The Mountain Shoria region is often referred to as Siberian Switzerland, because of its beauty. Nature has been very generous in her gifts to this remarkable and abundant region, with its dense forests, lovely mountains and crystal-clear rivers running through picturesque steep-walled valleys. The Mountain Shoria region was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the artist Gennady Pavlovich Khodak, who painted After Fishing. A professional artist — and a superb painter — he spent his life with his easel by his side. He was full of enthusiasm for the beauty of his native region. His love of nature is evident in all his work.
He painted wonderful lyrical landscape scenes. For over half a century, he never failed to impress those who viewed his work with his ability to depict on canvas the charm and majesty of the Siberian grasslands, boreal forests, mountains and rivers.
In his paintings he depicted with great realism the varying moods of the seasons: nature reawakening in spring, the rich colors of autumn and the riot of greenery in summer. Through his art, Gennady Pavlovich Khodak expressed his poetic vision and understanding of the world.
After Fishing depicts a typical landscape in the Mountain Shoria region. The River Usa, reflecting the sky with its spectacular clouds, calmly and unhurriedly follows its winding course between sandy and rocky banks, graceful young birch trees stretch towards the sky, and, in the distance, we see the blueish mountains. Local people are returning from their fishing trip. The painting creates a sense of peace. It is filled with an atmosphere of calm and serenity.
The River Usa, which is shown in the painting, is one of the two rivers in Mezhdurechensk — the ‘Pearl of the Kuzbass’. It begins its journey in Kuznetsk Alatau, not far from the border between Kemerovo region and the Republic of Khakassia, and is a right tributary of the River Tom. Tom is a major river in Western Siberia, which is a right tributary of the Ob, Russia’s second largest river by volume, after the Irtysh. The Shorians, a Turkic people sometimes referred to as “Kuznetsk Tatars”, have lived on the banks of the Tom and Usa for centuries. Traditionally the main industries of this indigenous people were cannon founding and fishing.
The locals used dugout canoes for their fishing trips. A dugout canoe is made from a single, hollowed-out log.
Mountain Shoria’s many rivers are rich in grayling, taimen (a type of salmon), dogfish, orfe and pike. The indigenous Shorian people traditionally caught fish using a kind of net known as an ‘engme’, as well as dip nets and cage-traps, and they even used iron-tipped fishing spears as well as bows and arrows. The fishermen used to surround an area of the river using their boats and, remaining in a circle formation, they used poles to drive the fish until they were exhausted. In his work, Gennady Khodak superbly conveys the richness and majesty of nature in his native region.
He painted wonderful lyrical landscape scenes. For over half a century, he never failed to impress those who viewed his work with his ability to depict on canvas the charm and majesty of the Siberian grasslands, boreal forests, mountains and rivers.
In his paintings he depicted with great realism the varying moods of the seasons: nature reawakening in spring, the rich colors of autumn and the riot of greenery in summer. Through his art, Gennady Pavlovich Khodak expressed his poetic vision and understanding of the world.
After Fishing depicts a typical landscape in the Mountain Shoria region. The River Usa, reflecting the sky with its spectacular clouds, calmly and unhurriedly follows its winding course between sandy and rocky banks, graceful young birch trees stretch towards the sky, and, in the distance, we see the blueish mountains. Local people are returning from their fishing trip. The painting creates a sense of peace. It is filled with an atmosphere of calm and serenity.
The River Usa, which is shown in the painting, is one of the two rivers in Mezhdurechensk — the ‘Pearl of the Kuzbass’. It begins its journey in Kuznetsk Alatau, not far from the border between Kemerovo region and the Republic of Khakassia, and is a right tributary of the River Tom. Tom is a major river in Western Siberia, which is a right tributary of the Ob, Russia’s second largest river by volume, after the Irtysh. The Shorians, a Turkic people sometimes referred to as “Kuznetsk Tatars”, have lived on the banks of the Tom and Usa for centuries. Traditionally the main industries of this indigenous people were cannon founding and fishing.
The locals used dugout canoes for their fishing trips. A dugout canoe is made from a single, hollowed-out log.
Mountain Shoria’s many rivers are rich in grayling, taimen (a type of salmon), dogfish, orfe and pike. The indigenous Shorian people traditionally caught fish using a kind of net known as an ‘engme’, as well as dip nets and cage-traps, and they even used iron-tipped fishing spears as well as bows and arrows. The fishermen used to surround an area of the river using their boats and, remaining in a circle formation, they used poles to drive the fish until they were exhausted. In his work, Gennady Khodak superbly conveys the richness and majesty of nature in his native region.
