Images of Antiquity in Moscow Inofficial Art of the Second Half of the 1970s–1980s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18688/aa155-8-90Keywords:
inofficial art, postmodernism, classical antiquity, tradition, historicism, quote, inter-textuality, mythologism, “Russian antiquity”, natural and cultural landscapeAbstract
The emergence of postmodernism in Soviet art dates back to the 1970s and is associated with various phenomena of official and inofficial culture. It is concerned with the names of artists — participants of the painters’ section of the Moscow Municipal Committee of graphic artists (1978–1988): S. Bleze, T. Glytneva, E. Izmailov, K. Kuznetsov, and S. Simakov. Interpreting ancient images they turn their works into so to say multi-layered cultural inter-texts with quotes and comments on classical antiquity and its perceptions in styles and trends of the New Times — baroque, classicism, symbolism, and surrealism. Historiosophy, the synthesis of natural and cultural in landscape painting, irony and manipulation with historical memory, define the inter-textuality of their works. Strategy of inofficial artists is close to mastering the heritage by official art of that time, but differs from the latter due to interpretation and free citation from earlier epochs, “gliding” over the tradition, not “getting into” it. Their greater adherence to antique themes allows us to speak about “Russian antiquity” of the 20th–21st centuries.
References
Belyi A. The emblematic of meaning. Simvolizm. Kniga statei (Symbolism. Book of articles). Moscow, Musaget Publ., 1910. 633 p. (in Russian).
Florkovskaya A. K. Historicism in the painting of the 1970s: the presentiment of postmodernism. Russkoe iskusstvo. XX vek. Issledovaniia i publikatsii (Russian art. The twentieth century. Research and publications). Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2008, vol. 2, pp. 488–510 (in Russian).
Iakimovich A. K. Generation of the 70s in the face of the artistic heritage. Sovetskaia zhivopis’ (Soviet painting). Moscow, Sovetskii khudoznik Publ., 1980, no. 78, pp. 108–123 (in Russian).
Iakimovich A. K. Soviet art of the 1970s – early 1980s. Sovetskoe iskusstvoznanie (Soviet art history), 1985, no. 19, pp. 29–64 (in Russian).
Iampolsky M. Pamiat’ Tiresiia. Intertekstual’nost’ i kinematograf (Memory of Tiresias. Intertextuality and cinema). Moscow, RIK Kul’tura Publ., 1993. 456 p. (in Russian).
Kantor A. Traditions and contemporaneity. Sovetskaia zhivopis (Soviet painting). Moscow, Sovetskii khudoznik Publ., 1976, vol. 76/77, pp. 75–85 (in Russian).
Knabe G. S. Grotesknyi epilog klassicheskoi dramy. Antichnost’ v Leningrade 20-kh godov (Grotesque epilogue of classical drama. Antiquity in Leningrad of the 20s). Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities Publ., 1996. 40 p. (in Russian).
Knabe G. S. Russkaia antichnost’ (The Russian antiquity). Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities Publ., 1999. 238 p. (in Russian).
Liusyi A. P. Pushkin, Tavrida, Kimmeriia (Pushkin, Tavrida, Kimmeriia). Moscow, Iazyki kul’tury Publ., 2001. 208 p. (in Russian).
Lyubimov A Time of Joyful Discoveries. Eti strannye semidesiatye, ili Poteria nevinnosti. Esse, interv’iu, vospominaniia (These strange seventies, or the loss of innocence. Essays, interviews, memorials). Moscow, NLO Publ., 2010, pp. 156–167 (in Russian).
Morozov A. The succession in the development of contemporary Soviet art. To the formulation of the problem. Sovetskoe iskusstvoznanie (Soviet art history). Moscow, Sovetskii khudoznik Publ., 1985, vol. 19, pp. 5–28 (in Russian).
Vandel’shtein T.; Titov V. etc. (eds.). Vasilii Sitnikov i ego shkola. Katalog vystavki 24 maia – 31 iiulia 2009 goda. Galereia “Nashi Khudozhniki” (Vasily Sitnikov and his shool. Catalogue of “Our artists” Gallery). Moscow, Petronii Publ., 2009. 283 p.
(in Russian).
