Publisher's Synopsis
This book represents the first attempt to analyze the development of the St. Petersburg avant-garde between 1910 and 1914, with special reference to the art society, "The Union of Youth". This group of artists played a fundamental role in the establishment of an artistic ambience particular to Petersburg. This ambience is shown to involve an approach that was characterized by its retention of "idealistic" and "realistic" symbolism within a variety of modern styles.;The Union of Youth was born out of the short-lived art society "Triangle", led by the unorthodox figure of Dr Nikolai Kul'bin. For this reason, much attention is given to Kul'bin's aesthetics in the early part of the book. His panpsychic ideas and their relation to the art of Triangle are introduced to demonstrate their place and transmission within the context of the local Russian avant-garde, and the Union of Youth in particular. This, in turn, established their symbolist and scientific heritage and their Neo-primitivist potential.;An important and unprecedented feature of both Triangle and the Union of Youth was that neither was limited by parochialism or dogma. It can be argued that their breadth of outlook primarily stemmed from Dul'bin's position as an untrained artist and "outsider" to the art establishment. Their diversity hints at a certain synthesism, which became apparent in their attempts to unite the visual, musical and literary arts. They welcomed contact with all artists concerned with renewal in the arts and frequently took steps to broaden their spheres of activity.
