Actualization of the Narrative Functions of the Costume in Works of Fine Art (On the Example of Paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov)
Authors: Зауст С.К. 
Published: September 2022

Статья посвящена выявлению и описанию нарративной функции костюма и его деталей в четырех сказочных сюжетных полотнах В. М. Васнецова. Картины рассмотрены в качестве примеров удачных визуальных нарративов, соответствующих нарративу устному (сказке). Охарактеризованы сюжетные и композиционные особенности полотен, подробно описаны костюмы изображенных персонажей. Значительное внимание уделено элементам одежды, раскрыто их внутреннее смысловое содержание в контексте изображенных сюжетов. Установлено, что актуализация нарративной функции костюма позволила выдающемуся русскому художнику обеспечить динамку живописного изображения, более рельефно выразить конфликт, лежащий в основе сюжета, способствовать погружению зрителя в столь характерное для русских волшебных сказок состояние «саспенса» – неопределенности, напряжения и тревожности перед встречей с таинственным.

In the article, on the example of four paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov, the author reveals the range of artistic tasks that can be solved by the artist through the actualization of the narrative function of the clothes of the depicted characters and costume details. The sources for the study were the paintings themselves, as well as the results of related research undertaken by art historians and culturologists. The methodology is based on the approaches inherent in structuralism and post-structuralism (Yuri Lotman, Roland Barthes) and allowing one to perceive a work of art as a coded message accessible for analysis and as a kind of a structure, whose elements are interconnected and interdependent. Canvases based on fairy tales written by Vasnetsov are considered as examples of successful visual narratives that correspond to an oral narrative (a fairy tale). The author shows how the details of the costume, which Vasnetsov depicted, intervened in the composition, changing the original idea of the painting Alyonushka(1881). The author states that the plot of this tale, which tells about a sister looking for her lost brother, was expressed in the painting using not quite ordinary images and techniques. The author notes that, in the monumental composition of the panel Three Princesses of the Underworld (1884), the artist was able to tell the story only through the description of things – the details of the heroines’ costumes. These details form the basis of the visual narrative, and consideration of the static figures of the three princesses in their luxurious outfits is the only way for the audience to read the fairy tale “Underground Kingdoms”, encrypted in the picture. The author emphasizes that the narrative function of the ancient Russian male costume, which Ivan Tsarevich, the character of the painting The Flying Carpet (1880), is wearing, expands the viewer’s understanding of the fairy tale and its hero as a concrete, living person. The author analyzes Vasnetsov’s large-scale illustration Ivan Tsarevich on the Gray Wolf (1889) and determines that the dynamic manner of depicting the costume details creates a potential expectation of the continuation of the depicted action, which is formed in the mind of the viewer perceiving the picture. The author concludes that the actualization of the narrative function of the costume allowed Vasnetsov to ensure the dynamism of the pictorial image, to express the conflict underlying the plot more clearly, to help immerse the viewer in the state of “suspense” – uncertainty, tension and anxiety before meeting with the mysterious – so characteristic of Russian fairy tales.