Russian fairy stories, folk tales & legends at The Groninger Museum

Saturday, 24 November 2007 11:34

Groningen, The Netherlands - The Groninger Museum will present the large-scale exhibition entitled Russian fairy stories, folk tales and legends. The highlights of this exhibition are the many paintings by the nineteenth-century artists Viktor Vasnetsov and Nikolai Roerich, and the illustrations by Ivan Bilibin and Elena Polenova. On exhibition from 15 December 2007 to 6 April 2008.

After the successful exhibition Ilya Repin, Russia’s Secret in 2001, Russian Landscape in 2003, and In the Service of Diaghilev in 2004, there is yet another important theme that has remained underexposed in the overwhelming and multi-faceted assortment of Russian art from the nineteenth century: Russian fairy stories, folk tales and legends.

Although fairy stories and folk tales had been an integral part of folklore for hundreds of years, they only became a fully-fledged theme for the visual arts in the nineteenth century. Interest in Russian legends and folk tales began to flourish in this period, originating from a yearning to reach back to a tradition that was able to express the true essence of Russia. This quest for Russian tradition was unique and led to a very specific style in Russian painting. Viktor Vasnetsov was one of the most important representatives of this movement.

Toward the end of the 19^th century, the paintings by Victor Vasnetsov and the illustrations by Bilibin – which were created a little later but were certainly equally renowned – opened up a completely new world. In this imaginary, magical realm, themes from Russian history, legends and literature were combined with techniques from national folkloristic tradition and new developments in the visual arts.

When Russian artists seized upon these themes and opted to represent them on large-format canvas, they united the reality of the Russian countryside with the imaginary world of the fairytale. It is this combination of faithfully reproduced reality and an imaginative, enchanted realm – painted in a format that was normally reserved for important themes from history – that ensured that these paintings left a lasting impression upon the viewer. The struggle between good and evil, which resounds through most folk tales, also occurs in the paintings.

Nevertheless, these paintings were also occasionally created for completely different purposes than the literal representation of the narrative. For example, the painting entitled The Flying Carpet by Viktor Vasnetsov was commissioned by Savva Mamontov, a powerful patron of the arts, to cover the wall of a new railway station. As such, the large format is immediately explained, but this commission simultaneously gave a new dimension to the work. The Flying Carpet suddenly became a symbol for a flight to the new world, future prosperity, and perhaps even freedom of spirit. The imaginative power of the narrative as an instrument for a social message ensures that these paintings cannot be viewed as belonging solely to the magical dominion of fantasy. Other important works by Vasnetsov include: Tsarevich Ivan on the Grey Wolf and Knight at the Crossroads. These works are now icons of nineteenth-century Russian painting.

Nikolai Roerich was primarily interested in Slavonic heroics, Scandinavian sagas, and religious myths from medieval Russia. In his work, he tried to evoke, in colorful patterns, a bygone world in which people lived in harmony with one another and with nature.

Illustrations
This part of the exhibition is closely linked to the literature and the folk tales themselves. The prints are an important feature of the exhibition, in view of the fact that fairy stories, folk tales and legends first entered the visual arts in the form of illustrations. In this section, Ivan Bilibin plays a major role. He produced unique and very personal illustrations that can be regarded as highlights in the history of Russian art, right down to the present day. They transcend the boundaries of pure illustration. The art of Bilibin and of Vasnetsov displays a clear mutual kinship.

Elena Polenova was another important illustrator. She studied the sources of the folk tales in order to gain a better understanding of that world. She also travelled through the Province of Kostroma in order to record the verbal folklore there.

The association with literature
Before the theme of folk tales and legends had been accepted in the visual arts, it had already attained a recognized position within literature. Accordingly, the exhibition devotes attention to the narrative itself, and the part of the story that is expressed in the painting is also told. The author Alexander Pushkin illustrated his own tales in the 1830s, and the tales of Pushkin remained popular as a literary theme among artists, illustrators and composers throughout the entire nineteenth century. In this way, folk tales and legends became a source of inspiration, containing both poetic imagination and historically authentic information. They led to the generation of detailed ‘literary’ representations.

In contrast to the 20^th century and our own age, the fairytale books of the 19^th century were not intended for children only but also for adults, who were capable of fully appreciating and understanding the graphic realization of the illustrations and the pleasantly odd world conceived by the artist.

Book

To mark the occasion of this exhibition, an exceptional book will be published at the beginning of December, in conjunction with NAi Uitgevers. Russische sprookjes, volksverhalen en legenden (Russian fairy stories, folk tales and legends): David Jackson, Sijbolt Noorda, Ellen Rutten, Maria Valyaeva, Patty Wageman; Layout: Rudo Menge, Illustrated (color), Paperback, bound, 240 pp., format: 23 x 30 cm English edition: ISBN 978-90-5662-608-2, € 35.00

Catalogue
The catalogue covers both the art-historical and the literary significance of fairytales within the domain of painting. It also describes the role of fairytales in Russian society and discusses whether or not it differed from that in Western society. The catalogue is published by NAi Uitgevers.

The exhibition was made possible by a generous contribution from the Stichting Fondsbeheer Culturele Relatie-evenementen Gasunie en Gasterra (Foundation of Gasunie and Gasterra for Culture-related Events). The media partner of the exhibition is AVRO Kunst (Dutch broadcasting station).

Organization of the exhibition:
Groninger Museum, Groningen ~ Visit : www.groningermuseum.nl/?lan=Engels
Tretyakov Museum, Moscow
Russian Museum, St Petersburg