Date: Fri 07-May-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

AABooks

Full Text:

AA BOOKS: Martios Saryan; Mikhail Larionov

Martiros Saryan , by Vera Razdolskaya; Parkstone Press, Bournemouth, England,

1998, pp 176, 114 color illustrations, $40, hardcover.

By Amy D'Orio

Artists have always flocked to Italy and France to paint; Armenia has never

been a hot spot on the Grand Tour. But to the Russian-trained artist Martiros

Saryan, the son of Armenian settlers, it gave purpose to his life and work,

drawing him back from abstraction.

In Parkstone's recent release, Vera Razdolskaya paints a complete portrait of

the man and his work.

An examination of an intense colorist like Saryan would not be complete

without plenty of color illustrations, and the book, part of Parkstone's

"Great Painters" series, provides 114 color illustrations as well as 42

black-and-white photographs, many of the artist and his family and friends.

Razdolskaya, a doctor of art history and professor at the Repin Institute of

Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in St Petersburg, Russia, writes that

Saryan was a dominant figure in Twentieth Century Russian art who later in

life became devoted to his homeland, Armenia. Not only did he live there for

the last half of his life, but Saryan, a Russian-trained artist, helped

reconstruct Armenian culture for future generations organizing museums and art

colleges.

Early on, Saryan was caught up in the Symbolist movement, garnering much

attention to himself. Then he honed his skills as a colorist, growing more

abstract until 1923 when he turned to his homeland for inspiration. Not only

did he paint landscapes of the countryside, but he executed portraits and

during World War II turned to political subject matter.

Razdolskaya, a leading specialist on Western European art, has produced an

informative book on one of the artists who ushered in the Twentieth Century

with innovation.

Mikhail Larionov , by Yevgeny Kovtun; Parkstone Press, Bournemouth, England,

1998, pp 176, 158 illustrations, $40, hardcover.

By Amy D'Orio

Perhaps due to the Iron Curtain of the latter half of this century, many

people are quite unaware of Russia's artistic contributions to Twentieth

Century art. Parkstone, in fact, publicizes this recently released book as a

piece of art history many Westerners do not know about.

Mikhail Larionov was the founder of the Russian avant-garde and inventor of

"Rayonism," the final, major phase of Larionov's work, according to the book.

The author, Yevgeny Kovtun, says Rayonism was "supposed to tear painting away

from the object, turning it into a self-sufficient art of color. The painting

ceases to be `a pale reflection' of the objective world."

Mikhail Larionov was a notable talent from the beginning of his training. With

his budding career basically starting with the new century, the artist went

through many phases of artistic styles. He quickly moved from Impressionism to

Primitivism, a change that was not well received by the art world. He also

took on work for the military and for the theater.

The 176-page book does a fine job of illuminating this artist's life. Kovtun

is, after all, quite an expert in this area of art history: He is an art

historian at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg and the author of The

Avant-Garde In Russia 1920-1930 .