The Artistic World of Mikhail Shvartsman

The article analyzes the features of the work of Mikhail Matveevich Shvartsman (1926–1997). His unique artistic language began to take shape at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, when various trends started to appear in Soviet art, which led to the emergence of nonconformism. Shvartsman’s work usually classifies as metaphysical nonconformism. However, he is the only master in this field who has developed his own original artistic concept, which he called ‘hieratism’. The author of the article examines all stages of the development of the master’s work, from the first figurative cycle The Faces to the hieratures of the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a result, the peculiarities of Shvartsman’s views in the field of spirituality are revealed, as well as the essence of his searches in expressive means. The master tried to find an opportunity to express philosophical and religious ideas about the world with the non-objective language of fine art.