Van Prayer. If they are silent, the stones will cry out
On the last week in the ceremonial hall of the St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.E. Repin of the Russian Academy of Arts, the defense of a diploma painting by Anastasia Borodina, a student of the famous artist Yuri Kaluta was held.
The painting is dedicated to the genocide of the Armenian people. In the picture, of more than two meters in size, a monk of the Armenian Apostolic Church brings a pomegranate before the khachkars as a symbol of life. One of them says “remember and demand”.
This is definitely one of the few attempts of artistic depiction and comprehension of the tragedy of the Armenian people by a Russian artist. The work of Anastasia Borodina contrasts sharply with the established traditions of Armenian painting. First of all, instead of a rich palette of colors used in the classical works of Saryan and other famous Armenian artists, here is stinginess and laconism of white, black and gray colors together with the rare “ability to paint in a middle tone”.
The pomegranate in the picture burns like a heart. When one is attentively communicating with the work, it seems quiet; "the music sounds - sad and solemn." This is how professors and art historians of the Academy have spoken about the work. Anastasia in recent years has made several trips to the northern part of Armenia and was inspired by the culture and fate of the Armenian people.
She collected material for the painting, in particular, at the Noratus Memorial Cemetery, where she spent almost a week doing field sketches of ancient khachkars. In addition to the main work, two smaller paintings with a khachkar and tombstones from Noratus were presented.
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