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Name: Road to colkhoz
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| Painter: Grigory Musatov
Art stream: Russian avant-garde
The painting expresses the artist’s new creative approach: powerful colors
combined with light. It is an outloud lyricism of cosmic proportions. A barefoot
hyperbolic man accompanied by a hypertrophied horrible shadow – a ghost of
the Future – moves his only horse to a colkhoz (a collective farm in the communist
Russia). It was 1931. |
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Name: Stenka Rasin
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| Painter: Grigory Musatov
Art stream: Russian avant-garde
The painting is a powerful epic. Paintings of the period are noted for clear and
inseparable composition liberating paint from the subject matter. We see psychologically
strong and purely Russian color saturation. The subject matter is a
story of love and bloody raids of an old times Russian brigand, Stenka Razin.The
painting manner is close to international paintings of late XIX and early XX
centuries. |
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Name: High Waters
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| Painter: Grigory Musatov
Art stream: Russian avant-garde
One of the first paintings of the “Photographic period”. It is a retrospect of a petty-
bourgeois routine and a collection of characteristic types. The artist here con-
firms his right for a vacancy left by Henri Rousseau. An exhausted dream moves
airy colors and turns them into music nocturnes over the Volga high waters. |
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Name: Fair
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| Painter: Nora Musatova
Art stream: Modern realism
“A young dashing merchant went to the fair...“ - this rollicking and sometimes
sad melody of the XIX century town romantic song inspired the artist to translate
the music images and lyrics on canvas. A viewer takes the painting as a single
whole, it is much more than a simple illustration to an old romance; he conceives
the action as a certain performance, a play, caught in its impetuous movement.
In the center of a fair in a provincial town we see a dashing merchant in red fox
furs choosing a present for his sweetheart, girls consult him what would be the
best present for his love to bring back from the fair.
Our attention is also attracted to two female dancers in motley and yellow kerchiefs,
accompanied by a bold balalaika player, sitting on a barrel. An accordion
player is also around. Local Philistine couple ceremoniously drink tea from
saucers, an old man in green gown sells oriental sweets, a bird-catcher pitches
a singing bird to a boy. Closer to the river a woman on a cart selling fish nibbles
sunflower seeds.
Above all this we see a pig’s snout peeping out from a “Petrushka” puppet theater.
It is hard to say whether it is alive or drawn. But it’s fun!
As to style, we feel here a certain time continuity, an echo of mentality of Russian
“peredvizhniks”, realistic if jocular description of banality or tragedy of routine
life... A composition of figures against the general staging of the whole picture,
ardor and farce of the individual episodes remind us of great “Small Dutchmen”.
Some stylistic features of the past penetrated the brilliance and brightness of the
modern artist’s palette, making her own style pretty original and individual. |
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Name: “Rosh Hashanah” – “Jewish New Year in Prague”
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| Painter: Nora Musatova
Art stream: Modern realism
The area of current Paris street was a noisy Jewish district at the end of the
X1X-th century. On the first day of Tishron, the New Year day, the old-new
XIII-th century synagogue reminds Jews of the Day of the Creation and
of the Creator himself. This autumn day In synagogue they blow a big
non-decorated horn, calling for repentance. In the end of the service men
leave the synagogue and continue to blow, calling people to pray and begin a
New Year feast with stuffed fish.
The painting is conspicuous for a very intense use of burnt umber with additions
of black bone. Strong accent of cadmium yellow horns in the hands of the
blowers and mother-of-pearl of fish on a plate make the painting look more
realistic, adding up gloomy tones, characteristic for the whole picture. |
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Name: Piano Player
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| Painter: Nora Musatova
Art stream: Modern realism
A vagrant musician on a lawn came to a piano in the afternoon heat to catch a
tune from a nearby grove. A forest god played on a pipe a melody by Debussy
“Afternoon of a Fawn”. The poor guy was stopped short by a moth on his hand.
The musician froze with his hand in the air afraid of frightening the moth away.
Light blue-green tones follow the composer impressionist manner. A grotesque
figure of the musician connects white background with the front plane. Bright
colors of the moth make the lyrical tones of the painting sound louder. |
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Name: Magic Flute
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| Painter: Nora Musatova
Art stream: Modern realism
The painting reveals a part of the complicated spiritual world left to us by great
Mozart in his last opera “Magic Flute”. The plot is based on a fairy tale, the music
is extremely light. It is about eternal fight between good and evil, tinted with
philosophical quest for perpetual mind in mason interpretation of priest Sarestro
in the temple of Wisdom. But the action is moved ahead by everlasting and omnipotent
Love-Music, Music-Love. The main protagonist Tamino passes through
all the obstacles in the enchanted forest including all sorts of ghosts hand in hand
with his beloved Pamina. Accompanied by cheerful bird-sellers Papageno and
Papagena he, despite machinations of the Queen of Night, gets total indulgence
and blessing of the Supreme Priest to be happy with Pamina. Charming sounds
of the magic flute are always heard in proper time and help the lovers to break
through thickets of evil and find the road to light.
The artist does not lead a viewer through the opera plot, trying to recall feelings
of admiration caused by magnificent Mozart sounds. In the center of the painting
we see the Queen of Night lit by the moon and surrounded by the opera characters.
Impressionist blue and pastel tones are torn apart by a bright crimson attire
of the Queen of Night with strong presence of golden sparkles. |
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Name: Sv.Vladimir's Apparition in Marienbad
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| Painter: Nora Musatova
Art stream: Modern realism
Colonel of the tsarist army Rykovsky, going back home from the World Fair
in Paris, 1900, made a stop in Marienbad (Marianske Lazne) for medical
treatment. The treatment was a great success, and the colonel made up his
mind to commemorate the miraculous event. Being influenced by the victory
of the Russian architecture in Paris, the colonel decided to thank Marienbad
for his recovery. Recollection of the Fair was powerful - Europe was amazed
to see the most beautiful enamel-faience icon stand by Russian artisans from
Kuznetsovo village, Tver region. The unsurpassed masterpiece of Russian
art contained over 9 kg of gold and cobalt. It was properly awarded Grand
Prix de France.
The last day of his treatment colonel Rykovsky saw a prophetic dream: no
other than St.Vladimir told him to pay homage to the temple being built
in the town of his miraculous recovery. The colonel was awaken from his
prophetic dream by sweet smell of a rose bush under his window. The day
before the bush was green and not blooming. The colonel thanked the sky
for the sign, made a rich contribution to buy the magnificent icon stand and
presented it to St.Vladimir’s temple in Marienbad.
The picture shows colonel Rykovsky being persuaded by St.Vladimir
to make a precious gift to St.Vladimir’s temple in Marienbad. A viewer
together with the congregation finds oneself right in the middle of the event,
moving down the steps of the temple and singing with choristers “Glory to
God, glory to You” |
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