Afanasy Osipov painted ‘Munkha Is Feast of the Ice Fishing of a Crucian Carp’ in 1985. Munkha is traditional ice fishing on taiga lakes. Ice fishing is a complex and arduous process that requires synchronized efforts.
The Sakha people perceived the event both as a collective action and a real large-scale celebration. Participants in crucian ice fishing often brought along their families or even inhabitants of whole villages from far-off districts of Yakutia. This tradition is still extant in the Sakha culture.
For his painting, Osipov chose a circular multifigured composition with an ice hole in the center and people crowding around it. In the foreground one can see fish beaters converging to the center at a signal.
They have poles and sticks in their hands, with the help of these tools, the participants intensively tap the ice, which drives crucians to the ice hole into the net. The crowd in the middle of the circle is lowering the nets into the hole and people in the background are sorting the catch. They are facing a golden pile of freshly-caught fish.
People in the picture are placed both in groups and on their own. A detailed examination reveals that the artist created dozens of character types and individuals of all ages. This complex and multidimensional composition contributes dynamics to the scene, creates a sensation of motion.
The coloristic solution of the painting is based on rich color range - the artist uses various colors: white, blue, brown, yellow, red and green. Nevertheless, he toned down the bright colors, made them less saturated to avoid gaudiness and create harmony of colors.
The creator of ‘Munkha Is Feast of the Ice Fishing of a Crucian Carp’ is well known outside Yakutia. Osipov was a student of the Moscow State Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov. A year after graduation, he became member of the Union of Artists. From 1964 he was regularly elected to the Union Executive board.
The painter had a wide range of interests in his artwork – he used various genres and forms. Some of his paintings are now exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg, in private collections in Russia and abroad.
