With an Icon and a Knife

The article deals with semiotics of the vandal action of Abram Balashov in Tretyakov gallery aimed at the damaging Iliya Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 14 November 1581”. We compared two acts of Russian vandals who attacked the canvas on 1913 and on 2018. There is considerable difference between Igor Podporin’s reckless ideological action and Balashov’s actions which were carefully planned. Balashov was an icon painter, but wanted to be a painter. Like M. Voloshin we insist that his mental disorder is caused by provocative Repin’s painting. The shocking effect of this artwork caused a similar reaction of Russian viewers on 1885 disgusted and amazed by naturalism and expression of the painting. Repin’s work was inspired by his own bleeding trauma experienced in childhood, by the European paintings of the bleeding Christ, by Russian antimonarchist radicalism, by N. Karamsin’s gothic version of tsar Ivan activity, finally by «le genre féroce» of the modern French painting. Repin added to visual look of Ivan the Terrible some demonic features and to his son figure some Christ features. Balashov belonged to subculture of Russian Old Believers in turn was inspired by hagiography of Old Believer martyr Morozova and by icon like painting “Boiarynia Morozova” of Surikov. Balashov’s vandal act is a typical Russian «fool for Christ» gesture. Probably he followed the tradition of damaging devil's faces in books and on icons

Art · Art history · Icon · Ideology · Literature · Martyr · Naturalism · Painting · Politics · Russian literature · Theology · Law · Philosophy · Visual Culture and Art Theory