Aleksandr Preobrazhensky, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor

History and the Artist

For centuries our ancestors strove to place historic narration into an artistic perspective. Illustrated chronicles and other manuscripts were always honoured in Russia.
The historic setting was changing over time, as were styles and means of portrayal. Iconographic depiction, while persisting in church art, came to incorporate realistic and secular topics. Portraiture became prominent in cultural life. Despite a growing distance in time, artists would not hesitate to paint scenes of the past. And this is not surprising, for a popular saying goes: "Better see once than hear a hundred times" (or read, we may add). For all the importance of historic texts such as manuscripts or books, we cannot but recognize the enormous instructive, aesthetic, and moral importance of historic painting. This is confirmed by all the experience of Russian art. One can simply recollect the works by V.I.Surikov, imbued by the mighty power of the Russian national character. It is no surprise that modern artists, too, constantly revive images of their homeland's history.
When embarking upon this difficult path every artist should feel highly responsible for the truthfulness of what he paints. How can this be achieved? First and fore most, through an attentive and meticulous study of the relevant historic facts and documents. Yet we believe that it is not enough simply to read scholary historic literature. Of course, it gives you some idea of an epoch, event, or personality. But the artist's task is somewhat different. He can and should tell more, so as to lead the viewers into their ancestors' spiritual world. This can be done through an attentive study of historical sources on the topic chosen. They may supply details often overlooked by professional historians. Knowledge and critical comparison of historic documents widen the artist's horizons, enabling him to vivify what may have vanished from contemporaries' descriptions or from material culture. In so doing, he reconstructs the lost cultural wealth (the appearance of cities, build-ings, people of the past, battle and genre scenes, etc.). His creative work supplies the missing (yet not fantastic) links to past life. A superficial, layperson's approach is impossible here, as are abstract subjective exercises. Sham perfection will always reveal itself to an attentive eye.
It is an open secret that readers normally prefer illustrated books. The organic unity of pen and brush is all the more attractive. The historic and artistic album by the outstanding Russian painter S.Kirillov will probably be welcomed by the public, it meets the criteria of truth and responsibility, crowning many years of the author's hard work on historical material. Sergei Kirillov's art exemplifies harmony between painting and history. This is why his works have occupied a place of honour in school textbooks, next to paintings by such great masters as V.Surikov, I.Repin, and V.Vasnetsov.

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