Ethnocultural Identity in the Works of Krasnoyarsk Artists

Abstract

The article scrutinizes the problem of understanding and presenting the ethnocultural identity of the indigenous peoples in the works of art. The authors describe the features of the image visualization regarding the indigenous peoples of the North in the works of artists of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. For this purpose there was made a thorough analysis of the most representative works in painting and graphics, namely, Konstantin Voynov’s painting “The Madonna Beyond the Polar Circle” (2009), Andrei Lekarenko’s painting “The Girl from Taimyr” (1959) and Valery Kudrinsky’s picture “The Northgirl” (1985). The analysis was based on the constructivist approach to identity and the principles of the modern theory of the fine arts stated by V.I. Zhukovsky and N.P. Koptseva. As a result, the researchers identified 1) three key stages of the Krasnoyarsk artists’ interest in painting the indigenous peoples of the North (starting from the beginning of the 20th century and ending at the beginning of the 21st century); 2) two main approaches to depicting the lifestyle of