"Amaravella" (Russian: "Амаравелла"; a combination of Sanskrit words; approximate translation: "sprouts of immortality", "light bearers") – the association of Russian cosmist artists (художники-космисты) of the 1923–1930s. Its members included A. P. Sardan (Baranov) (1901-1974), B. A. Smirnov-Rusetsky (1905-1993), P. P. Fateev (1891-1971), S. I. Shigolev (1895-1943), V. T. Chernovolenko (1900-1972), V. N. Pshesetskaya (Runa) (1879-1945/1946) (A. F. Mikuli (1882-1938) and V. I. Yatskevich were temporary participants of the group). The ideas of N. K. Roerich had a significant influence on the philosophical and ideological foundations of artists. The art of the participants of "Amaravella" reflected the cultural trends of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – ideas of symbolism and avant-garde, philosophy of cosmism and intuitivism, a number of religious and mystical movements (theosophy, anthroposophy), Eastern philosophy, ideas of philosophers of life.
Formation
In 1922, the artists group was founded by Fateyev, a painter who was then 32 years old. The name Amaravella, however, was introduced in 1928 when Sardan coined it based from a Sanskrit word that means "bearing light" or "creative energy".
Style
Ideologically the group belonged to the Russian cosmism movement. It embraced a range of ideas and artistic approaches that explored cosmic harmony. The artists, who lived in a commune, were heavily influenced by the ancient East's works, as well as those of Helena Blavatsky, Nicholas Roerich, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, and Victor Borisov-Musatov.
Like M. Sokolov and V. Komarovskiy, members of the Amaravella were persecuted because their work did not conform to the "socialist realism" style prescribed for Soviet art. Particularly, their works were categorized as "formalism" through the 1932 decree On Restructuring Literary and Artistic Organizations, which repressed creative freedom.
Works
Several paintings of the Amaravella artists were collected by Iury Linnik, who claimed to be a cosmist poet and philosopher, and Igor Savitsky.
References
- ^ Siddiqi, Asif A. (2010). The Red Rockets' Glare: Spaceflight and the Russian Imagination, 1857-1957. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780521897600.
- Ibbotson, Sophie; Lovell-Hoare, Max (2016). Uzbekistan. Guilford, CT: Bradt Travel Guides. p. 256. ISBN 9781784770174.
- ^ "Gallery". www.savitskycollection.org.
- Rosenthal, Bernice Glatzer (1997). The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Cornell University Press. pp. 199. ISBN 080148331X.