.
Photographs of paintings by artists Konstantin Somov and Filipp Malyavin
as published in Mir Iskusstva magazine 1904 (issue 5)
The magazine scanned by Doria: the multi-institutional repository maintained by
The National Library of Finland
(www.doria.fi).
Also, at the end of this post, images of Somov's most famous work
Lady in Blue
and Malyavin's major work
Whirlwind.
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| Konstantin Somov, Sleeping Chamber Maid. . |
 |
| Konstantin Somov, A Young Lady. . |
 |
| Filipp Maliavin, Figures. . |
 |
| Filipp Maliavin, Figures. . |
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Konstantin Somov
'Lady in Blue'
Filipp Malyavin
'Whirlwind'
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| Konstantin Somov, Lady in blue. Portrait of Ye. M. Martynova, Oil on canvas, 1897-1900, The State Tretyakov Gallery. . |
Google Art Project:
Lady in blue. Portrait of Ye. M. Martynova
(1897 - 1900)
Konstantin Somov
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Viewing Notes
The picture can be classified as a manifesto of the artists association The World of Art. It loudly voices the
theme of dramatic gap between the aesthetic ideal in the artist's soul and the reality. In the image of the
mysterious Lady, Somov portrayed Yelizaveta Mikhailovna Martynova (1868-1905), his classmate at the
Academy of Arts. He "changes" her in a dress of the age of romanticism, but the miracle of transformation fails
to take place. It is still the face of a sad sickly contemporary that we see before us. The Lady in an antique,
time-faded dress seems to be stranding two worlds: the real world and the phantom one. The heroine's
indecisive gesture does nothing other than emphasize the sad irony of the artist, realising man's helplessness
before time. From the depth of the picture emerges a vision of another age. There, in the "mirror world", idyll
is possible. The couple making music probably epitomizes the souls of the artist and his model, who are joined
in dreams, but alien to each other in real life. On the edge of the picture Somov places his self-portraited
Doppelgänger, emphasizing the dramatic relationships between the artist and the image he has created.
Medium
oil on canvas
Provenance
Acquired by the Gallery Council from the author in 1903
Original Title
Дама в голубом. Портрет Е.М.Мартыновой
 |
| Filipp Malyavin, Whirlwind, 1906, oil on canvas. The State Tretyakov Gallery. . |
Whirlwind
(1906)
Filipp Malyavin
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Viewing Notes
Like "fairy-land heroines of Old-Russian legends", the peasant women move in their dance. Their khorovod
incorporates Nature's elements. The flying clothes dissolve in streams of colourful brushstrokes, resembling
now hot bursts of flame, now cold jets of water, now a searing breath of wind, now flower-covered meadows.
The picture is made all the more dynamic by the sweeping movements of the brush, in line with the rhythm of
the swirling dance. I.E.Grabar advised Malyavin to paint using special, slowly drying oils. As a result the
painting came to resemble volcanic lava, appearing as distinctive mobile mosaic. The shapes and colours
merge, creating internal tension. This enhances the expressive power of the picture, built as it is at an
intersection of different stylistic trends such as impressionism and Art Nouveau. The painting was produced
during the first Russian revolution. Its theme, the blazing red colour scheme makes it is possible to see at the
same time a hope for spiritual revival and presentiment of destructive forces being unleashed.
Medium
oil on canvas
Provenance
Received from State Museum Fund in 1925
Original Title
Вихрь
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