This article is a part of a more general work on primitivism in painting and music featuring arti... more This article is a part of a more general work on primitivism in painting and music featuring artists born within the bounds of the Russian Empire. The premise of the study is that, while it is generally considered as a whole, there is a plurality in the primitivist style, resulting from the variety of its sources. Three main groups of inspirations were pinpointed and, consequently, three directions that the Russian (neo-)primitivism takes, dealing with them. The "Scythian" style embraces various ancient, tribal, barbarous sources and all art related to pagan beliefs , while the "iconic" draws on Christian Orthodox art (starting with Russia’s Christianization. Finally, the "lubok" primitivism, named after the popular broadsheet prints popular since the seventeenth century, is the most recent and has strong ties with a folklore still much alive. The iconic primitivism is probably the most complex of the three as the iconic source is the most refined; it is a high-cultured art, rich and strictly codified. It is also more localized, limited to the Orthodox world and thus mainly present in the European territories of the Russian empire. The icon is without doubt and by far the most important genre of this type of primitivism. Three separate studies of the iconic style allow to observe three different aspects of this particular primitivism: starting with the works of Natalia Goncharova, an Orthodox Christian whose path can be considered as opposed to Marc Chagall’s the subject of the present paper, a Jewish artist with an outsider view of icons. A third paper will study equivalent inspirations in the musical world.
Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une ... more Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une œuvre-clé pour le développement de son auteur. Situé dans la Sicile médiévale, théâtre de la confrontation de nombreuses civilisations (notamment grecque, byzantine, arabe et normande), l’opéra se veut mosaïque de cultures (interculturalité) et des sources artistiquement variées (pluridisciplinarité). Allant des Bacchantes d’Euripide jusqu’à la philosophie nietzschéenne et de la musique folklorique des Tatras au drame wagnérien, ce kaléidoscope de sources est articulé par quelques idées fondamentales. L’étude proposée considère l’opéra, selon les termes mêmes du compositeur, dans l’opposition binaire, entre d’« immenses contrastes et richesses » et de « mondes […] unis » par le biais de procédés d’intégration devant faire accéder cette mosaïque au statut d’Œuvre. La présente étude est une série d’éclairages, seul moyen de considérer l’opéra si complexe en entier. Confrontant les projets ...
Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une ... more Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une œuvre-cle pour le developpement de son auteur. Situe dans la Sicile medievale, theâtre de la confrontation de nombreuses civilisations (notamment grecque, byzantine, arabe et normande), l’opera se veut mosaique de cultures (interculturalite) et des sources artistiquement variees (pluridisciplinarite). Allant des Bacchantes d’Euripide jusqu’a la philosophie nietzscheenne et de la musique folklorique des Tatras au drame wagnerien, ce kaleidoscope de sources est articule par quelques idees fondamentales. L’etude proposee considere l’opera, selon les termes memes du compositeur, dans l’opposition binaire, entre d’« immenses contrastes et richesses » et de « mondes […] unis » par le biais de procedes d’integration devant faire acceder cette mosaique au statut d’Œuvre. La presente etude est une serie d’eclairages, seul moyen de considerer l’opera si complexe en entier. Confrontant les projets ...
It is a revised version of earlier studies comparing Chagall and Stravinky, their lives, the subj... more It is a revised version of earlier studies comparing Chagall and Stravinky, their lives, the subjects of their works and their techniques.
The Scythian element of the Russian primitivism, in music and visual arts. Based on the work of t... more The Scythian element of the Russian primitivism, in music and visual arts. Based on the work of three painters (Goncharova, Malevich and Roerich) and two composers (Stravinsky and Prokofiev).
This article is a part of a more general work on primitivism in painting and music featuring arti... more This article is a part of a more general work on primitivism in painting and music featuring artists born within the bounds of the Russian Empire. The premise of the study is that, while it is generally considered as a whole, there is a plurality in the primitivist style, resulting from the variety of its sources. Three main groups of inspirations were pinpointed and, consequently, three directions that the Russian (neo-)primitivism takes, dealing with them. The "Scythian" style embraces various ancient, tribal, barbarous sources and all art related to pagan beliefs , while the "iconic" draws on Christian Orthodox art (starting with Russia’s Christianization. Finally, the "lubok" primitivism, named after the popular broadsheet prints popular since the seventeenth century, is the most recent and has strong ties with a folklore still much alive. The iconic primitivism is probably the most complex of the three as the iconic source is the most refined; it is a high-cultured art, rich and strictly codified. It is also more localized, limited to the Orthodox world and thus mainly present in the European territories of the Russian empire. The icon is without doubt and by far the most important genre of this type of primitivism. Three separate studies of the iconic style allow to observe three different aspects of this particular primitivism: starting with the works of Natalia Goncharova, an Orthodox Christian whose path can be considered as opposed to Marc Chagall’s the subject of the present paper, a Jewish artist with an outsider view of icons. A third paper will study equivalent inspirations in the musical world.
Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une ... more Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une œuvre-clé pour le développement de son auteur. Situé dans la Sicile médiévale, théâtre de la confrontation de nombreuses civilisations (notamment grecque, byzantine, arabe et normande), l’opéra se veut mosaïque de cultures (interculturalité) et des sources artistiquement variées (pluridisciplinarité). Allant des Bacchantes d’Euripide jusqu’à la philosophie nietzschéenne et de la musique folklorique des Tatras au drame wagnérien, ce kaléidoscope de sources est articulé par quelques idées fondamentales. L’étude proposée considère l’opéra, selon les termes mêmes du compositeur, dans l’opposition binaire, entre d’« immenses contrastes et richesses » et de « mondes […] unis » par le biais de procédés d’intégration devant faire accéder cette mosaïque au statut d’Œuvre. La présente étude est une série d’éclairages, seul moyen de considérer l’opéra si complexe en entier. Confrontant les projets ...
Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une ... more Le Roi Roger, chef-d’oeuvre du compositeur polonais Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), constitue une œuvre-cle pour le developpement de son auteur. Situe dans la Sicile medievale, theâtre de la confrontation de nombreuses civilisations (notamment grecque, byzantine, arabe et normande), l’opera se veut mosaique de cultures (interculturalite) et des sources artistiquement variees (pluridisciplinarite). Allant des Bacchantes d’Euripide jusqu’a la philosophie nietzscheenne et de la musique folklorique des Tatras au drame wagnerien, ce kaleidoscope de sources est articule par quelques idees fondamentales. L’etude proposee considere l’opera, selon les termes memes du compositeur, dans l’opposition binaire, entre d’« immenses contrastes et richesses » et de « mondes […] unis » par le biais de procedes d’integration devant faire acceder cette mosaique au statut d’Œuvre. La presente etude est une serie d’eclairages, seul moyen de considerer l’opera si complexe en entier. Confrontant les projets ...
It is a revised version of earlier studies comparing Chagall and Stravinky, their lives, the subj... more It is a revised version of earlier studies comparing Chagall and Stravinky, their lives, the subjects of their works and their techniques.
The Scythian element of the Russian primitivism, in music and visual arts. Based on the work of t... more The Scythian element of the Russian primitivism, in music and visual arts. Based on the work of three painters (Goncharova, Malevich and Roerich) and two composers (Stravinsky and Prokofiev).
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The iconic primitivism is probably the most complex of the three as the iconic source is the most refined; it is a high-cultured art, rich and strictly codified. It is also more localized, limited to the Orthodox world and thus mainly present in the European territories of the Russian empire. The icon is without doubt and by far the most important genre of this type of primitivism. Three separate studies of the iconic style allow to observe three different aspects of this particular primitivism: starting with the works of Natalia Goncharova, an Orthodox Christian whose path can be considered as opposed to Marc Chagall’s the subject of the present paper, a Jewish artist with an outsider view of icons. A third paper will study equivalent inspirations in the musical world.
The iconic primitivism is probably the most complex of the three as the iconic source is the most refined; it is a high-cultured art, rich and strictly codified. It is also more localized, limited to the Orthodox world and thus mainly present in the European territories of the Russian empire. The icon is without doubt and by far the most important genre of this type of primitivism. Three separate studies of the iconic style allow to observe three different aspects of this particular primitivism: starting with the works of Natalia Goncharova, an Orthodox Christian whose path can be considered as opposed to Marc Chagall’s the subject of the present paper, a Jewish artist with an outsider view of icons. A third paper will study equivalent inspirations in the musical world.