Peter Vaulin, decorated the library building of the Institute of Experimental Medicine (St. Petersburg, 1913). A monochrome decorative sculpture began to be used more often in architectural ceramics of that time. Thus, the craftsman used enamelled earthenware for the decoration of V. Kochubey’s mansion (1910). He enriched with elements, which were similar in nature to the works of the World of Art artists, the building built in Art Nouveau style. In Kikerino workshops the craftsman created ceramic kilns, which were remarkable by perfection of form and high technical qualities, from his own sketches as well as from the drawings by architects A. Tamanian and A. Olya. Peter Vaulin’s works were distinguished by a variety of styles: his majolica perfectly fitted in Neorussian architectural movement, the classics and Art Nouveau style. Gradually Peter Vaulin’s creative activity became a generator of the Russian ceramics development. Works for many cities in Russia, Bulgaria and Romania were created

— 47 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics

8. P. K. Vaulin. Facade Trading House Guards’ Economic Society. St. Petersburg. 1909 in his workshop. New methods for ceramic paints formation, which had broadened the artistic possibilities of architectural ceramics, were developed In this unique experimental laboratory. A fire occurred in Vaulin’s workshop during the First World War, in which, alas, unique craftsman’s archives and many of his original ceramic works had burnt. Today, few people know that Peter Vaulin save highly qualified artists, craftsmen and equipment at the Imperial Porcelain Factory, as well as unique plaster molds of the art products. It was he who, as the first head of this company (where he had been working from 1918), organized a production of propaganda porcelain, which became a new bright page in the history of Russian decorative art. During the industrialization of the country, Peter Vaulin’s significant practical and organizational experience was widely used in the organization of electroporcelain production for HPP and cover plates production in the Rosfarfor union, as well as in the Proletariat porcelain factory. It should be noted that Peter Kuzmich Vaulin possessed exceptional organizational skills, an unquestionable pedagogical talent and contributed to the development of vocational education in Russia and Ukraine. Also Peter Vaulin’s contribution to a revival of the national

— 48 — Elena V. Noskova. An Outstanding craftsman of Russian Ceramics style in the decorative arts and a formation of a creative outlook of many professional artists-ceramists are invaluable. However, despite the “perfect” ancestry (the craftsman grew up in a poor peasant family) Peter Vaulin was exiled to Kuibyshev in 1936. During the Great Patriotic War, the artist and his son were arrested on false charges of collaborating with the Germans during the occupation of Ukraine. Soon, Peter Vaulin died in prison. The life of this outstanding craftsman and technologist of Russian monumental and decorative ceramics of Art Nouveau style tragically ended in 1943. Many-sided activity of this unique craftsman raised the craft of ceramics to the level of a truly high art, which had no analogues in Russia before. This also contributed to the formation of ceramics schools at the end of the 20th century in Moscow, Leningrad and Krasnoyarsk, as well as an appearance of a designer’s (studio) movement in our country. According to V. Maloletkova: “He (Peter Vaulin) left a deep mark in a creative destiny of many prominent Russian artists at the turn of the 19th — early 20th centuries. His unique experiments in the field of monumental ceramics undoubtedly had a significant impact on the development of a unique school of Russian ceramics at the turn of the 21st century”. Let’s hope that Peter Vaulin’s name will take its rightful place among the prominent Russian artists of the turn of the century, because, in fact, he was the co-author of the ceramic works created by them. This allows not only to restore the historical justice, but also to create a more objective picture of the Russian decorative ceramics revival of the time period in question. REFERENCES 1. Vaulin, P. K. 1904, “How iridescent metallic chandeliers comes out”, Ceramic overview, no. 141. 2. Vaulin, P. K. 1935, My biography. 3. Dmitrieva, N. A. 1984, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel. 4. Maloletkov, V. A. 2013, Mosaic of memory. 5. Musina, R. R. 2012, Traditional national ceramics. Particularities of development, artisctic singularity (the second half of 19th century — 1980s). Autoabstract. 5. Correspondence of M. A. Vrubel and A. A. Vrubel, 1892, July, Abramtsevo. 6. Polenova, N. V. 1922. Abramtsevo: Memories. 7. Frolov, V. A. 1993, “Majolica: color and life”, Museum and City.

— 49 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture

Ellada E. Mamеdovа Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial University [email protected] Moscow, Russia AN ARTISTIC IMAGE OF SPACE IN SCULPTURE BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE SOVIET CONSTRUCTIVISTS

Summary: An artistic image of space in sculpture by the example of the Soviet Constructivists is analyzed in the present article. Constructivists’ creative pursuits gave a considerable impetus to the development of sculpture, helped the “sculpture” concept expansion and contributed to the change of its traditional exposure systems. Creative pursuits of the constructivism main representatives created a new understanding of the artistic image of space in sculpture. Space becomes a conceptual idea. Keywords: sculpture, space, Alexander Rodchenko, constructivism, artistic image. The focus of this paper is on the art of sculpture. Today the sculpture is of great interest. Particularly this kind of art has gained a new understanding. The understanding of nature and perception of sculpture has expanded. It is interpreted in different ways and re-represented in different ways and from a new angle. In connection with this the perception of one of the most important sculpture composes — namely, the artistic image of space, is changed. Space is an essential, one of the most important categories of sculpture; it plays an important role in its formation. The question of influence of the artistic image of space on shaping by the example of the Soviet Constructivists Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko, Vladimir Stenberg will be analyzed and considered in this paper. New materials appeared at the end of 19th beginning of 20th century. The findings of this time led to an expansion of borders. The picture of the world was changing. At that time a lot of new opportunities were at the disposal of a person. This was bound to be reflected on the art.

— 50 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture

1. V. Tatlin. Complex Corner Relief, 1915 The concept of “sculpture” was expanding its borders and absorbing what seemed not to belong to it before. Sculptors often tend to emphasize not what is made by hands but what surrounds them. The value of mass often gives way to the value of space. Thus, we can say that a new intelligent concept of space image started to form at the beginning of the 20th century. In other words, space becomes a conceptual idea. Constructivism becomes the leading movement in Soviet art during the period after the revolution of 1917. In her article “The Avant-Garde Authenticity and Other Modernist Myths” Rosalinda Krauss writes: “Constructive sculpture is often transparent for perception from any point of view, as if it is visible at the same time from anywhere in the moment of its complete self-disclosure… Constructive sculpture seeks to overcome the appearance of things and to imagine an object itself geometrically from all possible angles, as if seen from nowhere or, as Merleau-Ponty says, how God sees it”.

— 51 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture

2. A. Rodchenko. Spatial Construction No. 10

Krauss also mentions the fact that the viewer of constructive sculpture may remain still as the sculpture is transparent and visible. Primarily artists such as V. Tatlin and A. Rodchenko were at the beginning of this movement. A gap appeared between the classical tradition of sculpture and their as well as their followers’ works. They rejected the figurative. Instead of the customary for sculpture materials, such as marble and bronze, constructivists used plywood, iron, aluminum wire. They abandoned traditional ways of creating sculpture — molding and casting, and literally started making their works from industrial materials. The method of sculpture exposure changed. Tatlin’s “Corner Counter-relief” of 1915, which was made by the artist after his return from Paris, where he had visited Picasso’s studio, is considered to be the starting point of constructivism. The corner counter-relief is a complex interaction of multidirectional planes and lines. The work exposure method is one of Tatlin’s major discoveries. The composition loses its borders and as if hovers. The counter-relief freely moves from one wall to another. Moreover, the two planes of the

— 52 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture

3. A. Rodchenko. Spatial Construction No. 12 walls are perceived not just as a background but as an important part of the sculpture, taking on themselves the shadows cast by the object. The three series of spatial compositions by A. Rodchenko, on which he worked from 1918 to 1921, are among striking examples of the new plastic language and the new image of space in sculpture. The works from the second series (“on the basis of identical forms” 1920–1921) are of the greatest interest. These are the structures: square, circle, ellipse, hexagon. Rodchenko seeks and finds in them a new way of sculpture representation. His compositions, being suspended from the ceiling, are deprived of traditional pedestal.

— 53 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture

4. V. Stenberg. Spiral, 1920 “Spatial Construction N 10” is one of the first suspended structures in 20th century sculpture. The construction is a sheet of aluminum that is cut into a plurality of hexagons, fastened to each other but in different directions. Thus Rodchenko transformed a two-dimensional surface into a three-dimensional composition. “Spatial Construction N 12” is made on a similar principle, but from a sheet of plywood. In fact, the material is not important, because lines and spatial breaks between them are the main expressive elements in these works. Rodchenko considers the airflow, the shadows cast by the construction. The space, surrounding the sculpture, begins to play a significant role in

— 54 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture the perception of the construction. The artist overcomes the traditional sculpture immobility. Rodchenko’s spatial structures included not apparent but real motion. The construction was moving using a natural air circulation and a viewer witnessed the process of visual changes of not only sculpture, but also the shadows cast by it. In fact, Rodchenko replaced the mass with line and space. He was able to achieve a complex rich silhouette, a feeling of concentration and at the same time disclosure of the construction into the environment. Everything interacts in these constructions: light, line, space which exposes itself in the background and which is within these structures. There is no dominant point of view in them. They can be viewed from all directions and work equally well, no matter where from you look at them. The meaning of Rodchenko’s spatial constructions for the future development of sculpture is huge. We may speak of the fact that his creative pursuits were echoed in Alexander Calder’s works. But Calder uses lighter materials as well as a greater removal of composition parts into the surrounding area. His works are in a state of unstable equilibrium, they respond faster and easier to a slightest movement of air currents. In his article “Where Rodchenko Meets Calder and Calder Meets Rodchenko” A. N. Lavrentev says what is in common and what distinguishes them from each other: “Rodchenko was 7 years older than Calder. It is not a big age difference, but nevertheless they belonged to different stages of modernism. Rodchenko worked at the moment of a break with the realism tradition. Calder works in a time when the abstraction was already recognized and he was free to move in any direction…” V. Stenberg’s work “Spiral”, 1920, is important and interesting when considering the interaction of line and space in sculpture. Rolled and attached to a pedestal metal wire is a kind of a frame for the space behind. Thus, the author minimizes the use of material and increases the role of lines and space in sculpture. Constructivism created a new understanding of space artistic image in sculpture and largely contributed to the expansion of the “sculpture” concept boundaries and the change of traditional systems of its exposure. Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko and V. Stenberg’s creative

— 55 — Ellada E. Mamеdovа. An Artistic Image of Space in Sculpture

pursuits contributed to an emergence of new movements in art. In his book “Kinetic Movement” architect Vyacheslav Koleychuk argues that kinetic art was the result of Rodchenko and Kolder’s activities. M. Burganova, in her article “Experience of Minimalizm”, writes: “Russian avant-garde is rightly regarded as the origin of minimalism in all kinds of art, especially in the 20th century sculpture and architecture fields. The fluttering and clash of such close but sometimes borderline phenomena of constructivism, cubism, abstraction into the same space were the impetus for the development of minimalism.” Constructivists were able to take a fresh look at the artistic image of space and increased its role in the perception of sculpture.

REFERENCES 1. Krauss Rosalind. 2003. “The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths”, Art Magazin, Moscow. 2. Lavrentiev, A.N. 2013. “Where Rodchenko Meets Calder and Calder Meets Rodchenko”, Scientific and Analytical journal TEXTS, no.1 3. Burganova, M.A. 2013. “Experience of Minimalism”, Scientific and Analytical journal “Burganov House. The Space of Culture”, no.1 4. Koleychuk, V. 1994. Kineticism, Moscow 5. Khan-Magomedov, S.O. 1996. Architecture of the Soviet Avant-Garde. Problems of formation. Masters and Flows, 1 vol. Moscow

— 56 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

Pan Yaochang Professor Institute of Art of Shanghai University [email protected] Shanghai, China THE POSTERS OF MAO ERA: A PERSPECTIVE OF ART AND SOCIETY

Summary: In 1942, Mao Zedong delivered a speech on the famous Literature and Art Forum of Yan-an, the place located in the northwest of China, was an anti-Japanese war base led by Communist Party. Later Mao’s speech was issued as the guide text of the Party’s policy on literature and art. The main idea of the speech is that art and literature are tools of Party’s enterprise, serve the people, especially the workers, peasants and soldiers. Mao’s speech continued to be effective since 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was established. Because most of the people were at a very low level of education, many of them even could not read, the visual art was very useful for propagating the Party’s ideologies and politics. In this condition, posters came to the front. In New China, the art system changed. The art market was declining, most artists were arranged to take a position in a certain unit, such as college, institute, museum, or publishing house, so they earned their living not by selling their works but by their wages. The only exception is that the artists could earn extra money by publishing their works, especially the works for poster, or for comic-strip, and also earn their names by the wide spread of their works through a great amount of copy. In the art history of China, Mao era is a typical period of duplicating and printing, so copying is the main method to spread the artist’s work. By the operation mechanism, economically, impression of a work should be large and the price low, so partly the impression decided the author’s fate. Although the art of Mao era is a kind of political popular art, entangled with politics, there is still something of it deserved to be mentioned. Keywords: Mao’s Era, Posters, Mass Communication

— 57 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

1. Mao Era (1949–1976) and its cultural meaning From the nineteenth century on, elites of China, although having different political views respectively, shared one common trait: for them, all the problems of China, including those of arts and culture, were thought of in terms of politics, they all devoted themselves to rebuild the nation or, as the saying goes, to activate the Renaissance of China in the near future. After the victory of the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong in 1949, the era of Mao began, and the art and literature were introduced into Mao’s political system. Approximately, Mao era spans the period between as early as 1942 and 1976. The former date was set by the famous Art and Literature Forum held between the 2nd and 23rd May that year in Yan-an, the place located in the northwest of China, then the anti-Japanese war base led by the Communist Party. The latter date is marked by the death of Mao Zedong. The Forum was attended by Mao who delivered a speech there that afterwards was published as the official guidelines of the Party’s policy on art and literature. Like his many contemporary Enlightenment thinkers, Mao Zedong also regarded art and literature as one of the tools to save the country. He called himself utilitarian, yet he specified that it was not in a narrow sense, and he was a far-sighted revolutionary utilitarian rather than near-sighted one.1 Mao agreed with Lenin’s viewpoint that literature should be a part of proletariats’ enterprise, should form “the gears and screws” of the huge social democracy machinery run by the vanguard of the proletariat.2 In terms of Mao’s view, art and literature had to enlighten the masses. Mao, however, contrary to the Enlightenment in France, wanted the enlightenment not of the middle classes, but of the people who formed more than 90% of the Chinese population, namely workers, peasants and soldiers. In order to propagate the Party’s political aims and to enhance the culture level of the people, various domains of art, especially the visual arts, were one of the best tools to fulfill the task. Arts were supposed to infiltrate the masses with political contents of the images people liked to look at with easily understood meanings. Because many of the people had little or no education at all, and a great part of them was illiterate,3 the works of arts that were to serve the Party’s purposes had to be popular, direct,

— 58 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

1. Hang Zhiying, Playing a Lute, 74 × 54 cm, 1930–1940; Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House easy to understand, with simple message and easy to be copied in large numbers. At that time, the popular art forms were Nian Hua (colorful New Year pictures), comic strips and propaganda pictures; they were effective since they could be easily comprehended by people speaking

— 59 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society all kind of dialects and illiterate. And during the wartime it was difficult to find materials, including those for arts. That was the reason why the local government supported to develop these forms of art. After 1949, when the New China was established, Mao’s speech at the Forum became the guide for the future development of art and literature all over the country, and posters, comic strips and woodcuts came to the front, with Socialist Realism, suitable for propaganda and popularization needs, as an official theory and method of artistic and literary composition.

2. Definition and background of China Poster (Zhaotiehua) Poster, for the Chinese, means a printed picture to be exhibited more or less publicly, usually pasted on walls or placard boards. Posters could be divided into three categories: commercial ones, i. e. advertisements; social or political ones, as pictures for propaganda campaigns, including posters announcing various theatrical, cinema or opera performances, etc.; and lastly, entertaining posters, such as New Year pictures. The commercial and social ones are to be displayed in public space, such as street walls or other public sites; the entertaining ones are to be kept in private space, such as on the walls of private rooms, as decorations. The earliest Chinese commercial posters, calendar pictures, in character of New Year Picture, could be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty. The earliest commercial calendar pictures appeared during the reign of Emperor Daoguang, in 1840, in the form of the advertisement of Watson’s pharmacy delivered by the Watson Company in Hong Kong. From then on, the pictures of this kind were attached to a calendar of a solar year with twelve months and a list of twenty four Chinese solar terms according to Chinese lunar calendar. The subject matters of the pictures represent beauties, or ancient stories or legends, in the style of Chinese traditional New Year Picture. Chinese characters printed on the pictures were the names of the firm and its commodities. At the end of a year, the pictures would be sent to clients as presents together with other goods, not only playing the role of beautiful decoration but also serving as calendar, thereby used at least for a whole year. Since the pictures were admired by clients, they helped the firms to sell their

— 60 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

goods, and also reminded the clients to repay debts. Pictures of that kind were the earliest posters in China. During the period of the Republic of China (1911–1949), calendar pictures were very popular in Shanghai. Hang Zhiying (1900–1947) was one of the most successful designers at that time, and — as his apprentice Li Mubai (1913–1991) recalled — earned much money, since he was selling his calendar picture for 300– 800 silver dollar apiece, so he was able to buy a car every monthly.4 In the early years of New China, the Party and government leaders paid considerable attention to the forms of mass communication. For instance, China Daily of 27 November, 1949, published an article “On Developing the Renewed New Year Pictures” signed by the head of the governmental Culture Department. The author of the text recommended to use popular media and forms, such as the New Year Picture, to spread the people’s democratic ideas and emphasized the need to “care about the masses’ purchasing ability to buy a copy,” which meant that the prices of their artworks “must not be too high.” Then he added, “we should use the traditional issuing network of New Year Picture (for example, incense and candle stores, bookstalls, and peddlers), to capture a large part of the market.” Finally he suggested “to make use of these forms, and to remodel them, making them tools for spreading new arts of this type.”5 Whereas the above section presented poster designers’ social background, in the section below we will discuss their economic status.

3. Economic situation of China Poster From 1949, the art mechanism in China started a mutation. The new government thought highly of the talented artists, especially famous painters, and employed them mostly in national art institutes and colleges, in art museums, art galleries, district culture clubs, literary history institutes, theatres, cinemas, publishing houses, etc. At that time, almost every artist belonged to a unit of sort. To a certain extent, the artists’ fame and social status depended on the class of their unit. Moreover, socialist public ownership prohibited almost all private economic activities which, together with the recession of art market, made the artists’ income dependant solely on the wages paid by their unit, with

— 61 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

2. Ha Qiongwen, Long Live Chairman Mao!, 1959; Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House

— 62 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society no earnings from selling of their works.6 There were, however, a few artists who still remained outside any unit, like Ha Ding (1923–2003) in Shanghai, but they were soon to realize that without units their livings were far from easy. According to the ideology of New China, a person who worked only for himself or his family’s living was to be condemned by the social morality. My teacher Lu Hongji (1910–1985), a sculptor and art theorist, in 1954, when he was in charge of building the monument of the Soviet Soldiers Killed in the Anti-Japanese War in the city of Dalian, he made a claim on the remuneration for his building team, and asked the local government for more than 10 000 Chinese yuans. Due to this, and because of his refusing to take others’ critical opinions while he was working as a director, he was forced to undergo self-criticism sessions time and again afterward. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution most artists did not dare to sign their names on their works or else did it collectively. One of such anonymous works is the famous propaganda painting entitled Chairman Mao Inspects Areas South and North of the Yangtze River (1967).7 Before the Culture Revolution, some artists might have had the chance to get some extra money, for example, from national art museums or foreign trade companies, which occasionally would buy a few their artworks for their collections or to export them in order to gain some foreign currency for the government. But the amount of artworks for selling was limited and the trade was under strict control, the rewards to artists were low, and only a few artists were lucky enough to have benefited from this rare occurrence. As for private collections, collectors paid artists for their works mostly in kind instead of cash or checks, and what artists received were usually packs of cigarettes and bottles of wine. All these could not change the fact that official wages were the main source of income for Chinese artists. There was, however, one exception: the artist could get a steady licit income in the form of royalty payments after the publication of his work. Apart from publications in newspapers and magazines, or as illustrations or caricatures in books and art albums, the most popular publishing form were posters and comic strips, and the posters included the New Year pictures and propaganda pictures.

— 63 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

Posters generally would include text information and graphics, be it paintings, prints, paper cuts, photographs or pictures of sculptures, installations, even pictures of movies or dramas, etc. As for paintings, they include gouaches, watercolors, oil paintings, Chinese traditional paintings, and prints. Many artists were experienced in making New Year pictures and propaganda pictures, and they enjoyed their successes by publishing their works, thus gaining not only popularity but also the benefits of reward money. According to the reminiscences of Cai Zhenhua (1912–2006), from among New Year pictures, the largest number of copies before the Culture Revolution had a picture by Jin Xuechen (1904–1996) and Li Mubai (1913–1991) entitled Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (a Chinese legend, tragic story of a young couple fighting against the norms of traditional Chinese society, similar to the Romeo and Juliet story).8 It was printed in nearly a hundred million copies. Cai also said that the reward for publishing a poster was about 250–300 yuans, while the reprint was paid about half hundred yuans more. But, by the rule of Cai’s unit, he had to offer his unit one free piece of his work a year, and only then he could get paid for his other works.9 Cai’s wage was about 100 yuans a month, he could make five or six works every year, so the extra money totaling his one- year salary or more. One of his works, painted jointly with two other artists, had about two million copies. Before the Culture Revolution, another influential poster was printed after the painting by Ha Qiongwen (b. 1925): Long Live Chairman Mao! (1959). Between 1959 and 1964 the picture was printed over twenty times in various sizes, and had more than two million copies. Moreover, it was used by many callings as an advertisement.10 In 1952, there were twenty six places all over the country with the rights to print New Year pictures, while there were 420 types of these pictures made by over two hundred authors; the number of their printed copies amounted to seven million.11 As Jiang Feng (1910–1982, a former leader of the Central Academy of Fine Arts) said, from 1949 to 1951, there were 861 kinds of modern New Year pictures issued in the whole country.12 According to the statistics from the website of the Shanghai Publishing Archives, during the forty years between 1952 and 1992, the Shanghai Art Publishing House published 1655 sets of posters, and the total amount of all copies was about sixty million.13

— 64 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

3. Lin Ximing and Tang Yun, Early Spring in South China, 53 × 77 cm, 1973: Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House

— 65 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

Although the publications in newspapers were paid only several yuans apiece, they offered the author a wider circulation and thus greater popularity. For example, a woodcut by Wu Fan (b. 1923) Dandelion made in Chinese traditional watercolor block printing was published in many newspapers and magazines for its lively air, and was known to and liked by everybody at that time.

4. Popularity and profits gained through printouts Just like posters, other artworks could increase their influence by publication in mass media. By the same way, their authors might gain broader popularity. Thus, it was the rank, circulation, and readership of a newspaper, magazine, or publishing house that decided on the artist’s status. However, in the years of advocating the core values of equality and collectivism, any extra income and individual fame would lead to the censure and jealousy of others. That was why, during the Culture Revolution, the reward for publications was almost none. Artists were supposed not to sign their names on their works, or else to sign them as a group. Individualism and desire of fame and gain were disallowed. But the popular forms of art, such as poster, did not decline; on the contrary, as a means of education and propaganda it was greatly developed. Usually, posters were released in editions of least over hundred thousand copies, sometimes even several hundred thousands or several millions copies. Perhaps one of these with the largest circulation was a poster after the painting entitled Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan. Besides, this picture was copied, imitated, and printed by many offices, schools, factories, and countryside, for the purpose of propagating Mao’s deeds. Just browsing through Stewart E. Fraser’s 100 Great Chinese Posters (1977), we can find there some of the posters which have the larger number of copies: 1. Tung Cheng Yi’s Commune Fish Pond; 77 × 53 cm; People’s Fine Arts Publishing House; 1st printing — March 1973: 1,370,000 copies; 2nd printing — March 1973: 1,870,000 copies. By the way, that means in the same month more than three millions. Price: 0.11 yuan. 2. Ho Yu-tsu’s Learn from Lei Feng; 53 × 77 cm; Shanghai People’s Publishing House; 1st printing — July 1973: 400,000; 3rd printing —

— 66 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

August 1973: 1,000,000. There seemed to be a great demand. Price: 0.22 yuan. 3. Ou Yang’s Young Eagle Spreading Her Wings; 38 × 53 cm; People’s Fine Arts Publishing House; 1st printing — March 1974: 595,000; price: 0.07 yuan. 4. Lin Ximing and Tang Yun’s Early Spring in South China; 53 × 77 cm; Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House; the original was finished in 1972 but the date of first printing was missing: 20,500 (it seemed to be a trial for a landscape); 2nd printing — October 1973: 1,501,000. 5. Liu Chi-ho’s Picking Herbs; 53 × 77 cm; Liaoning People’s Publishing House; 1st printing — August 1973: 500,000; 2nd printing — October 1973: 1,710,000. Price: 0.11 yuan. 6. Kiang Nan-choon’s Unite Together and Fight for Greater Victory; 77 × 53 cm; Shanghai People’s Publishing House; 1st printing — September 1973: 4,000,000. Price: 0.11 yuan. 7. Liu Chih-the’s Old Party Secretary; 53 × 77 cm; Shanghai People’s Publishing House; 1st printing — June 1974: 1,040,000; 2nd printing — January 1975: 1,340,000. Price: 0.11 yuan. 8. Tong Sieng-ming’s Eagles Spreading Their Wings; 77 × 53 cm; Hebei People’s Publishing House; 1st printing — October 1974: 970,000; 2nd printing — May 1975: 1,570,000. Price: 0.11 yuan. 9. Kao Er-yi, Cheong Wen-long, Tong Chiao-ming Liang Ping-po’s New Competitors; 53 × 77 cm; People’s Fine Arts Publishing House; 1st printing — September 1975: 1,550,000. Price: 0.14 yuan.14 Apart from the above, a picture by Yang Zhiguang entitled A Newcomer to the Mine, was printed in the form of poster, and also of post stamp, picture for private collection, and of calendar picture. Similar examples are too numerous to be listed here. Works of this kind, which were copied in a great amount and sold as low-price prints, can be directly delivered to the masses, thus serving the needs of Party’s propaganda. The artist would have a sense of success after his work was copied in large numbers. For many, perhaps, it was the only road to fame. 5. Copy was valuable, while original was not

— 67 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

There was one common feature of posters, comic strips and print- made works, which was the fact that they could be delivered to audience in printed copies at cheap prices. In order to reach the largest public possible, the works had to be printed in large quantities at a very low price. Also other forms of artistic creations could be printed, either on a single paper sheet in great amounts to be hung up in private or public spaces, or in newspapers and popular magazines, especially the ones with great circulation, or else in the form of book albums for private collections. Moreover, a poster could be copied itself, either the whole one or its part. For example, the head pictures on propaganda placards were copied mostly from the posters popular at that time. Thus, the printed copy of the original artwork became much more important than the original itself and for the mass audience the original was valueless, while its copy was good enough for them. Most of the posters were painted with cheap pigments for commercial advertisement, so they were not durable and could not last long. Because China had no art markets and people did not feel the need of them, in their minds originals, especially those painted with cheap pigments, were only models to be copied. As for the artists and art editors, the important thing was to send originals to the printing press, the last link in the process chain of the creation of an object of art. So they did not care about originals, regarded as mere designs. What was important was to make a perfect print, and for that, if necessary, the author would not hesitate to change the original by cutting and replacing its parts. As soon as the procedure of plate making was finished, the original would be put aside and forgotten. Some of the examples of such badly made originals, painted with rough pigments on bad paper, cut and replaced many times, were poster originals by Cai Zhenhua. In retrospect, we may say that numerous prints completely replaced their originals and were more important than originals. For example, as I have already mentioned above, in 1967, Zheng Shengtian, Xu Junxuan, and their student Zhou Ruiwen, from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (then renamed as Zhejiang Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Fine Arts University, and now under the name of China Academy of Fine Arts), jointly created a poster Chairman Mao Inspects Areas South and North of the Yangtze

— 68 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society

4. Sailing on the Sea Relies on the Steersman, Doing Revolution Depends on Mao Zedong’s Thinking, 1969; detail of the Pagoda. River.15 This is one of the most famous posters at the time of the Culture Revolution, with numerous reprints and total number of several million copies. Although the poster was well-known at that time, its authors were unknown and nobody wanted to know them. After finishing the procedure of making plate, the original painting was put aside, and no one cared it any more. Recently, a collector from Taiwan wanted to buy it for ten million yuans, and the authors have done everything to find it, but with no success so far.16 In the history of art, Mao’s era is a typical period of propaganda art. During this period, the desire of fame and gain were being held in contempt, yet many artists became famous through the publications of their works in great amounts. For instance, the oil painting Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan printed for propaganda reasons in the largest number was known to almost every Chinese family; statistically everyone had a copy of it. Furthermore, the painting was reprinted on the front page of all kinds of newspapers and all sorts of journals; it was printed on silk and impressed on medallions or badges; it was copied or imitated on propaganda boards displayed in streets and in buildings, in lanes, mines, corporations, offices and schools.17 As my colleague from the Shanghai University, Professor Sun Xinhua, said, he himself had made three copies of this painting in the form of head picture on propaganda placards. The author of this painting, Liu Chunhua,

— 69 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society became the most famous artist and got promotion for this broadly spread work. As Yang Yuepu from the China Artists Association recalled, great popularity of the propaganda posters saved many pigment factories being close to bankruptcy.

6. Iconography of Mao propaganda In the period advocating unification of thinking and doing in the whole country, there was strict censorship of both content and form of every artwork. It interfered with many matters, not necessarily connected with political or social problems of the state. For example, there was a nevus on the left side of Mao’s chin, but in a poster painting the nevus was incorrectly put on the wrong side, so all the copies of it had to be withdrawn by administrative order. As to Mao’s images, not only thousands and millions people were paying close attention to them, but Mao himself also made comments on them. For instance, in 1958, Mao Zedong told his comrades privately that in the memorial paintings of the early 1950s, the artists, perhaps felt spiritually the pressure of Soviet Union, always put his figure to look lower than Stalin’s,18 actually he is taller than Stalin. Hence, an appropriate Mao’s image for an artwork may be helpful to passing the censorship. Artist Cai Liang, 1n 1959 created an oil painting, Yan-an Torches, later, he made a new version of it, on which the people go ahead in procession holding a Mao’s portrait on their hands. Perhaps this version with Mao’s portrait was more approbatory than that one. So during the Great Culture Revolution, along with the sanctification of Mao, the meaning of Mao’s images is very important, the red guarder groups issued Mao’s normal images, and the publishing houses also printed Mao’s images as models for artists to copy on the mass revolutionary groups or societies’ propaganda boards, such as his portraits spanning from young to old painted by the teachers and students of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. Many symbols of Mao’s authority were in vogue on the propaganda pictures at that time, they are red sun or rays of its light as a halo of Mao’s head, red flags, the army uniform he wore, and his waving hand, etc. As

— 70 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society for the design and composition of the propaganda pictures, Mao’s figure was always on the visual centre. In view of this, although the subject matter for art creation was, to a certain extent, rich, the artists felt handicapped in they work. In the society where there were no art markets, no individual clients, there was also no art individuality. The government’s guiding policy for art and literature creation is the combination of revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism. The artworks of this period were characterized by their so-called Gao, Da, Quan, that is, huge smiles of the figures in pictures, or their proud and brave postures, according to the three emphases tenet — artworks should emphasize the positive characters, the heroes of positive characters, and the hero of heroes, the artists should follow it, and Hong, Guang, Liang, that means, redness (the tone), smoothness (the texture), and brightness (the atmosphere), is the visual impression of these pictures. The pictured people were arranged and posed as on stage, looked like illuminated by spotlights and posing for photograph. In contrast to the Hong, Guang, Liang of revolutionary artworks, the alleged anti-revolutionary artworks gave the impression of Hei (blackness), Ye (inurbanity), Guai (eccentricity), as Pan Tianshou’s Chinese Ink and Brush painting.

7. Some art values deserved to be appreciated In Mao era art was closely associated with politics. Actually, this era, particularly the period of the Great Culture Revolution, fostered many artists, especially the young generation, who are skill in realistic technique. These artists are the vanguards of modern art in the new period since 1980, and realistic technique is still useful in their research for new art. Nowadays, however, the criticism tends to play down the persistent and powerful presence of realism dominating all Chinese art at that time, seems to diminish some of the values of this type of art. Contrary to common belief, it has brought some innovations and developments into Chinese art, unknown to the majority of the Chinese people. For instance, the simultaneous arrangement of time and space, which was in

— 71 — Pan Yaochang. The Posters of Mao Era: A Perspective of Art and Society vogue in the early decades of the 20th century as that seen in Robert Delaunay’s The Red Tower (1911), appeared also in the propaganda poster, Sailing on the Sea Relies on the Steersman, Doing Revolution Depends on Mao Zedong’s Thinking (1969). This arrangement broke through the limitations of unified time and space prevailing before. In this poster, three important sites in the history of Chinese Communist Party, the Zunyi Meeting Site, the Tian-an-men Square, and the Pagoda of Yan-an, three specific sites of different times and different spaces, symbolizing three stages of the Party history, were put together as a background of Mao Zedong’s broad figure. This arrangement of extension in time and space gives the picture a richer meaning. Though the artists might have not known Delaunay’s works, they made a step forward in the history of China art. Another example, apparently, the distortion and exaggeration of the propaganda pictures were borrowed from the Western Expressionism in the early decades of the 20th century, especially the woodcut style of German expressionism, which was introduced to the young artists in 1930s by famous Chinese writer Luxun, who is the banner-man of the New Woodcut Movement. These progresses should be noticed and deserves to be studied in depth; they make the starting point for new art in the period of launching the open door policy, and certainly have inspired the artists of a new generation. APPENDIX

Propaganda posters of 1970s and 1980s. Impression and Price Author Title Press number of copies (yuan) Commune Shanghai People’s 1st: March 1973–1,370,000 Tung Cheng Yi 0.11 Fish Pond Publishing House 2nd: March 1973–1,870,000 Learn from Shanghai People’s 1st: July 1973–400,000 Ho Yu-tsu 0.22 Lei Feng Publishing House 3rd: August 1973–1,000,000 Young Eagle People’s Fine Arts Ou Yang Spreading Her 1st: March 1974–595,000 0.07 Publishing House. Wings

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Early Spring Lin Ximing and Shanghai People’s Fine 1st: 20,500 — no data (missing) in South Tang Yun Arts Publishing House. 2nd: October 1973–1,501,000 China Liaoning People’s 1st: August 1973–500,000 Liu Chi-ho Picking Herbs 0.11 Publishing House 2nd: October 1973–1,710,000 Unite Together Kiang Nan- Shanghai People’s and Fight 1st: September 1973–4,000,000 0.11 choon Publishing House. for Greater Victory Old Party Shanghai People’s 1st: June 1974–1,040,000 Liu Chih-the 0.11 Secretary Publishing House. 2nd: January 1975–1,340,000 Eagles Tong Sieng- Hebei People’s 1st Printing October 1974: 970,000 Spreading 0.11 ming Publishing House. 2nd: May 1975–1,570,000 Their Wings Kao Er-yi, Cheong Wen- New People’s Fine Arts long, Tong 1st: September 1975–1,550,000 0.14 Competitors Publishing House. Chiao-ming Liang Ping-po Good Things Shanghai People’s Chen Juxian 1st: February 1984–300,000 0.16 Every Year Publishing House. Learn from Shanghai People’s 1st: November 1965 to 7th: January Ha Qiongwen Martyr Wang 0.15 Publishing House. 1966–750,000–850,000 Jie Chinese Women Li Mubai, Jin Volleyball Shanghai People’s 1st: April 1982 to 4th: June 1983 0.16 Xuechen Team Win Publishing House. – 1,250,000–2,070,000 the World Champion Learn from Education Publishing Jin Jifa 1st: December 1974–450,000 0.12 Lei Feng House

NOTES 1 See: Mao Zedong (1967: 698). 2 Lenin (1987: 93). 3 For example, in the population of 1,500,000 around Yan-an district, there were more than one million illiterates, and more than two thousands witches and wizards; see: Mao Zedong (1967: 698). 4 Mingshi (1998: 1701–1716). 5 Cited after: Yuejin (2002: 18). 6 During that time, only a few exporting stores and art craft shops, such as Rongbaozhai, could sell traditional paintings and calligraphy works, and only to foreigners to earn foreign currency for the government. 7 Chairman Mao Inspects Areas South and North of the Yangtze River was offered by the alleged Zhejiang Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Fine Arts University (factually the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts), Zhejiang People’s Fine Arts Publishing House,

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no. 8156.536. 1969, 6. Price: 0.30 yuan. Now we know that its authors were Zheng Shengtian, Xu Junxuan, and Zhou Ruiwen from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. 8 Actually the work was made by Jin Meisheng (1902–1989) in 1956. 9 Cai’s unit was the Shanghai Artists Association, at that time, many other units had the same rule compulsory for the artists under their control. 10 See: Mingxian, Shancun (2000: 77). 11 Shucun (1998). 12 Feng (2002: 297). 13 See: www.book.sh.cn/shpub/hisdoc/. 14 Fraser (1977); see also Appendix. 15 It has turned out that that the original is missing, as discovered by some collectors who wanted to buy it; it may be lost forever. 16 See: one of the author, Zhou Ruiwen’s, “Notice of Searching for a Painting” (photo copy). 17 Mingxian, Shancun (2000); see also: Taschen (2008), especially the essays by Anchee Min, Duo Duo, and Stefan R. Landsberger. 18 (US) Maurice Meisner, Mao Zedong and Marxism, Utopianism, Chinese translation, Beijing, Central Documentary Publishing House, 1991, p.170, quoted from Mingxian, Shancun 2000, p.24,

REFERENCES 1. Jiang Feng. 2002, “On Art Enterprise and Art techniques’ Improvement,” Literary, no. 11–12. 2. Zheng Gong. 2002, Evolution and Movement. 3. Fraser, S.E. 1977, 100 Great Chinese Posters. 4. Lenin, V.I. 1987, “Party’s organization and its publications”, Lenin’s Collected Edition, vol. 12. 5. 1967, Mao Zedong Selection, vol. 3. 6. Hang Mingshi. 1998, “Hang Zhiying”, The Classic Works by Famous Chinese Painters and Calligraphers (edited by Zhu Boxiong), vol. 4. 7. Wang Mingxian, Yan Shancun. 2000, A Pictorial History of New China (1966–1976). 8. Zhou Ruiwen, Notice of Searching for a Painting (photocopy). 9. Wang Shucun. 1998, “A Concise History of New Year’s Painting in Modern China”, The Collected Edition of Modern Artworks in China (New Year’s Painting). 10. 2008, The Chinese Propaganda Posters (edited by Taschen, B.). 11. Zou Yuejin. 2002, An Art History of New China.

— 74 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja PhD, Professor, Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial Academy [email protected] Moscow, Russia CONCEPTUAL TRADITION IN THE MAKING OF ÉMILE GALLÉ’S PROJECT ART

Summary: In present article we hypothesize the genesis of conceptual foundations of late XX — early XXI century art in symbolism aesthetics. Corresponding parallels, though separated by time, can be logically traced to the interdisciplinary nature of work. Since late XIX century this stream of art has accommodated the work of Émile Gallé, the French artist and designer who possessed a universal mindset. His methods of work were formed on the intersection of applied arts, natural science research, literature and philosophy. They were based on the principles of concept, literature script or the “libretto” of the upcoming oeuvre. The conceptual foundation allowed Gallé to outgrow the narrow borders of the “art nouveau” style and finalized the project approach in the plastic arts, opening the broader perspective of the conceptual tradition in arts. Keywords: symbolism, conceptual art, concept, interdisciplinary research, project One question at first animated my scholasticism. I asked myself: What is it, this art? Art is the science peculiar to the poet. A definition as clear as a diamond of the finest luster.1 A. Bertrand “Gaspard de la nuit. Fantasies in the manner of Rembrandt and Callot” (1829) Productivity of interdisciplinary aesthetic, scientific and art inquiries of the border of XIX and XX centuries resulted in the proliferation of major aesthetic and art schools from the beginning of the XX century till present time. The art of Émile Gallé (1846–1904), the founder and

— 75 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art leader of École de Nancy, reflects the aesthetic and artistic strivings of the époque. Gallé has clearly overgrown the narrow framework of the concept of “author experiment” in glass, that has been allocated for him in the arts history. With his creative insights in art and technology of glass, ceramics and furniture as well as his theoretical heritage in natural sciences he managed to create the conceptual framework of applied design, lifting the ideology of applied arts to a new level. Getting inspiration from the fields of applied arts, natural science, literature and aesthetics in his conceptual framework, he included interdisciplinary discoveries in his creative model. This research draws upon the art work of Gallé in order to illustrate the hypothesis of genetic foundations of conceptualism in symbolism art of the late XX century. The early XX century was marked by the foundational change of traditional cultural art values and the emergence of new trends, that can be rather conditionally divided into the streams of avant-garde and modernism.2 The school of conceptualism was formed within the stream of postmodernism in the 1960s-1980s. It used the principles of avant-garde (experimenting with direct influence of art on a person) and modernism (use of quotations and stylization), uniting the processes of art and its analytical research. Rather than creating art oeuvres in their material form, conceptualism became an intellectual practice, bypassing the emotional component of art perception. American artist Joseph Kosuth became one of the founders of this school. In his keynote paper he saw the meaning of conceptualism in the foundational reconsideration of the function of art, as it is the idea that constitutes art, rather than any shapes or physical qualities.3 His work “One and Three Chairs” (1965) that included a chair, its photo and its dictionary description, became a classic example of conceptualism. The linguistic form of the performance, or, rather, the textual variations of the logical essence of the “concept”, opened up the opportunity for the interdisciplinary “play” within one art object. On the border of XIX and XX centuries as well as later during the XX century, the linguistic nature of art concepts was looking for rather unconventional formats. The “talking glass” (verreries parlantes) of Gallé, made on the basis of “marquetry” technique, became a paradoxical manifestation of

— 76 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

the new art synthesis. By uniting “poetry and art”, Gallé brought the stylistic discoveries of literature into the domain of plastics, giving birth to a unique author technique. The vase surfaces “talk” to the viewer by means of quotations-epigraphs and coded mottos of favorite poets-symbolists — M. Maeterlinck, Sully Prudhomme, A. Rimbaud, S. Mallarmé, P. Verlaine, Y. Gautier, M. Desbordes-Valmore and R. de Montesquieu. The circle of poets who inspired the artist was reasonably wide. Gallé’s special reverence for the word made the poetic world of symbolism the basis of the literary concept of his works. “A symbol is a certain culmination point, a peak of concentration of ideas… For as long as the thought guides the pen, brush or a pencil, it is beyond any doubt that symbol will also enchant people”.4 The vase created as a celebratory gift to Victor Prouvé when he was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honor became the crowning jewel of the poem in glass. For the epigraph, Gallé chose the eternal words of V. Hugo: “Live fighting, but still alive are only those Who gave the soul for sublime dream Go thoughtfully, in power of a higher purpose, For the good heart so few days are in a week, Live fighting, the Creator, the other I’m sorry”.5 The poetic quotation on the upper part of the body of the vase represents the key to decoding the plastic concept.6 The author metaphor of “talking glass” goes beyond the surface of the idea of art object. “Just like the artists of the Middle Age who relied on Faith and Ideas in their art, I continue to engrave texts on my vases, instructing my customers with these inscriptions”.7 One of the major particularities of conceptualism is its “literary” (or “linguistic”) version of installation, where the visual image of a word is considered equal to things. The transition from creation of art objects towards the declaration of “art ideas” free from materialization marked the “changing of nature of art from a question of morphology to a question of function. This change — one from “appearance” to “conception’—was the beginning of “modem” art and the beginning of “conceptual” art”.8 But if “conceptualism reflected the crisis of the traditional concept of art, refusing to create the new objectivity” 9, then

— 77 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

Gallé for the first time in early XX century has equalized the word project and its objective manifestation in plastic arts. His scenic models became a step on the path of transcending the material borders of an object, narrowing down the limitlessness of the idea of beautiful and art (the origins incorporated in the aesthetics of romanticism). Galle wrote about “The vase of Pasteur” in the following manner: “The object of art where the composition becomes mixed with the mystery and symbolic ambiguities will not win from an explanation provided by someone, if it turns out to be just a charade devoid of eloquence, without a true revelation. Of course no skillful pen will ever save my work from any evident deficiencies; however it would be interesting to learn the origins of symbols that lay the foundation of its high purpose”.10 Symbolism became an avant-garde school in creative method innovations. The method-generating nature of literary symbolism allowed “poetic” and art parallels. Like a poet, Gallé built his symbolic images on the basis of internal subjective associative links.11 Synesthesia (literally translated as co-sensation) became the literary formula and the method of creating a new image. It originated in the keynote “correspondence” (fr. correspondances) theory of C. Baudelaire.12 The plastic solutions for a range of new topics in decorative and applied arts required parallel verbal adaptation, a verbal “correspondence”. These topics included scientific and technical discoveries, biographic histories and other mental images. The contents of “new art” symbolism were “cast” into a word as a form. The artistic method of Gallé includes the literary scenario (the conceptual foundation), that preceded every keynote work in the material.13 Word melted with plastics amplified and intensified the decorative image. “Why must the decorator abandon the libretto that can be used by a composer at any moment without a doubt? If the sound of bells ringing wasn’t accompanied by beautiful ceremonial speeches that make souls thrill, it would be no more than a mere sound of big ringing bells”.14 Galle creates his libretto in the form of the essays full of symbolic parallels, allusions and associations, suggesting a literary scenario version of plastics. From the idea to material execution, the

— 78 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art model of future artifact is shaped on all the stages of creation of scenario of Shakespeare-, Baudelaire- and Pasteur-themed vases. In the morphogenesis Gallé stayed adherent to the stylistic tradition of art nouveau, while transcending the limits of perceptual reality, designated to decorative arts. The viewer saw the field of real scientific struggle and victory beyond the plastic imagination of “The vase of Pasteur”. A complex ornate verbal image of definitions and terms of the essay was the result of translation of ideal organic constructs into the language of decorative shapes. “The day is dawning, and the twilight is brightened by the new phantasmagoria of microbiological discoveries. The glass artist dreamt of throwing this great scientific achievement into the crucible of art, so that these monsters that hide innumerable disasters within could swim in the mass of glass, as well as insolvent or chaotic hypotheses that You, Teacher, refuted… How to translate the metamorphosis of mistakes in the teachings of science, such as miasma and spontaneous generation, by means of fine arts? This is why I was forced to resort to creation of imaginary unreal images… the bacteria, the hidden culprits of major tragic events”.15 The artistic images of great biological discovery of Pasteur are being born and put into shape somewhere on the level of intuition.16 Gallé has enriched the scene with symbols, giving psychological traits of higher creatures to the simplest organisms. Philosophical and biological symbols, mythological and fantastic images are impulsively swirling around in the hurricane of life and art: “macabre ghosts, empiricist symbols, underestimation of causal links, the monstrous shapes of unrealistic doctrines, miasma and blastema, all these images that are neither tangible nor concrete”. Gallé prioritizes the scientific concept, bitterly noting: “… that “fin de siècle” crystal can not follow Your (Pasteur) science in its quest to catch the elusive. Our art lacks resistance, big creative originality and unspeakable inventiveness… Your patients would justly consider this glass “vaccination” insufficient, but it will remind them at least of the success of Pasteur embryonic doctrine”.17 Gallé foresees the future transition of plastic art with its limited capacity of art form into the field of pure intellectual conceptualism.

— 79 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

The emerging trend of interdisciplinary perception of reality required alternative feedback principles from the art nouveau system. The scientific philosophical worldview contiguous to art witnesses the changed perception of nature.18 The art took the role of defendant upon itself, not being able to find a scientific explanation of mysteries of nature and humanity. Science, while being methodologically limited by direct experience, was completed by the limitless intuitive creative insight. For Gallé the concept of intuition contains the creative act of anticipation, the modeling of a certain image. “The vase of Pasteur” is an intuitive art image of the great scientific microbiological discovery, where the capacities of glass illustrate the micro world of biology, that can only be seen under the microscope eyepiece. Gallé chose nature as his primary source of limitless inspiration and art practice. He possessed a broad specter of interests as a breeding scientist and as a decorative artist. The philosophical and aesthetic quests of the time played the role of catalyst in the assertion of the priority of natural symbolism. Each of the schools that marked the intellectual guise of the late XIX century (positivism, romanticism and symbolism) appealed to nature as an inexhaustible source of analogies and comparisons in the justification of methodology of aesthetic research.19 Gallé considerably broadened the field of “aesthetic” by introducing natural objects previously considered to be beyond the border of aesthetics into the apparatus of applied arts. Prosaic fragments of nature devoid of poetic attention: ice, lumps of earth, moss, weed etc. became the protagonists of scenarios of the vases on the rights of elite valuable rarities. The verbal concept included in the “libretto” played the role of symbolic layer in the artistic adaptation. Meanwhile, the palette of techniques helped Gallé realize the romantic experience of “expressing the inexpressible” in glass: infinite variations of gusts of the wind, raindrops and dew, hail, vapor and snow, sea foam and the bottom of the sea. The patinage technique, an artificial “pollution” of the layer of glass imitated twilight, rain or thunderstorm. Technological air bubbles between the layers of glass created the feeling of raging bubbling waters. The mechanical processing of patinated glass (engraving, carving polishing etc.) “created” drops of rain or hail. Sprigs of herbs made

— 80 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

of oxidized silver are hidden in the glass body of the bowl “Grass under ice” (1892), and the epigraph contains lines from “Orangery” by M. Maeterlinck: “Because the sadness of my joy Seems like the grass beneath the ice”.20 The element of nature accompanies the spiritual experiences of a human being due to the emotional artistic transformation of the original natural form. In the author’s libretto of the precious pitcher “Hazel”, executed in the technique of irisation, engraving and metallic inclusions, “oblique rime and the bluish iridescent fog of the glass create crystal and silver drops on the branches…. Not embroidered with pearls, but by all my tears Baudelaire “A une Madone” “.21 The basement of the “Little vase with the picture of alpine soldanella (edelweiss)” (1889, museum of the École de Nancy, Nancy) is “though wrapped in a crust of rough furrowed ice through which twigs of moss, flower buds and air bubbles can be seen; the etched places have a deeper azure-blue tint”.22 Symbolism deliberately created its own applied version of “second nature”, including manifestations situated beyond exalted aesthetics, putting the entire arsenal of modern technological methods of glassmaking at the service of this idea. The tradition of referring to original objects passed to the conceptual art of the XX century. However, unlike in symbolism, the bare object or phenomenon devoid of artistic transformation becomes the art object. A pure creative gesture directly appealing to intellectual reasoning while bypassing emotional perception becomes the oeuvre. Real natural materials such as earth, snow, grass, ash from the fire become concepts, where the aim of transferring the idea becomes more important than material expression. BioArt 23 became one of the varieties of conceptualism of the XXI century using bacteria, living tissue and organisms, vital processes in their scientific analytical context as its graphic material. Genetic engineering operating traces of DNA, cloning etc. are among the scientific processes involved in art. Molecular biology became the fundamental foundation of creative act, while the laboratory, where

— 81 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art the tremendous potential of micro- and macro processes of the living tissue is literally everted upon the viewer, becomes the birth place of works of art. The concept uniting scientific and artistic potential and uplifting the relationship of art and science to a new not fully conscious analytical project level stands behind the physical manifestation of BioArt works. Such an interdisciplinary approach has a distant historical foundation; from the end of the XIX century science acquires orientation towards humanities. The new cultural myth of recreation of the environment by means of methods of art led to a search for new equilibrium where the art is mutually enriched, deformed and dissolved, erasing the borders not only between different species, but also between adjacent areas of science and culture. “The destiny of art per se will depend not only on what “the playful Occasion will keep” (V. Bryusov), but on whether the new century and the new millennium will manage to fulfill the dream of artistic avant-garde of all ages and all stylistic shades: to determine the function of art, first of all — biological. Avant-garde will win where it has its birthplace and mission — in science”.24 The emerged alliance of science and art, hiding the energy for continuous cultural and creative self-renewal within, become the basis for the interdisciplinary project-based approach. The tradition of natural sciences becomes the summand of Gallé’s creative method. Botany, entomology, zoology, geography and chemistry for Gallé were equal to what a human being with its proportions was for the medieval artist. When answering the question whether it is science or art that is primal in the mind of Gallé, F. Le Tacon noted: “it is evident that he (Gallé) reasoned as a botanical scientist and expressed his scientific worldview through images of art”.25 His method of scientific poetic design was built upon a firm foundation of natural sciences research. The world of plants, insects and animals in the specifics of the evolution of their species and climate zoning, the geological structure of terrestrial rocks and the sea depths, the biological micro world and inorganic chemistry — all of it gave the unique material for the new symbols of applied arts and glassmaking technology discoveries. Le Corbusier figuratively referred to Gallé in 1925: “The life of Gallé

— 82 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art is beautiful, it is divided between the direct study of nature and the caprice of the fire of his ovens”.26 The results of selection of wild and decorative plants in Gallé’s native Lotharingia and his activity in the Acclimatization Society laid the foundation for working on the problem of adaptation of rare plant species such as the orchid, especially its local kind Aceras Hircinia, to the local climate conditions.27 The primary scientific work “Species of orchids transferred to Lotharingia” (1904) is dedicated to this issue. The decorative solution of the “Vase with the lid decorated by the images of orchids Phalenopis Aphroditae” (1889, Hermitage, Saint Petersburg) is considered an illustration of Gallé’s scientific inquiries in the field of the species evolution theory. Gallé made science an integral part of art, giving the analytical component to the conceptual foundation. Modern mineralogical achievements were the basis of the scenario of “Geology” vase (Museum of fine arts, Nancy, France), that became an attempt to illustrate evolution of crustal layers in glass. The plot of the vase is a figurative adaptation of the main postulates of Darwin’s evolutionary theory. In the vase “Fossil flora” ancient fossils manifested in the plastic metaphor of extinct softwoods become the primary plot device. The poetic line of R. Sully Prudhomme serves as an epigraph containing the formula of the idea of the work: “For forests that are no longer”.28 Fantasies of scientific experiments influenced the plastic morphogenesis, often balancing on the border of paradox and grotesque. In the plot of the vase “Forest buttercup” Gallé “… reproduced … the flowers, that while still in the shape of black furry buds remind of some strange flies. By scattering this motif everywhere, he purposefully intensified the similarity and added an image of a dragonfly, half insect half plant, flying through the night to a water scorpion that stalks its prey, half leaning out of the vase”.29 However, the scientific “newness” of plant selection and evolution experiments, according to the scientist, should stay within the borders of firm cultural tradition. “Haven’t we encountered people who were excited about this nonsense: a green rose! A green rose is not a rose anymore: it is a Brussels sprout…”.30

— 83 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

The apparatus of naturalist scientific inquiry with its terminology and informational graphics became part of the interdisciplinary format of “fin de siècle” art, firmly entering the lexicon of plastic arts. However, the “art nouveau” stayed within the emotional framework of the creative process, be it the analytical scenario-concept of work or a scientifically justified prototype of the artistic image. According to Gallé, “the most detailed biological description printed in the scientific work does not inspire us, as it lacks a human soul”.31 In modern objects of conceptualism the intellectual intuition continued its existence in the sterile forms of scientific clichés that lack perceptual foundation. Analytical texts, graphs, scientific models, diagrams, mathematical and chemical formulas accompanied by the corresponding commentary become the oeuvres of conceptual art. Often conceptual oeuvres only exist in the shape of arranged projects, drawings, schemes of objects or situations without the subsequent transformation into material. Science shared not only its graphic language, but also its methods with art. Scientific methods made project-based reasoning a particularly popular art. The project-based ideology based upon the interdisciplinary foundation marked the époque of new humanitarian technologies. Already in 1891 on the pages of “Echo de Paris” C. Henry gave a profound characteristic to the processes occurring within the structure of civilization. “We are witnessing the emerging development and spread of scientific methods in the industry achievements… I believe in the future of art that overthrows any habitual logical or historical method. And this will occur because the mind, having exhausted itself in purely rational efforts, will feel the need of renewal in the completely different domains of the thought”.32 The project-based concept entered the methodology of applied and easel arts, defining the relationship between the artist and the material for more than a century. “Many particularities of conceptualism are related to its specific projective mindset. At the same time the realization of the project is initially left out of the equation… i. e. everything is done in the modality of possibility”.33 Conceptualism of the XX century elevated project-based models of art to a special status, allowing the reconsideration of project- based systems of the past from new points of reference.

— 84 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

The “direct” conversation with nature became impossible in the work from the end of the XIX century. The vacuum occurring between the concept and its material implementation has filled the project, where every stage of the creative process from sketch design to working models and drawings has acquired its artistic intrinsic value. Gallé presented his drawings, studies and design sketches along with works of faience and glass on the VIII Exhibition of the Central Union of Decorative Arts in 1884. He accompanied the exposition with the announcement text “Projects and drawings of the workshop”. The project model of Gallé united techniques of plastic morphogenesis and scientific breakthroughs with poetics of symbolism, building itself upon the documentary foundation. The project work has been first described by Gallé inhis manuscript “Herbarium. Plant (sketch). Drawing. Watercolor”, named after the four fundamental stages of design.34 On the first stage it was necessary to dissect the natural object, to remove the living essence, to “dry” it, leaving just the skeleton. This was done in order to awaken the Idea of the object and sharpen the plot fantasy. Herbarium herbs, withered by time dematerialized phenomena of natural life, became the creative impulse of art work rather than mere science research data.35 In the “Vase in the shape of a rook with the images of inflorescences and seeds of clematis” it seems that the flower tissue has faded and worn out by time, turning into a skeleton of dry streaks. Along with herbarium, Gallé gave photography the didactic role in his project work. The “Project of a garland in the form of a bitter gourd plant” (Museum of École de Nancy, Nancy) can become an illustration of the modern design textbook. Facsimile (tirage au cythrate) was another popular form of photography. It represented the imprints on special paper, where the image was transferred from the plate by means of direct contact. At the same time, Gallé urges the painters to differentiate themselves from photographers, suggesting their own “spectacle” to the viewer. This spectacle, built around the topics of eternal nature — forest, mountains, clouds, is played through the artist’s fantasy and talent.36

— 85 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

Scientific knowledge helped Gallé create his own system of artistic stylization of organic form techniques, uplifting the graphic sketches to the level of artistic image. Nearly one hundred blossoms in various stages of flowering, pollination and wilting were included in the botanical atlas “Species of orchids transferred to Lotharingia” (1904). The nature follows the way of conservation of structural features of an insect or a plant in the project of object transformation, doing so without breaking the biological laws of its life. A form that undergoes natural transformation, such as a leaf, a fruit or a blossom is taken as a foundation. The foundational laws of evolution, genesis and morphology of natural objects allowed to keep them recognized even in the most exaggerated stylization. A rare rose species in the decoration of the vase “French Rose” became a chef d’oeuvre of sculptural realism in glass. The interdisciplinary approach introduced architectural and engineering construction techniques into project graphics. These techniques abounded with scientific schemes, analytical drawings and accompanying technical texts. The watercolor stage of the project united the “portrait” imagery of nature with its analytical scheme, resembling a piece of future ornament. Due to the decoration in the planar orthogonal projections Gallé achieved a three-dimensional representation of an object. The especially labor-intensive small parts were magnified and displayed on the sheet margins accompanied by relevant explanations. The whole project was most often executed by hand in the dry watercolor technique without using any drawing instruments. This allowed the possibility of imitating the glass texture. The sketched reflections of Gallé in the black and white graphic technique (pencil, ink, paper) became an alternative to a color project. The conceptual foundation of a project was intensified by verbal commentary: from detailed instructions of color schemes to chemical formulas of the glass palette and poetic quotations.37 Gallé’s sketches addressed to the employees of design studio and glass workshop, apart from the drawing, included personal notes of maestro, that could contain general advice on the choice of coloring, the place of the motif, the contents of annotation or a literature reference…38 Poetic quotations f rom V. Hugo, A. Rimbaud or especially favored S. Mallarmé with

— 86 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

the addition of a few chemical formulas and a small bunch of freshly plucked flowers is a sufficient clarification of the graphics. The texts could refer to certain plants from the garden or to photographs from the workshop, confirming their rolein design of decorative models as well as reference material. Gallé associative advice helps to grasp his conceptual ideas. For instance, in the picture of fuchsia plant Gallé consult nature for the shades of streaks.39 The glassmaking technology impacted the project creation. The projects of replicated works (“Gallé standart”) that had been created for the multilayered cameo glass technology were devoid of conceptual commentary and poetic quotations; they were signified by a clear linear drawing and the lack of planes and soft shades in the image, as well as the moderate color palette that gave the possibility of multiple replication without damaging the artistic concept. Traces of multiple folds, scuffs, holes and stains point to the purely utilitarian role of these objects in production and indicating that they only later became collection objects. Art history continuously provides examples of timeless marginal “slips of the tongue” of the dominant line of artistic style development. Émile Gallé reformed the applied problems of art, bringing them beyond the narrow limits of artisan methods and creating the conceptual foundation of the creative process. By doing this he has defined the character of development of applied and easel arts of the XX and early XXI centuries. Gallé was one of the first to envision the broad opportunities of new project aesthetics. Through the dialogue of natural scientific and philosophical knowledge, poetic gift and artistic talent he has formed the new interdisciplinary model of art, opening up the way towards genre experiments in applied art and design.

— 87 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

NOTES 1 Translation from French by Donald Sidney-Fryer. 2 Symbolism is typically considered to be related to modernism. The art of Gallé is embedded in the aesthetic system of symbolism. Its imagery is created within the framework of symbolism aesthetics. 3 J. Kosuth. Art after Philosophy. Part I. — Studio International, October 1969. — pp. 134–137. 4 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. 1884–89. Paris, 1908. — pp. 218. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Les symboles sont les pointes ou se concrètent les idées… Et tant que la pensée guidera la plume, le pinceau, le crayon, il ne faut pas douter que le symbole ne continue de charmer les hommes”. 5 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 184. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Ceux qui vivent, ce sont ceux qui luttent; ce sont Ceux dont un dessein ferme emplit l’âme et le front, Ceux qui marchent, pensifs, épris d’un but sublime, Ceux dont le cœur est bon, ceux dont les jours sont pleins. Ceux-là vivent. Seigneur; les autres, je les plains”. 6 In the article “Vase of Prouvé” published in the “Art of Lotharingia” journal issue on the 5th of July 1986 Gallé builds symbolic connections and draws parallels between Victor Prouvé’s life events and the imagery of nature, intensifying these associations with the lines from his favorite poets. 7 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 200. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Je maintiens en effet, qu’on le raille ou non, mon mode d’appliquer, — comme les artistes du Moyen Age, qui bâtissaient sur de la foi et des idées, — d’appliquer, dis-je, des textes à mes vases et d’édifier mes acheteurs par des écritures”. 8 Kosuth J. Art after philosophy and after: collected writings, 1966–1990. — The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England, 1991. — pp. 18–19. 9 Bobrinskaya Е. А. Conceptualism. — M.: GALART. 1994. — pp. 46. 10 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 148. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Une oeuvre d’art ou la composition se mélange de mystère et d’obscurités symboliques ne gagne rien à être expliquée si elle n’est qu’une charade sans éloquence, sans vertu évocatrice. Aucun artifice de la plume ne saurait donc, je le crains, gratifier après coup mon ouvrage de tout ce qui lui fait assurément défaut, mais in peut être intéressant de connaîre la genèse des symboles qui ornent une oeuvre précieuse par sa haute destination”. 11 Explaining the theoretical foundations of symbolic image in the article “Symbolic decor”, Gallé stops on the link between “poetic” and “artistic”. For Gallé an artist is always partly a poet, and a contemporary poet is usually a symbolist. 12 Medieval theory was revived by Baudelaire under the influence of ideas of E. Swedenborg, the most famous mystic of the XVIII century, who developed a theory of “correspondences” where the one can be seen beyond the other. J. Böhme, the dialectic and mystic of XVII century, and his work “177 Theosophic Questions With Answers to Thirteen of Them” also anteceded the theory of synesthesia. “Everything in the world is interconnected (situated in “correspondences’).

— 88 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

These links … go through a human being talking to him in the “language of nature”, coming from God. The teaching of Böhme was transmitted from the XVIII to the XIX century to Schelling, Hegel, the Romanticists and further to the symbolists. Böhme’s ideas resonated in “correspondences” of Charles Baudelaire” (Turchin V. S. Symbolism and theosophy. In: Symbolism as an artistic movement: Look from the XXI century. Article collection / Edited by: N. A. Hrenov, I. E. Svetlov. — M.: National institute of arts research, 2013. — pp. 33). 13 The closest historical example of the influence ofliterary theory on the formation of plastic image is the “literary” art of Pre-Raphaelites that was developed under the influence of the Romanticist poetic symbol. 14 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 200. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Pourquoi dénier au décorateur le libretto dont le compositeur de musiquepeut s’inspirer sans conteste? Les cloches qui ne portent point des paroles belles et graves et ne font oas vibrer aussi les âmes, ne sont que des sonnettes trop grosses”. 15 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 151. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Le voici avec son foyer qui reçoit le jour et projette sur l’obscurité la nouvelle fantasmagorie des réalités microbiologiques. Le verrier avait donc rêvé de jeter au creuset ce grand geste de la science, de faire flotter dans la pâte vitreuse les monstres eux-mêmes, les fléaux masqués, dépouillant les chimériques lambeaux, les hypothèses fumeuses et et spécieuses que vous avez, Maitre, mises à néant… Comment rendre plastique le métamorphose des erreures de doctrines, comme celle des miasmes et de la génération spontanée? Cela fut tenté par la figuration d’êtres irréels, … ces microbes obscures fauteurs de hautes oeuvres tragiques”. 16 Gallé explains a complicated process of giving birth to a concept of his glass creation during the congratulatory speech in the Institute of Pedagogy in Paris on the 70th anniversary of Pasteur where he presented the vase as a gift. 17 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 149, 153. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “fantômes fuligineux, symboles de l’empirisme, de la méconnaissance de la causalité, formes monstrueuses des doctrines chimériques, miasmes et blastèmes, “expressions vagues, disiez-vous, Maître, ne répondant à rien de tangible”. … “… le crystal “fin de siécle” ne saurait suivre votre art dans sa captatuion de l’impalpable. Le nôtre n’a point cette si longue ténacité, ni tant d’originalité ingénieuse, de personnelle invention … Quoi qu’il en soit, vos destinataires, Maîre, eussent avec raison jugé insuffisante cette inoculation duverre, si elle n’eût rappelé, bien pauvrement d’ailleurs, que les preuves expérimentales de la doctrine pastorienne des germes”. 18 H. Taine stated that “instead of claiming that the hallucination is a false external perception, it is better to say that external perception is a true hallucination” (Taine H. Of mind and cognition. T. 1. S-Pb., 1872. — pp. 232). Scientific attention to internal psychological processes of a human being gave artists the foundation for the transition to a completely new principle of building an artistic image. Perception was accentuated, confirming the dominance of idea over materiality. The form already had very little in common with reality. In the middle of the 1880s A. Aurier, an artistic critic of symbolism, poet and playwright, asserted that an artist didn’t look at nature, but rather through it, envisioning the otherworldly truth (Kryuchkova V. Symbolism in fine arts: France and Belgium, 1870–1900.

— 89 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

M.: Fine arts, 1994. — pp. 53). Symbolists S. Mallarmé, J. Huysmans, L. Bernard and others referred to A. Schopenhauer who viewed the cognition process as a part of creative act. Schopenhauer’s keynote work “The World as Will and Representation” was translated in France in 1880. 19 In the positivist conceptual framework of H. Taine “an artist and a critic were likened to either a botanist or an anatomy scientist, researching similar processes that occur in plants or animal organisms”. The philosophy of art in its method was considered an “aesthetic botany”, and the researched facts needed to be classified according to schools in galleries and libraries, similar to plants in herbarium or to animals in a zoological museum (History of aesthetic thought. T. 4. Second half of XIX century, M.: Art, 1987. — pp. 93, 95). Ideals of “philosophy of life” with the doctrine of “vital” energy, philosophical concepts of “change” and “creative evolution” appealed to the intuitive cognition of existence (W. Dilthey) as qualities of the vital impulse, the life itself (H. Bergson). 20 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 124. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “Car la tristesse de ma joie Semble de l’herbe sous la glace”. 21 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 161. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. «… le grésil oblique, les bleuissantes buées, arc-en-cielées, fondent sur les rameaux qui s’égouttent en pustules liquides, en ruisselants pleurs de cristal et d’argent … Non de perles brodé, mais de toutes mes larmes. Baudelaire “A une Madone” ». 22 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 121. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. … “comme envéloppée d’une croûte de glace striée enfermant des mousses, des fleurs, des bulles d’air; les ciselures sont d’un violet plus azuré”. 23 The concept was introduced by Eduardo Kac in 1997 in relation to his work “Time Capsule”. 24 Ronen O. Decadence, symbolism and avant-garde. In the collection of articles: Ways of art: Symbolism and European culture of the XX century. Conference proceedings (Jerusalem, 2003). — M. Vodolei Publishers, 2008. — pp. 20–21. 25 “Orchids of Lotharingia…” Art of Émile Gallé and Daume brothers. Catalogue of the exhibition in Russian and French. S-Pb.: National Hermitage, 1999. — pp. 6. 26 Émile Gallé et le verre. La collection du Musée L’École de Nancy. Musée L’École de Nancy, 2004. — pp. 22. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “La vie de Gallé est belle, partagée entre l’étude de la nature et le caprice du feu de ses fours”. 27 This is the article “Pollination of orchids by insects and successful results of crossbreeding” (1870) and the report “Orchids of Lotharingia: new forms and polymorphism in Aceras Hircinia”, presented at the International Botanic Congress in 1900 and published in the collection “Reports from the international botanic congress”. 28 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 124. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. « A des foréts qui ne sont plus ».

— 90 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

29 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 123. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “… ai reproduit… la panicule florale qui encore en boutons noirs et velus, munie des ses folioles, a quelque analogie avec une mouche étrange. Semant ce mitif sur le pourtour, j’ai accusé de plus en plus la ressemblance jusqu’à la figure d’un libellule moitié bête, moitié plante et voltigeant dans la nuit vers une nèpe qui, à demi sortie de la vase, guette sa proie”. 30 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 61. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. “N’a-t-on pas vu, autrefois, des gens s’extasier sur le non-sens: la rose verte! Une rose verte n’est plus une rose, cêst un chou de Bruxelles…”. A number of other articles by Émile Gallé is dedicated to the same topic: “The best is the enemy of good”, “Flowers in the water”, “Chrysanthemums and gladioli” etc. 31 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 217. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. … “le document naturaliste le plus scrupuleux, reproduit dans un ouvrage scientique, ne nous émeute pas, parce que l’âme humaine en est absente”. 32 Yarotsinskij S. Debussy, impressionism and symbolism. M.: Progress, 1978. — pp. 109. 33 Bobrinskaya E. A. Conceptualism. — M.: GALART. 1994. — pp. 44. 34 Fleurs et ornements. L’École de Nancy. Ville de Nansy, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999. — pp. 39. 35 The attention of German art critic Manfred Speidel is turned towards commemorative herbaria: “Who has not experienced the excitement at the look of dried flowers that long had lain between the pages of a book. These faded stems and petals, curiously interwoven, having lost their original contours, are living their own life in the two-dimensional space”. (Speidel M. Apotheosis of fantasy. Unesco Courrier 1990 (October). — pp. 13). 36 Gallé É. Écrits pour l`art. — pp. 278. 37 This is particularly specific for the unique works («piéces uniques»), where the project visualized the author’s concept, allowing for further replication of this chef d’oeuvre. Among the examples are the museum collections of project graphics in the Museum of École de Nancy, Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, Museum of French Architecture, Musée d’Orsay etc. 38 Arwas V. Art Nouveau. The French aesthetic. Andreas Papadakis Publisher, 2002. — pp. 27. 39 Fleurs et ornements. L’École de Nancy. — pp. 43.

REFERENCES 1. Kosuth, J. 1969. Art after Philosophy, vol.1, Studio International, pp. 134–137. 2. Gallé, É. 1908. Écrits pour l`art. 1884–89. Paris, pp. 383. 3. Kosuth, J. 1991. Art after philosophy and after: collected writings, 1966–1990, The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England, pp. 33. 4. Bobrinskaya, Е.А. 1994. Conceptualism, pp. 216. 5. Turchin, V.S. 2013. “Symbolism and theosophy”, Symbolism as an artistic movement: Look from the XXI century, National institute of Arts research, pp. 30–46. 6. Taine, H. 1872. Of mind and cognition. vol. 1, S-Pb., pp. 326.

— 91 — Elena A. Zaeva-Burdonskaja. Conceptual tradition in the making of Émile Gallé’s project art

7. Kryuchkova, V. 1994. Symbolism in fine arts: France and Belgium, 1870–1900, pp. 274. 8. History of aesthetic thought. vol. 4. Second half of XIX century,1987, Moscow, pp. 525. 9. Ronen, O. 2008. “Decadence, symbolism and avant-garde”, Ways of art: Symbolism and European culture of the XX century, pp. 7–24. 10. “ ‘Orchids of Lotharingia…’ Art of Émile Gallé and Daume brothers.”, Home catalogue of the exhibition in Russian and French. S-Pb.: National Hermitage, pp. 175. 11. Émile Gallé et le verre. La collection du Musée L’École de Nancy. Musée L’École de Nancy, 2004, pp. 221. 12. Yarotsinskij, S. 1978. Debussy, impressionism and symbolism, Moscow, pp. 232. 13. Fleurs et ornements. L’École de Nancy. Ville de Nansy, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999, pp. 144. 14. Speidel, M.1990. Apotheosis of fantasy. Unesco Courrier no.10, pp. 13. 15. Arwas, V. 2002. Art Nouveau. The French aesthetic, pp. 624.

— 92 — Svetlana A. Minko. Soviet Thematic Picture in the reflection of criticism

Svetlana A. Minko Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial Academy [email protected] Moscow, Russia SOVIET THEMATIC PICTURE IN THE REFLECTION OF CRITICISM DURING THE PERIOD OF 1930s-1950s

Summary: The article concerns the phenomena of the Soviet thematic picture and how it was characterized by official criticism in the period of 1930s-1950s. The works of Sergey Gerasimov, Arkady Plastov, Aleksandr Deyneka are examined as examples. Criticism of impressionism and formalism impulses in the art of Soviet artists is shown as the most important ideological ambiguity. Keywords: Soviet thematic picture, easel picture, socialist realism, official criticism, totalitarism, “ideological vagueness”, Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, Union of Soviet Artists, The Society of Easel Painters, Sergey Gerasimov, Arkady Plastov, Aleksandr Deyneka, Abram Efros, Nicholas Punin. A specific convention of the definition “soviet thematic picture” can be easily explained by the reality when the formation of phenomena had occurred. A starting point of this process had been worked out in the resolution of the Central Committee of The Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) — “On Party Politics in the Area of Belles Lettres”, 18 June 1925. This statement was suggested for all of the intellectuals and insisted on creating the art “which was clear and common to all of the workers”1. Artists, writers, theatre and cinema workers were to develop the new form of expression, acceptable to distribute the ideas among the masses without any distortion. It should be noticed, that this period was the time of significant artistic processes in the cultural life of the country. Exhibitions dedicated to the anniversary of Red Army and Revolution were one of the forms of artistic activity sanctioned by the party. Eventually those thematic exhibitions received official

— 93 — Svetlana A. Minko. Soviet Thematic Picture inthe reflection of criticism

support of young soviet art, became regular and later escalated into the so-called Foyer Exhibitions, by means of it the soviet system distributed the different benefits among the artists. The original initiator of this process became the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AARR or AKhRR) . The core of AARR amounted the artists of elder generation (the members of The Wanderers, “Peredvizhniki”) and their successors; they basically preferred the realistic form in art. Developing the new level of the tradition of the “Wanderers”, the artists AARR sought to invent a method and a new language most suitable for communication with the vast and aesthetically unprepared folk audience. Art reflected the people, was created for the people and aspired to uncover first of all the most topical issues of our time. “Its own method the Association has already proclaimed as a “heroic” realism in 1924”2. If realism of “Peredvizhniki” was documentary, or branded the imperfection of contemporary society in a grotesque form, the brand new “heroic” realism Comrade Zhdanov described as “a depiction of reality in its revolutionary development”3. As well as it is possible this concept has been expressed in the words of Maxim Gorky: “Myth is a fiction. Fiction — then remove from the actual amount of its basic meaning and realize the way — so we get the realism. But if to the sense of extracts add — invent — the logic of hypothesis — what’s desired … — we will get the romanticism that lies at the heart of the myth and is highly useful because it contributes to the excitation of the relation to reality, relationships, virtually changing the world”4. The AARR, as the most financially secure membership of the time, has become attractive to artists of various artistic and stylistic trends, and not just for the followers of the “Peredvizhniki” values. In an effort to attract public material resources the AARR developed a special, a major key to the painting — tonality, most consonant with the confident manner of a young Soviet Republic. This has greatly contributed by joining the ranks of AARR of great masters of the “Union of Russian Artists” (Abram Arkhipov, Konstantin Yuon) and of “Bubnovy Valet” (Ilya Mashkov), who became the teachers of the young generation of artists of the Moscow Higher Art and Technical

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1. “Lenin’s speech at a meeting of the Putilov Factory” (1929, State Historical Museum) by Isaac Brodsky

Studios (Vkhutemas). “Advanced Russian art of the past was lacking the beauty in the surrounding reality and filth was more than enough… The life of the Soviet people is just that poetic reality, “which makes the art poetic, and gives it the inner strength of development” according to Belinsky. … So the Soviet painting depicts a predominantly positive side of life, developing the claiming genre”5. By the turn of the 1920s-1930s in the bowels of AARR were formed two major stylistic directions of the “thematic paintings.” One of them — with the involvement of Isaac Brodsky — was based on the foundation of St.Petersburg academic tradition. Symbolically, Brodsky was the first to use the photo when creating his giant multi-figure compositions. As an example we can point to the painting “Lenin’s speech at a meeting of the Putilov Factory” (1929, State Historical Museum). The term “brodskizm”, which appeared in the late 1920s, has become synonymous to the fotografism in painting. The second direction, “Moscow” one, which combines a unique palette of the members of “Bubnovy Valet” with typical to “Russian Sezannism” practice at the turn of 1920s-1930s the plastic energy of layout the image.

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2. “The saylors in ambush” (1927, Russian Museum) by Fyodor Bogorodsky

Among the many remarkable works in this direction could be included the following: “Taman campaign” (1928, State Tretyakov Gallery) and “Road from the Gorky” (1929, Museum of Lenin) by Pavel Sokolov- Scalia, “The saylors in ambush” (1927, Russian Museum) by Fyodor Bogorodsky, portraits by George Ryazhsky “The Chairwoman” (1928, State Tretyakov Gallery) and “Delegate” (1927, State Tretyakov Gallery). These paintings largely defined the vector of development of socialist realism. And the tendency of priority rising of a large easel thematic picture reconciled longstanding creative opponents — AARR and OST “The Society of Easel Painters”. Iconic works of OST were exhibited paintings at the anniversary exhibition: “The Defense of Petrograd” (1928, Moscow Armed Forces Museum; author reiteration, 1964, State Tretyakov Gallery) and “On the construction of new workshops” (1926, State Tretyakov Gallery) by Alexandr Deyneka and “Give All To Heavy Industry” (1927, State Tretyakov Gallery) by

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Yuri Pimenov. The creativity of OST members which formally took much of the revolutionary poster and German expressionism, matched by their emotional orientation and life-affirming optimism with the best aspirations of artists AARR. Official Soviet ideology at this stage wasn’t disturbed by formal stylistic differences in the works of art associations, but was much more interested in the willingness of its creative powers to support the existing regime. During the experiments of the 1920s a new synthetic genre — “thematic painting” — has begun to develop. At the top of the hierarchical system of this genre was located “historical-revolutionary” theme, which, over time, included works of heroic and military orientation. Considerable attention in the framework of the “historical and revolutionary themes” was given to the formation of the art of socialist realism image of the Leader. Then, in descending order, were located industrial theme, the theme of work, stories on the theme about the new Soviet life and portrait, showing the image of the new Soviet man. Landscape in Soviet art should only be permitted as a positive life-affirming painting with strictly regulated political overtones. Still life was not usually perceived as a serious genre, but this trend had its exceptions (still lives by Mashkov and Konchalovsky of 1930s-1940s demonstrated the latest achievements of the Soviet system in the field of agriculture and Michurin’s selection). The turning point for the development of socialist realism was the Decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) of April, 23 in 1932 “On the Restructuring of Literary and Artistic Organizations”. From now on all existing art groups were instructed to put aside their differences and unite in the Union of Soviet Artists. Over time, the liberal attitude of the authorities to the creative experimentation of artists has given way to a rigid censorship of the imperial era of Stalin’s Empire style. Soviet Art of Socialist Realism formative stage was focused on the tradition of the “Peredvizhniki” and combined academic achievements with the coloristic motion of plein air. Wide Repin smear combined with the effective technique of plein air painting — perfectly suited to create an inspiring and optimistic painting of the time, reflecting the

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heroic milestones of soviet history and describing labor and sports achievement of people. To the era of mature totalitarian state that democratic language was alien. The official language of that time becomes the language of academic classicism. Formally, this change can be dated to 1947 — the year of foundation of the Academy of Arts. At this time, censorship severely criticized the slightest deviation from the formal style. The main requirement to easel painting — was a requirement of completeness. Here is what was written about it in “Art” magazine: “Even today some of the artists sent to the exhibition raw material instead of the finished paintings, semi-finished products, studies and sketches … This liberalism of the jury demoralized the artists”6. It is not surprising that from that time on any manifestation of plein-air painting, the slightest inclination to impressionism artist interpreted as a lack of professional skills, or, even worse, as malice. Such acknowledged masters of socialist realism as Sergei Gerasimov, Arkady Plastov and Yuri Pimenov were accused of impressionism. “The Soviet critic denounces major artists in the “ideological vagueness”, leaving the main theme” and other deadly sins, claiming that all of this “is also conducting its origin from impressionism”7. The Fine Art of totalitarism era has been actively used for mass propaganda. The thematic picture corresponding to all of the imposed official power requirements, was repeatedly duplicated in the Soviet press. Reproductions of popular paintings and critical articles were actively published in periodicals aimed at different target audiences. Among these publications — Magazines “Art”, “Creativity” (“Tvorchestvo”), “Under the banner of Marxism” (“Pod Znamenem Marksizma”), “Worker” (“Rabotnitsa”), “Peasant” (“Krestyanka”), “Pioneer” (“Pioner”), “Young Artist” (“Yuny khudozhnik”), the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “Soviet Art” (“Sovetskoe iskusstvo”) and many others. The main mouthpiece of government, and, consequently, of the official criticism became the newspaper “Pravda”, which published seminal articles of the time. In particular, articles of one of the ideologists of social realism — Maxim Gorky (“On formalism.” — “Pravda”, April 9, 1936). The same newspaper regularly published the articles of the “state” critic Vladimir Kemenov. It is symbolic that Kemenov, author of devastating articles of

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3. “On the construction of new workshops” (1926, State Tretyakov Gallery) by Alexandr Deyneka

1936 (the year of the apotheosis of repression), remained his status of critic until his death (in 1988, on the eve of the collapse of the USSR), at the post of vice-president of the Academy of Arts. Here’s what he wrote when joined the fight against formalism and Impressionism in Soviet art in his article “Formalist antics in painting”: “The images created by the formalism, are anti-art first of all because they disfigure nature,

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man, our socialist reality with outrageous irresponsibility “8. It should be said that many of the articles in “Pravda” were an editorial texts and had no signature. The newspaper “Pravda” has repeatedly provided their pages to partisan authority artists, such as the president of the Academy of Arts of the USSR Alexander Gerasimov: “Soviet art has made its creative achievements in the fight against the cosmopolitanism and formalism. Our task is to fully expose the formalists and cosmopolitans, with servile compliance carrying into our reality ugly phenomena of decadent art of the bourgeois West”9. Among the prominent critics of the described period (1930–1950) should be called the names of Herman Nedoshivin, Raphael Kaufman, Osip Beskin, Plato Kerzhentsev, Abram Efros, Nicholas Punin. And if Nedoshivin, Kaufman, Kerzhentsev were generally loyal to the ideological tenets of Soviet power, the Punin and Efros did not hide their sympathy to Impressionism and became victims of the system. Abram Efros in the magazine “Art” was described as “rootless esthete geek”10, and Nicholas Punin was arrested and died in custody. The works of Sergei Gerasimov (1885–1964) had the same uneasy relation from critics. Gerasimov brushwork manner originates at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where his teachers were outstanding Russian artists — Sergei Ivanov and Konstantin Korovin. Sergei Gerasimov became an author of classical large paintings in socialist realism (“The Oath of Siberian Partisans”, 1933, State Russian Museum, “Collective Farm Holiday, 1937, the State Tretyakov Gallery,”Partisan’s Mother” 1943, State Tretyakov Galery, “For the Soviet Power”, 1957, State Tretyakov Gallery). But not all of these pictures were perceived positively by criticism. For example, “The Oath of Siberian Partisans” did not correspond to the ideological aspirations of censorship. “Individuals are endowed with such a partisan expression of the reality of the social struggle, the tragedy of the death of the leader, the true beauty of the partisans movement is reduced to a gross distortion. Partisans of Gerasimov — narrow-minded, high- cheeked are deprived of intelligence. It is, rather, the destroyers, not fighters for the ideals of humanity”11. As a typical example of socialist realism thematic picture can be considered the work “Collective Farm

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4. “Traktorist’s Supper” (1951, Irkutsk Regional Art Museum, author reiteration, 1953, State Tretyakov Gallery) by Arcady Plastov

Holiday”. Formally, suitable to all the requirements of official criticism, and highly acclaimed at the exhibition “Industry of socialist realism”, the picture, however, is devoid of integrity. The central group (led by the chairman of the collective farm) and the group at the right edge

— 101 — Svetlana A. Minko. Soviet Thematic Picture inthe reflection of criticism of the picture (depicting young boys and girls) are not equivalent by the execution. The second group is written in the best traditions of Russian plein air and is perhaps the most powerful piece of the picture. Those painting and impressionistic techniques look unconvincing in relation to the central group of the picture and do not correspond to its documentary reportage. The landscape genre wasn’t holding a dominant position in the Soviet hierarchy of genres, became very significant for Sergei experiments of plein air character. Official criticism of those years admitted to the existence only two types of landscape — the “landscape as a symbol of the country and the landscape as a symbol of the new state”12. Contemplation of Gerasimov’s scenery did not fit into this system. As an example, the painting “The ice has passed” (1945, State Tretyakov Gallery). Minor silver pearl color and restrained color scheme were not understood — because the scenery was written in the spring of 1945, the time of the triumphant march of the Soviet people to a great victory. Many other works of this outstanding master (“Landscape with a Tower”, 1940, State Tretyakov Gallery, “After the Rain. Terrace”, 1935, State Tretyakov Gallery) caused similar lack of understanding. In 1948, following accusations of formalism and impressionism, Sergei Gerasimov was suspeneded from the leadership of Surikov Institute in Moscow. The works of Arcady Plastov (1893–1972) were ambiguously perceived by Soviet criticism too. Intimacy and a certain “archaic” manner of his easel paintings has not always corresponded to the aspirations of the critics, who wanted to see the Soviet Russian village devastated by collectivization and the Great Patriotic War completely different — a joyful and equipped with all the possible wonders of mechanization. Arcady Plastov was criticized for its non-standard social realism, which did not give the artist in “our present” to see the glimpses of “bright future”13. His works “Harvest” (1945, State Tretyakov Gallery) and “Haymaking” (1945, State Tretyakov Gallery) in 1946 were awarded by the Stalin Prize. And, in spite of this, those paintings stood aside among cheerful and heroic works of the postwar period. Sunny, cheerful, summer day, an abundance of flowers and herbs in the “Haymaking” in contrast to the exhausted and stern faces

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of farmers of the first postwar summer. Plastov’s “Harvest” is also full of hidden dramatic and reflects the hard working days of the village at the time, when all the hard work had to be done by the old men, women and children. Impressionistic impulse is very strong in the painting of Arcady Plastov, who never sought neither spectacular academicism nor varnished reality. Lack of deliberate monumentality and cheerfulness often irritated the critics. Here’s what the “Art” magazine wrote of “Traktorist’s Supper” (1951, Irkutsk Regional Art Museum, author reiteration, 1953, State Tretyakov Gallery) — “the late afternoon silence, pour on the field, fettered the images of people. If the right was not depicted yet cooled down from the tractor works, the viewer would have presented a picture of how he worked quietly in the plowman with his plow, and now sat down to rest and eat”14. Too realistic realism of Plastov, not indifferent to the traditions of Russian impressionism, not always went down well at the official critics. The work of Alexandr Deyneka (1899–1969) also summoned an ambiguous attitude. Founding member of the “Society of Easel Painters” (OST), created in 1925, Deyneka started his artistic career as a graphic artist. And his easel painting is equally characterized of both monumental and classical purity of form, and a certain “constructivist” graphic quality and decorative, clearly came to the canvas of Alexandr Deyneka from revolutionary poster. Deyneka as Sergei Gerasimov, repeatedly has been accused of formalism. Characters of Deyneka paintings with their ancient and perfect beauty were not always perceived by critics as possible heralds of a new era. Here’s what the quotation of the magazine “Under the Banner of Marxism” about the “Defense of Petrograd” (1928, Moscow Armed Forces Museum; author reiteration, 1964, State Tretyakov Gallery) — “Passion to the rhythm is formally understood and affected in the famous painting” The Defense of Petrograd “. The artist sought to create a rhythmic sound elements of the picture by raws of workers coming to the front at the bottom and going from the front at the top. Rhythmicity in the picture is really created, but it is abstract, not vital, as people depicted by the artist, were faceless, vague and devoid of emotions … The emergence of formalism in Soviet art — a relic of capitalism, especially hostile to the socialist cause”15.

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The main characters were corresponding seemingly to all the requirements that apply to socialist realism image of the new man, were too self-sufficient and complete, which couldn’t accept them as elements of a faceless crowd, faithful to the leaders of the proletariat and dying with Stalin’s name on the lips. Here’s the citation from magazine “Creation” of the famous “Defense of Sevastopol” (1942, State Russian Museum): “The artist has managed to put into images of his characters so much power, so much fighting spirit that they inspire faith and courage in the viewer, they are fine. Painting is tragic, but there is nothing dark, no mournful notes. Conditionality in the battle scenes of Deyneka- is a conventional way of the image. <…> But artist’s convention mode of expression, as it is known, is taken by the viewer far from certain. After all, his best battle scenes, with all the severity expressed in the themes of war, yet do not give the very fullness of reflection of reality, which we are entitled to demand from the Soviet Artist”16. It is clear that impressionism and formalism were two of the most terrible sins in which could be blamed Soviet artist. From this point of view is interesting the work of Yuri Pimenov (one of the founding members of the OST), whose early works (“War Invalids”, 1926, State Russian Museum, “Give all to heavy industry”, 1927, State Tretyakov Gallery) were marked by a clear influence of German expressionism, and later ones — obviously characterized by the tradition of “Russian Impressionism” (“New Moscow”, 1937, State Tretyakov Gallery; “First ladies New Quarter,” 1961, State Russian Museum; “Wedding on Tomorrow Street”, 1962, State Tretyakov Gallery). It’s significant the way of the evolution of aesthetic views of the artist Tatiana Yablonskaya (1917–2005). In her early works Yablonskaya had particularly strong impressionistic influence. Among them — the painting “Before the start” (1947, National Art Museum of Ukraine), which was performed for the Stalin Prize, but it was not well because of accusations of formalism. Influence of formal criticism on the views of the artists was so great that Jablonskaya, reminiscing about the past, wrote: “The reproaches of impressionism that I heard back in 1947, first touched me, they seemed to me to be unfair. But over time I began to appear more doubts

— 104 — Svetlana A. Minko. Soviet Thematic Picture inthe reflection of criticism

5. “Defense of Sevastopol” (1942, State Russian Museum) by Alexandr Deyneka

about the correctness of my method”17. The ultimate realization of “depravity of impressionistic method”18 comes to Yablonskaya during the process of creating her famous thematic painting “Bread” (1949, State Tretyakov Gallery), awarded the Stalin Prize of the second grade. Soviet censorship was most of all concerned about the possibility that one or the other picture will be misunderstood, because lack of adaptation to the mass audience level. The higher was the official position of the artist in the Soviet system, the greater response received his work, the more stringent requirements imposed on the quality and form of

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performing works. Artists, developing in his work of historical and revolutionary battle theme, the theme of labor had to do it strictly in a certain way and promoting strictly defined social and moral values , “land of the Soviets”. Fine art of the Stalinist totalitarianism — a time when everything private was supposed to be a subject to the public — was perceived only as an instrument of propaganda. Official censorship has not considered possible to provide either the artist or the viewer the space for their personal, individual beliefs, emotions and attitudes. In this case, the history of the Soviet period can not be considered uniquely, since along with the main trends existed the others. So, the official criticism horrified by the cultural degradation beyond the “Iron Curtain” has quite friendly relation to the progressive artists who professed communism. For example, Pablo Picasso, who received the 1950 International Peace Prize, and Alfaro Siqueiros — a member of the Mexican Communist Party, who participated in 1940 in a failed assassination attempt on Trotsky. Later, after the death of Stalin in 1953, this tendency reached its development during the period of the “thaw”, the eponymous program novel by Ilya Ehrenburg — written in 1954, the story “The Thaw”. A radical overturn happened with the critic and it began to act as a mediator between the ideology and the public. So, thanks to the mediation of Ilya Ehrenburg, his desire to promote a new Western art and his personal friendship with Pablo Picasso, the last exhibition was opened in 1956 at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. This exhibition was one of the first, organized by Irina Antonova, the museum’s director. After the years of information and aesthetic blockade, viewers were finally able to see the “forbidden” canvas of domestic and foreign artists — Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, Alexander Tischler. In the era of the “thaw” the conditions appeared to transform the “Soviet thematic picture” and the emergence of art “severe style” (represented by the names of Helium Korzhev, Peter Ossovsky, Igor Obrosov, Nikolai Andronov, Tahir Salahov) and, later, the art of “Semidesyatniki” among which are such important artists as Tatyana Nazarenko, Natalia Nesterova, Victor Kalinin and Alexander Sitnikov.

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NOTES 1 Russian Art’s History, 1957. vol. 11. Мoscow, p. 175. 2 Morozov, A. 2007. Socialist Realism and Realizm. Moscow, Galart, p. 20 3 Morozov, A. 2007. Socialist Realism and Realizm. Moscow, Galart, p. 22. 4 Gorky, M. 1934. Soviet literature, Мoscow, p. 20. 5 Art, 1952. no.3, p. 8. 6 Art, 1948. no. 2, p. 4. 7 Thirty years of Soviet art, p. 119. 8 Kemenov, V. 1936. Formalist antics in painting, Pravda, March 6. 9 Gerasimov, A. 1949. Soviet patriotism in art, Pravda, February 10. 10 Art, 1949. no. 2, p. 43. 11 Lebedev, P. 1937. “Against formalism and naturalism in art”, Against formalism in Soviet art., Мoscow, pp. 53,54. 12 Golomshtok, I. 1994. Totalitarian Art. Moscow, Galart, p. 234 13 Morozov, A. 2007. Socialist Realism and Realism. Moscow, Galart, p. 75. 14 Art, 1952. no.3, p. 12. 15 Lebedev, P. 1936. Against formalism in art. Under the Banner of Marxism, no. 6, pp. 87, 88. 16 Kaufman, R. 1947. “About battle paintings in the Great Patriotic War”, Creation, no. 1, pp. 6, 7. 17 Popova, L. I., Tseltner, V. P. 1968. T. N. Yablonskaya. Moscow, Soviet artist, p. 50. 18 Popova, L. I., Tseltner, V. P. 1968. T. N. Yablonskaya. Moscow, Soviet artist, p. 50.

REFERENCES 1. Golomshtok, Igor. 1994. Totalitarian Art. Moscow. 2. Morozov, Alexandr. 2007. Socialist Realism and Realizm. Moscow. 3. Kaufman, Raphael. 1951. Soviet thematic picture. Moscow. 4. Morozov, Alexandr. 1995. End of Utopia. Moscow.

— 107 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens

Maria A. Burganova Doctor of Arts, Honoured Artist of Russia, Full member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial University [email protected] Moscow, Russia ANATOLY SMOLENKOV’S MARBLE GARDENS

The Marble Gardens is a creative project by sculptor Anatoly Smolenkov, uniting his sculptural works created over a number of years. It is no accident that the metaphor of a garden appeared here. This idea, presented in a new unexpected way, gave a special meaning to the artist’s works. The idea of the sculpture being a conceptual centre of a metaphorical garden is understood in a completely new way. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens is that special symbolic space weaved from ideas of different ages and cultures, from images from literature and mythology, from feelings and memories — from all those artistic, literary, philosophical contexts that formed the foundation for the modern cultural universe as a whole. A poetic image and a cultural code of gardens are personified in sculptural images by Anatoly Smolenkov. A biblical story can be seen here as well, presented by the Garden of Eden in the centre of which grows the beautiful marble Tree of Life. The Garden of Eden is pictured by the sculptor in the brief moment when the serpent has already coiled around the trunk of the Tree of Life, but has not yet acquired an anthropomorphic face. The words of temptation have not been spoken yet. The main characters of the Legend are alongside. The composition is made up of exaggeratedly isometric marble blocks. A grand by size face of the God of Sabaoth is on one of them, on the other — the Hand of God raised up in vain warning. Torsos of the still naked Adam and Eve are on the other two blocks.

— 108 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens

1. Amazon. Marble. 2002. Sculptor A. Smolenkov

Alongside — an Angel with his finger against his lips. Silence, which preceded the word that gave impetus to a new round of the legendary history, is conveyed with the help of the silence of marble. The sculptor deliberately keeps the outer contours of the marble blocks, emphasizing by their form the idea of elements that make up the foundation of the universe and at the same time expressing the figures of the central characters of what takes place in the Garden of Eden. The legendary beginning of the history, as well as the expression of the sculptor’s own interpretation and emphasis, where the creation is associated with power, nature, wisdom and the beginning of all things, are seen in this selectness of subjects. A garden always carries a certain idea, which is crucial for its era. The sculpture as a metaphor becomes a poetic formula of the main cultural paradigm. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Antique Marble gardens have been created with those images that which we associate with the century of European civilization’s childhood. Specific geographical coordinates or a historical-cultural reconstruction of epochs can not be found here. A walk in Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens is an opportunity to immerse oneself in our Russian cultural memory: to make a journey through memories of one’s first meeting with the Summer Garden, once again enjoy the impressions of the gardens of Versailles, of the garden of the Hesperides and gardens of Babylon, to feel the peace in the Garden of Gethsemane

— 109 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens and to unravel the symbolism of the monastery gardens. There is a place for the Academy of Plato here, who created a sanctuary of the Muses in his garden. Today we can only guess what they looked like, but the sculptor was able to regain the lost images of these patrons of the arts. Another image of the garden is “the Garden of Love” in Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens. It is represented by beautiful female characters: guileless Eve, sacrificial Judith, and insidious Salome. Exquisite portraits are here as well. We suddenly meet an attentive look watching from a bouquet through stems of marble grass; we admire gentle outlines of girlish heads crowned with flowers. In this garden the symbolic images of flowers of evil, flowers of pleasure, flowers of joy of contemplation again come into the eternal debate about a woman’s nature. “The Garden of Prayer” is personified by a small marble statue of the Virgin Mary standing with arms outstretched and slightly bowing her head. The symbols of purity, the promises of Paradise, eternal spring, and purity of the state of mind are all enclosed in the simplicity of a minimalist approach to the plastic solution of the image, in the sparkling whiteness of the marble. Biblical stories and mythical heroes, lyrical images and allegories of Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens open up new vistas of the art of sculpture for the viewer against a background of a modern polyphony of the parallel development of the worlds of art. Such qualities as uniqueness, authenticity, excellence acquire special value at the time when art loses its sacred, when it becomes public, endlessly quoted and easily reproducible. All these distinguish Anatoly Smolenkov’s works, who creates his sculptures in marble and white stone. The lifestyle of an artist-hermit who lives in a “closed garden”, who is indifferent to the temptations of postmodern liberation and dependence on expected and almost unified achievements of hyperrealism, allowed him to develop a personal artistic experience in a classical tradition, which Anatoly Smolenkov filled with his recognizable distinguishing feature. The rules of composition, the idea of harmony of forming, poetry of images become prior for him. Unusually plastic and poetic figures of Eve, Judith, Salome, a naked Amazon plunging forward and passing ahead of a horse, Muses with a miniature Pegasus are among the best Anatoly Smolenkov’s works.

— 110 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens

2. David. Marble. 1998. Sculptor A. Smolenkov

— 111 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens

A constant experimentation with form within the, it would seem, immutable framework of the classics is one of the faces of the sculptor’s creative method. The sculptor does not worry about the modern practice of demonstrating relevant processes, aestheticization of the ugly, vile. He is faithful to the ideals of the classics as the basic concept of a harmonious image. He goes away from personalized images like sculptors of the early classics of the ancient period resigned personality traits, creating an immutable image of timeless ideas, an image as an epic, and a myth as an image. His favourite characters — muses, heroes from the biblical story, allegorical figures — acquire a special vital force, towering over the moments of the multi-directional present. A sign of supreme reality of art and life is in this dialogue with tradition. In the age of violation of rules, when the main strategy of creativity is to seek some “other” language, when a constant denial becomes a method and when just a “quote” from the past is the basis of dialogue, Anatoly Smolenkov continues creating figurative sculpture in its classical manifestation. The sculptor’s outstanding recognizable style — a natural plastic language, an individual style in a composition — demonstrates the fact that this creative principle is not just a formal copy of the classics. The theme of hero monumentality, which has been so clearly manifested in many compositions, makes the artist similar to the masters of the early classics. Many portraits have a general composition: a frontally oriented arrangement on the viewer — “eye to eye”. But this look is impossible to catch. Anatoly Smolenkov’s heroes, like Policlet’s heroes, look through time, through the viewer. Most of their face features are perfect, but they are relative and generalized as well. The figures marked with minimal movement are subordinate to the same composition. One of the sculptor’s main motives is a standing figure representing one or the other allegorical image. A column theme is present in each of them. This specificity of a monolithic form, dictated by a peculiarity of working with a marble block, can be seen in the figures of Eve, Judith, Salome, David. All figures marked with a free and easy movement, however, are conformed to the peculiarity of columnar monoliths which is a result of a dialogue with the classical tradition. It is stressed by vertically modelled folds in some works, creating a cannelured image.

— 112 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens

3. Adam. Stone. 2013. Sculptor A. Smolenkov

— 113 — Maria A. Burganova. Anatoly Smolenkov’s Marble Gardens

The modelling of a body within the limits and proportions of a column — a motive brought by ancient artists — acquires a completely new understanding in A. Smolenkov’s works. The theme of a shattered column-figure as an image of an almost ruined antiquity is clearly seen in the figure of the Hero. His powerful torso composed of individual blocks as if a column broken to pieces, but still kept upright by an invisible inner core becomes a tragic image and symbol. A theme of off-cast modernity but not defeated classics, a sleeping Marble garden waiting to be awakened, is vividly presented here.

— 114 — The Art and Literature Scientific and Analytical Journal «TEXTS» has a humanitarian nature. Articles are published in French, English, German and Russian. The Journal focuses on research papers about the theory, history and criticism of art, literature, film, theater and music. The Journal is published four times a year.

Its electronic version will be publicly available via the website www.art-texts.com

The Journal is also published in paper form, because reading paper texts is a historical tradition and an integral part of European culture. We would like this new Journal to become a common intellectual platform for researchers from different countries as well as to contribute to the development of scientific, creative and friendly connections.

Cover photo: Adam. Stone. 2013. Sculptor A. Smolenkov

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