The mirror in V. E. Borisov-Musatov’s painting "The Pool"

Viderker Vyacheslav Vladimirovich ORCID: 0009-0000-1617-6244 PhD in Cultural Studies Associate Professor; Department of Law and Philosophy; Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University 630126, Russia, Novosibirsk region, Novosibirsk, Vilyuyskaya str., 28 viderker.v@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction. The mirror, which at the level of everyday consciousness plays the role of an ordinary, albeit necessary attribute of everyday existence, at the level of theoretical consciousness has the status of a cultural universal that permeates all spheres and levels of culture. The mirror as a cultural phenomenon is the unity of three modes: the mirror-object, the idea of mirroring and the image of the mirror ^{[1, p. 3]}. Currently, the concept of a mirror has a complex branched semantic structure that has gone a long way in development, starting from the Archaic period, when mythological consciousness formed its semantic core. The polysemanticism of a mirror is based on its ability to reflect and be reflected. The idea of mirroring largely bases the theory of human cognition and self-knowledge. Modern researchers actively address the problems of mirrors and specularity ^[2-7].

The growth of scientific research interest in mirror subjects observed nowadays is largely inspired by the iconic turn of the late twentieth century. The concepts of a mirror and a visual image are closely related. In particular, modern optics associated visual images with art, which was perceived as a mirror of reality. "The mirror image, acting as a topological model of fine art, underlies the ontology of creativity as a whole" ^{[8, p. 362]}. The purpose of this article is a study based on the methodological provisions of semiotics, phenomenology and hermeneutics, the motif of the mirror in the painting by V. E. Borisov-Musatov "Reservoir" (1902, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The mirror plays a structure-forming role in the visual image of this painting, which, being a programmatic work of the artist, manifests the basic principles of his pictorial and plastic system. Thus, the analysis of the motif of the mirror in the "Pond" allows us to reveal the nature of the Musatov painting system and the symbolist worldview behind it. Currently, there is a wide range of research literature devoted to certain aspects of the work of V. E. Borisov-Musatov ^[9-11].

Results. Viktor Elpidiforovich Borisov-Musatov (1870-1905) was an outstanding Russian symbolist artist who created an original pictorial and plastic system. Symbolism is an artistic and aesthetic trend in Russian and world culture of the late XIX – early XX centuries. The analysis of Musatov's painting allows us to reconstruct the symbolist picture of the world and the worldview behind it, which in turn reflects the deep processes in Russian and world culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Symbolists believed that the world of physical reality hides its true essence, which, being impenetrable to the mind, is revealed in an intuitive mystical experience. Symbolists considered art as the main way of cognition and reflection of reality.

The painting "Pond" (1902, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) is a masterpiece of the mature period of V. E. Borisov–Musatov's work, one of the outstanding works of Russian pictorial symbolism. This is the largest in size (181 x 216 cm.) and the most vivid in color painting by the artist. The composition was based on direct full-scale impressions of Zubrilovka, the estate of the princes Golitsyn-Prozorovsky in the Saratov province, created at the end of the XVIII century. In 1902, the artist visited Zubrilovka in the company of Elena Elpidiforovna Musatova's sister and future wife Elena Vladimirovna Alexandrova. The painting depicts two full-length girls sitting by the Zubrilovsky pool on a quiet sunny summer day. The girl standing at the water's edge is painted from her sister, and the girl sitting on the shore is from the bride.

In the painting of the "Reservoir", as in his other symbolist paintings, the artist synthesizes intuitive and rational components, vivid impressions of nature and a carefully thought-out composition. "The compositional and color rhythm in his [V. E. Borisov-Musatov – V. V.] paintings united the landscape and characters into a single harmonious artistic space created by the imagination of the creative artist" ^{[12, p. 123]}. The basis and constitutive principle of the visual image of a "Reservoir" is a mirror taken in the unity of three modes – an object, an idea and an image.

The mirror object is presented in the form of a natural object – a pool, depicted in the center of the canvas. A water surface with reflective ability is a special kind of mirror that has specific properties and signs. Yu. I. Levin, revealing the semiotic potencies of the mirror, wrote: "a water mirror [i.e., the reflecting surface of water – V. V.] is especially rich in possibilities. It is easily destructible, but, unlike glass, it quickly restores its mirror properties, it has "depth", i.e. it has its own specific "looking glass" ... it horizontally reflects the sky (which, as it were, tilts into the depth) and orients the world in accordance with the upper/lower opposition, contaminating members of this opposition" ^{[13, p. 10]}.

The pool is the main visual motif in the painting. Reflections of the sky with clouds passing through it and coastal trees on the water surface form a separate visual environment with a high functional load. The image on the surface of the reservoir, firstly, allows you to mentally expand the space of the chamber landscape, and, secondly, by demonstrating the reflection of the sky in the water, literally visualizes the symbolist idea of the two worlds. "The importance of this motif [mirrors – V. V.] is largely due to its property of fermenting the main ideas of the epoch, in particular, the idea of the two worlds, the reflection of the noumenal world in the phenomenal world" ^{[8, p. 355]}. The symbolist worldview, genealogically dating back to Plato's idealistic philosophy, interprets the world as a dual organization of two worlds, the relations between which are of a mirror nature. Z. G. Mints, who studied the theme of mirrors and mirroring in Russian symbolism, noted: "In the culture of Russian symbolism, the problem of the mirror appears in two ways: as an image of a mirror-object and as a "specularity" as a relationship of reflectivity of two entities (objects, worlds, people) in each other" ^{[14, p. 129]}. In Russian symbolism, mirroring was the main structure-forming principle of the world order.

The idea of mirroring sets the principle of organizing space in a "Reservoir". 3. G. Mints and G. V. Obatnin in a joint article noted: ""Mirroring" is a mechanism for approaching the distant, "destroying space"" ^{[15, p. 61]}. In this regard, the visual image of a "Reservoir" is a flattened image that is paired with a picture surface. The artist, transferring a fragment of a three-dimensional real physical space to a two-dimensional surface of the canvas, created an image combining volume and flatness, with flatness dominating. This combination is motivated by different points of view on the landscape and female figures. The chamber landscape, composed of a small reservoir and a narrow strip of shore, is shown from a high point of view, which determines the position of the horizon line above the upper edge of the canvas. The "overturned" earth's surface plays the role of a vertically oriented plane, which excludes any development of the image deeper into the picture. "In the Borisov-Musatov Reservoir, the horizontal boundary of the water is not fixed, two planes – the reflecting surface and the reflection – are reduced to one, they completely coincide, and the space between them is thus eliminated. This single plane rises almost vertically behind the figures and is very close to the surface of the painting" ^{[16, p. 138]}. The point of view on female figures, which sets the vector of development from the near to the far, asserts a shallow foreground scene, which is deployed parallel to the picture plane. In general, a planar image created on a canvas is likened to a reflection on a mirrored surface.

The properties of specularity are observed in the rhythmically organized linear structure of the painting, in the construction of its shape. The system of lines serves as a means of depicting the contours of objects and an element in the organization of space. Z. G. Mints wrote: "Among the "younger symbolists", a mirror replaces specularity, which is realized as the idea of isomorphism in the structural construction of the text in its entirety, determining the reflectivity of elements of all levels in each other. Mirroring in symbolic texts includes not only isomorphism, but also variability – shifts, distortions and transformations of the image "in mirrors" ^{[14, p. 129]}. The "reflection" of the visual elements of the painting in each other is provided by both the direct repetition of the lines and the similarity of the main contours. The artist, repeating the vertical line many times, depicted a number of tree trunks, which, representing reflections on the water surface of the reservoir, divide and rhythmize its (reservoir) surface. The verticals of the tree trunks echo the vertically oriented female figures.

The principle of duality is repeatedly implemented in the composition of the "Reservoir". N. V. Zlydneva notes: "Pairing (double characters, symmetrical landscape elements, double inversions, as well as mirror images) in the painting of Western European and Russian symbolism is one of the most common figures defining the syntagmatic basis of compositions" ^{[8, p. 355]}. Mirroring is a special case of a paired image. Two girls are depicted in the "Pond", the main forms of the canvas are reduced to two pairs of geometric shapes – an oval and a triangle. Each pair of geometric shapes consists of larger and smaller shapes. Two ovals, playing the role of the dominant pair in the composition, enclose a pond – an oval shape of a larger size and the lower part of the dress of a sitting girl – an oval shape of a smaller size. The two triangles, which play the role of an auxiliary pair in the composition, enclose the dress of a standing girl – a triangular shape of a larger size and the upper part of the dress of a sitting girl – a triangular shape of a smaller size. The coordination of forms consists, first of all, in the likening of the figures within each pair to each other.

In the "Pond", the drawing forms an inseparable whole with the color. On the canvas, the artist created an integral coloristic system based on an accurate calculation of the relationship between large spots of bright and saturated colors of the cold part of the spectrum: green, blue, blue, purple. The general color perception of a visual image is set by blue, which in color theory is considered as the main color and, accordingly, the standard of cold.

The image highlights four main chromatic spots enclosed in two ovals and two triangles, which were considered above. The dominant color is a patch of blue in the lower right part of the foreground – a smaller oval. It is consistent with a larger oval, the largest array of color on the canvas, which is a fractional mosaic of blue, green, white and brown tones that depict reflections of trees, sky and clouds on the water surface. The blue color of the dress is supported by the blue reflection of the sky in the water.

A purple spot in the center of the canvas, enclosed in a larger triangle, is coordinated with a blue spot – a smaller triangle. Their interaction is motivated primarily by two circumstances. Firstly, blue and purple are related colors, they are side by side in the spectrum. Secondly, a connection is established between these two arrays of color by means of white, which is "draped" over them. The main color arrays are accentuated and delimited by brown and gray tones depicting the shore and the stone frame of the reservoir, respectively. The artist structures the pictorial surface, forming a series of large spots within the boundaries of which he localizes either one color or a group of colors. "Each such spot [of color – V. V.] forms its own separate relatively flat zone, clearly localized in space as a plan" ^{[16, p. 83]}. Tending to two-dimensionality, the color zones are located parallel to the plane of the painting. Borisov-Musatov, having determined the place on the canvas plane, shape and area for each color spot, filigrees them with each other. The color harmony found in the painting was the result of the consistency of the color masses among themselves.

The colors of the objects depicted in the painting conveyed their real coloring in nature. The practical possibility of creating color harmony with this type of motivation of color was due to the conscious construction of a picturesque image. This feature of the artist's painting system was noticed even in lifetime criticism: "He [V. E. Borisov-Musatov – V. V.] ... likes to fill the entire picture plane with some kind of crinoline for the sake of a beautiful spot of old matter" ^{[17, p. 32]}. Colors have an impact on the mental and intellectual state of a person. Perceptions of colors individually or in combinations cause certain emotional reactions in the perceiver. The color of the "Pond" is made up of cold colors, which are traditionally associated with states of calm and sadness.

Borisov-Musatov's decorative painting directly expresses certain moods and ideas. "Throughout his short artistic life, he [V. E. Borisov-Musatov – V. V.] sought to embody timeless beauty and refined harmony in paintings, watercolors, drawings, using for this purpose the motifs of nature, Russian ancient manors and images of women, as a rule, his relatives or acquaintances" ^{[9, p. 53]}. The verbal equivalent of the dominant mood in the "Pond", broadcast to the audience, can be concepts such as silence, peace, quiet sadness. Both the image as a whole and its constituent elements are static and calm.

In the "Pond" the artist created a visual image in which suggestiveness is enhanced and literature is weakened ("the picture is silent in content" ^{[18, p. 23]}). In this regard, it is important to note that the study of the mirror as a cultural phenomenon inevitably thematizes the problems of imagery, in the context of which the binary opposition "image/text" is actualized. The elements of this binary opposition are two mediums (mediums) between man and the world. The image has a sensory-motor nature, and the text has a rational–logical nature.

In the 19th century, photography was invented – the first technology for the mass production of (technical) images. The development of photography, in other words, the spread of images, was the beginning of a global process of gradual displacement of texts from the cultural center to the periphery, which (the process) in the XXI century led to the total visualization of space. In this perspective, symbolism appears as one of the initial stages of the process of affirming images and the sensory-motor principle behind them as the dominant generative and communicative environment. V. I. Ivanov, a major theorist of Russian symbolism, noted: "the very root of the new symbolism: the contradiction of the need and the impossibility of "expressing oneself" painfully experienced by the modern soul" ^{[19, p. 365]}, and further: "awareness of the general truth about the growing discrepancy between the spiritual growth of the individual and external means of communication: the word has ceased to be equivalent to the content of internal experience" ^{[19, p. 365]}. In symbolist works, there was a weakening of textual elements addressed to the mind and an increase in figurative elements addressed to the senses.

The work of V. E. Borisov-Musatov demonstrates a vivid example of the process of expanding imagery in symbolist painting. V. K. Stanyukovich, Musatov's close friend and first biographer, wrote: "In most of his paintings, there is no "story" and the depicted "moment" rarely matters. The center of gravity of his works has been shifted to colorful combinations, the play of light, spots, harmony of lines and colors" ^{[18, p. 18]}. The artist consistently freed his painting from "literariness", in particular from the plot content. At the same time, he saturated his canvases with figurative elements, for example, fine-tuned color combinations, increasing the intrinsic value of the visual perception of paintings. In this regard, the absence of any movement (dynamics) in the visual image of the "Reservoir", which has a spatial organization, indicates its structural specificity, which consists in strengthening the figurative (spatial) element and weakening the textual (temporal) element. Thus, the artist created an image in the "Pond" that has a timeless character.

Symbolism was focused on the production of images, and the mirror in a broad sense acts as an image model. The picturesque surface of the "Reservoir" is an image of a mirror reflecting the idea of a harmonious world. V. V. Bychkov notes: "In a holistic way [It seems to be real nature and real women artistically merged into a single whole, a moment of timeless eternal beauty and harmony of the Universe is revealed to us" [9, p. 53]. A visual representation of this general idea is a mise en scene depicting two girls on the shore of a reservoir in Zubrilovsky park. Borisov-Musatov created a visual image based on the phenomenon of a mirror using painterly and plastic means. The image of the "Reservoir", addressed directly to the senses, expresses the idea (mood) of a world of pure harmony.

Conclusion. The results of the study made it possible to reveal the role and functions of the mirror motif in the painting by V. E. Borisov-Musatov "Reservoir". The choice of this canvas as an object of research is due to the fact that in the "Reservoir" the phenomenon of the mirror is expressed most explicitly in comparison with other paintings of the artist, taken in the unity of three modes – the subject, the idea and the image. The role of a mirror object on the canvas is played by the water surface of the pool, which reflects the sky with clouds and coastal trees. The pond is the main visual motif in the painting. His image is a vertically oriented plane that is very close to the surface of the canvas. The idea of mirroring defines the principle of the organization of the linear structure and the color scheme of the canvas. The "Pond" is one of the masterpieces of Russian pictorial symbolism. On the canvas, the artist created a symbol by purely pictorial and plastic means, embodying the idea of world beauty and harmony. The image of two girls by the pool in Zubrilovsky Park is a visual representation of the idea, its reflection. In this sense, the painting is an image of a mirror, because the picturesque surface of the "Reservoir" is likened to a mirror image. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that the mirror is the structure-forming principle of the visual image of the "Reservoir".

The main property of a mirror is the ability to reflect and be reflected. The concepts of "reflection" and "mirroring" are widely represented in the theories of human cognition and self-knowledge. The results of this study showed that the thematization of mirror issues makes it possible to reveal the nature of symbolism, an artistic and aesthetic trend in Russian and world culture of the late XIX – early XX centuries. Symbolism and the worldview behind it are one of the early stages in the global cultural process that began in the 19th century as a result of the invention of photography and continues to the present. The essence of this process is the gradual displacement from the cultural center to the periphery of texts having a rational and logical nature by images having a sensory-motor nature. In symbolist works, the strengthening of figurative elements and the weakening of literary (textual) elements were carried out. The image, understood primarily as a visual image, reflects (doubles) like a mirror an optically perceived object-spatial environment. In the "Pond" V. E. Borisov-Musatov created a suggestive visual image that affects the feelings of the audience.