Kustodiev’s genre paintings were written from a remote point, representing, for the most part, panoramas in which the “human unit” is lost, merges with its fellows into a kind of community, imbued with “conciliar consciousness.” But any original society presupposes the presence in it of essential in its uniqueness and non-intersecting layers expressed by “types”.
With all the interest Kustodiev to festive panoramas, there are in his work and types – such as “Merchant balls.” Moreover, in 1920, the artist wrote a nostalgic series of watercolors “Russia”, in which “Russia” just appears as a community of types.
In this series we will find colorful images of a baker, a cab driver, a merchant and a merchant, a sailor with a cute, sex man, a chest, an inn. More often, types are found in sketches of costumes created by Kustodiyev for theatrical performances – as an example, a sketch of the Barbara costume, dated 1920, is cited by A. N. Ostrovsky’s unrealized production of The Thunderstorms.
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