“The urban art of Vasili Surikov”. Vasili Surikov’s painting of urban scenes in Russia are matched with Françoise Hardy singing Il N’Y a pas d’Amour Heureux (It was not a happy love). The downbeat style of Ms Hardy goes well with the winter scenes, I think.
Subtitle, “Andrei Gerasimov’s vision of his homeland”. The “mood landscapes” of Andrei Gerasimov are paired with a pensive song by the French pop singer Demis Roussos (although he is Greek by birth), Mourir aupres de mon amour (May I die before my love). So, Orthodox in two different keys, Russian and Greek!
Portraits and human studies by Vasili Surikov (1848-1916). One of the two graduate art faculties in Russia is named after him (the other is named for his slightly-older contemporary Ilya Repin). Surikov is best known for his vast historical canvasses, but, this compilation shows that he was a master of other genres as well.
The music is the Ballade nr 3 in A flat major by Frédéric Chopin, played by Idil Biret.
Amongst the Ruins (Dmitri Belyukin, 1996)
This is one of the metaphorical works mentioned in the biographical essay I posted on Mr Belyukin recently. It is set in the period immediately following the Red victory in the Civil War in the 1920s. At least, such is the appearance. This is actually a highly-nuanced metaphor on the current situation in Russia, or, rather the situation as it existed in the late 1990s before the rise to power of Vladimir Putin and his restoration of the status of Russia.
The young boy is gathering together the fragments left after the pillaging and sacking of the manor house by the Reds. There was not much left after the marauders carried off what they wished and after they destroyed the remainder. There are some fragments of some of the treasures left. Such was the state of Russia at the end of the Yeltsin period. What the Reds did not destroy, pillagers such as Khodorovsky and Berezovsky (darlings of the Western elite, by the way) carried away to line their purses. There appeared only fragments left to rebuild a stable and just society.
Yet, this work is optimistic in its own fashion. The boy is still persisting in piecing together the fragments, just as Vladimir Putin pieced together the fragments left after the Red holocaust and the rapine of the oligarchs (which the West applauded, may God see and judge!). That is, the restoration is by no means complete, yet, it continues, and a very good start has been made. God willing, the next decade may see not only a revitalisation of morals in Russian society, but, also a restoration of Russian rule in areas where weak and rapacious successor states now hold power. May God grant this.
It is spring time in the picture. Is this a sign that Mr Belyukin believes it is “spring time” for Russia? God willing…
