Abstract art. Abstract art: definition, history, types, characteristics Section in the process of filling and adjustment Features of abstractionism in painting

“When the acute angle of a triangle touches a circle, the effect is no less significant than that of Michelangelo, when the finger of God touches the finger of Adam,” said V. Kandinsky, the leader of avant-garde art of the first half of the 20th century.

– a form of visual activity that does not aim to display visually perceived reality.
This direction in art is also called “non-objective”, because. its representatives rejected the image, which was close to reality. Translated from Latin, the word “abstraction” means “removal”, “distraction”.

V. Kandinsky “Composition VIII” (1923)
Abstract artists created certain color combinations and geometric shapes on their canvases in order to evoke various associations in the viewer. Abstractionism does not aim to recognize an object.

History of abstract art

The founders of abstract art are considered to be Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Piet Mondrian. Kandinsky was the most decisive and consistent of those who represented this direction at that time.
Researchers say that it is not entirely correct to consider abstractionism a style in art, because it is a specific form of fine art. It is divided into several directions: geometric abstraction, gestural abstraction, lyrical abstraction, analytical abstraction, Suprematism, Aranformel, Nuageism, etc. But in essence, a strong generalization is an abstraction.

V. Kandinsky “Moscow. Red Square""
Already from the middle of the 19th century. painting, graphics, sculpture are based on what is inaccessible to direct depiction. The search begins for new visual means, methods of typification, increased expression, universal symbols, and compressed plastic formulas. On the one hand, this is aimed at displaying the inner world of a person - his emotional psychological states, on the other hand, at updating the vision of the objective world.

Kandinsky's work goes through a number of stages, including academic drawing and realistic landscape painting, and only then it enters the free space of color and line.

V. Kandinsky “The Blue Rider” (1911)
Abstract composition is that last, molecular level at which painting still remains painting. Abstract art is the most accessible and noble way to capture personal existence, and at the same time it is a direct realization of freedom.

Murnau "The Garden" (1910)
The first abstract painting was painted by Wassily Kandinsky in 1909 in Germany, and a year later here he published the book “On the Spiritual in Art,” which later became famous. The basis of this book was the artist’s thoughts that the external can be accidental, but the internally necessary, spiritual, constituting the essence of man, may well be embodied in a picture. This worldview is associated with the theosophical and anthroposophical works of Helena Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner, which Kandinsky studied. The artist describes color, the interaction of colors and their effect on humans. “The psychic power of paint... causes spiritual vibration. For example, the color red can cause mental vibration similar to that caused by fire, since red is at the same time the color of fire. Warm red color has a stimulating effect; such a color can intensify to a painful, excruciating degree, perhaps also due to its resemblance to flowing blood. The red color in this case awakens the memory of another physical factor, which, of course, has a painful effect on the soul.”

V. Kandinsky "Twilight"
“...violet is a cooled red, both in the physical and mental sense. Therefore, it has the character of something painful, extinguished, has something sad in itself. It is not for nothing that this color is considered suitable for old women’s dresses. The Chinese use this color directly for mourning garments. Its sound is similar to the sounds of the English horn, flute and, in its depth, to the low tones of woodwind instruments (for example, bassoon).”

V. Kandinsky “Grey Oval”
“Black color internally sounds like Nothing without possibilities, like dead.”
“It is clear that all the given designations for these simple colors are only very temporary and elementary. The same are the feelings that we mention in connection with colors - joy, sadness, etc. These feelings are also only material states of the soul. The tones of colors, as well as music, have a much more subtle nature; they cause much more subtle vibrations that cannot be expressed in words.”

V.V. Kandinsky (1866-1944)

An outstanding Russian painter, graphic artist and theorist of fine arts, one of the founders of abstract art.
Born in Moscow into the family of a businessman, he received his basic musical and artistic education in Odessa, when the family moved there in 1871. He brilliantly graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University.
In 1895, an exhibition of French impressionists was held in Moscow. Kandinsky was especially struck by Claude Monet’s painting “Haystack” - so at the age of 30 he completely changed his profession and became an artist.

V. Kandinsky “Motley Life”
His first painting was “A Variegated Life” (1907). It represents a generalized picture of human existence, but this is already the prospect of his future creativity.
In 1896 he moved to Munich, where he became acquainted with the work of the German Expressionists. After the outbreak of the First World War, he returned to Moscow, but after some time he again left for Germany, and then to France. He traveled a lot, but periodically returned to Moscow and Odessa.
In Berlin, Wassily Kandinsky taught painting and became a theoretician of the Bauhaus school (Higher School of Construction and Artistic Design) - an educational institution in Germany that existed from 1919 to 1933. At this time, Kandinsky received worldwide recognition as one of the leaders of abstract art.
He died in 1944 in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Abstract art as an artistic movement in painting was not a homogeneous phenomenon - abstract art united several movements: Rayonism, Orphism, Suprematism, etc., about which you can learn in more detail from our articles. Beginning of the 20th century - a time of rapid development of various avant-garde movements. Abstract art was very diverse, it also included cubo-futurists, constructivists, non-objective artists, etc. But the language of this art required other forms of expression, but they were not supported by figures of official art, moreover, contradictions were inevitable among the avant-garde movement itself. Avant-garde art was declared anti-people, idealistic and was practically banned.
Abstractionism did not find support in fascist Germany, so the centers of abstractionism from Germany and Italy moved to America. In 1937, a museum of non-objective painting was created in New York, founded by the family of millionaire Guggenheim, and in 1939, the Museum of Modern Art, created with funds from Rockefeller.

Post-war abstract art

After World War II, the “New York School” was popular in America, whose members were the creators of abstract expressionism D. Pollock, M. Rothko, B. Neumann, A. Gottlieb.

D. Pollock "Alchemy"
Looking at the painting of this artist, you understand: serious art does not lend itself to easy interpretation.

M. Rothko “Untitled”
In 1959, their works were exhibited in Moscow at the exhibition of US national art in Sokolniki Park. The beginning of the “thaw” in Russia (1950s) opened a new stage in the development of domestic abstract art. The studio “New Reality” opened, the center of which was Eliy Mikhailovich Belyutin.

The studio was located in Abramtsevo, near Moscow, at Belutin’s dacha. There was a focus on collective work, which the futurists of the early 20th century strived for. “New Reality” united Moscow artists who held different views on the methodology of constructing abstraction. Artists L. Gribkov, V. Zubarev, V. Preobrazhenskaya, A. Safokhin came out of the “New Reality” studio.

E. Belyutin “Motherhood”
A new stage in the development of Russian abstraction begins in the 1970s. This is the time of Malevich, Suprematism and Constructivism, the traditions of the Russian avant-garde. Malevich's paintings aroused interest in geometric forms, linear signs, and plastic structures. Modern authors discovered the works of Russian philosophers and theologians, theologians and mystics, and became familiar with inexhaustible intellectual sources that filled the works of M. Shvartsman, V. Yurlov, E. Steinberg with new meaning.
The mid-1980s marked the completion of the next stage in the development of abstraction in Russia. End of the 20th century outlined a special “Russian path” of non-objective art. From the point of view of the development of world culture, abstractionism as a style movement ended in 1958. But only in post-perestroika Russian society did abstract art become equal to other movements. Artists were given the opportunity to express themselves in not only classical forms, but also in forms of geometric abstraction.

Modern abstract art

The color white often becomes the modern language of abstraction. For Muscovites M. Kastalskaya, A. Krasulin, V. Orlov, L. Pelikh, the space of white (the highest color tension) is filled with endless possibilities, allowing the use of both metaphysical ideas about the spiritual and the optical laws of light reflection.

M. Kastalskaya “Sleepy Hollow”
The concept of “space” has different meanings in modern art. For example, there is a space of a sign, a symbol. There is a space of ancient manuscripts, the image of which has become a kind of palimpsest in the compositions of V. Gerasimenko.

A. Krasulin “Stool and Eternity”

Some trends in abstract art

Rayonism

S. Romanovich “Descent from the Cross” (1950s)
The direction in Russian avant-garde painting in the art of the 1910s, based on the shift of light spectra and light transmission. One of the early areas of abstractionism.
The basis of the creativity of raymen is the idea of ​​“the intersection of the reflected rays of various objects,” since what a person actually perceives is not the object itself, but “the sum of the rays coming from the light source, reflected from the object and falling into our field of vision.” The rays on the canvas are transmitted using colored lines.
The founder and theorist of the movement was the artist Mikhail Larionov. Mikhail Le-Dantu and other artists of the “Donkey’s Tail” group worked in Rayonism.

Rayonism received particular development in the work of S. M. Romanovich, who made the coloristic ideas of Rayonism the basis of the “spatiality” of the colorful layer of a figurative painting: “Painting is irrational. It comes from the depths of man, like a spring flowing from underground. Its task is to transform the visible world (object) through harmony, which is a sign of truth. Work - write in harmony - can be done by the one in whom it lives - this is the secret of man.”

Orphism

A movement in French painting at the beginning of the 20th century, formed by R. Delaunay, F. Kupka, F. Picabia, M. Duchamp. The name was given in 1912 by the French poet Apollinaire.

R. Delaunay “Champs of Mars: Red Tower” (1911-1923)
Orphist artists sought to express the dynamics of movement and the musicality of rhythms through the interpenetration of the primary colors of the spectrum and the intersection of curved surfaces.
The influence of Orphism can be seen in the works of Russian artist Aristarkh Lentulov, as well as Alexandra Ekster, Georgy Yakulov and Alexander Bogomazov.

A. Bogomazov “Composition No. 2”

Neoplasticism

This style is characterized by clear rectangular forms in architecture (“international style” by P. Auda) and abstract painting in the arrangement of large rectangular planes, painted in the primary colors of the spectrum (P. Mondrian).

"Mondrian style"

Abstract expressionism

A school (movement) of artists who paint quickly and on large canvases, using non-geometric strokes, large brushes, sometimes dripping paint onto the canvas to fully reveal emotions. The artist's goal with this creative method is the spontaneous expression of the inner world (subconscious) in chaotic forms not organized by logical thinking.
The movement gained particular momentum in the 1950s, when it was headed by D. Pollock, M. Rothko and Willem de Kooning.

D. Pollock “Under different masks”
One of the forms of abstract expressionism is Tachisme; both of these movements practically coincide in ideology and creative method, however, the personal composition of the artists who called themselves Tachistes or abstract expressionists does not completely coincide.

Tachisme

A. Orlov “Scars in the soul never heal”
It is painting with spots that do not recreate images of reality, but express the unconscious activity of the artist. Strokes, lines and spots in tachisme are applied to the canvas with quick movements of the hand without a pre-thought-out plan. The European group "COBRA" and the Japanese group "Gutai" are close to tachisme.

A. Orlov “Seasons” P.I. Chaikovsky

Abstract art or non-objective art is one of the many art movements that emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. Within the framework of abstractionism, there is a refusal to depict real phenomena and objects. On the canvas we see a combination of lines, geometric shapes, textures and color spots.

It is important to understand that abstractionism did not arise out of nowhere: the rejection of the subject in painting is a natural stage in the development of art, which began in the 19th century (with the advent of photography, the need to make a detailed image disappears).

Western art, from the Renaissance to the mid-19th century, relied on the logic of perspective and was an attempt to reproduce the illusion of visible reality. By the end of the 19th century, many artists felt the need to create a new form of art that would embrace the fundamental changes taking place in society.

Wassily Kandinsky. "Improvisation 28". Canvas, oil. Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York. 1912

The result of rapid changes in the world (including as a result of global industrialization) was the rapid departure of artists from outdated images of nude models, realistic landscapes and battle scenes. All this was supported by philosophical treatises such as Wassily Kandinsky’s “On the Spiritual in Art” (1910). Kandinsky’s worldview, laid down by him in the book “On the Spiritual in Art,” is associated with the theosophical and anthroposophical works of Helena Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner, whose work Vasily Vasilyevich studied.

Kandinsky believed that colors evoke emotions. Red was lively and confident; green - calm, with inner strength; blue - deep and supernatural; yellow could be warm, exciting, disturbing or downright crazy; and the white one seemed silent, but full of possibilities. He also assigned instrumental tones to each color. Red sounded like a trumpet, green like a violin in middle position, blue like a flute, dark blue like a cello, yellow like a fanfare, white like a pause in a harmonious melody.

These sound analogies stemmed from Kandinsky's love of music, especially the works of the modern Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Kandinsky's titles often refer to colors in a composition or to music, such as "Improvisation 28" and "Composition II".

Outstanding representatives of the movement were M. Larionov, P. Mondrian, V. Kandinsky, K. Malevich and many others. The first canvas painted in the new technique is a watercolor by Wassily Kandinsky (1910).

Wassily Kandinsky. "Untitled". 49x64 cm. Center Georges Pompidou, Paris. 1910

One of the goals of non-objective art can be considered to achieve harmony in the creation of certain color combinations of geometric shapes to achieve various associations in the viewer. The deviation from the exact representation in the abstraction may be minor, partial or complete. Absolute abstraction has not the slightest relation to anything recognizable. Artists strive to be objective and allow the viewer to interpret the meaning of each work in their own way. Thus, abstract art is not an exaggerated or distorted view of the world, as we see in the cubist paintings of Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso. Instead, form and color become the focus and subject of the piece.

All shapes and color combinations that are located within the perimeter of the image have an idea, their own expression and meaning. No matter how it may seem to the viewer, looking at a picture where there is nothing except lines and blots, everything in abstraction is subject to certain rules of expression.

Robert Delaunay. "Synchronous windows". Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York 55x46 cm. 1912

From the turn of the century, cultural connections between artists in major European cities became extremely active as they sought to create an art form equal to the high aspirations of modernism.

A new artistic movement emerged in parallel in several countries in the early 1910s. Thus, representatives of abstractionism in Russia were Wassily Kandinsky (who worked in Germany at that time), Mikhail Larionov and Natalya Goncharova (who founded Rayonism - one of the early directions of abstractionism), Kazimir Malevich (who improved abstraction to Suprematism - complete non-objectivity). Being a symbol of the beginning of a new era, abstract art included: non-objective art, Rayonism, neoplasticism, Suprematism, Tachisme.

From 1909 to 1913, many experimental works in search of this "pure art" were created by a number of artists: Francis Picabia painted "Rubber" (1909), "Spring" (1912), "Procession, Seville" (1912), Wassily Kandinsky painted " Untitled" (1913), Frantisek Kupka wrote the works "Orphist", "Newton's Disk" (1912), "Amorpha" (1912), Robert Delaunay wrote the series "Windows" and "Forms" (1912-13), Leopold Survage created "Color Rhythm" (1913), Piet Mondrian writes "Composition No. 11" (1913).

Piet Mondrian. "Composition No. 11". 1913

Although we tend to associate abstract art with painting and sculpture, it can be applied to any visual medium, including assemblage and photography. However, it is the artists who receive the most attention in this movement.

The attitude towards abstract art was not always clear - for a long time it was in the underground, as is usually the case, the new genre was ridiculed and condemned as art that had no meaning. Over time, the situation has changed - in the 21st century, abstraction is perceived on an equal basis with other forms of painting.

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Abstract art (lat. abstractio– removal, distraction) or non-figurative art- a direction of art that abandoned the depiction of forms close to reality in painting and sculpture. One of the goals of abstract art is to achieve “harmonization” by depicting certain color combinations and geometric shapes, evoking in the viewer a feeling of completeness and completeness of the composition. Prominent figures: Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Piet Mondrian.

Story

Abstractionism(art under the sign of “zero forms”, non-objective art) is an artistic direction that was formed in the art of the first half of the 20th century, completely abandoning the reproduction of forms of the real visible world. The founders of abstract art are considered to be V. Kandinsky , P. Mondrian And K. Malevich.

V. Kandinsky created his own type of abstract painting, freeing the impressionist and “wild” stains from any signs of objectivity. Piet Mondrian arrived at his non-objectivity through the geometric stylization of nature initiated by Cézanne and the Cubists. Modernist movements of the 20th century, focused on abstractionism, completely depart from traditional principles, denying realism, but at the same time remaining within the framework of art. The history of art experienced a revolution with the advent of abstract art. But this revolution did not arise by chance, but quite naturally, and was predicted by Plato! In his late work Philebus, he wrote about the beauty of lines, surfaces and spatial forms in themselves, independent of any imitation of visible objects, from any mimesis. This kind of geometric beauty, unlike the beauty of natural “irregular” forms, according to Plato, is not relative, but unconditional, absolute.

20th century and modern times

After World War I, 1914-18, the tendencies of abstract art often manifested themselves in individual works by representatives of Dadaism and surrealism; At the same time, there was a desire to find application for non-figurative forms in architecture, decorative art, and design (experiments of the Style group and Bauhaus). Several groups of abstract art (“Concrete Art”, 1930; “Circle and Square”, 1930; “Abstraction and Creativity”, 1931), uniting artists of various nationalities and movements, arose in the early 30s, mainly in France. However, abstract art did not become widespread at that time, and by the mid-30s. the groups broke up. During the Second World War 1939–45, a school of so-called abstract expressionism arose in the United States (painters J. Pollock, M. Tobey etc.), which developed after the war in many countries (under the name Tachisme or “formless art”) and proclaimed as its method “pure mental automatism” and the subjective subconscious impulsiveness of creativity, the cult of unexpected color and texture combinations.

In the second half of the 50s, installation art and pop art arose in the United States, which somewhat later glorified Andy Warhol with his endless reproduction of portraits of Marilyn Monroe and cans of dog food - collage abstractionism. In the fine arts of the 60s, the least aggressive, static form of abstraction, minimalism, became popular. At the same time Barnett Newman, founder of American geometric abstract art along with A. Liberman, A. Held And K. Noland successfully engaged in the further development of the ideas of Dutch neoplasticism and Russian Suprematism.

Another movement of American painting is called “chromatic” or “post-painterly” abstractionism. Its representatives were to some extent inspired by Fauvism and Post-Impressionism. Rigid style, emphatically sharp outlines of the work E. Kelly, J. Jungerman, F. Stella gradually gave way to paintings of a contemplative melancholic nature. In the 70s and 80s, American painting returned to figurativeness. Moreover, such an extreme manifestation as photorealism has become widespread. Most art historians agree that the 70s are the moment of truth for American art, since during this period it finally freed itself from European influence and became purely American. However, despite the return of traditional forms and genres, from portraiture to historical painting, abstractionism has not disappeared.

Paintings and works of “non-representational” art were created as before, since the return to realism in the USA was overcome not by abstractionism as such, but by its canonization, the ban on figurative art, which was identified primarily with our socialist realism, and therefore could not help but be considered odious in a “free democratic” society, a ban on “low” genres, on the social functions of art. At the same time, the style of abstract painting acquired a certain softness that it lacked before - streamlined volumes, blurred contours, a richness of halftones, subtle color schemes ( E. Murray, G. Stefan, L. Rivers, M. Morley, L. Chese, A. Bialobrod).

All these trends laid the foundation for the development of modern abstractionism. There can be nothing frozen or final in creativity, since that would be death for it. But no matter what path abstractionism takes, no matter what transformations it undergoes, its essence always remains unchanged. It is that abstractionism in fine art is the most accessible and noble way to capture personal existence, and in a form that is most adequate - like a facsimile print. At the same time, abstractionism is a direct realization of freedom.

Directions

In abstractionism, two clear directions can be distinguished: geometric abstraction, based primarily on clearly defined configurations (Malevich, Mondrian), and lyrical abstraction, in which the composition is organized from freely flowing forms (Kandinsky). There are also several other large independent movements in abstract art.

Cubism

An avant-garde movement in fine art that originated at the beginning of the 20th century and is characterized by the use of emphatically conventional geometric forms, the desire to “split” real objects into stereometric primitives.

Regionalism (Rayism)

A movement in abstract art of the 1910s, based on the shift of light spectra and light transmission. The idea of ​​the emergence of forms from the “intersection of reflected rays of various objects” is characteristic, since what a person actually perceives is not the object itself, but “the sum of the rays coming from the light source and reflected from the object.”

Neoplasticism

Designation of the movement of abstract art that existed in 1917–1928. in Holland and united artists grouped around the magazine “De Stijl” (“Style”). Characteristic are clear rectangular shapes in architecture and abstract painting in the arrangement of large rectangular planes, painted in the primary colors of the spectrum.

Orphism

Direction in French painting of the 1910s. Orphist artists sought to express the dynamics of movement and the musicality of rhythms with the help of “regularities” of the interpenetration of the primary colors of the spectrum and the mutual intersection of curved surfaces.

Suprematism

A movement in avant-garde art founded in the 1910s. Malevich. It was expressed in combinations of multi-colored planes of the simplest geometric shapes. The combination of multi-colored geometric shapes forms balanced asymmetrical suprematist compositions permeated with internal movement.

Tachisme

A movement in Western European abstract art of the 1950s–60s, which became most widespread in the United States. It is painting with spots that do not recreate images of reality, but express the unconscious activity of the artist. Strokes, lines and spots in tachisme are applied to the canvas with quick movements of the hand without a pre-thought-out plan.

Abstract expressionism

The movement of artists painting quickly and on large canvases, using non-geometric strokes, large brushes, sometimes dripping paint onto the canvas to fully reveal emotions. The expressive painting method here is often as important as the painting itself.

Abstractionism in the interior

Recently, abstractionism has begun to move from the paintings of artists into the cozy interior of the house, updating it advantageously. A minimalist style using clear forms, sometimes quite unusual, makes the room unusual and interesting. But it’s very easy to overdo it with color. Consider the combination of orange color in this interior style.

White best dilutes the rich orange and, as it were, cools it down. The color of orange makes the room feel hotter, so a little; not prevent. The emphasis should be on the furniture or its design, for example, an orange bedspread. In this case, white walls will dull the brightness of the color, but will leave the room colorful. In this case, paintings of the same scale will serve as an excellent addition - the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise there will be problems with sleep.

The combination of orange and blue colors is detrimental to any room, unless it concerns a child's room. If you choose not bright shades, they will harmonize well with each other, add mood, and will not have a detrimental effect even on hyperactive children.

Orange goes well with green, creating the effect of a tangerine tree and a chocolate tint. Brown is a color that ranges from warm to cool, so it ideally normalizes the overall temperature of the room. In addition, this color combination is suitable for the kitchen and living room, where you need to create an atmosphere without overloading the interior. Having decorated the walls in white and chocolate colors, you can calmly place an orange chair or hang a bright picture with a rich tangerine color. While you are in such a room, you will be in a great mood and want to do as many things as possible.

Paintings by famous abstract artists

Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of abstract art. He began his search in impressionism, and only then came to the style of abstractionism. In his work, he exploited the relationship between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that embraced both the vision and the emotions of the viewer. He believed that complete abstraction provides scope for deep, transcendent expression, and copying reality only interferes with this process.

Painting was deeply spiritual for Kandinsky. He sought to convey the depth of human emotion through a universal visual language of abstract shapes and colors that would transcend physical and cultural boundaries. He saw abstractionism as an ideal visual mode that can express the artist's "inner necessity" and convey human ideas and emotions. He considered himself a prophet whose mission was to share these ideals with the world for the benefit of society.

Hidden in bright colors and clear black lines depict several Cossacks with spears, as well as boats, figures and a castle on top of a hill. Like many paintings from this period, it imagines an apocalyptic battle that will lead to eternal peace.

To facilitate the development of a non-objective style of painting, as described in his work On the Spiritual in Art (1912), Kandinsky reduces objects to pictographic symbols. By removing most references to the outside world, Kandinsky expressed his vision in a more universal way, translating the spiritual essence of the subject through all these forms into a visual language. Many of these symbolic figures were repeated and refined in his later works, becoming even more abstract.

Kazimir Malevich

Malevich's ideas about form and meaning in art somehow lead to a concentration on the theory of abstract art style. Malevich worked with different styles of painting, but was most focused on the study of pure geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) and their relationship to each other in pictorial space. Thanks to his contacts in the West, Malevich was able to convey his ideas about painting to artist friends in Europe and the United States, and thus profoundly influence the evolution of modern art.

"Black Square" (1915)

The iconic painting “Black Square” was first shown by Malevich at an exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. This work embodies the theoretical principles of Suprematism developed by Malevich in his essay “From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: New Realism in Painting.”

On the canvas in front of the viewer there is an abstract form in the form of a black square drawn on a white background - it is the only element of the composition. Although the painting appears simple, there are elements such as fingerprints and brush strokes visible through the black layers of paint.

For Malevich, the square signifies feelings, and the white signifies emptiness, nothingness. He saw the black square as a god-like presence, an icon, as if it could become a new sacred image for non-figurative art. Even at the exhibition, this painting was placed in the place where an icon is usually placed in a Russian house.

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of the Dutch De Stijl movement, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice. He simplified the elements of his paintings quite radically in order to represent what he saw not directly, but figuratively, and to create a clear and universal aesthetic language in his canvases. In his most famous paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduced his forms to lines and rectangles and his palette to its simplest. The use of asymmetrical balance became fundamental in the development of modern art, and his iconic abstract works remain influential in design and are familiar to popular culture today.

"The Gray Tree" is an example of Mondrian's early transition to style abstractionism. Three-dimensional wood is reduced to the simplest lines and planes, using just grays and blacks.

This painting is one of a series of works by Mondrian that were created with a more realistic approach, where, for example, trees are represented in a naturalistic manner. While later works became increasingly abstract, for example, the lines of a tree are reduced until the shape of the tree is barely noticeable and secondary to the overall composition of vertical and horizontal lines. Here you can also see Mondrian's interest in abandoning the structured organization of lines. This step was significant for Mondrian's development of pure abstraction.

Robert Delaunay

Delaunay was one of the earliest artists of the abstract art style. His work influenced the development of this direction, based on the compositional tension that was caused by the opposition of colors. He quickly fell under the neo-impressionist coloristic influence and very closely followed the color scheme of works in the abstract style. He considered color and light to be the main tools with which one can influence the reality of the world.

By 1910, Delaunay made his own contribution to Cubism in the form of two series of paintings depicting cathedrals and the Eiffel Tower, which combined cubic forms, dynamic movement and bright colors. This new way of using color harmony helped distinguish the style from orthodox Cubism, becoming known as Orphism, and immediately influenced European artists. Delaunay’s wife, artist Sonia Turk-Delone, continued to paint in the same style.

Delaunay's main work is dedicated to the Eiffel Tower, the famous symbol of France. This is one of the most impressive of a series of eleven paintings dedicated to the Eiffel Tower between 1909 and 1911. It is painted bright red, which immediately distinguishes it from the grayness of the surrounding city. The impressive size of the canvas further enhances the grandeur of this building. Like a ghost, the tower rises above the surrounding houses, metaphorically shaking the very foundations of the old order. Delaunay's painting conveys this feeling of boundless optimism, innocence and freshness of a time that has not yet witnessed two world wars.

Frantisek Kupka

Frantisek Kupka is a Czechoslovakian artist who paints in the style abstractionism, graduated from the Prague Academy of Arts. As a student, he primarily painted on patriotic themes and wrote historical compositions. His early works were more academic, however, his style evolved over the years and eventually moved into abstract art. Written in a very realistic manner, even his early works contained mystical surreal themes and symbols, which continued when writing abstractions. Kupka believed that the artist and his work take part in a continuous creative activity, the nature of which is unlimited, like an absolute.

“Amorpha. Fugue in two colors" (1907-1908)

Beginning in 1907-1908, Kupka began to paint a series of portraits of a girl holding a ball in her hand, as if she were about to play or dance with it. He then developed more and more schematic images of it, and eventually received a series of completely abstract drawings. They were made in a limited palette of red, blue, black and white. In 1912, at the Salon d'Automne, one of these abstract works was publicly exhibited in Paris for the first time.

Modern abstract artists

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, artists, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Kazemir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, have been experimenting with the shapes of objects and their perception, and also questioning existing canons in art. We have prepared a selection of the most famous contemporary abstract artists who decided to push their boundaries of knowledge and create their own reality.

German artist David Schnell(David Schnell) loves to wander through places that used to be filled with nature, but are now cluttered with human buildings - from playgrounds to factories. Memories of these walks give birth to his bright abstract landscapes. Giving free rein to his imagination and memory, rather than to photographs and videos, David Schnell creates paintings that resemble computer virtual reality or illustrations for science fiction books.

When creating her large-scale abstract paintings, the American artist Christine Baker(Kristin Baker) draws inspiration from the history of art and Nascar and Formula 1 racing. She first gives her work dimension by applying several layers of acrylic paint and covering the silhouettes with tape. Christine then carefully peels it off, revealing the underlying layers of paint and making the surface of her paintings look like a multi-layered, multi-colored collage. At the very last stage of the work, she scrapes off all the irregularities, making her paintings feel like an x-ray.

In her works, the artist of Greek origin from Brooklyn, New York, Eleanna Anagnos(Eleanna Anagnos) explores aspects of everyday life that often escape people's view. During her “dialogue with the canvas,” ordinary concepts acquire new meanings and facets: negative space becomes positive and small forms increase in size. Trying to breathe “life into her paintings” in this way, Eleanna tries to awaken the human mind, which has stopped asking questions and being open to something new.

Giving birth to bright splashes and smudges of paint on canvas, the American artist Sarah Spitler(Sarah Spitler) strives to reflect chaos, disaster, imbalance and disorder in her work. She is attracted to these concepts because they are beyond human control. Therefore, their destructive power makes Sarah Spitler's abstract works powerful, energetic and exciting. Besides. the resulting image on canvas made of ink, acrylic paints, graphite pencils and enamel emphasizes the ephemerality and relativity of what is happening around.

Inspired by architecture, the artist from Vancouver, Canada, Jeff Dapner(Jeff Depner) creates multi-layered abstract paintings consisting of geometric shapes. In the artistic “chaos” he creates, Jeff seeks harmony in color, form and composition. Each of the elements in his paintings is connected to each other and leads to the next: “My works explore the compositional structure [of a painting] through the relationships of colors in the chosen palette...”. According to the artist, his paintings are “abstract signs” that should take viewers to a new, unconscious level.

Abstractionism, which is from lat. abstractio means abstraction, removal is non-figurative, non-objective art. A unique form of visual activity that does not aim to imitate or display visually perceived reality. Abstract sculpture, painting and graphics exclude association with a recognizable object.

Time of occurrence of the first abstract painting, and the origins of abstract painting have not been established. We can only say with certainty that between 1910 and 1915. many European artists tried non-figurative and non-figurative compositions (in sculpture, drawing and painting).

These are: M.F. Larionov, F. Kupka, R. Delaunay, P. Klee, F. Picabia, U. Bocioni, F. Mark, F. Marinetti, A. G. Yavlensky and many others.

The most famous and original are P. Mondrian, V. V. Kandinsky and K. S. Malevich.

Composition in gray, pink, P. Modrian Composition No. 217 Gray oval, V. V. Kandinsky I go into space, K. S. Malevich

Kandinsky is usually called the “inventor” of abstraction, thereby implying his watercolors of 1910–1912, as well as his theoretical works, which objectively testify to the self-sufficiency of art and pointing to his ability to create some new reality with his own means. Kandinsky, both in theory and in practice, was the more consistent and decisive of those who at that time approached the line that separates figurativeness from abstraction. The question of who was the first to cross this line remained unclear. However, it is not important, since in the first years of the twentieth century the newest art movements in Europe came close to this border, and everything demonstrated that it would be overturned.

Abstract artists

Despite prevailing beliefs, abstraction was not a stylistic category. This unique form of fine art is divided into several movements. Lyrical abstraction, geometric abstraction, analytical abstraction, gestural abstraction and more particular movements, for example, aranformel, suprematism, nuageism and so on.

Abstract Art Styles are developed from the same style-forming particles as figurative styles. This confirms the fact that monochrome painting - a canvas that is painted over with one tone - is in the same intermediate relationship to style as a fully naturalistic figurative image. Abstract painting is a special type of fine art whose functions are compared to the functions of music in audio space.

The growing change in aesthetic attitudes in art begins with revolutionary reforms in science, culture and technology of the 20th century. Already in the first half of the 19th century, new trends in art began to be noticeable. During that period, in European painting one can simultaneously see a growing tendency towards conventionality (F. Goya, E. Delacroix, C. Corot) and the improvement of naturalistic technique (T. Chasserio, J.-L. David, J. Ingres). The first is especially emphasized in English painting - in R. O. Bonington, as well as W. Turner. His paintings - “The Sun Rising in the Fog...” (1806), “Musical Evening” (1829–1839) and some other works convey the most daring generalizations that border on abstraction.

Let’s focus on the form, as well as the plot, of one of his latest works - "Rain, steam, speed", depicting a steam locomotive rushing through fog and a veil of rain. This painting was painted in 1848 - the highest measure of convention in the art of the first half of the 19th century.

Starting from the middle of the 19th century, sculpture and graphics turned to what is incomprehensible to direct images. The most intensive research is being carried out on new visual means, typification methods, universal symbols, increased expression, and compressed plastic formulas. On the one hand, this is aimed at depicting the inner world of a person, his emotional psychological states, and on the other hand, at developing a vision of the objective world.

And Mikhail Larionov, who founded “Luchism” in 1912, the creator of Suprematism as a new type of creativity, Kazimir Malevich, author of the “Black Square” and Evgeniy Mikhnov-Voitenko, whose work is distinguished, among other things, by an unprecedentedly wide range of areas of the abstract method applied in his works (the artist was the first among not only domestic but also foreign masters to use a number of them, including the “graffiti style”).

A related movement to abstractionism is cubism, which seeks to depict real objects with a multitude of intersecting planes, creating the image of certain rectilinear figures that reproduce living nature. Some of the most striking examples of Cubism were the early works of Pablo Picasso.

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  In 1910-1915, painters in Russia, Western Europe and the United States began to create abstract works of art; Among the first abstractionists, researchers name Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian. The year of birth of non-objective art is considered to be 1910, when Kandinsky wrote his first abstract composition in Murnau, Germany. The aesthetic concepts of the first abstractionists assumed that artistic creativity reflects the laws of the universe hidden behind the external, superficial phenomena of reality. These patterns, intuitively comprehended by the artist, were expressed through the relationship of abstract forms (color spots, lines, volumes, geometric figures) in an abstract work. In 1911 in Munich, Kandinsky published his now famous book “On the Spiritual in Art,” in which he reflected on the possibility of embodying the internally necessary, the spiritual, as opposed to the external, the accidental. The “logical basis” for Kandinsky’s abstractions was based on the study of the theosophical and anthroposophical works of Helena Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner. In the aesthetic concept of Piet Mondrian, the primary elements of form were the primary oppositions: horizontal - vertical, line - plane, color - non-color. In the theory of Robert Delaunay, in contrast to the concepts of Kandinsky and Mondrian, idealistic metaphysics was rejected; The main task of abstractionism seemed to the artist to be the study of the dynamic qualities of color and other properties of artistic language (the direction founded by Delaunay was called Orphism). The creator of “rayonism,” Mikhail Larionov, depicted “the emission of reflected light; color dust."

  Originating in the early 1910s, abstract art developed rapidly, appearing in many areas of avant-garde art in the first half of the 20th century. The ideas of abstractionism were reflected in the works of the expressionists (Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Marc), cubists (Fernand Léger), Dadaists (Jean Arp), surrealists (Joan Miró), Italian futurists (Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, Enrico Pram Polini), Orphists (Robert Delaunay, Frantisek Kupka), Russian Suprematists (Kazimir Malevich), “Radiants” (Mikhail Larionov and Natalya Goncharova) and constructivists (Lyubov Popova, Lazar Lisitsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova), Dutch neoplasticists (Piet Mondrian, Te o van Doesburg , Bart van der Lek), a number of European sculptors (Alexander Archipenko, Constantin Brancusi, Umberto Boccioni, Antoine Pevzner, Naum Gabo, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Vladimir Tatlin). Soon after the emergence of abstract art, two main directions in the development of this art emerged: geometric abstraction gravitating towards regular geometric forms and stable, “substantial” states (Mondrian, Malevich), and preferring freer forms, dynamic processes lyrical abstraction(Kandinsky, Kupka). The first international associations of abstract artists (“Circle and Square”, “Abstraction-Creativity”) were formed in the early 1920s - early 1930s in Paris.

  The aesthetic programs of the abstractionists were characterized by universalism; abstract art was presented in them as a universal model of the world order, including both the structure of the environment and the structure of society. Working with the primary elements of pictorial language, abstractionists turned to general compositional principles and laws of shape formation. It is not surprising that abstractionists found use for non-representational forms in industrial art, artistic design, and architecture (the activities of the “Style” group in the Netherlands and the Bauhaus school in Germany; Kandinsky’s work at VKHUTEMAS; Malevich’s architects and design projects; Alexander Calder’s “mobiles”; Vladimir Tatlin’s designs , works by Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner). The activities of abstractionists contributed to the development of modern architecture, decorative and applied arts, and design.

  At the end of the 1940s, abstract expressionism, formed on the basis of lyrical abstractionism, developed in the United States. Representatives of abstract expressionism (Pollock, Mark Tobey, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline) proclaimed “unconsciousness” and automaticity of creativity, unforeseen effects (“action painting”) as their method. Their aesthetic concepts no longer contained idealistic metaphysics, and a non-objective composition sometimes became a self-sufficient object that excluded associations with reality. The European analogue of abstract expressionism was Tachisme, whose prominent representatives were Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Volsa, Georges Mathieu. Artists sought to use unexpected, non-standard combinations of colors and textures, sculptors (Eduardo Chillida, Seymour Lipton and others) created bizarre compositions and used unusual methods of processing materials.

  In the 1960s, with the decline of abstract expressionism, op art, which developed the principles of geometric abstraction and used optical illusions of perception of flat and spatial objects, became a noticeable movement in abstractionism. Another direction in the development of geometric abstraction was kinetic art, which plays on the effects of real movement of the entire work or its individual components (Alexander Calder, Jean Tinguely, Nicholas Schöffer, Jesus Soto, Taxis). In parallel, post-painterly abstraction arose in the United States, the principles of which were reduction and extreme simplification of pictorial forms; Having inherited regular geometric forms from geometric abstraction, post-painterly abstraction rounds and “softens” them. Notable representatives of this trend are Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, and Kenneth Noland. The ultimate expression of geometric abstraction in sculpture was minimalism, which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.

  History of abstract art in Russia and the USSR

  1900-1949

  The artists Kandinsky and Malevich at the beginning of the 20th century made a significant contribution to the development of the theory and practice of abstract art.

  In the 1920s, during the rapid development of all avant-garde movements, abstract art included in its orbit the cubo-futurists, non-objectivists, constructivists, and suprematists: Alexandra Ekster and Lyubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, Georgy Stenberg and Mikhail Matyushin, Nikolai Suetin and Ilya Chashnik . The language of non-figurative art was the basis of the culture of a new, modern plastic form, easel, decorative and applied or monumental, and had every opportunity for further fruitful and promising development. But the internal contradictions of the avant-garde movement, strengthened by the pressure of ideological officialdom, in the early 1930s forced its leaders to look for other creative ways. Anti-national, idealistic abstract art henceforth had no right to exist.

  With the coming to power of the fascists, the centers of abstractionism from Germany and Italy moved to America, since the concept of abstractionism did not find support among the ideologists of fascism. In 1937, a museum of non-figurative painting was created in New York, founded by the family of millionaire Guggenheim, and in 1939, the Museum of Modern Art, created with funds from Rockefeller. During the Second World War and after its end, all the ultra-left forces of the artistic world gathered in America.

  In post-war America, the “New York School” was gaining strength, whose members included the creators of abstract expressionism Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Neumann, and Adolph Gottlieb. In the summer of 1959, their works were seen by young artists in Moscow at the exhibition of US national art in Sokolniki Park. Two years before this event, contemporary world art was presented at an art exhibition as part of the World Festival of Youth and Students. The information breakthrough has become a kind of symbol of spiritual and social freedom [ ] . Abstract art was now associated with internal liberation from the totalitarian oppression of the bloody regime, with a different worldview [ ] . The problems of contemporary artistic language and new plastic forms turned out to be inextricably linked with socio-political processes. The era of the “thaw” implied a special system of relationships between abstract art and power. A new stage in the development of Soviet abstract art began - the 1950-1970s.

  For young Soviet artists, brought up in the traditions of the academic system and a materialistic vision of the world, the discovery of abstraction meant the possibility of reproducing personal subjective experience. American researchers characterized abstract expressionism as “a gesture of liberation from political, aesthetic, moral values” [ ] . Similar feelings were experienced by young painters in the USSR, who were comprehending contemporary art that was unfamiliar to them and at the same time building their own forms of coexistence with the authorities or opposition to them. The underground was born, and among informal artists the turn to abstract art was generally accepted and widespread.

  During these years, many painters felt the need for the language of non-objective art. The need to master a formal vocabulary was often associated not only with immersion in spontaneous creativity, but also with the composition of thoughtful theoretical treatises. As at the beginning of the century, for these painters abstraction did not mean the denial of different levels of meaning. Contemporary European and American abstract art was based on such fundamental layers as the study of primitive mythological consciousness, Freudianism, the beginnings of existentialism, and Eastern philosophies - Zen [ ] . But in the conditions of Soviet reality, abstract artists were not always able to become sufficiently fully and deeply acquainted with the primary sources; they intuitively found answers to the problems that worried them [ ] and, rejecting accusations of simply copying Western models, they took their own professional reputation seriously [ ] .

  1950-1970

  The return of abstract art to the cultural space of Russia was not just a consequence of a change in the political climate or an imitation of the artistic phenomena of the West. The laws of “self-development of art” built forms that were “vital for art itself.” There was a “process of repersonalization of art. It’s now possible to create individual pictures of the world.” [ ] The latter caused a powerful negative reaction at the state level, which for many years taught us to view abstractionism as “an extremely formalistic direction, alien to truthfulness, ideology and nationality” [ ], and works created by abstractionists, such as: “A meaningless combination of abstract geometric shapes, chaotic spots and lines.” [ ]

  For almost thirty years (from the late 1950s to 1988), Evgeniy Mikhnov-Voitenko, a unique master in the range of methods used, developed his own style of abstract art. The different periods of his work are marked by many experiments in the field of painting and decorative arts; The artist’s heritage includes graphics, paintings made in mixed media, nitro-enamel, pastel, sauce, oil, gouache, tempera, as well as works made of wood, metal, glass, and foam.

  First [ ] the studio “New Reality”, which gathered around E. M. Belutin, became an informal artistic association of the “Thaw” period that developed the principles of abstract art. Initially, the studio functioned as advanced training courses at the City Committee of Graphic Artists. The course towards general liberalization set by the 20th Congress opened up prospects for freedom of creativity and artistic exploration. However, the 1962 exhibition in Manege, harsh criticism from the New Reality party of artists and a campaign against abstract art forced the artists to go underground. Over the next 30 years, the studio worked continuously in workshops in Abramtsevo, in a house owned by Belyutin.

  Developing the principles of non-figurative depiction, the studio’s artists relied both on the experience of Russian avant-garde artists of the beginning of the century and on modern Western artists. A feature of the “New Reality” was the focus on collective work, which the futurists of the early 20th century strove for. “New Reality” united Moscow artists who held different views on the methodology of constructing abstraction. Artists Lucian Gribkov and Tamara Ter-Ghevondyan worked in a style closest to abstract expressionism. While preserving elements of real forms in their works, they developed categories for expressing emotional states through visual and plastic moves. Vera Preobrazhenskaya, who was for a long time the head of the studio and fixed the theory and methodology of the school, has come a long way from expressionism through the aesthetics of op art to geometric abstraction. Together with Eliy Belyutin, Preobrazhenskaya worked on the development of “psychogranule” modules, symbols that would express concrete states and abstract concepts using clear color-plastic solutions. Vera Preobrazhenskaya said: “In my paintings, God is almost always a black square” [ ] . In the process of working with studio members, Eli Belyutin formed the theory of “universal contact,” in which he expressed the principles of developing the artist’s creative potential.

  The artists of the “New Reality” considered themselves heirs, first of all, of the art of Wassily Kandinsky. The founder of Russian abstraction focused on depicting the spiritual world through plastic art. Their artistic searches were also enriched by the achievements of European abstractionists of the mid-century, who partially returned figurative art to their works in the new quality of an optical illusion or fetish.

  Kandinsky said that: “Consciously or unconsciously, artists are increasingly turning to their material, testing it, weighing on spiritual scales the inner value of the elements from which art must be created” [ ] . What was said at the beginning of the century again became relevant for subsequent generations of painters. In the second half of the 1950s, an abstract sculpture equipped with an “electronic brain” appeared - “Cysp I” by Nicolas Schöffer. Alexander Kalder creates his own “stables”. One of the isolated areas of abstractionism emerges - op art. At the same time, almost simultaneously in England and the USA, the first collages appeared, using labels of mass-produced products, photographs, reproductions and similar objects of the new pop art style.

  Moscow abstraction at the turn of the 1960s, delving into the search for a new form, corresponding to the internal state of “creative insight,” a kind of meditation, provided convincing examples of its own understanding of the culture of the non-objective. For example, in the works of Vladimir Nemukhin, Lydia Masterkova, Mikhail Kulakov, who were certainly passionate about abstract expressionism, which they were able to fill with high spiritual tension. A different type of abstract thinking was demonstrated by the most consistent in his analytical and practical work, Yuri Zlotnikov, the author of the extensive “Signals” series, created in the late 1950s. According to the artist: “Dynamism, rhythm, clearly expressed in geometric abstraction,” led him to the analysis: “Dynamic concepts inherent in art,” and further: “To the study of human motor reactions” [ ] . In “Signals,” the artist explored the “feedback” of spontaneous psychological reactions to color symbols.

  The next stage in the development of Russian abstraction begins in the 1970s. This is the time when modern artists became acquainted with the work of Malevich, with Suprematism and Constructivism, with the traditions of the Russian avant-garde, its theory and practice. Malevich’s “Primary Elements” aroused a stable interest in geometric forms, linear signs, and plastic structures. “Geometric” abstraction made it possible to get closer to the problems that worried the masters of the 1920s, to feel the continuity and spiritual connection with the classical avant-garde. Modern authors discovered the works of Russian philosophers and theologians, theologians and mystics, and became familiar with inexhaustible intellectual sources, which in turn filled the works of Mikhail Shvartsman, Valery Yurlov, and Eduard Steinberg with new meaning.

  Geometric abstraction formed the basis of the working methods of artists who united in the early 1960s in the group “Movement”. Among its members were Lev Nusberg, Vyacheslav Koleichuk, Francisco Infante. The latter was especially keen on Suprematism. In “Dynamic Spirals” Infante studied the model of an infinite spiral in space and carefully analyzed: “The non-existent plastic situation.”

  American painting of the 1970s. returns to figurativeness. It is believed that the 1970s is: “The moment of truth for American painting, which is freed from the European tradition that nourished it and becomes purely American.” [ ]

  The mid-1980s can be considered as the completion of the next stage in the development of abstraction in Russia, which by this time had accumulated not only enormous experience in creative efforts and meaningful philosophical problems, but also became convinced of the demand for abstract thinking.

  The 1990s confirmed the special “Russian path” of non-objective art. From the point of view of the development of world culture, abstractionism as a style movement ended in 1958. However, in: “Post-reconstruction Russian society only now arose the need for equal communication with abstract art, there was a desire to see not meaningless spots, but the beauty of plastic play, its rhythms, to penetrate their meaning. To finally hear the sound of picturesque symphonies.” [ ] Artists were given the opportunity to express themselves in not only classical forms - Suprematism or abstract expressionism, but lyrical and geometric abstraction, minimalism, sculpture, an object, a hand-made author's book, in paper pulp cast by the master himself.

  Modern abstractionism in painting

  White color has become an important component of the modern language of abstraction. For Marina Kastalskaya, Andrei Krasulin, Valery Orlov, Leonid Pelikh, the space of white - the highest tension of color - is generally filled with endless variable possibilities, allowing the use of both metaphysical ideas about the spiritual and optical laws of light reflection.

  Space as a conceptual category has different semantic loads in modern art. For example, there is a space of a sign, a symbol that emerged from the depths of archaic consciousness, sometimes transformed into a structure reminiscent of a hieroglyph. There is a space of ancient manuscripts, the image of which has become a kind of palimpsest in the compositions of Valentin Gerasimenko.