Aquatic Element
Alexander Sheltunov had a wide circle of topical interests and the basic issues of his creativity naturally fit into the general Irkutsk visual arts contest development. Practically every Irkutsk artists appeal to the Baikal image but there are only a few masters who gained success in this topic realization.
The Baikal is an extraordinary lake. It is not just beautiful but it contains an enigma and mystery. The Baikal is far from being approachable to the man as it changes every second. It is a real challenge to paint it. The artist is just about to paint a blue mirror-like surface when all of a sudden the wind sweeps, everything gets dark, blueness becomes silver grey and as a result the mood of the sea and the man change completely. As for Alexander Sheltunov the Baikal is the life time topic. He was growing up maturing as an artist and his Baikal was changing together with him.
He painted his famous “Baikal Boats” in summer 1975. Later this theme would be specified and improved many times. However, it was not completely repeated in any of his canvases. “Variations” are typical for his creativity. He tried not to repeat but to perfect once exactly caught motif. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but it was Sheltunov’s style. Complications are in a great number due to his initial choice of a peculiar, delicate, volatile painting technique which is watercolor. In watercolor it is impossible to correct the dab and change the painting as it requires an alert-eye and a firm hand. That is why the master painted canvas by canvas trying to understand which one was the best to convey his emotions and experience he witnessed in the nature or in his heart, mood and condition.
If we take a retrospective glance at Alexander’s works we can clearly see the way his style changes from laconic almost monochrome compositions of the 70s such as, “At the Baikal”, “Outskirts”, “The Mist at the Baikal”, “Boats” to more sophisticated, colored ones of the 80s. He skillfully and expertly implemented watercolor possibilities. He paints “a pure landscape” but the next step is a man in the nature, a man and labor such as “Baikal rams”, “Workdays at the Port”, “Nets’ Mending”, “The Baikal Fishermen”. The ability to create a definite notional and compositional center was a distinctive feature of his creative method of that period which was the main light spot of the works at the same time. It stands out contrastingly on the main canvas part withreal color-sophisticated layers which makes inside luminescence effect. It is a very efficient master’s creative godsend.
There is one more bright side in Alexander Sheltunov’s “seascape paintings” heritage. Being light on his feet he agreed without any hesitation to work at “Korchaginets” campaign motor vessel. It took him one month and a half to travel across Kamchatka and Commander Islands. As a result, the master brought a huge number of works with the continuation of his Nature, Man and Labor theme at the Baikal. There were such works as “Before the Fishing Season”, “Fishermen’s Night”, “Fish-Factory at the Sea”. As the artist recollected later, the expedition had been a real challenge with all accompanying hardships such as seasickness. Despite the uncomfortable working conditions, the result was very fruitful. There was a great number of a preparatory material and quite accomplished pictorial canvases. Theses works were very close to the Baikal series from technological and emotional point of view. However, the natural surroundings scales, character and tense of people occupation that live in the conditions far from the Baikal differences are obvious. Sheltunov was able to find expressive means of these new and unusual impressions for him in his pictorial arsenal for emotionally accurate reproduction in watercolors. The Sea of Okhotsk and the Baikal are completely different aquatic elements. And it is not difficult to define from Sheltunov’s works: different color of water, different compositional decisions. All in all, the Sea of Okhotsk has a more dramatic and tense mood.
The Baikal was completely different in the canvases of the artist’s last days. These changes were connected with two important biographical events. First of all, as it was mentioned above, he moves to paintings in oils. Second of all, there was a kind of inner psychological revolution in his awareness. Coming over the hardships of new art materials mastering, he simultaneously achieved much higher degree of a creative freedom. We can see something of the kind in Van Gogh’s biography. The first creative experiences of this genius artist were full of timidity and determination to meet the common standards. Meanwhile, master’s later works were direct and free exposition of his ideas and mood right in the canvas.
The Baikal landscapes by Alexander Sheltunov’s last life decade is a set of efforts to construct a kind of universal feeling of a unique natural phenomenon. There were attempts to reconstitute an everlasting image of the Baikal and to reproduce its primordial nature. To achieve such a significant goal, the artist implements the whole range of acquired technical methods such as main “luminous” spot, open colors, different painting in oils texture possibilities. As a result, there are powerful impressive images of our wonderful lake.
The text writer: Iraida Fedchina
