Landscape paintings

The landscape painting in its higher destination serves a single purpose to reproduce in picture various emotional experiences produced in artist by nature, as far as they could be caused by the visual perception. The evolution of perception of the impressions from nature or sense of nature has its own history, which evidently emerges from comparison of literary works of different epochs and nations, since generally this feeling first and foremost was the expressed word. The origination and development of the landscape painting do not stand in plain relation to development of sense of nature in society and to expression of its poetic descriptions partially. In many cases this current relation is not expressed neither by simultaneity of progress of literary and artistic expression of sense of nature, nor belonging to one nationality of the best nature descriptors and landscape painters.

The originality of Russian landscape painting of second half of the XXth century to a considerable degree is determined by the specificity of artistic consciousness of this period of time. The memory of the outlived shock of recent war had the innermost meaning for society. Thus it compelled to give a glance on environment in a different way, to realize the value of every single moment of peaceful life, to feel even sharper the eternal connection of an individual and all people with mother nature, which often associated with the concept of motherland. In this context, intensification of the individual commencement in landscape was logical. The «thaw» accelerated this process and vented it. Although the official criticism still asserted socialistic realism as a leading direction of soviet art, the weakening of that unifying tendency becomes obvious: aspiration to step back from tough norms and dogmas, to express personal understanding of true and valuable in visual environment increased in creative work of a whole number of artists.

In the second half of 1950th a large number of forgotten or half-forgotten events and names of native and foreign arts was actualized. Incarnating individual perception of the world, painters aimed to form their artistic «handwriting», allowing to expose the personal intonation. For this masters sometimes gained a foothold in the artistic heritage opened anew.

The second half of 1950th was the beginning of new period in creative work of a number of artists. This was expressed in an obvious change of picturesque manner, brand new image-bearing content of landscape works.

The ultimate understanding of «modern art» as performing industrial or urban ideas started changing gradually. The concept of actuality is more supposed by aspiration to convey emotions and reflections of contemporary, demonstration of the world reflected by perception of the man.

It is obvious that along with industrial, city landscapes at the beginning of second half of the XXth century much attention was devoted to landscape of «pure nature», to rural, provincial, architectural (especially including the relics of Old Russian architecture). However, landscape still remained the least idiologized genre: it allowed most sincerely expressing individual perception of the world.

In this period of time in a number of Russian regions original trends of the landscape painting, which got the names of «schools», «groups», emerged. Besides the classic artistic heritage, painters working there quite often leaned on local traditions in art that resulted in birth of original pictorial «language».

The elements of genre art are typical for the landscape paintings of the second half of the XXth century. They tend to create a feeling of «homelike», « habitability» of visual environment, harmonious coexistence of human and nature.

The processes in art landscape painting of the second half of 1960th - 1970th, designated before, continue to develop. The questions of style range expansion in landscape paintings are still urgent. The range of artistic traditions, preferred by artists as a foothold in forming the own way of expression, is getting wider. The comprehension of cultural heritage is going much deeper.

An extensive vivid panorama of landscape works, presented on exhibitions, allows marking: in the best works searches of ethical guiding lines are performed, having been activated as in fine art, so in literature, cinema and etc. Generally, painters’ attention is attracted by the problems of intercommunication of human and nature, history, native or worldwide culture, endeavor to define the own place in this world. These searches were incarnated in a number of picturesque artworks, provisionally determined as «an interior in landscape», «still life in landscape», «genre in landscape». The landscape motif becomes an expression of those spiritual fundamental principles here, with which human life indissolubly bound by. The same meaning of landscape constituent is typical for the row of thematic pictures, portraits of examined period.

Undoubtedly, the large place among landscape paintings presented in displays of exhibitions occupied canvases with incarnated industrial views, but lyrical ideas also remained up to date. It is necessary to mark out landscapes of «pure nature», city, rural, memorial, romantic landscapes.

The romantic landscape paintings could be executed in various motifs, which are dreams, fairy-tales, flashbacks, parables. The theme of philosophical reflections also evoked, in landscape «nocturnes», for instance.

During the examined period the rural landscape expressed in itself the individual philosophy of authors. The wide range of interpretation of rural implementation: from happy, peaceful, even complacent, to dramatic, parable and other, is not accidental. The same rule is noticeable in city and architectural landscape. The architectural landscape, in particular, incarnating images of Old Russian architecture, also varied. The distinctive feature of many landscape paintings of the second half of 1960th - 1970th was a pursuit to quality generalization, «portrait» of the represented monument (relict). Such interpretation of motif expressed the author’s understanding of spiritual and historical essences of depicted. Thus a genre element is here taken to the minimum or absent on the whole, unlike many works at the turn of 1950th - 1960th years.

In industrial landscape the embodiment of contradictory attitude toward technical progress was found. There was no longer well-known unreserved glorification of technical power, as it used to be in paintings of 1930th - 1950th. In a number of landscape works the ambiguous and polemic attitude toward the problem of coexistence of technique and nature, human role and role of society in this context was expressed.

The best works of the Russian landscape painting of the second half of the XXth century are remarkable with the sincerity and authenticity in expression of author’s perception of the world, by picturesque skill, by individuality of «handwriting». They did not lose the value and in context of modern art in a counterbalance to the stream of commercial works.