Stylistic and Figurative Synthesis in the Work of Masters of the Union of Russian Artists

The article deals with the peculiarities of the Union of Russian Artists, a significant association of early 20th century painters. The main attention is paid to the aspects of organizational and creative order, which can be defined by the concept of “synthesis”. This definition is key to the history of the Union for a number of reasons. First of all, the synthesis of creative forces was formed in the daily and exhibition activities of the Union, which united painters with different views on the meaning of their profession, as well as with different style and image preferences. The term “synthesis” can describe both the real relationships between the masters and their desire to find their way in painting in the conditions of a sharp restructuring of the basic concepts of fine art in the 1900—1910s. Personal and creative ties between the artists who were members of the association found their expression in terms of subject, composition, colour and manner of painting. The masters jointly created by landscape means a holistic image of the Motherland, which Russian artists of the 20th century could not pass by. Their paintings show topographically concrete but internally generalized views of Russian towns and villages. The Union also touched upon the theme of the Russian manor. Abandoning the elegiac image of the dying manor, which was common in those years, the artists glorified it in their works as a place of recreation and communication between the city dweller and nature. This entailed the revival of the interior genre, to which Russian art had already paid tribute in its time (the first half of the 19th century). The members of the Union achieved unity in the appearance of their exhibitions without monotony, as the danger of “repeating the past” disappeared thanks to the same idea of synthesizing the old and the new, the democratic and the elitist, the city and the countryside. The masters combined their uniqueness with their inclusion in the context of artistic life of the 1900—1910s. At the same time, a separate aspect of this study is to distinguish more precisely the features of realism and impressionism in the painting of the Union of Russian Artists.