The Intersection of Eastern and Western Artistic Traditions in Baki Urmanche’s Graphic Series

The article discusses the issues of mutual influence of European and Asian artistic traditions important for the formation and development of the Tatar national fine art on the example of the work of its founder Baki Idrisovich Urmanche (1897-1990). Ways and means of overcoming the religious ban on the depiction of man and animals are revealed. The religious ban strictly observed by some Muslim peoples of Russia, including the Tatars, restricted the development of their artistic culture. Russian avant-garde is noted for its role in understanding the importance of Oriental artistic traditions for the development of Russian art in general, for B.I. Urmanche and Tatar art in particular. The author analyzes several graphic series created by B.I. Urmanche mainly in the last Kazan period of life (1958-1990), representing interpretations of landscape, Tatar ornament, theatrical masks, illustrations to the works of outstanding Tatar writers and poets of the early twentieth century. (G. Tukai, Deardmand). The author shows how B.I. Urmanche expresses his artistic individuality in graphics, searches for the national character of art, combines Western European visual traditions, techniques of Oriental miniature painting, Chinese Guohua painting, Arabic calligraphy and the ornamental system of Tatar decorative art.