Landscape

The organic direction in art, which was introduced by Mikhail Matiushin, arose from the inspiration instilled in him by his early-departed wife, the poet, author and painter Elena Guro. Guro, who died at just 36 years of age, leaving behind a significant body of paintings and writings, sees nature in contrast to the urban environment, not in the sense of two opposing conditions of the human experience, but as a transition from a space of secondary daily conventions (city), to a space of primary and experimental pursuit of the perception of life, of Beauty (nature). This pursuit started out from the view that had been cultivated by symbolists, that the profound and substantial pursuit of Beauty lies in nature and the universe. However, she went beyond symbolism, the physical environment becoming for her a field for research and experimentation. She methodically engaged herself in synthesising the arts and spoke of “synaesthesia” in arts. After her death, when speaking about Guro, Matiushin prophetically stated that the transcendence of earthly life will soon be achieved, that the three dimensions will be exceeded and that ‘things will rise again in a wonderful new world’. Guro tried to represent the organic movement of nature, thus leaving us with some of the first sketches of pure abstraction in the history of art.