Memorial diptych on Verkhnyaya Maslovka: a reason for reflection

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

Memory tool

Memorial plaques, which gained particular popularity in the 20th century (more than 1,600 of them were installed in Moscow alone), are of a synthetic nature. They have signs not only of spatial and plastic arts (sculpture, architecture, design), but also philological, historical disciplines (epigraphy, chronology), monuments, and are a significant aspect of cultural, socio-political problems. The greatest attention is paid to memorial plaques in current research of the culture of memory, commemoration. Being visual, public, laconic-capacious, dynamic artifacts, capable not only of presenting facts, meanings, but also generating symbols, they occupy a separate place among the practices of monumental commemoration.

Solemn unveiling of commemorative plaques become resonant events that activate historical and cultural ties. Their purposeful impact on society is bright, instant, motivating. It is no coincidence that the representative possibilities of memorial plaques were actively exploited by the young Soviet government within the framework of the project of "monumental propaganda". These works of the first post-revolutionary years in the strict sense of the word cannot be called memorial - they performed the function of an agitation leaflet in relief format, although at times they appealed to memory by citing aphorisms, proverbs and sayings, capturing iconic historical figures. However, it was precisely from those times that the tradition of combining image and text in a memorial sign began. It is then that a combination of art, science, politics and mass culture occurs, aimed at the large-scale implementation of commemorative functions (popularization, mythologization, integration, identification, socialization, etc.).

It should be noted that further work on the execution of such complex interdisciplinary tasks did not go without losses, primarily in the most visual - the artistic part. With the extinction of the romance of the revolution, bright creative experiments with commemorative signs ended. During the years of Soviet power, which monopolized the policy of memory, memorial plaques turned into duty signs with a typical set of expressive means in various combinations: a small rectangle of a plinth, a short biographical text, a relief portrait (head or bust), explaining the attributes. Placed on the walls of buildings, such small-format, mostly poorly readable signs, not always able to compete with street advertising, are often lost in the urban space. Their communicative properties are low, the impact is reduced, respectively, the possibilities of memory regulation are practically leveled.

Of course, among the Soviet memorial plaques, mostly executed professionally, there are bright, successful artistic solutions, expressive images, subtle stylistic moves. But they do not always manage to deviate from the established canons, violate the hierarchy of the socialist pantheon, where even prominent figures occupied a subordinate position in the mythologized construct of the state. The relative simplicity and material availability of manufacturing contributed to the transformation of commemorative plaques into a simple, convenient and widespread instrument of the nomenclature in the matter of compensating for the "lack of humanity." Put on stream, they practically lost the author, passed into the category of a mass anonymous product, thereby exchanging exclusivity for average. In a series of monotonous forms and types, the specificity of the hero's image was leveled. And laconic texts, not much different from grave inscriptions, could not decode the personality, signify its depth.

Probably, it is precisely such "reduced" qualities that have become the reason that, with rare exceptions, memorial plaques are of more interest to sociologists than to art critics who do not find deep artistic problems here. Some optimism is inspired by the changes of recent years, which have slowly penetrated into this highly conservative area. Most often, the outlines of the skirting vary, complicated by breaks, gaps, and border crossings, through surface breakthroughs, combinations of relief types, multi-scale images, environmental solutions, detailed plots that help to get away from the “cemetery” imagery appear. However, such searches often turn into an overload of plastics, an abundance and discord of forms, and didactics.

Least of all, innovations concern two very significant aspects: text and architectonics. The content of the text really cannot radically change, since there are immutable genre obligations of naming, identification, memorialization, but the art of type, which opens up wide opportunities for figurative stylization of inscriptions, deserves more attention than is usually given to it in modern commemorative signs. The issues of connection of memorial plaques with the receiving surface are also solved without special achievements: tectonics, scale, proportioning, formatting, rhythmic and stylistic coordination with architecture. For the most part, the boards look like a kind of "patches" on the walls of buildings, and even simple correspondences to given divisions or modules, "binding" to facade elements remain isolated cases.

Architectonics

Paired memorial plaques to Geliy Korzhev and Alexei Gritsai, works by Ivan Korzhev, are remarkable for the particular attention paid to the relationship between sculpture and architecture. The result of comprehending these connections was a non-standard solution that takes into account both the image and the structure of the building, and with the benefit of the sculptural image - it became allowed, even necessary, to become larger and more active.

For the first time, large-format vertical memorial signs were placed not on the walls, but on the pilasters of the outer framing of the entrance group. Bronze rectangles with height figures in low relief, designed as thin overlays, do not increase the volume of massive external pilasters. The lower edges of the boards are limited by their bases, and the upper ones, not reaching the capitals, are aligned with the cornice of the inner frame of the door. A well-thought-out format linked to architectural joints, a measure of relief found that does not violate the tectonics of the wall by unnecessary plastic effects and is consonant with the strict cladding of the facade - all this allows achieving organic unity with the body of the building, really, and not nominally following the laws of monumental and decorative sculpture.

As you know, an indicator of the consistency of monumental and decorative sculpture is not only the subordination of the composition and the image of architecture, but also the introduction of additional - formal, semantic structures. The authors obviously set themselves such tasks. The already unusual choice of the zone for the placement of reliefs indicates the intention to engage in the modeling of new meanings. Metaphorical architectural details, which are pilasters, symbolizing the work of the supporting structure, have retained, but have complicated their functions. Due to the fact that the monoliths of light gray granite turned out to be "cut" by inserts of dark bronze to match the entrance door, they ceased to be perceived as heavy masses and fragmented like ruins, thereby changing the status of the metaphor of the column to its simulacrum. The obvious sympathy for the language of classical forms is realized here without any conservatism, quite in the spirit of the postmodernist game of distorted reality.

Such games do not in the least contradict the established image of building "B" (the project name of the house No. 3 of the famous Artists' Town on Maslovka). Built later than the rest of the buildings, in 1949-1954, it ended up with a different, no longer constructivist style, noticeable primarily in the design of the street facade. Equilibrium, imposing and austere, it is full of allusive motives: cornice with brackets, arch, rusticum, pilasters, platbands, panels with vegetable stucco molding, acanthus frieze, embossed wreaths. Of course, there is no trace of irony in the rethinking of the classical heritage proposed by the architects V. F. Krinsky and L. M. Lysenko. However, the casual experience of pairing the project of the era of constructivism with the classicizing tendencies of the post-war period can be assessed tactically akin to postmodern practices.

Semantics

The semantic structure of the entrance group was used no less ingeniously. The doubled framing of the front door, hinting at the tradition of decorating a stepped portal, received additional figurative and semantic associations thanks to the reliefs. The figurative images flanking the entrance are traditionally perceived by guardians - apotropae. Playing the role of defenders (amulets), they can simultaneously perform the functions of warning and intimidation, represent power and greatness - as the most famous anti-shedu apotropes, or the most popular guards of all time, lions. By default, the profile figures of memorial plaques on Maslovka are endowed with the same apotropic meanings.

The rethinking of the established tradition of monumental and decorative sculpture, the use of its semantics in a different, memorial way, is not without collisions. If necessary, the signs of intimidation and triumphant intonations are ignored, the plastic activity of the form is reduced, ornamental stylization is excluded. The elongated verticals of the plinths, the delicate work in low relief, the restrained postures and gestures of the depicted tune in to calm, thoughtful contemplation. Divided by the doorway, the figures of the diptych are at the same time united and separate. The left (Helia Korzheva) is hermetic, “heroic”, presents power and depth, the right (Aleksey Gritsai) is open, “lyrical”, disposed to sensuality and responsiveness. Complementary, didactic-free images are rich in potentials of meanings, which the attentive viewer is free to discover at his own discretion. But one cannot but appreciate the symbolic inversion: the threat of the potential action of traditional apotropes is replaced here by an invitation to reflection, the impulse of fear - by the attraction of personalities. They take possession of the physical and emotional space. Thus, already at the first perception, without immersion in the essence of the depicted persons, it becomes clear that these are not just portraits of recently living contemporaries, but symbolic and symbolic figures.

The appeal to the past, the renewal of the traditional formal plastic structure and semantics make it possible to establish a connection between times. The next impulse to conceptualization is provided by the text typed in display sans serif. The expressiveness of the typeface in the “revolutionary agitprop” style is built on voluminous geometry, quadratic proportions, and broad “poster” strokes. The romance of the impulse and the persuasive force read in typography extend their influence to the images themselves, signifying their implicit but essential nature. The solid lines of force of the monumental type successfully complement the delicate, detailed sculpture of the reliefs, declare the presence of a powerful core in every person represented - not just large, but certainly significant for history and culture.

The texts are moderately informative and laconic: "People's Artist of the USSR Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev lived and worked in this house from 1956 to 2012" and "People's Artist of the USSR Alexei Mikhailovich Gritsai lived and worked in this house from 1955 to 1998". Aged in strict accordance with the laws of the genre, the inscriptions are brought to life by scaling. Different size sizes are wisely used to emphasize and highlight the main thing - surnames that are well known not only to connoisseurs, but also to a wide range of art lovers. After reading the text, the viewer returns to the presented persons who are already quite knowledgeable and can read them in a new way, comparing the meanings of the images and the building, which is at the same time a monument of architecture and history and culture. This building is not just functional, but meaningful. Despite all the changes in the reputation of the "art ship" on Maslovka, from the beautiful dream of a free creative commune to the status habitat of painters, graphic artists and sculptors, the City of Artists retains the authority of a lover of traditions. The figures of Geliy Korzhev and Aleksey Gritsai, taken to the entrance portal of house No. 3, take on the significance of strategic outposts of art.

Context

By the time the diptych was opened, the facade of the house was not a sterile architectural space. Memorial plaques to such artists and sculptors as Yevgeny Kibrik, Semyon Chuikov, Mikhail Baburin, Arkady Plastov, Efrem Zverkov were previously installed on its walls. Quite conservative in form, they made up a series of signs, justified by place and meaning, but random in their set and composition. The bright, accent sound of the two vertical reliefs made it possible to organize this discordant chorus into a polyphonic unity. Falling into the attraction of large forms, smaller boards scattered across the facade acquire the appearance of a centered, aligned integrity. Each plaque leads a separate party, telling about its hero. Taken together, we get a kind of artist's dictionary, accented with capital letters (diptych boards), but without an ending, open for continuation. The composition has the potential for expansion and any new commemorative sign - large or small, provided it is correctly scaled, can be organically integrated into the existing structure.

The establishment of a formal plastic dominant should not be equated with a claim to an ideological absolute just because Geliy Korzhev and Aleksey Gritsai were not like-minded people. They worked in different genres and styles, occupied different artistic positions, expressed dissimilar ideas, had excellent creative manners, therefore they are quite rightly represented as separate-divided. Although the profile figures are rhymed and turned towards each other, they not only do not move towards each other, but are also devoid of visual contact, and are not tuned in to dialogue. The massive portal makes the isolation physically palpable. Selected personalities can be united, perhaps, only speculatively, say, by the concept of "artistic tradition" or the criterion of "professionalism". Accordingly, there can be no strict qualifications, no hierarchical levels, no communication requirements for persons whose memorial plaques already exist or are supposed to.

The prospects for expanding the "vocabulary of Maslovka artists" are very broad. It is rash to believe that the Town of Artists was a stronghold of the officialdom. As befits any viable organism, it accumulated diverse streams of art, existed in a dynamic dialectic of tradition and innovation, in the provocative neighborhood of academics and nonconformists. In addition to those mentioned above, masters who offered various measures of visual depiction worked here - from Igor Grabar, Sergei Gerasimov, Mikhail Grekov and Fyodor Reshetnikov to Yuri Pimenov, Dmitry Mochalsky, Nikolai Romadin, David Dubinsky, Alexander Grube, Ekaterina Belashova. But also desperate experimenters: Vladimir Tatlin, Vadim Sidur, Vladimir Lemport, Alexey Tyapushkin, Alexander Maksimov. And many others.

With all the differences in conditions, possibilities, results, the very fact of the existence of such a discordant community colored the genius loci of Upper Maslovka with invariably new, incredibly rich, ebullient tones. Dissimilar individuals formed a mosaic picture of Moscow artistic life, and this historical and cultural fact, significant and valuable, is certainly worthy of grateful memory. But even for categorically minded viewers who are not ready to appreciate the polyphonism of the creative atmosphere, the relevance of a place that is fully correlated with the well-known "double code" of postmodernism should be obvious - modernity (socialization), on the one hand, and tradition (professionalism), on the other. The original solution of the memorial diptych to Korzhev and Gritsai, as one could see, is quite consistent with this paradigm. Moreover, it represents it through quite visual, concrete forms in a layer-by-layer disclosure of meanings.

Paired memorial plaques on Verkhnyaya Maslovka “G. M. Korzhev and A. M. Gritsai”not only best meets the specifics of the genre, adequately performing commemorative functions, systematically following the laws of architectonics, but also significantly pushing the boundaries of these standards. They bring the traditional type of memorial sign to a new level of meaningfulness, actualize a wide context that surpasses the periods of life of the named persons in semantic and temporal coverage, and encourage reflection. Undoubtedly, the heuristic solution proposed by the authors - Ivan Korzhev and Konstantin Arabchikov, opens up prospects for the renewal of the genre as a whole.