Russian Landscape Linocut, 1910-1970

The article examines the origin and development of Russian graphic landscape art, performed in the technique of engraving on linoleum. It covers the period from the early 20th century, the moment the first masters of this direction of graphic art appeared in Russia, until the late 1960s when linocut, the landscape, in particular, reached its prime and acquired its completely individual, unlike any other graphic technique, characteristic. The authors analyze the linocut landscapes of notable artists of the period described starting with the founder, N.Sheverdyaev, and the leading propagandist of linocut in Russia, I.Pavlov. The article describes the distinctive features of engraving and making prints by famous artists of the 20th century, graphic artists, and not only. This is M.Dobuzhinsky, B.Kustodiev, V.Falileev, K.Kostenko, N.Piskarev, later I.Sokolov, P.Staronosov, and many other not so famous artists. The Soviet period is represented by A.Kravchenko, M.Matorin, I.Sokolov, S.Yudovin, and, of course, A.Zyryanov, one of the well-known printers of the 1960s. The linocut technique is well established in almost all types of landscape. These were industrial, agitational works, glorifying the work of Soviet people, colorful sheets, and lyrical, delicate, and poetic works. The architectural and rural landscape occupied an important place in the work of the letterpress masters: in the urban landscape, of course, the images of the two capitals prevailed, which is not surprising since most of the artists studied and worked in Moscow and Leningrad. The authors of the article drew attention to the creative work of N.Lapshin, F.Smirnov, N.Novoselskaya, A.Smirnov, and others. In the article, the authors try to show how versatile and complex the linocut technique, especially colored, is. The authors want to show that the art of engraving on linoleum helped to view the landscape genre in graphics differently and, possibly, influenced the development of the landscape in other types of prints and painting. The authors are trying to prove that linoleum engraving rightfully takes an equal position with woodcut and etching. The works of masters working in this technique are exhibited in all museums in the country.