Laws of the Physical World in Illustrations by V. Yankilevsky

Vasilyeva Viktoriya Vasilyevna Postgraduate student, Department of History of Russian Art, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University st. Kolmogorova, 1, Moscow La-viva-rosa@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

In the 1960s, society placed great hopes on the exact sciences as leading to the rationalization and optimization of life. It seemed that the figures of scientific and technological progress were about to lead the country to the promised happy and bright future. They also had carte blanche of relative cultural freedom from the state, which was explained by their responsibility for strengthening the power and prestige of the USSR in the race of the Cold War period. In popular culture, this is reflected in the great demand for popular science publications. One of the leading places in the profile periodicals of that time was occupied by the magazine "Knowledge-Power", where at that time the progressive-thinking artist Yu. Sobolev was working, encouraging the work of independent invited authors, among whom was V. Yankilevsky.For V. Yankilevsky, illustrating the popular science publication "Knowledge is Power" was not a primary creative task, but rather a necessity.

  However, by solving it, he was able to express his creative credo and artistic principles that were fundamental to his paintings and graphic sheets. The artist wanted to show a model of the universe, liken his work to it and build a work according to the rules formulated by him, comparing it with how the world functions according to the laws of physics. In the illustrations for individual articles, V. Yankilevsky gives only a small fragment of such a universe, whether it is the structure of atoms or the laws of training a new person, which scientists and psychologists are working on. In the illustrations, he is also concerned about the transmission of hidden forces that control matter and human behavior, but on a smaller, fragmentary scale.Unlike the main path of the development of creativity, in the magazine graphics V. Yankilevsky did not touch on the gender theme central to him.

It would be absolutely inappropriate, given the specifics of the publication. An important difference lies in the fact that, speaking about his paintings and series of graphic sheets, the artist notes that he conveys the forces that control the world, as well as their action, through an image "not physical and mathematical, but anthropomorphic"^[18]. That is, in his main work, it is not the language of formulas or scientific designations that is important for him, without which it was impossible to do in illustrations to highly specialized texts, but the system of human experiences. So, the essential differences are explained by the purpose of the design of the articles, but in the essence of reflecting the laws of the world and revealing the action of forces hidden from the ordinary view, the illustrations correspond to the general artistic and philosophical system of the artist.For clarity of presentation, it is worth immediately outlining the circle of the main ideas and techniques used by the artist, and which we analyze in detail below.

  The leitmotif for the study was: visualization of energy through the image of radiation and pulsation; the antithesis of the living and the dead through the dynamics and statics of the elements of the composition; the abundant use of arrows and dotted lines as a reflection of hidden currents and directions of energy; as well as the dominance of horizontals as an expression of the category of infinity and a breakthrough into other dimensions. Further, the planned topics and techniques will be revealed and explained by describing and analyzing specific illustrations and comparing them with the works of the first row. Also, an appeal to the direct speech of the artist will play a big role in this. This move explains the range of literature, which primarily includes articles, comments, interviews by V. Yankilevsky himself, as the author of a developed, independent and extremely specific author's philosophy and theory of the creation and functioning of images.V. Yankilevsky, like many artists of the Soviet underground, was engaged in book illustration, seeing in it a business that provides a livelihood and provides the necessary measure of social security.

The main creative statement he embodied in painting and graphics, available for viewing for a narrow circle of people. In this article, we will identify the intersections and differences between the artist's magazine graphics and his main works. For analysis, we will choose first of all illustrations for the magazine "Knowledge-Power" for the 1960s, since in this decade the publication became the main place where a brilliant constellation of unofficial artists was published. There they could afford the greatest freedom of creative expression than anywhere else thanks to the patronage of the magazine's chief artist Yu. Sobolev.In addition, popular science periodicals were not considered a marginal genre at that time, interested only in the sophisticated in the topic, on the contrary, it enjoyed incredible success, which also means that illustrators meet with the general public.

This demand is explained by the epoch itself, a characteristic feature of which was the acceleration of the pace of scientific and technological progress and faith in it. The influence of scientific discourse was also noticed abroad, but ten years earlier than in the USSR, when D. Pollock's method was already considered from the perspective of atomic and nuclear reaction research, and L. Fontana himself spoke about the connection of spatialism with the scientific achievements of his time^[8]. In the Soviet space, the emphasis was on a specific field of exact sciences: physics. This state of affairs is due to the state interest, fueled by the circumstances of the Cold War. Society also treated scientists with great reverence and associated hope for a better future with them and the power of science, since the power of ideology was already showing frank signs of insolvency. As a result, the enlightened part of society, its cultural stratum, which included artists, was also fascinated by the research narrative. In addition, it was often in the institutes that unofficial exhibitions were held, researchers made up the audience, and who could acquire works that would never have received official approval. It is characteristic that V. Yankilevsky decided to make his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, although it lasted exactly one evening and only "for his own"^[15].

In this context, popular science publications served as a mouthpiece, broadcasting the ideas of a reasonably arranged future in a language accessible to the mass reader. Of course, illustrations were required for them. V. Yankilevsky was educated at the Polygraphic Institute at the Department of "Artistic design of printed products". However, he chose the direction, guided not by a passion for illustration as such, but by the far-sighted consideration that ideological control is carried out there least of all and the need to follow conservative trends is minimally felt. It was to the students of "Polygraph" that the chief artist of the publishing house "Knowledge" Yu. Sobolev addressed in the early 1960s, setting out to find new authors with a breadth of view for illustrations of popular science literature. As a result, he gathered V. Yankilevsky, V. Pivovarov, I. Kabakov, Y. Sooster first to work in the publishing house "Knowledge", and when he moved to work as the main artist in the magazine "Knowledge-power", he took them with him. Thus, he also contributed to the formation of a "circle" of like-minded people, initiating creative meetings and discussions. Moreover, Yu. Sobolev built warm friendly relations with them, especially with V. Yankilevsky^[4]. Visiting Y. Sobolev, one could watch albums by P. Klee, H. Miro, R. Magritte, which could not but influence the formation of the author's style of V. Yankilevsky^[11].The result of their collaboration in 1964 was the fifth issue of the journal "Knowledge-Power", in which V. Yankilevsky designed an article by physicist engineer V. Borisov "Signals of nuclei"^[7].

The text is devoted to gamma-quantum signals emitted by atomic nuclei. The author focuses on a detailed description of the essence of the reaction and the analysis of the experiments of scientists in this field. V. Yankilevsky's drawings serve as visual explanations to these processes, showing how the quantum energy behaves, or how the process of gamma quanta departure from the excited nucleus proceeds. However, despite the fact that the drawings have the function of commenting schemes, transformed by the artist's vision, they turn rather into fancy pictographs. Instead of a neutral white background, the artist depicts the rough surface of a damaged artifact tablet, as if we are looking at a bearer of mysterious signs of another civilization.  V. Yankilevsky shows the nuclei as balls of glowing energy, and gamma-quanta as dots, the movement of which is emphasized by arcs rushing ahead of them. The arcs are arranged one after the other to convey the idea of pulsation, which corresponds to the words of the article in relation to nuclear physicists who were able to "probe each atom, hear the beating of its heart"^[7]. We emphasize that the artist does not illustrate this metaphor literally, continuing to compare the structure of the atom with the heart muscle at the visual level, but retains a relatively strict scientific style. In this he is helped by arrows, dotted lines and signatures, which could also be found in the neutral-dry graph of the scientist. Moreover, the sources of resonance and gamma quanta are shown in passive black, and everything related to the movement, movement of particles is shown in active orange. This helps to convey the essence of matter (static) and the energy released or absorbed (dynamics).The artist uses a similar technique to transmit magnetic radiation, creating a screensaver for Yu's article.

Okulova "What is a monople?" in the seventh issue for 1966^[12]. It is noteworthy that V. Yankilevsky selects material for it from the introductory paragraph, where the author gives an example of an ordinary magnet and explains the functioning of the particle through it. Thus, the artist conveys the researcher's desire to reveal a complex topic through a more everyday and understandable phenomenon to a wide range of readers. The artist demonstrates the effect of magnets by diverging concentric arcs of invisible force. As in the previous case, the primary task for him is to make the energy visible. However, this time the artist does not highlight the radiation with an additional color. Instead, he uses black shading, showing divergent emanations, which is especially noticeable next to the circle located in the center and acting as the main character of the article – a monopole, a hypothetically existing particle with a single magnetic pole. The absence of color inside it, the whiteness of the core emphasize the indefinite nature of the monopole – it is like a drawing-project, the feasibility of which is dialogical. Moreover, there is a large, bold question mark in the center of it, which conceptually reflects the message of the text that scientists have more ambiguities and blind spots in its relation than facts, and only the future will show whether there really is a monopoly or not: it is as difficult to refute its existence as to prove it the opposite.

It is important to emphasize that in the system of views of V. Yankilevsky, energy is associated with both the mental structure of a person and the physical, embodying the masculine and feminine. This is also indicated by the names of individual works: "Triptych No. 2. Two beginnings" 1962, "Lovers" 1963, "Triptych No. 5. Adam and Eve" 1965. The tension arising between the two poles, eros, is interpreted by the author not as an erotic aspect in itself, but as an all—pervading vital force, energy. The whole universe is based on the tension between the categories of masculine and feminine, as in Eastern philosophy on the "yin and yang" that create and manifest in everything. The antithesis of the living and the dead is also important for the artist. A living person, according to V. Yankilevsky, means an entity that spreads vital energy. He reveals the difference in comparison: the more dead a person is during life, in other words, conditioned by the social system and deprived of active self-consciousness, spirituality, the more he will look like his corpse and vice versa, the more a person manifests his free, creative, divine nature, the greater the difference between a living and a future corpse^[3]. This is evidenced by the gallery owner S. Popov, who actualized the artist's work in the domestic context in the mid-2000s, recalling that when he first visited the workshop of V. Yankilevsky, its owner said: "Do you know, Seryozha, what is the difference between a living body and a dead one? First of all, radiated energy. I try to depict the energy coming from the bodies"^[14]. As a result, images of pulsation and radiation can also be found in the artist's paintings and graphics, but this was due to the task of conveying the essence of a living person, which he understood specifically through comparison with the dead. The artist also saw the space of the painting (the "pictorial environment") as a field of action of energy fields, as well as the world itself: the background is similar to the primary protoplasm giving birth to matter, and he called individual elements, forms crystallizing on its surface in a scientific manner "foci of excitation of the pictorial environment"^[19]. They were supposed to reflect the peaks of experiences, concentrated human emotional and spiritual experience. The relation of the elements to the space, the general tonality of the work gives rise to the energy of interaction. This can also be expressed in the work of the color: the colors of the individual parts of the composition are summed up under the common denominator of the dominant color of the picture, and the degree of their variation determines the measure of tension between the part and the whole. V. Yankilevsky expressed his author's approach with the formula "Theme-improvisation-tonality", where "tonality" (medium) is a universal property of the work, permeating all the elements, the "theme" is "hotbeds of excitement" and "improvisation" are all the elements of the picture that carry out communication—interaction between "hotbeds of excitement" and "environment"^[19].In the magazine illustration by V. Yankilevsky, gender and ontological aspects were not so manifested.

But the idea of stresses and force fields interested the artist even when he had to illustrate processes not directly related to the movement of energy. In the case of the design of E. Salimov's article "The Turner of the Atomic Age", which describes the future of turning professions and methods of forming parts, V. Yankilevsky identifies those elements of the description in which there is at least some distant information of this kind ^[16]. On the first page of the text, he places a diagram that, on a cursory inspection, looks like a geometric abstraction: a ball, two triangles, diverging arcs and an inverted triangle with a ribbed shape at the bottom are superimposed on each other. Unless only the arrow hints at the technical nature of the interaction of objects with each other, but it is not accompanied by any explanatory signatures. Only from the text it becomes clear that the artist thus reduces to a sign the process of transmitting a signal from an electronic machine to sensors located in castings, so that they react and in turn send back information about the state of the metal. As a result of the data obtained, an automatically controlled supply of coolant is performed. And although the article does not provide a detailed description of how all the details of this process look, the essence of the signal passing from the source to the material was conveyed by the artist concisely and at the same time clearly: revealing through the drawing the very essence of what is happening from a physical point of view. It is significant that from the following text, which lists the methods of shaping details, including the most innovative, the artist chooses the method that has the most dynamic character: namely, shooting from a special installation with a metal billet through a mold with incisors, which gives it the necessary outlines, for example, gears. And again, there is no detailed description of the device in the text, V. Yankilevsky accordingly conveys the general idea of the mechanism, presenting a conditional trunk without a body, from which a small volume of material is carried, an obstacle encountered in its path, and the resulting shape after overcoming it. And although the text says that it was a gear, the detail drawn by the artist has 12 convex parts. Thus, the miraculous metamorphoses that occurred with a perfectly smooth blank become clearer. V. Yankilevsky does not attach himself pedantically to the facts: while preserving the general meaning of the author's text, he still creates an image, not a drawing.The artist represents all four stages of the process in one space: in his interpretation, what actually follows each other occurs simultaneously.

In the paintings of V. Yankilevsky, time is also a conditional concept, since the primary temporal category for him is eternity. To show the complexity of space and time, the variety of variations of this continuum, V. Yankilevsky creates a breakthrough paradox. In his triptychs, the central part can have two levels ("Triptych No. 4. A being in the Universe (Dedicated to Dmitry Shostakovich)", 1964), and a new reality is visible in the hole of the first level. It is she who represents the space of otherness, infinity, where the reconciling union of fundamental opposites takes place: life and death, female and male ^[3]. This is also emphasized by the horizon line placed at the lower level, which serves as a reminder of the concept of the boundlessness of the world and at the same time its unattainability for a narrow human consciousness.

Such horizontal lines are the basis of most of V. Yankilevsky's illustrations and acquire paramount importance in the design of the cover of the second issue of the magazine "Knowledge-Power" for 1967, which basically consists only of them. It should be noted that the design of this issue of the popular science magazine is most likely due to the appearance of historical pages in it: in particular, the October chronicle of 1919-1920, with an emphasis on the expulsion in 1922 by the Red Army of the last foreign interventionists from the Far East of the USSR. In addition, this is the February issue, namely this month in 1918. Just the Red Army was created. A lot of colored stripes of different widths, running one above the other, cover the entire cover sheet, with the exception of the upper part, where the name of the magazine is given. Their colors, the play of dark and light spots, reminiscent of moire, evoke associations with the order bars. After all, there are just a lot of colored stripes on these details for wearing the order ribbons on the uniform. But there is also a significant difference: the lines on them always go vertically, while in V. Yankelevsky we find a typical triumph of horizontals for him. And yet such a comparison can also be recognized as legitimate because in the center of the St. George ribbon there is a rectangle in which the text is given: "Glory to the Soviet armed forces!". Its black and orange stripes echo the rhythm of the horizontal lines behind, but are not lost on their background: the hierarchy between them is created by the fact that the tape is given convincingly voluminous on a flat backdrop. It is important that V. Yankilevsky remains faithful to horizontal lines both in the illustration and in his main work, which demonstrates their special significance.In rare cases, V. Yankilevsky gives a recognizable image of the real world of a person in an illustration — namely, in the article "Underwater cargo ship" by R. Bagiryan^[5].

It deals with the project of the Soviet scientist Yu . A film of the original design of a cargo submarine, which can be divided into two semi-cylindrical parts to safely enter ports of shallow depth. The artist gives an extremely high horizon line on which loading cranes and hangars of the port can be distinguished, but he shows the parts of the boat themselves very generally from a point located sharply from above. Combining the angles in a bizarre way, V. Yankilevsky turns an unusual vessel into something extremely conventional and fantastic, which corresponds to its status as a daring unrealized project. It is found in the illustration of V. Yankilevsky and the neighborhood of the figurative beginning with the usual signs responsible for the demonstration of energy fields such as arrows, concentric lines, dotted lines. In particular, this is the artist's screensaver depicting a Gothic cathedral for V. Kartsev's article "Pyramids of the Nuclear Age"^[10].The very title of the article sets up a comparison of the scientific context with a work from the world of art, combining the type of cult building of Ancient Egypt with a specific epithet of the XX century, given by the power of science, into an oxymoron.

However , V. Yankilevsky does not depict a pyramid, which would be a literal and banal translation of the text into an image, but a Gothic cathedral. In addition, the accelerators referred to in the text were created by the European civilization, and it would be more logical to show its spiritual symbol of the past. In doing so, in general, V. Yankilevsky does not go against the idea of the author of the article, since in the prologue he gives a list of significant achievements of the past, where among aqueducts, icons, frescoes there is also a mention of medieval European cathedrals. According to V. Kartsev, the accelerator will be added to this list of achievements from the XX century, as the most important type of construction reflecting the aspirations and aspirations of civilization at this stage of development. An unexpected mention of Gothic in connection with technology is also found at the end of the article: "Electronic synchrotrons have the lightness and grace that could only be in Gothic"^[10].  Choosing for illustration a very specific example of this style — Notre Dame de Paris, the artist does not go into details of reproducing all the pinacles, violets and carvings on the rose window. Unmistakable recognition of an architectural monument is achieved by transferring the edges of its frame. The master leaves only a pointed silhouette of the structure, which is the essence of Gothic. V. Yankilevsky sought to maximize meaning with a minimum of artistic means, both reproducing the epoch through a work of art belonging to it, and transmitting complex energy processes. V. Yankilevsky reflects them in the illustration, placing in its lower part under the cathedral a diagram of a charged particle accelerator. The artist depicts the physical reactions taking place inside him with his favorite dotted lines and arrows.If the construction of Gothic architecture is shown in the upper part, the accelerator is shown at the bottom, then the master places the unifying and fitting part between them:

this is a wide red horizontal line. Its color is active by itself and its dynamics is further enhanced by the image of a typical arrow with a dotted base for the author. All together expresses the aspiration beyond the limits of the possible power of the human spirit and thought, which drives the creation of the great buildings of its time: both the cathedral and the accelerator of nuclear particles. Also, the arrow and the active color scheme mark the quite physical kind of movement inside the synchrotron and the dynamics inherent in the structure of church architecture. The inclusion of images of the heritage of past eras was also characteristic of the master's painting. In "Triptych No. 2. Two beginnings", 1962 inlaid reproductions of P. della Francesca "Portrait of Federigo da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza" 1467 -1472. Here the artist's personal predilection for the Early Renaissance is expressed, which he saw as a more emotionally intense period than the High or Late Renaissance ^[11].

Arrows, previously encountered as small, secondary elements, begin to play a leading role in the design of the screensaver of the article "Science and Profession" by V. Belov^[6]. The author speaks in it about a new approach to vocational training — "programmed learning". That is, even in the humanitarian and psychological aspect, the influence of exact sciences is felt, suggesting that the learning process should be reduced to subordination to a set of clear rules. The essence of programmed learning is to follow a strict sequence of actions by the student. For example, first they explain to him the theory of the manufacturing process of parts, then he performs models from matches and plasticine, then explains aloud to the teacher the progress of the work done and only then performs the task completely independently on a real machine. The method was supposed to increase efficiency, labor productivity and reduce errors caused by the human factor. At the same time, the author insists that in the Soviet reality, unlike the American one, this approach does not exclude the possibility of realizing the free will of the student, which is reflected in the very title of the subtitle: "Guidelines of creativity". V. Yankilevsky visualizes this approach in the screensaver to the article. It consists of a large directional black arrow that clearly shows the direction of movement. Inside it there are many small white arrows. They build a route in accordance with the general line of movement as a whole, but each individual element is directed in different directions, reflecting small steps of trial and error leading to a single goal. The name "Science and profession" is also located on the big black arrow, but the subtitle "Guidelines of creativity" is made in contrasting orange color and taken outside, becoming the background for the text of the article. The artist conveys through this the unambiguity of specific stages of learning that lead to a predetermined exact result, and at the same time shows the possibility of going beyond the template, demonstrating the right of human thought to exist outside a strict set of programs. Arrows and dotted lines are also often found in V. Yankilevsky's painting and easel rafiq of that time (the cycle of graphic sheets "The Structure of Aphrodite", 1962, the pictorial and graphic series "Theme and Improvisation", 1962, the assemblages "Torso", 1965, two assemblages "Prophet", 1967, etc.). These mathematical signs in the main work of the master have an ontological character, hinting at the present mystery of being, revealing the energy currents that form between the opposite poles of nature.

Having analyzed V. Yankilevsky's illustrations for a series of issues of "Knowledge is Power" in the 1960s, comparing them with the fundamental works belonging to the main vector of the master's creativity, and taking into account his own thoughts postulated in interviews and press, we came to a number of conclusions. It should be noted the high level of illustrations, in which, just as the composition of a reservoir is read in a drop, the compressed formulas of the author's large works are contained. V. Yankilevsky continues in them the development of problems of transmission of energy currents, the relationship of inert matter and vital energy, the expression of the idea of infinity.This is done through variations of working with lines, spots and arrows.

The difference is manifested in the fact that in the main creative work all these categories have an abstract philosophical character and belong to the world of the author's mythology, and in the illustration they are associated with a specific subject of articles that speak the language of exact sciences. Another significant difference: in the magazine graphics, V. Yankilevsky does not touch so deeply and vividly on the topic of the relationship between male and female principles, does not reveal the tension between them of Eros, which is quite understandable by the specifics and content of the texts of the popular science publication.