Konstantin Korovin’s story “Spring Evening”: on the problem of the specifics of the painter’s prose

Abstract

The paper highlights the personality of an outstanding artist and theater decorator at the turn of the 19–20th centuries K. Korovin and his prose. Korovin’s memoirs allow considering the dif ference between the prose of an artist and the prose of a non-artist. Korovin’s prose was charac terized in introductory notes to reproduction albums and articles dealing with the painter’s art. The analysis focuses on the relationship and functions of figurativeness and narrative in the story Spring Evening. Bunin’s lyrical prose and a fragment from Prishvin’s lyrical-philosophical poem Phacelia serve as comparative material. The analysis of the story Spring Evening confirmed the idea that the main content of the artist’s prose is aesthetic reflection and self-reflection. How ever, for Korovin, the foreground is neither the object nor the subject of creativity, but the crea tive process itself. The descriptive (landscape) component is supplemented by the narrative plan; the author acts as a narrator. Korovin uses narrative stories to speak most clearly about the secret of nature hidden behind the visual-sensual side, and this secret is akin to the secret of the artistic gift. In case of Korovin’s art, painting and literature complement each other, since both are forms of art. Korovin is an artist in a broad sense, i.e., an artist who lives by creativity, and artistry is the essence of his talent.