In 1896, during his expedition across Novaya Zemlya, the painter Alexander Borisov visited a busy Nenets settlement on the Pomorskaya Guba bay of the Matochkin Strait. The families that lived there would play a major role in the artist’s life and, specifically, in his expedition undertaken in 1900. Borisov found a warm welcome in the house of Prokopy Vylka, a chief of Novaya Zemlya. The interior of that house is shown in the picture At a Samoyed’s House in Novaya Zemlya, painted on the 31th of August of 1896.
It’s worth to be noted that all the Borisov’s studies have a date, often indicating the day and the month, so the paintings represent a kind of an artist’s diary.
Borisov spent on Matochkin Strait almost two months. During that period, he painted a lot of studies. He was surrounded by uncanny views of the severe Arctic nature, rich with tones and colours. He made friends with the hospitable Nenets people. One of them, a boy named Tyko, about ten years old, followed the artist everywhere, watched him painting studies and willingly ran small errands for him. The young Tyko had a secret desire to try painting himself. The time would come when he would sit at the easel and paint his dear mountains, sea and polar bears.
This may be the only self portrait by Alexander Borisov. In the picture, the artist is talking to the Nenets host (the Nenets people were called Samoyeds at the time). There is a samovar on the table; on the walls, studies by Borisov; on the floor, suitcases and packets. The artist had to wait for the ferry until the 23th of September.
When he was leaving, he gave his young friend a lot of pencils and paper. In some years, Tyko Vylka would become the first Nenets painter and the first chairman of the Island Soviet of Novaya Zemlya.
It’s worth to be noted that all the Borisov’s studies have a date, often indicating the day and the month, so the paintings represent a kind of an artist’s diary.
Borisov spent on Matochkin Strait almost two months. During that period, he painted a lot of studies. He was surrounded by uncanny views of the severe Arctic nature, rich with tones and colours. He made friends with the hospitable Nenets people. One of them, a boy named Tyko, about ten years old, followed the artist everywhere, watched him painting studies and willingly ran small errands for him. The young Tyko had a secret desire to try painting himself. The time would come when he would sit at the easel and paint his dear mountains, sea and polar bears.
This may be the only self portrait by Alexander Borisov. In the picture, the artist is talking to the Nenets host (the Nenets people were called Samoyeds at the time). There is a samovar on the table; on the walls, studies by Borisov; on the floor, suitcases and packets. The artist had to wait for the ferry until the 23th of September.
When he was leaving, he gave his young friend a lot of pencils and paper. In some years, Tyko Vylka would become the first Nenets painter and the first chairman of the Island Soviet of Novaya Zemlya.
