Exhibition "Monuments of the Borodino Field in the Work of 20th-Century Graphic Artists"
The graphics collection is one of the largest holdings in the funds of the Borodino Field State Museum-Reserve. A significant place in it is occupied by works by artists of the past 20th century, including pieces depicting the Borodino Field and its monuments. First and foremost are the monuments erected for the centenary of the battle in 1912 at the command posts of M.I. Kutuzov and Napoleon and at the sites of the regiments of the Russian army. The Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery, built on the site of Bagration's flèches — one of the main fortifications of the Russian army — and the Church of the Nativity in the village of Borodino — a witness to the battle — as well as, of course, the boundless expanses of the Borodino Field, also attracted considerable attention from graphic artists.
The works presented at the exhibition date from the 1970s to the 1990s — a period when large-scale restoration and reconstruction of objects lost during the Soviet era was underway on the Borodino Field. They allow viewers not only to see the Borodino Field during this important epoch in its history, but also to get an idea of various graphic techniques — from monochrome pencil or sanguine drawings, pastels and watercolors, to different kinds of printmaking such as etching, monotype, and lithography.
Most fully represented in the exhibition is the work of M.S. Kachalov — a contemporary graphic artist closely connected by biography to the Borodino Field. First and foremost is an extensive cycle of etchings created in 1987 for the 175th anniversary of the battle. The Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery occupies a central place in it, having been recently revived by restorers. Later some of these etchings were hand-colored by the artist, and the exhibition allows comparison between the monochrome version of some etchings and the colored ones. They are complemented by the monochrome pencil and sanguine drawings that served as the basis for the printed images. Many of Kachalov's works are characterized by a special depth and tonal richness, skillfully exploiting the characteristics of the etching technique. In other etchings, by contrast, an unusual-for-reproductive graphics feigned carelessness of drawing is achieved, especially enhanced by graceful watercolor coloring.
A.T. Kuznetsov also produced in 1987 a series of pencil drawings of Borodino Field landscapes, which later became the basis for etchings. His works are notable for their particular meticulousness in rendering details, including the architectural features of the field's monuments.
The Borodino Field appears from unusual angles in the restrained drawings and vivid color monotypes of L.V. Khinshtein, whose main specialty is animal painting and who was a pupil of the celebrated V.A. Vatagin. N.S. Bogorodskaya, in turn, trained as a film artist. The brightness and celebratory quality of color characteristic of her work are felt in the views of the Borodino Field on display, executed with seemingly childlike media such as colored pencils, supplemented with pastel. By contrast, G.I. Ivanova's autolithographs are extremely restrained in color, conveying the immensity of the Borodino Field with particular subtlety and lyricism — an interest that unites the authors of all the works presented at the exhibition.
