The artist Vladimir Igoshev worked in various genres: he painted portraits and self-portraits, worked on landscapes and genre paintings. This painting was created many years after his first visit to the taiga village Suevatpaul. With its white, blue and purple mist, surrounding the forest and the people, the landscape reminds of a wonderful mirage, where the details vanish and only the general colourful impression stays. Thanks to the vague silhouettes and texture of the painting the vast amount of snow on the ground, trees and houses looks light, cottony and soft. In order to highlight the greatness of nature, the artist made the people’s figures small.
In 1954 the artist started his journey to the North. In the Mansi village Burmantovo on the Western side of the Ural mountain range he met the hunter and reindeer breeder Stepan Kurikov. This meeting had a significant influence on the artist’s future. The reindeer breeder didn’t just agree to be his model, but also invited Vladimir Igoshev to visit his home village Suevatpaul. In Mansi language it means “the windswept village standing on the edge of the forest”. The artist wrote in his memoirs: “It was the first Mansi village in my life. The first thing that impressed me was the fact that there was so much snow around I couldn”t comprehend how people used to live among all that snow.” Nowadays nobody lives in Suevatpaul. According to its former citizens, a Mansi shaman cursed the village and the menkv settled in its surroundings. In the Mansi mythology menkv is a giant forest cannibal. At night menkv used to go to the village and scared its inhabitants. It was believed that menkvs lived in the forest with their families and made their living by hunting. They always traveled on foot. The Sosva Mansi believed that menkvs lived in their own villages governed by patriarchs, and paid the fee to their prince Mir-susne-hum. In the Sosva area menkvs were considered the forefathers of the forest people.
In 1954 the artist started his journey to the North. In the Mansi village Burmantovo on the Western side of the Ural mountain range he met the hunter and reindeer breeder Stepan Kurikov. This meeting had a significant influence on the artist’s future. The reindeer breeder didn’t just agree to be his model, but also invited Vladimir Igoshev to visit his home village Suevatpaul. In Mansi language it means “the windswept village standing on the edge of the forest”. The artist wrote in his memoirs: “It was the first Mansi village in my life. The first thing that impressed me was the fact that there was so much snow around I couldn”t comprehend how people used to live among all that snow.” Nowadays nobody lives in Suevatpaul. According to its former citizens, a Mansi shaman cursed the village and the menkv settled in its surroundings. In the Mansi mythology menkv is a giant forest cannibal. At night menkv used to go to the village and scared its inhabitants. It was believed that menkvs lived in the forest with their families and made their living by hunting. They always traveled on foot. The Sosva Mansi believed that menkvs lived in their own villages governed by patriarchs, and paid the fee to their prince Mir-susne-hum. In the Sosva area menkvs were considered the forefathers of the forest people.
