Aylana A. Chap
Publications by the Author
2 publications
TUVAN STONE-CUTTING ART: FORMATION AND CURRENT STATE
The focus of this article is on the situation of small stone–cutting plastics in Tuva from the middle of the twentieth century to the present. The purpose of the article is to conduct a historical and art history review and analysis of this type of art from the middle of the twentieth century to the first quarter of the twenty-first century. For this purpose, the following tasks are set: to consider the main characteristic features of typical genres of Tuvan small sculpture, laid down by the founding masters since the mid-1950s; to compare the iconography of different generations of stonecutters of the XX-th and XXI st centuries, to touch upon the problems of stonecutting art in the present. The article uses qualitative and empirical methods, which made it possible to reflect in the material the modern problems of Tuvan stone-cutting art. The author comes to the conclusion that the social and cultural changes of the mid-twentieth century, as well as the historical and social changes that took place in the first quarter of the XXI st century, did not fundamentally change the traditions of Tuvan stone carving. The craftsmen improved the techniques and skills of working with ornamental stone agalmatolite, serpentinite; they continued the traditions of the founding stone carvers. Young carvers introduce new stylistic criteria, while remaining within the framework of the basic canons.
THE ART OF YURI OORZHAK (IN MEMORY OF THE MASTER)
The author attempts to study the peculiarities of the work of the Tuvan master stonecutter Yuri Oorzhak (1959-2023). The phenomenon of Yu.D. Oorzhak, a recognized national stonecutter artist who did not receive a basic art education, is undeniable. The gifted master independently mastered the skills of stone-cutting art, thanks to his diligence, he achieved recognition in the professional artistic environment. Previously published materials concerning the work of this Tuvan carver are of a reference, fragmentary nature, limited to small prefaces in catalogs of art exhibitions or articles in periodicals, more often regional newspapers. The author of the article reviewed and analyzed some of the master’s works from the early 2000s, as well as small plastic created by the artist in the last years of his creative activity. Among them are such works as «The Terrible Sarlyk», «The Little Hero», «Oitulaash» and others. Formal and biographical methods helped to reveal the general and particular features of the stonecutter’s work. The empirical and qualitative methods used in writing this article also made it possible to reflect previously unexplored aspects of the issue in the material. Early works by Yu. Oorzhak made of agalmatolite and serpentinite are mostly made in a traditional realistic decorative style, static. In terms of genre, his small plastic is quite similar, since Yuri Dazhovich preferred to carve compositions depicting animalistic subjects (shags, argali, camels, etc. in statics or dynamics). His works are unique in their generalized vision and decor, which demonstrates the dynamics of a static figure. Small animalistic figures are as solid and solid in their nature as a full-fledged round sculpture.