ARTISTIC FEATURES OF THE NORTHERN “WHITE NIGHT” MOTIF IN THE LANDSCAPES OF ALEXANDER BORISOV AND LOUIS APOL

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of the color and light atmosphere of the phenomenon of white night in the Far North in the seascapes of the Russian and Northern European art. Attention is drawn to the period from the second third of the 19th century to the first quarter of the 20th century, when scientific and artistic exploration of the Arctic begins to take place on a regular basis. The article shows that the motive of the luminous night at the turn of the century appeared in connection with the appeal of artists to the study of natural contrasts of the Far North. Owing to the comprehending of the monotonous northern landscape, the palette of paintings was enriched with cold light shades of a lightair environment, the artists caught its special glow in the reflections in the water, ice floes and on the snow cover. The article mentions works of art by K. A. Korovin, V. A. Serov, V. V. Perepletchikov, N. V. Pinegin, A. A. Rylov and A. N. Benois, created during their participation in polar expeditions in late XIX and early XX centuries. Attention is drawn to the fact that the painters are branching out from marine pictorial art towards the study of special natural phenomena, such as images of light and dark polar nights, the northern lights, floating ice, fogs and snowy shores. It is carried out an art analysis and comparison of the works of the Russian “artist of eternal ice” Alexander Borisov and the Dutch “winter artist” Louis Apol, who were the first to depict such a phenomenon as a white night in the Far North. But their artistic interpretation of this phenomenon differs. A. Borisov perceives the North as a kind of “living” space in his own experience of figurative-symbolic comprehension of the world order, but at the same time does not lose touch with his realistic painting manner. And L. Apol impartially captures the surrounding nature, remaining in the principles of the features of compositional construction, which are characteristic of late romanticism. The European painter prefers muffled coloring, while on the canvas of the Russian artist, the paints literally ring and glow.