Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore. 1940. Colored ink, mineral paints. Painting by Chinese artist Xu Beihong (1895-1953)

Painting by Chinese artist Xu Beihong
The remarkable life and work of Xu Beihong (19 July 1895 – 26 September 1953) are well known in the homeland of the artist and beyond. Unlike many of his predecessors and even his contemporaries, he influenced not only the development of any of the genres of painting, but also the fate of Chinese art in general. His rebellious seeking spirit, embodied in unique artistic images, still attracts us with his unbridled, overwhelming energy.
Unfortunately, Xu Beihong lived a short life, however, it was bright and eventful. Born in the era of turbulent political upheavals and explosions experienced by his homeland, he became not only a witness, but also an active participant in its revolutionary events and political transformations.
Born in 1895 in a village in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, his first teacher was his father Xu Dazhang, a teacher of drawing in a village school, an engraver and a poet. A subtle connoisseur of ancient Chinese literature and painting, who himself worked in the classical manner of “guohua”, he instilled in his son a love of art, and revealed to him the richness and originality of China’s ancient culture. A dreamy and impressionable youth set out to follow in the footsteps of his father. Years of childhood spent in close collaboration with nature, largely contributed to the formation of the personality of Xu Beihong.
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Self-portrait. 1921. Bulgarian artist Vladimir Dimitrov Maistor (1 February 1882 – 29 September 1960)

Bulgarian artist Vladimir Dimitrov Maistor
After Maistor became famous, he chose to live in poverty and gave away all of his possessions to poor people. Thus, he wore old clothes, gave up shaving and preferred only vegetarian food. In fact, many people thought him to be a saint and showed great affection for him even in his lifetime.
Born on February 1, 1882 in the village of Frolosh in the present Stankedimitrovsky district, just four years after the liberation of the Bulgarian people from the five-century Turkish yoke. Growing up in a poor peasant family, he learned early of poverty. One of his early works is a portrait of his father, created in 1907. All permeated with filial love, executed with picturesque ease, it gives an idea of ​​the impetuous nature and deep observation of a person close to nature. By nature, the spiritual world and temperament, Maistor has much in common with the father. Meanwhile, his father, an inquisitive and gifted man by nature, played several folk musical instruments. Subsequently, his son not only sang in the field with reapers, at weddings and other village festivities, but he himself liked to play the folk string instrument.
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Spas Emmanuil (Christ Emmanuel). 1668. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Work by Russian icon painter Simon Ushakov (1626-1686)

Russian icon painter Simon Ushakov
In the history of Old Russian fine arts this name stands alongside with the names of Andrei Rublev and Dionysius. According to GD Filimonov, the author of the first monographic essay on Simon Ushakov (1873), Ushakov was the first to look at icon painting as art. Ushakov was both an educator and, apparently, an able organizer, who for more than thirty years headed the artistic activity of all Russian state. Simon Ushakov demonstrated a new attitude to art and to the artist. It was a broader and freer nature of the world perception, conditioned by the general process of the development of Russian culture. Noteworthy, the biographical information about Simon Ushakov can be compiled from the well-known detailed information in the archives of the Armory Chamber. Thus, according the signatures on some icons, the autographs show that the real name of the artist was Pimen, and Simon is only a nickname. Besides, the inscription of one icon makes it possible to establish that Ushakov was born in 1626, and it is known that he died in 1686.
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Self-portrait. Russian painter Leonid Osipovich Pasternak (3 April 1862 – May 31, 1945)

Russian painter Leonid Osipovich Pasternak
Rubinstein and Scriabin, Tolstoy and Gorky, Mechnikov and Einstein posed for him. He was famous for being a brilliant portraitist and master illustrator. His paintings are in the world’s largest museums and in galleries of hundreds of collectors. However, for many decades the name of Leonid Pasternak was forgotten. Perhaps the genius of his father overshadowed his brilliant son – the poet Boris Pasternak.

Born in April 1862 in Odessa, Leonid Pasternak was the youngest child in a large Jewish family, one of the oldest and most respected Jewish families, which comes from King David. Apparently, from an excess of feelings, his parents named him just two names – Abram and Isaac. However, the relatives called him exclusively Leonid. On this occasion, the artist even had to write explanations in official institutions. By the way, the name originally sounded not Pasternak, but Posternak.
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Market Square in a provincial town. 1917. Russian Jewish painter Arnold Lakhovsky (27 January 1880 – 7 January 1937)

Russian Jewish painter Arnold Lakhovsky
Born in the town of Chernobyl of Russian Empire, Aaron Berkovich Lakhovsky was a talented graphic artist, sculptor and painter. In 1902 he graduated from Odessa Art College, where he studied in the studio of K. Kostandi and G. Ladyzhensky. Then he worked in the work shop of Maro in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In addition, he attended art classes of Slovene realist painter Anton Ažbe (30 May 1862 – 5 or 6 August 1905), and worked in Worms (German city).
In 1904 he came to St. Petersburg and entered the Higher Art School at the Imperial Academy of Arts. He studied in the studio of Ilya Repin (1907). In 1908, Lakhovsky moved to Palestine for the summer holidays. Unfortunately, he fell ill, and spent a year in Jerusalem. As a result, for non-attendance of the St. Petersburg Higher Art School, by the Council decision of professors he was expelled from school.
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Shor Madonna. 1995. Oil on canvas. Painting by Shor artist Lyubov Arbachakova

Colorful painting by Shor artist Lyubov Arbachakova
Born May 1, 1963 in the heart of Mountain Shoria, Kuzbass region of Russia, Lyubov Arbachakova is a renowned Shor painter, graphic artist and poet. A researcher of Shor heroic epic, she is a candidate of philological sciences, a member of the Union of Artists (2005) and the Union of Russian Writers (1997).
She grew up in a small Siberian village of Anzass (Kemerovo region) among amazingly beautiful and majestic mountain taiga.
According to art critics and viewers of her personal exhibitions, her paintings radiate some kind of extraordinary energy and heat. Bright and sunny, almost all of her pictures have a plot. As it turned out, they are like the parable in paint, an unheard vision and a sense of peace. Her paintings require from the viewer an intuitive and emotional empathy, because it is the world of intimate confessional thoughts and feelings painted on canvas.

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The main symbol of the element Yang, Symbolic Rooster Chinese painting

Symbolic Rooster Chinese painting
In China, Rooster is considered the main symbol of the element Yang, and a carrier of many advantages. Male principle bird, Bird of Glory, meaning – vigilance, bravery, courage, foresight, and reliability. Rooster – the messenger of dawn, the sun and the symbol of spiritual rebirth. Rooster – the tenth symbolic animal of the Twelve Earthly Branches (Eastern Zodiac) and in the astrological sense – it corresponds to October, when in the ancient times in China made preparations for war.
In the work of Chinese contemporary artist working in the style of Guohua, Feng Yingjie roosters take honorable place. The image of the Rooster includes a number of different symbolic meanings reflected in the Chinese literature and philosophy.
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