Haymaking (Arkady Plastov)

[1] In the grass, one can easily discern flowers painted in detail by the artist: repens, ivan-da-maryas, campanulas,[2] chamomiles, dictamnus albus, lillies, forest primrose, clover, onopordum, and trollius.

Arkady Plastov himself wrote about the painting Haymaking in a letter to his wife on November 28, 1945:[5]The subject itself, the innumerable flowers, the glitter and sparkle of the sun in the sky on the branches of the birches, on the trunks, the rustling and fluttering of the leaves and grasses, the figures of the mowers drowned in greenish-golden reflections, in the transparent crystalline atmosphere, in the barely perceptible blue of the morning air, the caressing colorfulness of the softly swaying flowers, their fragrant tenderness, brought by me to the possible limit of illusion and color—all this appears before my eyes at the first glance as a kind of fairy-tale vision.

[9] Even at eighty years old, during haymaking, Arkady Plastov would set aside his easel, lock up his studio, and, taking a scythe and a sharpening bar in his hands, go to a forest clearing long before sunrise to mow the grass.

[5] This painting (its location is unknown)[12] Plastov evaluated quite highly and wrote: “Among the bland other things, from my ... ‘Haymaking’ (despite a lot of its shortcomings, due to my exceptional laziness and laxity) reeked of some ... surprising freshness and chastity ...” According to Tatiana Plastova, this painting marked for the artist a departure from the traditions of Russian realism of the 19th century to the light and color forms of impressionism.

When I was painting this picture, I kept thinking: well now rejoice, brother, every leaf, rejoice—death is over, life has begun... Everything must be filled with a powerful breath of sincerity, truth, and optimism.

[21] In turn, Kuznetsov believed that Plastov's paintings reflected the ideology of late Stalinism, which included Russian nationalism, a return to pre-revolutionary values, an emphasis on the positive qualities of the common man, and a belief in the improvement of life.

Especially for him, fellow villagers were willing to stand motionless with scythes in their hands or, conversely, to walk an extra time in front of the artist while he was drawing in his notebook.

It conveys the beauty and generosity of the Russian summer, the transparency of the morning air, awakening memories of the cuckoo's call, the ringing of the scythe, and the sensation of touching a cool, dewy branch.

In Haymaking, Plastov succeeded in creating a vivid image of nature — “a hot summer day with the intoxicating coolness of the birch grove and with shimmering, elegant colors of the blooming meadow”.

Some “experts” argued that such a profusion of flowers in the forest does not occur in late June, and that the mowers are positioned too closely together, suggesting they might cut each other’s heels.

[41] Art historian Vladimir Kostin, in his book Among Artists (1986), analyzing the creative method of Arkady Plastov, noted the inherent “principle of unintentional randomness in the composition of the canvas.” By this, he meant the artist’s desire to depict an event or phenomenon from village life exactly as he observed it, “without rearranging or removing anything in the picture.” Consequently, Kostin observed what he considered “excessive proximity, crowding, and piling up of figures and objects” in some of Plastov’s works.

In this painting, the mowers not only appear too close to each other, but the surrounding meadow and birch tree trunks are brought to the foreground, akin to a still life, where all objects are presented at the closest distance to the viewer — at the edge of the table.

These techniques include “the brightening of painting, the synthesis of the sketch with the finished work, the desire to depict ‘what you see’ rather than ‘what you know,’ and, finally, the assertion of a new substantive reality”.

[43] The irritation was caused not only by Plastov's impressionistic approach but also by his disregard for the task assigned to artists by the Party — to serve the Soviet ideological machine.

Plastov, smiling, remarked at a meeting with visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery that he would be pleased if his canvases could convey even a tenth of the brightness of color that actually exists in nature.

[44] In his autobiography, published in 1972, the artist replied to critics:[18]“The summer of the forty-fifth year was full of herbs and flowers as tall as a man.

In addition to all this, the mowers were different: alongside able-bodied men stood teenagers, girls, and women".Poster painter and art historian Igor Dolgopolov wrote about the painting Haymaking: “It is as if we hear how each flower of this thousand-colored bouquet of tones, and how lilac, blue, azure, turquoise, yellow, saffron, crimson, scarlet, purple, and gold colors ring with delicate chords.

The trumpets of the white birch trees sound powerfully, and as an accompaniment to this polyphony of June, the scattered silver trill of the vibrating summer breeze touches millions of leaves”.

Year 44 and Haymaking, painted around the same time, People's Artists of the USSR Sergei and Alexei Tkachev wrote in their article “A Word about A.

Soviet and Russian art historian Alexander Morozov views Arkady Plastov's Haymaking as both an heir to the realism of the Peredvizhniki and a precursor to the harsh “village prose” of the 1960s.

He contrasts the painting with Ivan Pyryev's film Cossacks of the Kuban (1949), describing Haymaking as “a celebration of the village summer, blossoming after the military storm, but a holiday marred by the hunger of the first months of peace and the bitter sweat of inexhaustible peasant labor on the land”.

Kuznetsov argues that Haymaking praises the beauty of Russian nature and people, demonstrating the continuity between the old (Tsarist) and new (Socialist) Russia.

She correlated this part of the painting with the works of Dutch and Flemish masters of still life, suggesting that Plastov infused these elements with new content.

[54]According to Professor Vladimir Sysoev, the painting Haymaking is striking for its picturesque details, which are elevated to the level of spiritualized, well-fitted particles that radiate the fullness of limitless material elements, the life-giving power of the earth and the sun.

Arkady Plastov compels viewers to recognize that “the desired time has not yet come”, as harsh necessity still prevails everywhere, serving as a reminder of the brutal consequences of the recent war.

While theatricalization and planned plotlines, characteristic of some of the artist's works, are only subtly outlined here, the composition and color scheme of the painting are meticulously thought out.

Lizonja claims that while Plastov's works possess a sense of “erotic tension,” the characters in his paintings seem to be devoid of carnal sexuality.

A pastoral paradise ruled by Pan (the god of sheep and cattle) and inhabited by shepherds and shepherdesses, nymphs and satyrs, all in an atmosphere of exalted love”.

According to Filippova, the masterful distribution of dark and light areas on the picture plane is a key element of the painting’s compositional concept.

In the textbook Fine Arts for Grade 2 (2020), edited by Natalia Sokolnikova, schoolchildren are invited to compare Haymaking with Wassily Kandinsky's painting Red Square, analyzing the content, color scheme, shape, and arrangement of objects, as well as exploring the lives and works of the artists to prepare a report.