On the meaning and novelty of impressionistic thinking on the example of Russian animalistic sculpture of the late XIX – early XX centuries

Abstract

This article dwells on consideration of Russian animalistic sculpture of the late XIX – early XX centuries, representing a new plastic thinking and figurative system. This important historical period, that was marked by the development of Russian impressionism in sculpture, had a fruitful effect on animalistic plastics. By this time, the animalistic sculptural genre, which had fully established itself in its stylistic figurative system, at the turn of the century had experienced something new. We are talking about fresh way o thinking and look as at the plastic itself as at the object of the image. Sculpture has never been of such a «dynamic» quality and the animal image in sculpture has never been perceived so fleetingly before. ЗHere is a figurative concept that encompasses all the fine lines of the semantic significance of animalistic plastics. It is characterized, first of all, by the fact that the image begins to acquire greater symbolic ambiguity and meaningful subtlety. The main purpose of this article is to пTo track the meaning and the novelty of impressionistic thinking in animalistics by the example of the works of A. Golubkina, P. Trubetskoy, N. Andreev, V. Domogatsky. It’s noted that the novelty of the impressionistic thinking in animal sculpture is based on a «movable» plastic and «metamorphoses» impressionistic thinking in animal sculpture is based on “movable” plastic and “metamorphoses” of the sculpture shape and the process, which takes place in animalistics, reflects a significant side of the development of Russian sculpture of the late XIX – early XX centuries, opening up new perspectives and solutions.