Elena Solodukhina
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Polikarp Ermolaevich Sudomoykin (b. 1931) is a previously unstudied naive artist from an Old Believers’ village in Buryatia. The main purpose of our report is to present the artistic world of the painter, to highlight the system of his spiritual values and his means of artistic expression. Icon-painting and nude art contrast in his works representing a unique phenomenon. One of the best-known subjects of Sudomoykin are women with children bathing in the river after a hard work. The author regards these bathers as ‘historical figures’ as they are represented through the prism of wartime. The scenes are always set in the period of the Great Patriotic War on the Bilyutayka river bank in artist’s native village. Although Sudomoykin depicts one of the most terrible wars, he succeeds to create an atmosphere of happiness and peace. An “invisible” war is the core motif of his painting. In Sudumoykin’s art a woman embodies fidelity, beauty and peace. Women are mothers and ancestors, saviors.
Narrative scenes of the artist’s works are one more aspect of his art. The language of Sudomoykin is unique: dialect of the Old Believers, archaic words and expressions, proverbs and sayings.
This report is a result of a field research based on personal acquaitance with Polykarp Sudomoykin and analysis of his works. The author takes into account the tradition of studying the naive art in Russia.