"Amaravella" (Russian: "Амаравелла"; a combination of Sanskrit words; approximate translation: "sprouts of immortality", "light bearers") – the association of Russian cosmist artists (художники-космисты) of the 1923–1930s. Its members included A. P. Sardan (Baranov) (1901-1974), B. A. Smirnov-Rusetsky (1905-1993), P. P. Fateev (1891-1971), S. I. Shigolev (1895-1943), V. T. Chernovolenko (1900-1972), V. N. Pshesetskaya (Runa) (1879-1945/1946) (A. F. Mikuli (1882-1938) and V. I. Yatskevich were temporary participants of the group). The ideas of N. K. Roerich had a significant influence on the philosophical and ideological foundations of artists. The art of the participants of "Amaravella" reflected the cultural trends of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – ideas of symbolism and avant-garde, philosophy of cosmism and intuitivism, a number of religious and mystical movements (theosophy, anthroposophy), Eastern philosophy, ideas of philosophers of life.
Formation
editIn 1922, the artists group was founded by Fateyev, a painter who was then 32 years old.[1] The name Amaravella, however, was introduced in 1928 when Sardan coined it based from a Sanskrit word that means "bearing light" or "creative energy".[1]
Style
editIdeologically the group belonged to the Russian cosmism movement. It embraced a range of ideas and artistic approaches that explored cosmic harmony.[1] The artists, who lived in a commune, were heavily influenced by the ancient East's works, as well as those of Helena Blavatsky, Nicholas Roerich, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, and Victor Borisov-Musatov.
Like M. Sokolov and V. Komarovskiy, members of the Amaravella were persecuted because their work did not conform to the "socialist realism" style prescribed for Soviet art.[2] Particularly, their works were categorized as "formalism" through the 1932 decree On Restructuring Literary and Artistic Organizations, which repressed creative freedom.[3]
Works
editSeveral paintings of the Amaravella artists were collected by Iury Linnik, who claimed to be a cosmist poet and philosopher,[4] and Igor Savitsky.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c Siddiqi, Asif A. (2010). The Red Rockets' Glare: Spaceflight and the Russian Imagination, 1857-1957. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780521897600.
- ^ Ibbotson, Sophie; Lovell-Hoare, Max (2016). Uzbekistan. Guilford, CT: Bradt Travel Guides. p. 256. ISBN 9781784770174.
- ^ a b "Gallery". www.savitskycollection.org.
- ^ Rosenthal, Bernice Glatzer (1997). The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Cornell University Press. pp. 199. ISBN 080148331X.