"Stationary Composition in the Works of Kyrgyz Masters"

Masters of Stationary Sculpture

A sign of maturity in sculpture in Kyrgyzstan is the intense development of sculptural composition. In this genre, the figurative and compositional-plastic tasks have significantly complicated, marking a transition to a new level of artistic generalization of life phenomena, the construction of sculptural form, and mastery of traditional and modern materials.

In this sphere, the talents of sculptors have been revealed quite fully and uniquely. A significant contribution to the development of compositional sculpture was made by Turgunbay Sadykov. Following his youthful works, which have not lost their artistic charm over time, such as "Shepherd Boy" (1958, wood) and "Mother" (1959, plastic), the sculptor creates in the same directly lyrical vein the compositions "Kyrgyz Boy-Fisherman" (1960, wood), "Native Melody" (1962, plaster), "Rest on the Way" (1965, wood), where the typical aspects of folk life, psychology, and character are conveyed, and where the emotional state of a person is connected with the environment and the entire life rhythm of rural Kyrgyzstan. These works are immediate, intimate, and melodious in their plastic structure, existing in a special space enveloped in warm air and soft light.

At the same time, in Sadykov's work, already in the 1960s, other, more complex lines emerged, indicating the significance and social activity of his creative personality. He turned to reflections on the modern progress of his people's life and what valuable heritage has been accumulated over the centuries and should not be forgotten.

The sculptor widely embraced and embodied in his plastic works the revolutionary liberating pathos of our era and its humanitarian ideals. Possessing versatility, a gift for penetrating into the life and historical material, into the world of human psychology, as well as the ability for large artistic generalization, Sadykov made a defining contribution to the development of modern sculpture in Kyrgyzstan.

He created dozens of sculptural compositions, which, along with his portrait sculpture, became an important link in the forming national plastic art. Sadykov's role in the creation of the Kyrgyz plastic school was emphasized by N. Tomsky: "The Kyrgyz plastic art owes its birth and rapid growth to the talent of Turgunbay Sadykov. He is the first national sculptor. Sadykov carries this responsibility with dignity. He has developed the foundations, convincing signs of a modern national sculptural language, and has begun a significant and important work in creating a Kyrgyz sculptural school.

Sadykov's search for plastic expressiveness is combined with the mastery of important themes for the Kyrgyz people, penetrating into the international problems of modernity. For an artist reflecting on the historical fate and spiritual heritage of the Kyrgyz people, it is natural to turn to the image of the akyn Toktogul Satylganov — the greatest representative of Kyrgyz culture during a pivotal era, the singer of the revolution. The theme of Toktogul is embodied in a series of compositions that reveal the charm of the personality and the extraordinary improvisational gift of the beloved poet and musician. These include "Zataevich Listens to Toktogul" (1962, plastic), "Youth of Toktogul" (1965, plaster), "Meeting of Toktogul with His Mother" (1965, plaster). They do not yet possess the future refinement of mastery, but they exhibit the boldness of compositional statements of a thinking sculptor, the uniqueness of his plastic feeling and figurative representations.

This cycle is complemented by works inspired by the enduring impressions of Kyrgyz folk music, such as "Kumuzist" (1966, plaster), "Kiyakchi" (1967, chamotte), "Musician" (1967, plaster). They are endowed with a subtle plastic rhythm and carry echoes of the astonishment experienced by the sculptor from listening to folk musicians — kumuzist Erkesary, kiyachchi Datka, flutist Karimov, and others.

The theme of modern musical culture in Kyrgyzstan is raised in the composition "Conductor" (1966, plastic).

The tense pose of the artist, the gesture of the hands, the plasticity of the face convey his excitement, concentration of feelings before the performance. Here, Sadykov's acquaintance with the chamber line of Soviet sculpture, with the works of V. Domogatsky, A. Golubkina, E. Belashova, is reflected.

An original plastic interpretation of the eternal theme of the interconnection between man and the land that nourished him, the theme of folk memory, was found in Sadykov's work. Thoughts about the past and present, about the folk forms of art, about the stones of the nomadic camps of yurts, in which the artist saw the "prasculpture" of Kyrgyzstan, permeate the cycle "Stones of the Ages" (1967—1970, chamotte). "Reflections on the Past," "Male Head," "Girl's Head," "Woman," and other works of the cycle are stylized in the form of boulders with their fluid silhouettes, rough texture, and complex color. They are decorative, but at the same time possess a charge of epic imagery. "In one case, I wanted to convey the beauty of an ancient national attire, in another — the knightly stature of a Kyrgyz warrior, in the third — our historical connection with the stones of the ages." This idea was quite fully realized by the sculptor.

In his "stones," one can see as if weathered, half-erased faces of distant ancestors, which, on the one hand, evoke a sense of epic antiquity, and on the other, provoke sad thoughts about the departed generations, about the stagnation of social development of the Kyrgyz people in the eras preceding the Great October, about the painful wait for a better fate in conditions of feudal-clan enmity, isolation from other peoples, and struggles against foreign invasions.

The leading theme of Sadykov's work is undoubtedly the revival of the Kyrgyz people to a new life in the socialist era, labor, the beauty of ancient and modern professions. This was vividly expressed in the landmark composition for the sculptor "Tabunshchik" (1967, metal), which, like "Conductor," demonstrated the ability of the young sculptor to see the national character in its historical development, in connection with the progressive ideas of the time.

The figure of a Kyrgyz youth with broad shoulders and a bold face is perceived as a symbol of the beginning of a new life — free and just. Here, there is both the breadth of figurative generalization and the precise feeling of the plastic character of the national type, about which E. Belashova spoke during her stay in Kyrgyzstan: "...you Kyrgyz have completely different proportions. The placement of the head, the bend of the body — different. The stance — different. An unparalleled gait... This is your wealth. In this lies the uniqueness, the source of national plasticity."

The works "Builders" (1966, plaster), "Worker" (1969, welded metal), "Shepherd" (1980, hammered copper), endowed with varying degrees of plastic expressiveness, testify to the diversity of the sculptor's ideas, the decisiveness and flexibility of his craftsmanship. He knows how to draw lessons from his creative experience, developing what is more organic for him, what corresponds to his individuality. By the 1970s, it became evident that Sadykov was a sculptor of broad epic scope, possessing stable-harmonic, generalized thinking, for which a strict, classically clear form is most suitable. At the same time, his mature works, like his early ones, possess a special emotional subtext, spirituality, lyrical intonation, stemming from the uniqueness of the psychological makeup of the artist himself, his feelings and experiences. There is also a noticeable increase in new qualities of spatial thinking in his work, a movement towards monumental multi-figure composition. The sculptural group "Builders" (1970, plaster) with its monolithic statuary, rhythmic organization, and expressive comparison of frontal and lateral perspectives foreshadowed the flourishing of the sculptor's monumental talent.

Zaour Alexandrovich Khabibulin has revealed himself in thematic sculptural compositions. Within the walls of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture named after I. E. Repin, he became acquainted with the strict plastic system of A. Matveev. But by nature, this artist is impulsive, versatile, inclined to experiment with form and material. In his works, attention to issues of architectonics, constructive expressiveness of form often competes with emotionality, a tendency towards mobility and pictorial effect of the plastic language.

Khabibulin drew his lessons from the creative experience of L. Mesarosh, O. Manuilova, and the achievements of the entire young professional art of Kyrgyzstan with its orientation towards strong realistic traditions, closeness to folk life. Immersing himself in Kyrgyz reality and perfecting his craft, he follows an independent creative path, creating original works that contribute to the development of plastic culture in the republic. A characteristic feature of his creative style is an acute interest in form, its rhythmic and spatial organization, emotional fullness. Possessing a natural sense of plasticity, refined during his years of study, he freely operates with compositional means, sculptural mass, silhouette, and can convey the impulse, mood, and lively character of the model. Over the years, the sculptor has developed his plastic language — mobile, liberated, capable of conveying both the complete spatial existence of form and its light, elusive movement. Khabibulin works in a variety of traditional and modern materials, successfully overcoming their resistance, revealing expressiveness and possibilities of interaction with form. He is particularly fond of those materials that can preserve and suggest the textured painting of sculpture, the richness of its light-shadow play. In Khabibulin's sculptures, the material, as a rule, actively interacts with the form, and each of his works has no variants in material.

From the very first creative steps, Khabibulin succeeded in small-form sculpture. He created sharply characterized compositions, not devoid of plot exoticism. Such works as "Rest" (1968, chamotte), "Old Man" (1968, wood, fig. 228), "Old Man on a Donkey" (1969, chamotte) are widely exhibited. Particularly colorful is "Old Man," ruffled, inaccessible in his stubbornness and arrogance. The engaging plots, compositional freshness, and expressiveness of the plastic language distinguish the small, executed in chamotte compositions of 1982 — "Evening. Gapar Aitiev," "Kamensky," "Return," "Those Who Go," "Old Man on a Donkey," and others, vividly conveying the character of the model and the landscape motif. They reflect a wide amplitude of the artist's attitude towards the depicted — from soft lyricism to sarcastic grotesque.

The composition "High-Riser. Echo" (1969, welded iron) sounded sharply modern at the time, where the sculptor managed to convey his feeling of a new, industrial Kyrgyzstan, the image of the young working class, the labor intensity of everyday life, and the sunny environment. The work received positive reviews from critics: "The emphasized dynamism of the pose and the plastic solution of the figure show the sculptor's power over such unyielding material as welded iron. Khabibulin makes iron soft and plastic, or preserves its sharpness and angularity. Here, rhythm and expressiveness of volumes are the rightly chosen means for conveying the figurative content, and the content is strength, courage, perhaps even the daring of a dangerous profession.

Khabibulin created a number of unique sculptural compositions, in which he rose to the level of artistic understanding of characteristic phenomena of Kyrgyz life with its common-Soviet foundations, original culture, and traditions. Among them is the work "Acrobats" (1972, welded iron), shown at the International Art Exhibition in Leipzig in honor of the Olympic Games. It is dedicated to the young Kyrgyz circus and creates a cohesive artistic impression. The elegant, rhythmically expressive verticality of the composition is created by the richly developed plasticity of the movements of two naked youthful figures, marked by national character in their faces and proportions. The balance of movement and at the same time its fragility, the volitional concentration and artistic ease of the acrobats merge into a single festive image of the circus performance.

"Khabibulin's work is poetic, profound in content, and modern in techniques," said the strict critic S. A. Chuykov about "Acrobats."

The composition "Hospitality" (1973, wood) is permeated with respect for Kyrgyz culture and folk customs.

The figure of an elderly Kyrgyz woman with a bowl in her hand is resolved as a solid calm volume with an expressively worked surface. It expresses the spiritual health of the people, their kindness, and hospitality. A different, dramatic image is created in the sculpture "Cholponbay Tuleberdiev" (1975, copper, hammered). The heroism of Ch. Tuleberdiev, who performed the same feat as A. Matrosov, is interpreted here as a theme of morality. For the sculptor, it was important to show through the self-sacrifice of the young man the triumph of the high morality of the Soviet person, the civic pathos. This composition arose as a stationary version of a monumental composition created by Khabibulin for the memorial complex at the hero's homeland. It possesses all the qualities of a stationary work, primarily the psychological persuasiveness of the image, enclosed in an originally developed plastic form.

In recent years, the sculptor has created several single-figure compositions of a genre plan. One of them — "Boy with a Ball" (1979, wood) arose under the impression of the works of A. Matveev. In the composition "Worker" (1981, wood), the problem of combining broad plastic generalization, typification, and truthful transmission of the individual in the appearance and character of a person is resolved. The free positioning of the figure with characteristic proportions, the emphasized features of the face create an impression of energy, decisiveness, and youthful enthusiasm of the woman, behind whom stands an invisible broad background of modern folk life. The sculpture "Going" (1984, aluminum) is peculiar, somewhat overly monumentalized in size, but interesting in compositional freedom, breadth in conveying movement, free interaction with space, as well as viscous pictorial modeling. In working on it, Khabibulin was inspired by the vivid artistic nature of Kyrgyz writer K. Dzhusubaliev. However, becoming engrossed in modeling the extremely characteristic figure of the writer, the sculptor touched little upon his spiritual richness. The sculpture, attracting attention with the external expressiveness of the form, leaves an impression of an unrevealed image. At the same time, this figurative composition is interesting for its major mood, improvisational quality, and slight grotesqueness of form. It is also intriguing as an attempt by the author to create a work in the spirit of decorative-expressive searches of modern European plastic art with its tendency towards active interaction with space.

The works of Khabibulin created in the last two decades, like those of Sadykov, affirm the maturity of Kyrgyz sculpture, the fruitfulness and diversity of its modern development along a realistic path. The creativity of these two sculptors, so dissimilar in style of artistic thinking and the range of figurative-plastic tasks, complementing each other, reveal the main trends of modern Kyrgyz plastic art, "creating such a range and level of creative searches that gives a special uniqueness to the Kyrgyz school of sculpture."

With a serious claim to creativity in the field of sculptural composition, sculptors Viktor Arnoldovich Shestopal and Albek Mukhtidinov emerged in the 1960s, working for some time in creative collaboration. They created a successfully composed and clearly detailed multi-figure equestrian group "The 20s" (1969, metal), which conveys the images of people and the atmosphere of the civil war in an expanded narrative. Another joint work — "Contemporaries" (1969, metal) — also possesses good plastic qualities, conveying the artists' reflections on the romance of youth, on the fates of new generations. In the future, the creative paths of these two sculptors developed independently.

A. Mukhtidinov began to work mainly in the portrait genre, although his early, accurately conveying the complex movement plastic study "Catching a Horse" (1957, plaster) and the composition "Shepherd" (1965, wood, fig. 216) remain among the best works in the artist's oeuvre, demonstrating the possibilities of his work in the field of sculptural composition.

Shestopal has emerged as an artist of great creative determination, versatile, developing, steadily gaining qualitative height. Strong professional training, compositional plastic thinking, keen interest in the life of the republic, as well as remarkable industriousness allowed him to achieve significant creative successes within two decades. He has moved far from such early works as "Surgeon" (1966, metal) and "Mistress of the Fields" (1967, chamotte), which create a rough, straightforwardly social image. Over time, the sculptor sculpted compositions and portraits reflecting the labor intensity of life and the psychology of contemporaries. The chamber, lyrical line of the sculptor's creativity, connected with his work on close images of people and genre motifs, also developed intensively. He created a number of interesting works in the field of small-form sculpture.

Developing as a master of various genres of sculpture, Shestopal works steadily, without interruptions, diligently raising his professional level, accumulating creative experience. He clearly sets and solves substantive and plastic tasks, trying to avoid hackneyed compositional schemes, being little susceptible to fashion trends in art, although not alien to modern searches in the field of spatial composition, showing selective interest in new materials, techniques, methods, mastering what corresponds to his creative individuality.

The sculptures of V. Shestopal are mostly narrative and possess the authenticity of life material, directly seen and felt. The sculptural group "Above Issyk-Kul" (1972, metal) is imbued with a truthful feeling of rural Kyrgyz life. In this work, as well as in the earlier portrait "Shepherd" (1968, bronze), the criticism noted Shestopal's desire "to understand and convey in his works the restrained, harsh character of the Kyrgyz, formed by the difficult life in the mountains and so corresponding to the mighty nature of the country." Moreover, the typical motif for mountainous Kyrgyzstan is colored here with the lyrical feeling of the author.

The sculptural group depicts a peacefully grazing horse, a Kyrgyz woman rider with a child on her back, immersed in contemplation of the invisible but presumed mountain expanse. The working class is the hero of many significant works by Shestopal. In the composition "Caster" (1972, hammered aluminum), the sculptor managed to capture the figure in dynamics, expressing the pathos of industrial development in the republic, although the image here is quite unambiguous.

Continuing his work on the theme of industrial Kyrgyzstan, the artist's new creative success was the composition "Weavers" (1982, bronze, fig. 227). This multi-figure composition possesses a flowing rhythm from figure to figure. Each of the characters is convincing with a carefully worked, nature-verified form, a measure of its artistic generalization. The ringing and integrity of the rhythm, the closure of the spatial composition is enhanced by the depiction of fabric, plastically cascading from the hands of the young weavers. In this graceful composition, the sculptor rises above everyday life, emphasizing the significance, orderliness of the labor process, and the beauty of youth.

The theme of the working class emerged in the 1980s as the leading one in Shestopal's works. He created the spatial composition "Height" (1984, bronze), telling about the specifics of the work of assemblers in the conditions of high-altitude Kyrgyzstan. Through compositional techniques, the truthfulness of nature-verified plastic characteristics, and flexible use of the possibilities of cast metal, the sculptor achieved the figurative richness of the form. The composition indeed gives a sense of the height of the heavenly mountains, the free wind, and the sun of Kyrgyzstan, all that environment in which the labor courage of people is forged.

Genre interpretation in Shestopal's work found some eternal and modern themes. Sometimes they are resolved even in a little appealing decorative key. Among the most successful works of this kind are the composition "Happiness" (1971, chamotte), dedicated to the theme of motherhood, a peculiar work touching on the problem of the unity of man with nature, "In the Waves" (1975, hammered copper), sculptures "Tenderness" (1978, granite), "Beginning" (1980, bronze), telling about the bright world of youth. The artist felt the theme of the Great Patriotic War in a chamber manner in the works "Returned" (1966, expanded clay) and "Memory" (1978, plaster), inspired by a creative trip to the Small Land. Among Shestopal's best works in small plastic are the composition "The Sea Calls" (1978, bronze), full of romantic charm, and the spatial miniature "In the Workshop. Artist T. Gertsen" (1980, plaster). Somewhat apart in Kyrgyz sculpture are the genre compositions of Viktor Pavlovich Dimov, created in a decorative-stylized manner. Being an artist of a rationalist disposition, he purposefully studied the ethnographic and folkloric material of Kyrgyzstan, correctly understood the special significance for the nomadic Kyrgyz people of the problem of "man-nature," which is now relevant for all humanity. He created an extensive cycle of genre compositions in chamotte, where the retrospective of the plots and abstract-decorative interpretation of form prevail. In such works as "Hunter" (1974), "Manaschi S. Karalaev" (1975), "Spring Ala-Too" (1976), "Shepherd" (1976), "Melody" (1982), "Watchman" (1983), "Touch" (1984), "Musician" (1984), and others, the manner and external ethnographic side of national life dominate outside its historical development. They are mostly schematic, monotonous in compositional techniques, lacking richness of life content, sculptural weight of form.

In these and other works on national themes, the contradictions of the artist's searches are felt, trying to feel and convey the brightness of Kyrgyz reality in decorative-abstract plastic solutions.

For Dimov, themes of broad international resonance turned out to be more organic, in the resolution of which he relies on the achievements of Moscow and Leningrad sculptors in the field of stationary composition. This is confirmed by one of his best works — a free spatial composition of three figures "Fencers" (1980, metal). Here, specific people united by sport are depicted. Their freely arranged figures in space are treated strictly, even somewhat impassively, with precision in drawing and architectonics. The compositionally integral group creates an atmosphere of volitional concentration and discipline.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a number of interesting compositions were created by sculptors whose creative path was determined by the 1960s. The work "Song from the Depths of the Ages" (1964, granite) by self-taught sculptor Grigory Danilovich Burlin is peculiar in its plot, compositional techniques, and plastic language. It, like other works by Burlin, is characterized by poetic immediacy and an original folkloric naivety of plastic representations.

In genre and decorative sculpture, Olga Maximilianovna Manuilova continued to work. Among her best works of this kind are the small compositions "Doing Laundry" (1962, terracotta) and "Tea Drinking" (1969, plaster), as well as bronze relief plates (1971) — "Young Manas Tames the Dragon" and "Almambet and Syrgak." In them, the plots inspired by Kyrgyz life and folklore are interpreted with the narrative quality and decorative-plastic elegance characteristic of the individuality of this master.

In the last decade, the collective of Kyrgyz sculptors has been replenished with young forces. The emergence of new creative personalities is taking place, bringing diversity to the themes of Kyrgyz plastic art, further mastering the traditions of folk art.

In the field of stationary composition, the young sculptor Duyshen Zholchuev confidently searches for his circle of themes and means of expressiveness. He draws plots from the traditional and modern life, labor, culture of the Kyrgyz people, combining in their interpretation a realistic approach to depiction with conditionally stylized techniques that have spread in Soviet sculpture in connection with the mastery of such less plastic materials as chamotte and welded metal ("Berkutchi," 1976, chamotte; "Storyteller of the Epic," 1978, chamotte; "Horseman," 1977, chamotte).

Among the sculptor's creative successes is the composition "Spring Call" (1982, chamotte), depicting a shepherd with a flock on a high mountain pasture. The original theme for sculpture is embodied here with poetic feeling and decorative-plastic expressiveness. The two-figure group "Welders" (1983), embodied in chamotte, attracts with the freshness of plastic representations. The roughness of the form, dictated by the material, corresponds here to the character of the author's figurative vision of his theme. The harsh tonality of the image, the authenticity of the national female type is convincing in the composition "Curse of War" (1985, wood), conveying the artist's protest against the inhuman essence of war to the viewer. The best works of Zholchuev testify to the activity of his creative search, the desire to fit into one of the current directions of Soviet sculpture.

In the field of genre composition, A. Tynaliev ("Wrestlers," 1980, chamotte; "Assemblers," 1980, metal), A. Sharshekeev ("Sitting," 1980, chamotte; "Boy with a Pipe," 1980, terracotta), T. Zhumagulov ("Tobacco Drying," 1984, limestone), V. Zukhin ("Zhyghach Usta," 1984, bronze), A. Kozhegulov ("Victory," 1985, plaster), B. Sydykov ("Plowman," 1984, chamotte), B. Tabaldiev ("Chynara," 1977, chamotte), R. Shikova ("New Ala Kiyiz," 1977, metal, hammered) are working.

Sculpture