Floral decoration of Novy Koichuk-Koy estate and Pavel V. Kouznetsov’s artistic strategies

Abstract

The article discusses the pictorial system of Pavel Kuznetsov, the leading master of the Blue Rose association, and its changes in the context of his work at the Crimean estate Novy Kuchuk-Koi in 1908–14. The art objects (photographed by the author in 2002 and 2021) show the artist's transition from the poetics of ghostly visions to clear and contrasting forms typical for Avant-Garde art. The mosaics, ceramics and frescoes of the estate reveal the experience in creating cyclic, closed composition specific for Kuznetsov’s paintings and graphic works. However, in the dialogue with the garden and the mountain landscape new, more energetic variations of the previous themes arise. In assessing Kuznetsov's artistic search the poetic characteristics of his work given by art historian A.M. Efros in his “Profiles” (1930) are taken into consideration.