The artistic language of the Oryol painter Andrey Ilyich Kurnakov is strikingly diverse. While his manner of painting changed every year, the commitment to lyrical landscapes — his main theme — remained constant throughout his career.
The painting titled “My Homeland” is one of the most remarkable lyrical epic landscapes in the collection of the Kurnakov Memorial Studio. It demonstrates the artist’s penchant for simplified and minimalistic forms, as well as abstractness and stylization. Despite the artist’s interpretation of the generalized landscape being quite broad and free, it also embodied the symbolic image of his homeland, filled with deep sincerity and truth instead of feigned pompousness.
The canvas depicts a spacious landscape of central Russia. The center of the picture shows a road that starts in the foreground and goes beyond the horizon, creating a perspective. It also divides the canvas into two parts and connects them at the same time. The road, washed out by rains and worn out by car wheels, is painted in broad impasto strokes that even manage to convey the physical sensation of having soft clay underfoot. The same technique is used with the pond to the left of the road. The artist’s beloved birches are mirrored in the blue waters. The grove, meticulously outlined on the shore, has a blurry reflection on the river’s surface rippled by the wind.
Depicting reflections in the water is one of Kurnakov’s signature techniques. Although there is no significant overflow on the right for the birches to reflect in, each small puddle below them still shows a portion of wavery white trunks.
The road leads to the very depths of the horizon that reveal dark silhouettes of buildings. Above all this vast expanse is the broad blue sky with cumulus clouds, ranging in their color from white to dark purple, performed in thick expressive strokes. A hiding sun shines through the clouds, casting both bright patches of light and dark shadows on the ground. The green grass and first spring flowers in the foreground hint at the approaching spring.
The artist admired his homeland and painted it just as he saw it — pure and unassuming, yet full of inner strength and tranquility. With this landscape, he strove to render the very essence of Russia with all its vast lands.
The painting titled “My Homeland” is one of the most remarkable lyrical epic landscapes in the collection of the Kurnakov Memorial Studio. It demonstrates the artist’s penchant for simplified and minimalistic forms, as well as abstractness and stylization. Despite the artist’s interpretation of the generalized landscape being quite broad and free, it also embodied the symbolic image of his homeland, filled with deep sincerity and truth instead of feigned pompousness.
The canvas depicts a spacious landscape of central Russia. The center of the picture shows a road that starts in the foreground and goes beyond the horizon, creating a perspective. It also divides the canvas into two parts and connects them at the same time. The road, washed out by rains and worn out by car wheels, is painted in broad impasto strokes that even manage to convey the physical sensation of having soft clay underfoot. The same technique is used with the pond to the left of the road. The artist’s beloved birches are mirrored in the blue waters. The grove, meticulously outlined on the shore, has a blurry reflection on the river’s surface rippled by the wind.
Depicting reflections in the water is one of Kurnakov’s signature techniques. Although there is no significant overflow on the right for the birches to reflect in, each small puddle below them still shows a portion of wavery white trunks.
The road leads to the very depths of the horizon that reveal dark silhouettes of buildings. Above all this vast expanse is the broad blue sky with cumulus clouds, ranging in their color from white to dark purple, performed in thick expressive strokes. A hiding sun shines through the clouds, casting both bright patches of light and dark shadows on the ground. The green grass and first spring flowers in the foreground hint at the approaching spring.
The artist admired his homeland and painted it just as he saw it — pure and unassuming, yet full of inner strength and tranquility. With this landscape, he strove to render the very essence of Russia with all its vast lands.
