#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The work of the master from among the indigenous small-numbered northern peoples, a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, an Honorary Citizen of Taimyr is imbued with love for his people and his native land. Each work of the author is original and carries a northern flavor.
Molchanov was fluent in a variety of techniques and genres in painting and graphics: landscape, portrait, still life, genre scenes. He was also a brilliant innovator, often using unconventional techniques and materials in his works, painted with watercolors on crumpled paper, used earthen paints, and was fond of bone and wood carving.
The pinnacle of the artist’s creativity was paintings made from rovduga – worn out, smoky summer chums’ coatings of – leather that for decades absorbed the smoke of hearths, voices of people, the sounds of a tambourine, ancient legends. The material itself is a witness and keeper of the history and culture of the Dolgan people. This technology has no analogues in world art. Boris Molchanov highly appreciated the pictorial properties of this material, unconventional for the fine arts:
“I work with nukes – tanned leathers to cover summer chums. And I use the old nukes: the smoke of the fire manages to smoke them so that from top to bottom there is a whole range of colors and shades from black to light brown”.
Molchanov’s work is presented in Talnah for the first time. The exposition includes fourteen works of the author, including painting, graphics, linocut and decorative and applied art, including six rovduga works.
Read about the famous Molchanov’s picture which is considered to be mystical.
Text: Maria Sokolova, Photo: Norilsk Museum
