New Trends in Herzen's Creativity
While S. Bakashev represents the decorative direction of Kyrgyz painting, Teodor Teodorovich Herzen is distinguished by a narrative type of figurative-plastic thinking. He works in a strictly realistic manner, infusing his images with specific life content.
A landmark work of monumental painting in Kyrgyzstan in the 1960s was T. Herzen's monumental fresco "Rest" (1967) in the foyer of the Ilyich State Farm club in the Kemin district. Here, the main creative principles of the emerging master are evident, who is closer to the traditional principles of monumental painting.
Herzen is primarily concerned with the meaningfulness of his works and the realistic persuasiveness of the artistic form. He tends towards an elaborate narrative in his imagery, precision in drawing based on observational studies, and psychological characterization of characters. The multi-figure composition of the fresco is set against the backdrop of a typical landscape of mountainous Kyrgyzstan. By depicting nature and the majestic, unhurried movements of women dressed in white, playing children, and resting elders, the artist sought to convey the poetry of the rural life he cherished, close to the earth's workers. The fresco creates a lyrical image of Kyrgyzstan, characterized by a festive mood, harmony of human and natural forms, and the purity of blue, golden, and white colors. In its realistically worked form and emotional resonance, the fresco resonates with the best canvases of Kyrgyz easel painting. The ideological and artistic merits of the fresco have been noted in the press: "The fresco 'Rest' is particularly interesting — compositionally coherent and harmonious in color. In it, the artist expressed the balance of the human spirit and the majesty of Kyrgyz nature in a clear and grand form." The fresco "Rest" remains a significant work of Kyrgyz art to this day and is currently the only example of fresco painting in the republic.
T. Herzen was one of the first in Kyrgyzstan to turn to the creation of monumental paintings in industrial interiors. His mosaic "Gymnasts" (1969) transforms one of the workshops of the Frunze Wool and Fabric Combine. Located on the end wall of the interior, it seems to expand its narrow, gloomy space. The theme of sports, youth, the diversity and beauty of movement, and color contrasts bring a cheerful mood to the room, enhance emotional perception, and overcome the monotony of architecture and the production process, thus fulfilling its socio-aesthetic function.
Herzen works extensively and willingly on creating monumental paintings in rural areas. He created the ceramic mosaic "Horsemen" in the foyer of the Son-Kul State Farm club in the Kochkor district (1971), ceramic mosaics in the dining room of the horse farm No. 54 in the Issyk-Kul region (1972), and on the end wall of the secondary school of the Kara-Kol State Farm in the Ak-Suu district (1973). These works are characterized by clarity of the task set, authenticity of the life material underlying the artistic images, and professionalism.
Character of Figurative Thinking
Herzen worked as part of a creative group on the comprehensive artistic design of the Osh Kyrgyz Drama Theater (smalt mosaics, stained glass, wood carving, 1974). The mosaic composition "Theater" (smalt), as well as the second one ("Artistic Youth"), executed by Dzh. Moldakhmatov, is designed as a flat-conditional space with theatrical attributes, populated by generalized, freely arranged figures of actors. The characters and accessories symbolize theatrical life, types and genres of stage art, traditions, and modernity. The mosaic is successfully resolved in color with a predominance of blue, azure, golden, and white hues. Fitting into the plane of the wall, it is widely visible in the environment against the backdrop of the monumental theater building, rising in a greened square, adding a noticeable emotional-decorative accent to the space. This is one of the few examples of a successful synthesis of architecture with monumental painting.
The character of Herzen's figurative thinking and plastic language is revealed in the tempera painting on the theme of rural youth life in the culture palace of the "Krasnaya Zarya" state farm in the Sokuluk district. Here, as in the fresco "Rest," Herzen builds a fully realistic multi-figure composition, embedding it in an emotionally interpreted landscape with hills, spring apple blossom, and the evening silence of the steppe expanse. Being a native of rural Kyrgyzstan, T. Herzen paints his heroes — girls gathered for an evening rest in white dresses and tanned young men embodying physical and moral health — with understanding and lyrical insight. By characterizing the characters, their moods, and relationships, the artist creates a poetic image of rural life, an atmosphere of closeness between man and nature. The painting, along with the stained glass on the end wall, not only decoratively enriches the interior but also invites poetic experiences.
New trends in Herzen's creativity are felt in the smalt mosaic on the facade of the Frunze Garment Production Association named after VLKSM (1984), dedicated to the labor life of Kyrgyz women — weavers and seamstresses. Refusing to develop the theme in a narrative-plot manner, the artist employs modern dynamic composition techniques here, combining disparate spatial and temporal images, realistically interpreted figures and symbols, shifts, and overlaps of forms. The dominating figure of a woman with outstretched arms, three seamstresses at work, the motif of fluttering fabric, and the symbolic sun closing the composition from above — all this is tied into a rhythmically cohesive composition that affirms civic pathos and the aesthetics of labor. The slogan "To you, Motherland, our labor" emphasizing the idea of the mosaic is successfully woven into the pictorial fabric. The dynamic laying of smalt contributes to the plastic expressiveness of the forms.
The location of the mosaic, which has become part of the architectural-artistic appearance of the building, which has an elongated horizontal shape, is also reasonable. The large-scale mosaic panel, located above the central entrance in the recess of the gallery connecting the two factory buildings, is designed for frontal viewing from close and distant distances and positively influences the mood of those entering the building. The figurative, colorful, rhythmically integrated mosaic is one of the best works of the artist in recent times.