Industrial landscape. Economics and business in painting

It is difficult to see the beauty in a coal mine or, for example, in a recycling plant. It is unlikely that anyone will think of beauty when looking at the pipes of industrial enterprises or abandoned quarries. However, photographer Edward Burtynsky is drawn to these very objects, and he proves to us that they can also enchant.

The dominant theme in Edward Burtynski's work is nature, modified by industrial activity. He searches for suitable landscapes rich in detail and photographs them. Quarries, factories, mines - all these places are outside our daily experience, although we are aware of their role in providing us with a comfortable life.

The images of Edward Burtynsky should be taken as a metaphor expressing the dilemma of our modern existence; they have a hidden dialogue between attraction and repulsion, temptation and fear. We all crave a comfortable life and consciously or unconsciously understand that the world is suffering for the sake of our well-being. Our dependence on nature to provide mankind with materials for consumption, and at the same time the problem of maintaining the health of our planet, leads to an uneasy contradiction. It is these difficulties that are reflected in the works of the photographer.

Edward Burtynsky photographs the raw materials and waste of civilization - but he does it in such a way that people call his work "beautiful" and "stunning". The photographs of the author attract interest and ask a lot of questions, none of which Edward even tries to answer.

The achievements of scientific and technological progress, which have become one of the most important signs of the twentieth century, have affected literally all spheres of human life. They not only provided previously unthinkable opportunities in his hands, but changed the very perception and understanding of the world, which became global thanks to the efforts of numerous scientists and engineers, where events occurring at the same time in different parts of the world turn out to be interconnected, capable of influencing the fate of millions overnight. of people. The contradictory nature of this process worried not only specialists in the natural and technical sciences, but also sociologists, philosophers, writers, and artists. Fine arts, along with philosophy, literature, cinematography, sensitively reacted to the changes that the world was undergoing under the influence of intensively developing science and industry. The discoveries and inventions that took place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries largely anticipated and prepared those social revolutions that soon shocked and transformed the whole world. And, it seems, it is no coincidence that it was in Russia after the victory of the October Revolution, which really marked the beginning of a completely new stage in national and world history, that the industrial, or industrial, theme received such a purposeful and fruitful development. Having discovered its ideological significance for the young Soviet state, it was reflected in the thematic painting, and in the portrait, and in the landscape.

So, already in the 1930s, the industrial landscape was formed as an independent and important section of Soviet art, where the theme of creating a new, man-made nature was reflected both in the constructive graphic quality of the canvases of representatives of the Society of Easel Painters, permeated with the dynamics of modernity, and in those turned to the traditions of realistic art of the 19th century. century landscapes by A. Kuprin and K. Bogaevsky. Another surge of interest in the industrial landscape falls on the 1960s - the time of new large-scale construction projects and significant scientific discoveries. It was at this time that one of the greatest masters of the industrial landscape was A.V. Panteleev, whose work reflected not only the gains of technological progress, but also its costs, many of which turned out to be disastrous for both nature and man. Here it is necessary to immediately pay attention to the fact that the industrial landscape is a vast section of the industrial theme, covering various genres, themes and plot motifs, to one degree or another connected with the reflection of the labor feat of the people, the pathos of the rapid transformation of the world under the influence of human activity. The range of artistic traditions addressed by the authors of these works - and the author of the book quite rightly dwells on this problem in detail - is quite wide. Those significant changes that Soviet art underwent at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s also largely affected the nature of the plastic interpretation of the “industrial theme”. Along with the legacy of the Society of Easel Painters, rehabilitated at that time, which became one of the most important artistic landmarks for Alexander Panteleev, the thoroughly forgotten traditions of the Russian and foreign avant-garde of the early 20th century turned out to be in the sphere of artists' attention. And, it seems, it is no coincidence that it was the plastic discoveries of Picasso and the Italian futurists, as well as their Russian associates, that made it possible to adequately embody plots and motives that were completely new for the industrial theme. They, as a rule, were no longer the fruit of the tragic insights and prophecies of philosophers and writers and appeared as a response of a caring person to tragic events that resulted from deep contradictions that were originally laid down in the progress of technogenic civilization.

And here Panteleev was destined to become the ancestor and even a classic of the "technical theme" - a very special, specific genre for Soviet art of the 1970s and 80s, which highlighted a wide range of serious problems that had yet to be solved in the traditional form of an easel painting. At the beginning of the 21st century, when the problems caused by the unrestrained development of technological progress in all its forms became completely obvious, the appeal to the work of A.V. relevant and necessary.

It should be especially noted that the author often compares the works of Panteleev with the works of other Soviet artists - his predecessors (A. Deineka, K. Bogaevsky, A. Kuprin, G. Nissky) and contemporaries (T. Salakhov, S. Yuntunen, N. Kormashov, E. Bragovsky, V. Vetrogonsky), revealing similarities and differences in the stylistic, pictorial-plastic and figurative-meaningful interpretation of the industrial theme. At the same time, I. B. Balashova finds the right intonations and gives a fair assessment of the work of each of the very respectable authors. In addition, she draws bold and interesting historical parallels between the nature of the figurative solution of the works of Panteleev and the masters of past eras - we are talking, in particular, about the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, the works of the largest representative of the classic landscape of the 17th century, Nicolas Poussin, as well as ancient Russian art, to which goes back to the iconographic solution of a number of later works of the artist dedicated to the image of a robot - a new hero of the era of the scientific and technological revolution.

painting urban industrial landscape

The victorious October Revolution of 1917 made a radical revolution not only in the political and social life of society; it radically transformed the culture, consciousness, worldview of people. Despite the most difficult living conditions, civil war, devastation and famine, the 1920s and 1930s became one of the most productive years in terms of creative search in painting, architecture, literature, theater, and cinema. True, later, after this cultural breakthrough, a return movement began, with the suppression of "degenerate art", which essentially contradicted the ideological line of the party and the Soviet government.

But this will be in the future, which in the 1920s seemed bright and alluring - with its perspective, novelty, scale. With the proclamation of programs for the country's economic transformations, electrification, industrialization, building a new, communist society, the whole country turned into one big construction site, where the working class became the main character, transforming the surrounding reality at an unprecedented pace.

Against the background of agrarian landscapes and untouched nature, enterprises of the electric power industry, chemistry and petrochemistry, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, and heavy industry began to be massively built.

The scale of the transformation shocked not only the layman, but also artists of various genres and trends. The organizers and followers of the "Jack of Diamonds", "Donkey's Tail" and other avant-garde associations of Russian painters were actively involved in a life fanned by labor romance and enthusiasm, shifting the focus from "spooks" (as Ilya Mashkov called his Fauvist portraits) to the creation of proletarian architectural masterpieces (such , as "Tatlin's tower"), posters, industrial landscapes.

Below is the early work of A. Kuprin “Plant. Etude”, written almost in the style of cubism, although the author avoids the fragmentation of objects characteristic of this direction.

Masters such as Alexander Kuprin, Konstantin Bogaevsky, Alexander Deineka, Alexander Labas, as well as a number of other artists, put aside still lifes, portraits and nudes in order to create a new direction, called industrial landscape. This capacious concept included not only canvases depicting factories or new buildings, but also other economic plots - the construction of new cities and significant objects, power plants and dams, railways and locomotives, leading workers in the entourage of technical equipment, machine tools, tractors, cranes.

The artists who painted industrial landscapes were not opportunists trying to ride a new fashionable wave and at the same time please the authorities. Their paintings were not "coloured photographs". The canvases of the masters of this direction convey to the viewer the powerful pulse of that time, the enthusiasm of workers, the grandiose scale of economic transformations. At the same time, we can observe the transmission of the industrial rhythm and creative spirit through various styles - socialist realism, avant-garde, impressionism and even futurism (the latter direction for the cities of the future is very popular even now). Probably, the term “allism” by M. Larionov and N. Goncharova would be appropriate here,

implying the use of all techniques and styles.

Below are paintings by K. Bogaevsky, painted by him in different styles in 1932 and 1935.

The painting "Bibi-Heybat", in which the artist depicted oil developments near Baku, strikes us with its static character and complete lack of movement. The viewer sees only towering oil rigs, residential and industrial buildings near them. Nothing indicates a date; an external observer, as it were, finds himself in a space devoid of time. Only production facilities that are waiting for workers. Who and when will give the signal to start work remains a mystery. Complete static and understatement makes the picture look like an "industrial icon". In its execution, the masterpiece of K. Bogaevsky resembles the canvases of De Chirico, who worked in a metaphysical style.

Completely different approaches are chosen by the artist when painting pictures about the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station. One of them depicts Dneprostroy in an almost impressionistic manner, where the play of light occupies one of the central places. Spotlight beams and flashes from welding work enliven the composition with dynamics and a creative beginning, showing at the same time that work does not stop even in the evening and at night.

In the painting "Panorama of the Construction of the Dneproges", Bogaevsky adheres to a realistic style, carefully writing out the details of an extensive construction site.

The works of Alexander Kuprin are designed in a more uniform and recognizable style, which depicts not only production sites, but also clearly distinguishable workers engaged in creative work.

The canvases of A. Labas have a unique style and charisma, choosing a special palette of colors for the industrial landscape, typical for pastels. In the performance of the artist, the enterprises and the surrounding landscape come into a state of harmony that pleases the eye of an external observer.

The paintings of artists representing the industrial landscape in the pre-war and post-war period used

demand from the corporate sector. This type of painting was also close to the working masses, who perceived it as understandable, accessible, advanced. Industrialist paintings did not require additional explanations and lectures, almost necessary for Malevich's Suprematism or Kandinsky's abstractions. Everything was done not only in a highly artistic style, but also had an educational and propaganda function that set the viewer in a creative way.

Monumental paintings, mosaics and embossing, which adorned the buildings of Soviet cities, the territories of enterprises and park areas, became a projection from the industrial landscape. Industrial landscapes have been and continue to be a fixture in executive offices, lobbies and corporate museums. This Soviet tradition has been preserved in a somewhat transformed form even now, having become part of the organizational culture of not only industrial, but also service, transport and other companies.

It should be noted that over time, the attitude towards the industrial landscape has changed. This became especially noticeable after the man-made disasters in Bhopal, Chernobyl, extensive oil spills, and the appearance of industrial smog over cities.

The pipes of industrial enterprises have become a symbol of environmental pollution, an increase in greenhouse gases, wastewater, exploitation of people and the natural environment. In the late 1990s and 2000s, the industrial landscape was increasingly used in the genre of grotesque and caricature.

At the same time, the industrial landscape continues to evolve, taking into account new trends in industrial and landscape design, moving to a new stage of its evolution.

(from French paysage - country, area) - a genre of fine art in which the main subject of the image is nature.
As an independent genre, the landscape appeared already in the 6th century in Chinese art. The traditions of Chinese landscape painting have had a great influence on Japanese art.
In Europe, the landscape as a separate genre appeared much later than in China and Japan. During the Middle Ages, when only religious compositions had the right to exist, the landscape was interpreted by painters as an image of the habitat of the characters.
Gradually, the landscape went beyond other artistic genres. This was facilitated by the development of easel painting. The masters of the Venetian school at the beginning of the 16th century played an important role in the creation of the landscape genre.
Landscape as a genre of painting appeared in Russian art at the end of the 18th century. Semyon Shchedrin (1745-1804) is considered to be the founder of the Russian landscape.
The heyday of landscape painting marked the development of the plein air landscape, associated with the invention in the 19th century of the method of producing tube paints.

	- a landscape in which the artist focuses on the image of architectural monuments in synthesis with the environment The architectural landscape became widespread in the 18th century.
	Veduta- a genre of Venetian painting of the 18th century, in which the urban landscape is depicted in the form of a panorama, with respect to scale and proportions. The great representative of this style in painting is the Venetian painter (1697-1768). In Russia, the ancestor of the architectural veduta was the painters F.Ya. Alekseev, M.N. Paintings landscape veduta
	- a landscape in which the grandeur of the universe is shown, nature seems majestic and inaccessible to humans. Spectators looking at the heroic landscape should be content with the role of contemplatives, enjoying the image and improving their minds. French painter Nicolas Poussin is the founder of the heroic landscape.
	It first originated in the work of such Haarlem masters as Van Goyen, De Moleyn and Van Ruysdael. Most Dutch landscapes are characterized by a muted coloration, consisting of light silver, olive-ocher, brownish hues, close to the natural colors of nature. The Dutch were the first to come to the image of individual motifs of nature, often conveying views of a particular area. In contrast to the landscape painters of the academic direction, who embodied the images of nature in a conditionally ideal aspect, the masters of the Dutch landscape convey the modest nature of Holland as it is, without embellishing it. Dutch Landscape Paintings
	A kind of landscape in which the main subject of the image are, and. Paintings mountain landscape
	A kind of landscape in which the main subject of the image are city streets and buildings. cityscape paintings
	- an idealized landscape, which tells about the perfection, harmony and fullness of life of ordinary people, their direct links with nature. The idyllic landscape is characterized by grazing herds, cool streams, trees with dense crowns, meadows, birds, ancient ruins, etc. Claude Lorrain is the ancestor of the idyllic landscape.
	industrial landscape- the Soviet version of the landscape genre, which depicts the romance of the restoration of the national economy, the construction of large industrial facilities. One of the founders of the direction of the industrial landscape is considered to be Konstantin Bogaevsky.
	Interior(derived from the French intérieur - internal) - a kind of landscape painting in which the subject of the image is the image of the interior of the room. paintings interior
	A landscape that depicts historical events using architectural and sculptural monuments associated with these events. The historical landscape revives the memory of the past and gives it a certain emotional assessment.
	capriccio(derived from Italian. capriccio, literally - a whim, a whim) - an architectural fantasy landscape. The most famous artists who wrote capriccio: Francesco Guardi,. Capriccio paintings
	Image of outer space, stars and planets. space landscape paintings
	cosmopolitan landscape- a landscape in which the artist depicted an imaginary landscape in the Italian style. Cosmopolitan landscapes were very popular in Holland in the 17th century.
	A kind of landscape in which the main subject of the image is the image of the forest. Paintings forest landscape
	. In the lyrical landscape, the depicted nature is spiritualized by the invisible presence of man. Alexey Savrasov is the founder of the lyrical landscape in Russian painting.
	Marina (derived from French marine, Italian marina, from Latin marinus - marine) is a kind of landscape in which the main subject of the image is the sea, coastlines and rocks, scenes of a naval battle or other events taking place at sea. The seascape became widespread in the 17th century in the country of seafarers and fishermen - Holland. The best marine painters of that time were W. van de Velde, S. de Vlieger, J. Porcellis, J. van Ruisdael. Seascape paintings
	A kind of landscape in which gardens, parks, squares, alleys, and other places of recreation for people are the main subject of the image. Paintings park landscape
	- a landscape painted in the open air (plein air).
	a landscape that captures the rebellious beginning, disagreement with the existing order of things, the desire to rise above the ordinary, to change it. Thunderclouds, swirling clouds, gloomy sunsets, violent winds are the motifs of a romantic landscape. The brightest representatives of the romantic landscape in England were Joseph Mallord William Turner and John Constable, in Germany Caspar David Friedrich.
	A kind of landscape, which depicts the poetry of rural life, its natural connection with the surrounding nature. rural landscape paintings
	almost monochrome landscape. Jan van Goyen, Salomon van Ruysdael and Pieter de Moleyn are representatives of the tonal landscape that emerged in the late twenties of the 17th century.
	Exterior- a kind of landscape painting, in which the subject of the image is the image of the appearance of the room.
	The epic landscape is characterized by majestic pictures of nature, full of inner strength and impassive calm. A prominent representative of the epic landscape was M.K.

In the 30s of the last century, an interesting direction appeared, called the "industrial landscape". Windmills in the fields, huge plates in the mountains, cows against the background of pipes - all this is in today's selection of industrial landscapes.

1. Nature and road. Interstate 94 in the United States of America on January 12, 2017.

2. Last year China completed the construction of (Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope). The diameter of its reflector is half a kilometer! The FAST telescope will observe objects located at a distance of up to 11 billion light years from Earth. The National Space Agency of China plans that the radio telescope will also be able to detect signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.

3. An interesting construction in Germany, climbing on which offers a view of the industrial zone of Duisburg. The wind is swaying the stairway, creating a kind of "attraction" for lovers of heights. Slides with the name "Tiger and Turtle" are located in Duisburg. (Photo by Kevin Kurek):

4. Solar panels blend well with natural landscapes, Ollague, Chile, January 9, 2016. (Photo by Pablo Sanhueza | Reuters):

7. Oil is pumped near Baghdad in Iraq, October 14, 2016. Who? According to some estimates, America keeps "under the boot" 80% of Iraqi oil rigs. No wonder that in 2003 the Security Council waved a test tube with "anthrax". (Photo by Essam Al-Sudani | Reuters):

9. Cooling towers in France, October 21, 2016. These are devices for cooling large amounts of water with air flow. Sometimes cooling towers are also called cooling towers. (Photo by Regis Duvignau | Reuters):

11. Waste incineration plant near Paris, December 9, 2016. (Photo by Charles Platiau | Reuters):

12. Gold mine. Congo is the largest African country south of the Sahara and one of the richest on paper: huge deposits of diamonds and gold, cobalt, copper, tin, tantalum and many other ores are concentrated here. However, the endless war has turned the Congo into one of the poorest and most unfortunate countries. (Photo by Pete Jones | Reuters):

14. Wind generator - well, a very effective device for converting the kinetic energy of the wind flow into the mechanical energy of the rotation of the rotor, followed by its conversion into electrical energy. Belgium, January 25, 2016. (Photo by Eric Vidal | Reuters):

16. Smoking pipes and power lines. (Photo by Siphiwe Sibeko | Reuters):

17. Beautiful industrial landscape. Cooling tower of a nuclear power plant in Switzerland, November 18, 2014. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters):

18. Kashagan - a large offshore oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, located 80 km from the city of Atyrau, in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. (Photo by Anatoly Ustinenko | Reuters):