Notwithstanding all this, the Volga realistic landscape, depicting the different states of the great river at different times of the year and day, still remained the main theme of Weber’s art. These lyrical and epic landscapes, reminiscent to a certain extent of Levitan’s mood landscapes or canvases filled with an epic feeling, were the conceptual framework of the artist’s work.
The artist painted his works, as a rule, not in the
studio, but directly from life, and his working technique allowed him to
preserve the quick application of colors and vividness of the brushstroke. Weber,
working from life, did not create the illusion of completeness of the form,
but, on the contrary, sought to sharply emphasize its incompleteness, not
hiding the brushstroke, but revealing it to convey not only the movement of
light and shadow, but also the agitation of the soul. Weber’s palette, based on
the effects of the light and air environment seen in plein air, creates a sense
of authenticity of the artist’s experiences. The horizon line divides the
canvas into two parts. The foreground is occupied by the gentle Volga shore
with green grass and sparse shrubbery. The sun sets over the Volga water beyond
the horizon, enveloping golden cirrus clouds. The Engels artists, especially
Yakov Weber’s students, were also attracted to this motif of a quiet summer
sunset, and later repeated it in their works.
