The exhibition features works of Afanasy Osipov who was a Yakut painter, People’s Artist of the USSR, and academician of the Russian Academy of Arts. His works were presented at various all-union and all-Russian exhibitions, as well as in expositions abroad. Osipov’s paintings are stored in the State Tretyakov gallery, the State Russian Museum, and private collections in Russia and abroad.
The artist traveled to different countries and from each trip brought a series of paintings and sketches.
Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Buryatia, the Himalayas, and Altai appear in the artist’s landscapes as a beautiful world of steppes and mountains that keeps the secrets of the birth and migration of the ancient peoples of Asia. The series “Along the Altai Mountains” is an aesthetically subtle landscape composition that captures the breathtaking beauty of the nature of the “golden land”. After all, this is how the word “Altai” is translated. According to another version, it is translated as “main mountains”, where “al” means “main”, and “tai” means “top”. The series “Along the Altai Mountains” also includes the following works, namely: “Source of the Biya River”, “Spring on Biya”, “Pines on the River Bank”, and “Near Teletskoye Lake”. All the works captured not only the beautiful views of the “golden land”, but also conveyed a special mystical spirit of the sacred place for the inhabitants.
The artist traveled to different countries and from each trip brought a series of paintings and sketches.
Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Buryatia, the Himalayas, and Altai appear in the artist’s landscapes as a beautiful world of steppes and mountains that keeps the secrets of the birth and migration of the ancient peoples of Asia. The series “Along the Altai Mountains” is an aesthetically subtle landscape composition that captures the breathtaking beauty of the nature of the “golden land”. After all, this is how the word “Altai” is translated. According to another version, it is translated as “main mountains”, where “al” means “main”, and “tai” means “top”. The series “Along the Altai Mountains” also includes the following works, namely: “Source of the Biya River”, “Spring on Biya”, “Pines on the River Bank”, and “Near Teletskoye Lake”. All the works captured not only the beautiful views of the “golden land”, but also conveyed a special mystical spirit of the sacred place for the inhabitants.
Thus choosing for most of his landscapes an elongated horizontal format, the artist proceeded from the features of the Northern landscape and installation on the concept of an epic landscape. The concept of an epic landscape includes quite clearly defined features of a romantic, heroic, and sublimely ideal landscape. The image of it in the usual, shortened format looks fragmentary and incomplete. Afanasy Osipov preferred to paint multi-dimensional and large-format paintings, such as mountainous or valley views with woodlands, lakes, and bends of rivers and streams. The appeal of the artist’s landscapes is largely due to the expressive composition, as well as unity and harmony of colors. Due to the combination of golden shades of foliage and azure-blue sky, the color of the canvas conveys the freshness and crystal clarity of the day, and the coolness of the mountain air.
