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Cheremis wedding (the Abduction of molodosti)

Nicolai Fechin • Painting, 1908
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About the artwork
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Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Genre scene
Style of art: Impressionism, Art Nouveau
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: 1908
Artwork in collection: My collection Tatyana Somova
Artwork in selections: 9 selections

Description of the artwork «Cheremis wedding (the Abduction of molodosti)»

"Cheremis wedding" – the picture, which Feshin has indicated its style in full force. Here are revealed two favorite story of the artist in his Russian period: the image of man and multi-figure composition. The summer of 1908 Feshin spent the Cheremis in the village of Lipschitz, there arose the idea to portray the culmination of the wedding custom of cheremissov – abduction of the bride. By the time this ritual was performed in most cases amicably, and was not a real kidnapping of a girl. After discussing the technical side of type, size of dowry and dowry were assigned the day of the wedding. Procession of the groom towards the bride went round all the relatives of the young. This, of course, drank, danced, sang songs and had fun. The house of the bride stayed, followed by a whole series of rites, in the end, the matchmakers take the girl (usually her face when it was covered in a scarf) and gave the groom. After that, the procession with the bride already returned to the courtyard of the groom, and the celebration lasted.

At these festivals people surprisingly transformed – the most gloomy and melancholy began to laugh, laugh heartily, as if in compensation for heavy, filled with poverty and endless work life. Feshin decided to show this mass action which disappears if the individual remains single, pristine nature, wild, infecting its fun and terrifying in its boldness. Indeed, though each person in the picture has individual characteristics, they merge into one picturesque whole. The bride's face hidden by a handkerchief in her hands, the icon, her down to the carriage, the groom is already sitting on the seat and ready to "kidnapping". The peculiarity of folk paintings Feshina (1, 2, 3) that in them it is impossible to isolate the main and secondary characters. It is important all: and mourners, and kidnapping, and curious. The action takes place in three-dimensional space, three-dimensional shapes occlude each other, and sometimes distant neighbors overlap, and there is a feeling that the amount involved in the action is nearing infinity. Bright colorful spot, the tightness and solidity of the location of characters and the rejection of aerial perspective – as a result, at some point it seems that we are not the people depicted, and the colorful, patterned carpet.

Yellow bridesmaid dress and fiery shawl matchmaker with her – colourful chords, against the dark clothes of others is particularly noticeable. But it is not the Central image of the painting, the composition is decentralized, and generally, Feshin juggles compositional standards, as he wants, it's more of the color magnets, first attracting the viewer's eye. Karina is divided into blocks exactly in color. In addition to the Central song of the bride, matchmaker, striking cropped frame on the right side, cheremiska in white with a baby, turning the child in the foreground, a man leading a horse. Man power attracts the glance, the diagonal tied over his shoulder the white towels disrupts the vertical rhythm of the light spots and accentuated the motive of the motion of his hand cut canvas, the next step he will bring the horse out of the canvas.

Returning to the contrast – color is not limited. A bright holiday and the grey, dreary landscape, clearly indicating that wretched standard of living, stressed ugly face and a wild, pristine beauty of what is happening, alloy fun and daring grim, almost desperate determination, evident in the individual characters, the alloy of joy and grief. These people make you smile and at the same time frightening.

Feshin presented "Cheremis wedding" at a Spring academic exhibition, it was adopted enthusiastically, was awarded the prize of a thousand rubles and sent to the exhibition in Munich together with "Lady in purple". But if the second picture in Munich was awarded a Gold medal, "Wedding", the Germans cautiously avoided. Art critic Evseev complained that Feshin sent a great cartoon where the "freak the freak chases", and feel ashamed for the Russian reality, when I look at this painting: "And so we are not in a special Avantazh obitaemiy abroad, and then there's shame in the international exhibition with all honest people". However, W we note that in 2011, at Sotheby's auction "Cheremis wedding" without frightening "honest people", was sold to a private collector for $ 3.3 million.

Author: Alain Esaulova
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