19 Comments
User's avatar
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you for restacking my Soviet painters. I appreciate your interest in Soviet Art very highly.

Mona's avatar

Thank you, Larisa, for another wonderful excursion into the history of Russian art!

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Mona, thank you so much. Glad you find it interesting!

David MacGregor's avatar

Larisa your writing is so interesting and buoyant! And your survey of modern Russian religious art is very compelling. I like best "the Seven Deadly Sins"! But "Bread and Salt" takes a close second, if there is any need to rank such a prodigious collection of art.

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

I am so glad you liked the artists. Especially Seven Deadly Sins. - I knew it. Very ironic.

Tim Baynes Painter and Writer's avatar

Again your contributions to our lives via Substack continues to surprise and excite.

Soviet Non-Conformists Painters THEME of CHRISTIANITY in SOVIET ART is a remarkable contribution and exciting.

The images that grace your survey are compelling.

Specifically

A. GIDULIANOV. BREAD and SALT, oil on hardboard, 1987. Which takes the joy of iconography in a new direction with, as you note, bread and salt being a traditional welcome.

A. POLENOV. PRESENCE, oil on canvas, 1988. Is a fiercely new take on iconography. The genre has been snatched and taken in a new direction by a painter most associated with landscapes - if I have not muddled my Polenov’s?

Thank you Larisa for a rich contribution and as a painter the pieces illustrated cut deep and bring joy.

Warmest wishes as ever

Tim

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you, Tim. I don't know about muddling, but Old Polenov and our young (at the time of his painting- young) could be of the same family, and in this case, you would be right in their family tree. Your Polenov died after the Revolution, my Polenov -recently.

Ruslan chemasoh's avatar

Thanks yon 🙂

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you for reading.

Rob Woller's avatar

Such interesting history and artwork. Thank you, as always, Larisa🙏

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you for reading, restacking my story, and commenting, Rob.

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

My Thanks to Guigamesh, K. Asimonov, S. Wotring, Simon Knight, Dostoevsky's inquiries, UN7OU, L. Von Lo-Debar, and 20 others for their interest in the Soviet artists. Also, Michael Mortimer, and my faraway, lovely friend, Mona.

Portia's avatar

Does icon painting require traditionally made brushes and paints, or can the artists use modern tools?

A lot of wildly different religious works of art in your book, Larisa, they're amazing!

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

I don't know how to answer your question, Portia. As I told you, this is the album from my library, and besides the material the painters used, nothing more about those paintings. The topics, the styles, the possible readings of them, what fascinated me in this book, and the daring of these artists to work and exhibit during the Soviet period make these artists revolutionary in their art. I didn't write that they were bitten; their paintings were destroyed, and they were banned from working.

I am more interested in the psychology of the political regime of the country where I lived than in the mechanics of painting.

Thank you for restacking.

Portia's avatar

I was interested in those techniques because, in ancient times, iconographers had to prepare the paints themselves. It's also interesting that icon painting is referred to as "writing."

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Yes, in ancient times. But, from ancient times, the expression came into the modern Russian: "писание икон," "Рублевское письмо икон" - writing the icons, Rubliov's manner of writing of icon and so on...

Chen Rafaeli's avatar

fascinating, as always. thank you, Larisa ❤️

Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you for your fascination, Chen Rafaeli.