The Snow Maiden in art: how the image of Santa Claus's granddaughter has changed over a century and a half

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

One of the most popular New Year characters and the most beloved by children since the end of the 19th century. and still remains Snow Maiden - a unique image of Russian culture. In the New Year and Christmas mythology of other peoples of the world, there are no such female characters. She was often portrayed in their works by Russian writers, artists, composers, directors. Over a century and a half, the image of the Snow Maiden has changed significantly - from the innocent granddaughter of Santa Claus to sexually aggressive characters from erotic films.

The literary father of the girl who was blinded from the snow is considered A. N. Ostrovsky, who published the play "The Snow Maiden" in 1873. He drew this image from a Russian folk tale. In 1882, an opera by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov was staged based on this play at the Mariinsky Theater. In Ostrovsky's play, the Snow Maiden was not the granddaughter of Santa Claus, but his assistant. Later, she was traditionally portrayed as his granddaughter, but her age constantly varied - she was a little girl, then an adult girl. In some, she looked like a peasant, in others, like the Snow Queen.

The image of the Snow Maiden attracted many artists. V. M. Vasnetsov, developing sketches of costumes for the production at the Russian Private Opera of Savva Mamontov, first portrayed her in a sarafan, bast shoes and with a hoop. Later, in the painting of the same name, he dressed her in a fur coat, mittens and a hat. A. Benois said that it was in this picture that Vasnetsov managed to discover "the law of ancient Russian beauty."

The sketches of scenery and costumes for N. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden were also created by Mikhail Vrubel, and his wife Nadezhda Zabela was the performer of the main opera role. Nicholas Roerich also turned to the design of The Snow Maiden for opera and dramatic scenes four times, he created dozens of sketches and drawings for this production. In the work of 1921, the artist unexpectedly combines Slavic mythology and Eastern influences on it: in the work "Lel and the Snow Maiden" he created an Asian ethnic type of characters. The image of the Snow Maiden was captured in their work by many other artists: K. Korovin, B. Kustodiev, V. Perov, I. Glazunov and others.

The image of the Snow Maiden got its modern look in 1935, when the Soviet authorities allowed to celebrate the New Year, which was previously considered a bourgeois relic, and the Snow Maiden was officially recognized. Then it was decided that the Snow Maiden is Santa Claus's granddaughter. And in 1937 the characters appeared together on the stage at the House of Unions and since then have become inseparable.

The role of the Snow Maiden in the movie was first performed by the actress Evgenia Filonova in 1968. Three years later, Natalia Bogunova played the same role in the film "A Spring Tale". The most attractive actresses of Soviet cinema played the role of the Snow Maiden, creating the image of an unearthly, unearthly beauty.

Since the 2000s. the image of the Snow Maiden began to be exploited in erotic photo shoots and films for adults. Having nothing to do with his prototype, this character became one of the erotic fantasies, along with a nurse, teacher, etc. The main attributes of the image are a deep neckline, a short dress and New Year's paraphernalia. Snow Maiden in the XXI century. became more sexual, but lost its charm and purity.

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