Russian symbolism
Russian symbolism was the intellectual, literary, and artistic movement that dominated the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia. It arose separately from West European symbolism, drawing on Russian thinkers such as Tyutchev, Vladimir Solovyov, and Dostoevsky, and emphasized defamiliarization and the mysticism of Sophiology. In painting it took shape most memorably in Vrubel's demonic, jewel-like visions and the dream-worlds of Borisov-Musatov and the World of Art circle, whose illustration and stage design gave the movement its ornamental, medievalizing face. Flourishing in the first decade of the twentieth century, Russian symbolism treated art as a doorway to a higher reality - myth, music, and spiritual longing standing in for the visible world.
Defining characteristics
- Mystical, dreamlike imagery drawn from myth, legend, and religious longing
- Dusky, jewel-like color and musical, atmospheric mood
- Ambiguous symbols standing for inner states rather than described things
- Stylized, ornamental line echoing folklore and medieval Russian art
- Fusion of the arts: painting, poetry, theater, and book illustration as one aesthetic
Key figures
- Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910) — Visionary painter whose Demon cycle defined the movement's dark, mosaic-like imagery
- Viktor Borisov-Musatov (1870-1905) — Painter of elegiac, dreamlike park scenes in muted, tapestry-like color
- Konstantin Somov (1869-1939) — World of Art painter of theatrical, decadent fantasies set in stylized pasts
- Alexandre Benois (1870-1960) — Painter and critic whose Pushkin illustrations carried symbolist mood into book art
- Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865-1941) — Poet and theorist regarded as the father of Russian symbolism
Example works
- The Demon Seated — Mikhail Vrubel (1890)
- The Swan Princess — Mikhail Vrubel (1900)
- Illustrations for Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman — Alexandre Benois (1899-1905)
Sources
- Russian symbolism - Wikipedia encyclopedia