1

10 August 2016
Anetta Floirat

The Scythian element of the Russian primitivism, in music and visual arts.
Based on the work of three painters (Goncharova, Malevich and Roerich)
and two composers (Stravinsky and Prokofiev).

Introduction: Russian neo-primitivism and its Scythian variant, delimitation of the subject
Among the discussions of the Russian primitivism, one designation appears frequently for
different arts: the Scythian style or Scythianism. According to Andrew Ford: in the decade and a
half before the Revolution, [] poets, painters and composers were all drawn to what became known
as "Scythianism".1 For Richard Taruskin2 writing about Stravinsky or Anna Kalashnikova in a
recent thesis on Prokofiev3 , the Scythianism is a legitimate style, equally important for music,
painting and literature. Meanwhile, writing about Goncharovas paintings, Jane Sharp designates her
style as derived from the style of Scythian Stone statues4. But what the term really means in the
artistic landscape of the beginning of the twentieth century? And, more importantly, what does it mean
at the level of creative strategies and artistic realizations? The present paper tries to penetrate the
meaning of the Scythian inspiration in painting and music. Do painting and music have the same
interpretation of the term? Do they draw the same stylistic particularities from it? Pose the same
limits? Considering the vastness of the subject, the study will be limited to works of three painters
(Natalia Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich and Nicholas Roerich) and two composers (Igor Stravinsky
and Sergei Prokofiev).
Primitivism is a vast term, primarily as the primitive that is taken as a model varies, it can be
a different culture geographically speaking (in the colonialist sense frequently); a historically distant
art (archaic roots) or, employed in a social sense, the rural, peasant world less directly in contact with
modernity and therefore more archaic. It can also refer to a primitive mind (childrens or madmens
art as a regression, etc.). It supposes no stylistic unity but only the recognition of the primitive
inspiration. The interest for the primitive is particularly important to get back a spontaneity, vitality
that disappeared from Western, civilized art, thus considered as decadent. The primitivism entails a
return to a previous stage of evolution, considered as more natural (living more in harmony with
nature, fascinating by its rituals) and thus more authentic, pure. Frequently when the artists turn to the
primitive, it is a reaction against the too quick changes. The end of the nineteenth century is a period
of very fast transformations, in Russia especially, where a rapid industrialisation surprises by the
important changes it imposes, at a phenomenal rate. One method of slowing down consists in
reinstating some elements from the past, to restore the balance. Russians does not invent primitivism
the painters for example are strongly influenced by the French artists but they adapt it to their ideas.
In Russia, the primitivism, called here frequently neo-primitivism5, is strongly linked to a
search for identity, in a broad sense. The main idea is to differentiate Russian art from the West as it is
1

Andrew Ford, Earth Dances: Music in search of the primitive, Black Inc., Collingwood, Australia, 2015, Chapter 1.
Richard Taruskin, Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions. A biography of the works through Mavra, Oxford University
Press, 1996.
3
Anna Vladimirovna Kalashnikova, S. Prokofiev and Scythian motifs in the culture of the Silver Age (
, . ) Nizhny Novgorod, 2008, for the
summary: http://cheloveknauka.com/v/66182/d#?page=1.
4
In Amazons of the Avant-Garde, Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Varvara
Stepanova and Nadezhda Udaltsova, edited by John Bowlt and Matthew Drutt, 2000, Guggenheim Museum Publications,
p. 158.
5
The term neo-primitivism, coined by Alexander Shevchenko, is frequently used to particularize the Russian primitivism but
it has therefore a more limited significance.
2

the Western civilisation that is perceived as always imposing its canons since Peter the Great: One
might suggest that Peter the Greats decision to modernize Russia invented the primitive in one stroke.
In adopting Europe as the model of modernity, he designated Russia as primitive, with the term being
functionally synonymous with "backward," "ignorant," "unenlightened," "superstitious," "benighted,"
etc."6 notes Michael Kunichika. It is the matter for the artists to turn the negative characteristics into
positive, considering the primitive they found on Russian soil natural, not yet spoiled by civilization
and as such authentic and powerful. The peasant, less influenced by European tendencies, closer to the
Russian soil would be the hero of the new works and his environment as well as his beliefs, music,
crafts, will become the source of a new art. Also, as the backwardness of Russia was seen partly as a
Europe towards Asia mechanism, thus, for the neo-primitive artists, the Asian territories, looked upon
as more primitive and barbaric, will be recognized as a source of authenticity and originality for the
Russian art. Therefore, the Russian primitivism poses itself as Eastern, a particularity clearly
claimed by certain artists. Natalia Goncharova writes for example: I shake the dust from my feet and
leave the West, [] my path is towards the source of all arts, the East. 7. The Eurasianist movement
on the other hand will be active abroad, with such sympathizers as Stravinsky and Prokofiev.
The neo-primitivism manifests itself in several forms, three main categories can be identified
that have a realization in painting and music: the lubok-inspired primitivism, the iconic and the
Scythian. They are differentiated by their sources, i.e. the art that they take as inspiration for subjects
and methods. The visual inspirations and chronology guide the terminology. The lubochnyi
primitivism, has the most recent sources: it is named after the lubki (Russian broadsheets). The most
ancient date from the seventeenth century whereas they are the most profuse in the eighteenth and
nineteenth century. It fixes the chronological limits of this inspiration that will include, beside the
lubki other sources from the same period, still very much alive at the dawn of the twentieth century
(domestic arts and crafts: embroidery, stove tiles, ornaments on looms, clothes, toys, shop signs,
peasant music, recent traditional songs, rural melodies that are still known; works of trestle stage and
circus). The second style would be called iconic primitivism as its inspiration is found in orthodox
art, the icon being the most characteristic genre, harking back to the Christianization of Russia (the
oldest icons are from the eleventh century). In music, the iconic source founds an equivalent in
orthodox chants, mainly in Slavonic.
The third category, the Scythian primitivism that will be the subject of this paper, addresses
the most archaic inspirations. It takes into account pagan sources of various regions and traditions
(Scythian, Polovtsian, Komi), different epochs and regions, including more Asian territories than
the two others. However, although its sources go back the farthest, some elements are still alive, and
their primitiveness can only be recognized from the Western, civilized point of view (shamanism
still very present even if at a distance from the city life, peasants still practicing pagan rituals; spells
and superstitions of ancient origin are a component of celebrations or games). The three categories
were artistically prolific. However, in its ideas, as a political postulate and with time the Scythian
variant takes precedence over the others as it is the one that highlights the most the Russian-Asian
barbaric specificity the one that situated the Russian as savage opposing it to the Western
civilisation8 and as such, the most appropriate for the Russian search for identity and renewal.
If we consider together painting and music, the Scythian primitivism extends from the
beginning of the twentieth century to the 1920s, some works manifest chosen Scythian characteristics
up until the 1930s. Some Scythian primitivist ideas point out from the late Romanticism (RimskyKorsakovs going coarse9 or the interest for the Polovtsian by Borodin in Prince Igor first performed
in 1890. Although several versions of Nicholas Roerichs idols date from 1901, the most interesting
years for the Scythianism are just before the First World War (1911-1914) when an already formed
Scythian style corresponds to subjects. Even if political ideas extend it in time, artistically the
6

Michael Mitsuo Kunichika, The Penchant for the Primitive: Archaeology, Ethnography, and the aesthetics of Russian
modernism, Ph. D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 2007, p. 3.
7
Natalia Goncharova, Preface to the Catalogue of One-Person Exhibition, 1913, Russian Art of the Avant-garde John E.
Bowlt, ed., Thames and Hudson, Ney York, 1988, 55.
8
Not studied here, the poetry will also have an important Scythian manifestation with Vyacheslav Ivanov, Alexander Blok,
Andrei Bely or Razumnik Ivanov-Razumnik.
9
In his own words in a letter to Glazunov of 7 June 1904.

movement is quite brief, an episode in the life of the artists, and rapidly only particular stylistic
elements are kept.
The Scythianism takes its name from the Scythians, an Iranian-speaking nomadic, horse-riding
tribe who inhabited the steppe, roughly between the Black sea and the Caspian sea, approximately
between the ninth and the fourth century BC. Thus they occupied the Russian territories before the
Slavs and were regarded as a sort of mythical ancestors of the Russians by many, especially in
literature (West-European and Russian alike). Herodotus was the first to mention the Scythians and
write extensively about them (The Persian Wars, Book IV): his depiction of Scythians drinking blood
of their enemies, scalping them or using their skulls as cups shaped the image of the Scythian as a
cruel savage.10 Interestingly, the first Russian translation of Herodotuss Book IV was published only
in 1819. The Scythians became not only a historical reference but also a symbol of savagery: an
ancient, barbarous race, coarse and brutal. It is this image of a Russian-savage, because descendant of
Scythians, that the artists choose to oppose to the Western-civilized. They claim for themselves this
Scythian nature as it is related to a primeval life, close to earth, that brings a reviving energy to art, the
most efficient in opposing the too civilized, effete, Western art.
Elements of Scythian art have been preserved, from which the artists will draw. Many
Scythian artefacts are in museums (golden objects, jewellery, clothes and ornaments, horse-trappings,
shields, stone sculptures) whereas many kurgans and stone sculptures sit imposingly at their ancient
places, dominating the Russian country. The stories about those sculptures, mixing authentic sources
with fantastic motifs, nourish the popular imaginary. However, due to a lack of precise knowledge of
ancient tribes at the time, what was considered by many to be Scythians actually included various
archaic nomads that lived on the same territories, in Russia and other parts of Asia (Tatars,
Polovtsians, Sakas, Sarmatians).11 Moreover, the tendency of the research at the time is a unifying one,
pointing at relations and influences to find common roots to Russian people12 and not sufficiently
developed yet to reveal the precise origin of particular objects.13 The nineteenth century leading
archaeologists as to the Scythian diggings Nikolai Veselovsky and Ivan Zabelin work to establish
a cultural link between the Scythians and the ancient Slavs14. It is interesting to note here that the
painter Nicholas Roerich worked with Veselovsky and participated in some excavations.
One example illustrates perfectly the complexity of the artistic Scythian models, the
kamennyie baby (stone women)15, anthropomorphic sculptures standing on barrows. Found in the
steppe, from southwest Asia to southeast Europe, they were object of research and speculation,
described since the thirteenth century by travellers, studied since the eighteenth,16 they are still
considered in the nineteenth century as mainly Scythian. Whereas many scholars are interested in
these stone sculptures that occupy an important part of the First Archaeological Congress in Moscow
(1871), the tendency is to find relations between the tribes that lived on Russian territories. However,
10

Herodotus, The Persian Wars, translated by: George Rawlinson 1942, edited by: Bruce J. Butterfield, book 4,
http://www.parstimes.com/history/herodotus/persian_wars/melpomene.html retrieved on 6th January 2016 ( or example: 4.64
- 4.65.
11
Gradually, scholars settled for a Scytho-siberian culture.
12
The ground was prepared by various studies that worked on the links between to Scythians and the Slavs, especially in the
eighteenth century (see for example I. L. Brazhnikov, The Scythian subject in Russian culture (
), . .. , 2011, 4 (1), p. 332337,
2011.
13
However, the research is very dynamic. During the nineteenth century several ethnographical expeditions to Siberia take
place, books are published. An important exhibition of various artefacts was held at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in
1893 when the Crown prince Nicholas came back from his grand tour of Russia, his Journey to the East. After the
exposition many of the artifacts were moved to museums.
14
Orlando Figes, Natashas dance. A cultural history of Russia, New York, Metropolitan Books, 2002 http://www.ereading.club/bookreader.php/1002390/Figes_Orlando_-_Natashas_Dance.html, retrieved on 7th August, 2015.
15
The name stone women is translated from the kamennyie baby (singular: kamennaia baba) following their Russian sense
but baba or balbal probably comes from Turkic language and means ancestor.
16
Jakov A. Sher A propos des origines du "style animalier" [About the origins of the animal style], Arts asiatiques, tome
47, 1992, p. 5: In 1722, the first scientific excavation of a kurgan of the Scythian epoch was realized by D.G.
Messerschmidt. This kurgan, situated in southern Siberia, in the Yenisei valley, contained bronze objects executed in animal
style.

the creation of those kurgan stelae covers a span of three thousand years, on a large territory, and is the
work of different cultures. Part of these statues is indeed of Scythian origin, but many are the work of
others, mainly Turkic, tribes for example Cumans (Polovtsian) or Kipchak that occupied the steppe
and erected those monuments much later than the Scythians, between the ninth and the thirteenth
century.
The situation is even more difficult for music as there is no Scythian music preserved. As the
musical writing was invented several centuries after the Scythian period, the originals have not
survived centuries of oral transmission, the composers will have to find their own solutions.
Thus, by necessity the sources of artists inspiration are hardly limited to a Scythian
provenance. Scythian appears then more like a concept than precise delimitation of origin. In order
to categorize without separating related, combined, and stylistically unified elements, the limit of the
sources for the Scythian primitivism will be posed as that of various pagan traditions from the huge
Russian, Eurasian territories. The pagan element is mainly considered as primitive and more ancient
than the monotheisms and the dominant orthodox Christianity in Russia but is not always synonym
with a chronologically objective past (as to some Shamanic traditions still alive). The more so as
Russias baptism in the tenth century was followed by centuries of slow adaptation and dvoeverie,
double faith when Christianity slowly imposed itself over surviving pagan customs. It is in the
peasant population that the most ancient traditions are to be found. Thus, peasants will have a major
role in this style as keepers of the Scythian element.
The archaic pagan unity of inspiration has the purpose of revitalizing the modern art. Through
the ancient rituals, the evocation of a life closer to nature, the collective power of the tribe, a new life
is brought to the almost decadent civilization. Translated to the language of the artists workshop,
different levels of Scythianism appear. Subjects of works inspired by stories or rituals have the
closest relation with their source, at another level separated objects or motifs are integrated, then
transformed, and finally, stylistic particularities are inferred from those, that can then be used
independently of subjects at a more profound stylistic level (technical choices). Other subjects then
appear or the possible verbalization disappears (as in instrumental music). It is a progression that this
paper follows, bringing side by side music and painting at each level. Rapidly the differences appear:
musical works borrow more entire stories when painting draws from particular objects to insert in
various contexts more or less modifying them on the way. The two arts come closer in their technical
choices that similarly galvanize generally primitive characteristics and particularize them as Scythian.
Scythian subjects and music.
The two most quoted and discussed Scythian works are unquestionably Prokofievs
Scythian suite (1915) and Stravinskys, Le sacre du printemps (1913), both related to Diaghilevs
Ballets Russes. The Scythian composer par excellence, emphatically recognized as such his own day,
was of course Prokofiev17 says Richard Taruskin. Indeed, the Scythian suite (in four movements) is
one of the rare works that carry in its title the name of the barbaric tribe that inspired the style. The
suite is a concert adaptation of the ballet music for Ala and Lolly, commissioned and then refused by
Diaghilev. The argument was created by Sergei Gorodetsky. Gorodetsky is an important figure of the
primitivist search for new inspirations, mainly known for his research on Slavic mythology. Boris
Sadovskoi writes about him Mr. Gorodetskii is notable for that turn, characteristic of these past years,
from refined culture towards the rudely primitive [] an enemy of "Cities", a poet of the savage,
standing beyond the borders of culture, of the world.18
In the ballet, Ala is the daughter of the sun god Veles worshipped here by the Scythians. She is
abducted at night by Chuzhbog (the foreign god) and saved by a mortal, Lolly, a Scythian hero.
In fact, Veles is a Slavic god of earth, waters, forests, cattle, and harvest, associated with the
underworld and not with the sun. Moreover, he has no equivalent in the Scythian pantheon. The
Scythian religion does include goddesses and a god that can be linked with sun celebrations so it is not
illogical (noting however that the Scythian mythology is only little known at the time, many details
17
18

Richard Taruskin, op. cit., p. 856.

Quoted by Michael Mitsuo Kunichika, op. cit., p. 48.

remain unexplained to this day). The Slavic beliefs were seemingly more important for the ballet. In
his diary, Prokofiev describes the subject presented by the writer as concerning Russian idols of the
ninth century19 where he also notes that certain of his ideas (as the resurrection of the hero) were
rejected by Gorodetsky as not typical of the Slavic rituals. The artists seem to be concerned with
authenticity but the main inconsistency of Scythian versus Slavic is never mentioned. The assimilation
of Scythian and Slavic elements is probably due to the tendency of the time to see the Scythian as a
proto-Slavic culture.
But although the Slavic mythology seems to have been the real source and was fairly known at
the time,20 further research into the genesis of the work brings more confusion. Originally the sun-god
was named not Veles but Perun the Slavic god of thunder and lightning. The two gods seems to have
conjointly inspired the idea of bulls in the sky mentioned twice in the composers Diary: among
Veless attributes are bull horns, combined here with the image of Perun, as god of the thunder and
lightning, master of the skies, riding his chariot.21 Chuzhbog on the other hand has no model neither
in Slavic nor Scythian mythology.22 Another name was foreseen for him also, Tar: the foreign dark
god Tar23. Interestingly enough when Ala is abducted by Tar she is kept, in a Nordic fjord24. so
perhaps the Tar is in fact the Scandinavian Thor (however it is pure speculation). In the final
version however he will not have more like a designation than a name: Foreign god [Chuzh-bog]).
Despite the ethnographical inconsistencies, if not errors, the atmosphere researched by the
authors was clearly that of a pagan archaism. The libretto and music progressed in correlation,
Prokofiev actively participated in the shaping of it (he noted even I can say that I invented half of
it25). What is even more interesting is the fact that the music was written at the same time and, at
some point (points?), guided the libretto. Describing a work-session with Gorodetsky, the composer
remembers for example: He was enthusiastic about the juicy fragments which I played for him, and,
obviously inspired, told me that he will think of a beginning.26 Thus, the climate of the music so
Scythian according to number of listeners inspired in return the verbalized story. It is to be noted
that when the work abandons the scene to be played in a concert version the title slides from the
heroes Ala and Lolly to the Scythian element.
Gorodetskys work was also important for the other great Scythian composer, Igor Stravinsky.
His poetic collection Yar (1906) inspired two early songs (more important as a proof that Stravinsky
was well acquainted with the collection than by themselves)27 and had a bearing on the Rite of Spring.
In Gorodetskys poems appear such subjects as the carving of an idol or the sacrifice of a Yarilos
priestess that could have inspired some aspects of the Rite. Yar can mean spring, fire or brightness
(yar, yarost), it is used here in reference to the Slavic god Yarilo. Yarilo is a god of spring, returning
each spring of the underworld to bring fertility (mainly to vegetation), it is the god of rebirth, and of
the awakening of earth forces.
The Rite of spring consists of a series of ritualistic actions culminating with a young girl
dancing herself to death to propitiate Yarilo. It emphasizes the powerful, violent climate of pagan
Russia, some elements are however of Scythian origin. The initial idea is generally attributed to
Stravinsky who in his Chronicle of my life described a vision he had: I saw in imagination a solemn
pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were
19

Sergei Prokofiev, Diary 1907-1918, Diakom, Svres, 2002, p. 509, []

IX .
20
Cf. Afanasyevs work The Poetic Outlook on Nature by the Slavs (1865 1869) for Veless attributes.
21
Sergei Prokofiev, op. cit., p. 509 entry for 9 October 1914 : bulls that flow through the sky, preceding the sunrise (,
, ) and again p. 510 in this first version in 4th tableau:
Dawn [] Bulls pass on the sky, all sorts of devilry and the sun rises Veles, coming out to look for his daughter.
(. [] , - , ).
22
However, it must be noted that the only real sun god in Slavic mythology is Dazhbog, the giving god as the
reconstructions of meaning seem to confirm; the similar construction of the name for the one that is the opposite of the god of
the sun, the foreign, evil god could have been inspired by this authentic source.
23
Sergei Prokofiev, op. cit., p. 510, the foreign god Tar ( ).
24
Id., p. 510, In a northern fjord. Ala held in shackles by Tar ( . ).
25
Id., p. 509-510, , .
26
Id., p. 516: , , -,
, .
27
Two melodies opus 6: Spring (The Cloister) and A song of the dew (Mystic Song of the Ancient Russian Flagellants).

sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring.28 Wanting an ethnographical precision and
encouraged in this probably by Diaghilev he rapidly looked for a competent collaborator and found
him in the painter Nicholas Roerich, a primitivist in his own right. Before making career as a painter,
Roerich was an archaeologist his work with Veselovsky was already mentioned. He occupied the
position of assistant director of the museum of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, gave a
series of lectures at the St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute and published papers on the subject.29
At the time of the Rite, he had already created the costumes and stage set for The Polovtsian dances
for Diaghilev, acquiring a certain experience in the ballet genre.
On his own, Roerich had projects for a ballet on the Stone Age. In his essay Joy in Art, in
1909, he presented some of his ideas (a landscape such as he painted for the Rite, a holiday when the
springtime sun is celebrated by making of floral garlands, music, khorovod, people in bearskins). His
paintings of the time also tackle the subject of Ancient Slavs and their traditions (cf. below: bearskins,
magic stones, etc.). Stravinskys vision and Roerich project seem to merge in the Rite. The final story
is a result of their collaboration. Some time before the premiere, Roerich describes the resulting
libretto to Diaghilev in following terms: the foot of a sacred hill, in a lush plain, where Slavonic
tribes are gathered together to celebrate the spring rites. In this scene there is an old witch who predicts
the future, a marriage by capture, round dances. Then comes the most solemn moment. The wise elder
is brought from the village to imprint his sacred kiss on the new-flowering earth. During this rite the
crowd is seized with a mystic terror After this uprush of terrestrial joy, the second scene sets a
celestial mystery before us. Young virgins dance in circles on the sacred hill amid enchanted rocks;
then they choose the victim they intend to honour. In a moment she will dance her last dance before
the ancients clad in bearskins to show that the bear was mans ancestor. Then the greybeards dedicate
the victim to the god Yarilo.30
With the working title of The Great Sacrifice, the ballet was conceived as a re-enactment of
a seasonal pagan celebration. The characters of the Rite are closely linked with nature, they draw their
strength from earth, they act in accordance to the rhythm of the seasons, their action is collective with
predetermined roles for everyone. The result is strongly archaic, the action is reduced to a strict
minimum: the preparative rituals and the sacrifice. Authentic sources provide elements that are freely
associated by the authors. Two important moments of the pagan year are combined here: spring arrival
(Semik festival celebrating the reawakening of nature in the spring as the title suggests) and
midsummer celebration (Kupala celebration; sacrificial burning of effigies, abductions etc. are proper
to Kupala, some projects mention the summer festivities)31.
Two main Slavic sources known to both Roerich and Stravinsky largely inspired the work:
Nestors Primary Chronicle32 and Alexander Afanasyev, The Poetic Outlook on Nature by the Slavs
(or The Slavs Poetic View of Nature), that contain the majority of the traditions present in the Rite.
The Primary Chronicles accounting of Slavic traditions up to the twelfth century, provides a
depiction of the Kupala festivities with their khorovods and games between villages (of search and
abduction among others). Afanasyevs work is the most important source for Yarilos celebrations
(processions, divinations, khorovods, process of finding the Chosen one for the re-enactment of the
sacrifice, the lighting of the bonfire, the role of the Elders). Especially important is the association of
spring celebrations with sacrificial rituals (imitation of sacrifices, through burning of effigies or sort of
re-enactments of sacrifices with young girls in disguise).
However, there is no human sacrifice among Ancient Slavs. Interestingly, Roerich seems to
have found traces of human sacrifices in the Scythian tradition and in particular Herodotus who gives
a thorough description of human sacrifices among the Scythians in the cult of the Scythian Ares. For
example: When prisoners are taken in war, out of every hundred men they sacrifice one []
Libations of wine are first poured upon their heads, after which they are slaughtered over a vessel; the
28

Igor Stravinsky, Chronicles of my life, London, V. Gollancz edition, 1936, chapter III.
For detail see: Anita Stasulane, Theosophy and Culture: Nicholas Roerich, Rome, Editrice Pontificia Universit
Gregoriana, 2005, p. 8.
30
From a letter Roerich wrote to Diaghilev, not dated, quoted by Eric Walter White (Stravinsky. The composer and his
Works, London & Boston, Faber and Faber, second edition 1979, p. 209).
31
Richard Taruskin, op. cit., p. 866 quotes a description of the scenario by Roerich (in 1910): The action begins with a
summer night and finishes immediately before the sunrise when the first rays begin to show.
32
By tradition attributed to the monk Nestor (c. 1056-1114).
29

vessel is then carried up to the top of the pile, and the blood poured upon the scimitar. While this takes
place at the top of the mound, below, by the side of the temple, the right hands and arms of the
slaughtered prisoners are cut off, and tossed on high into the air.33 Herodotus is probably also a
source of information as to the Scythian worship of ancestors and of some customs related to
soothsayers and funerary traditions. To confirm that precisely Herodotus source was used as the
model for the Scythian elements, Richard Taruskin noted similarities between his description of
Scythian divination and some Stravinskys projects (divination with wands) then the mention of the
Amazons (their encounter with the Scythians is especially detailed by Herodotus and specified by
Stravinsky in his sketches for the Glorification of the Chosen One)34.
Another interesting source recently discovered confirms that the Rite was conceived as a
collage of authentic elements: a cylinder recording of a conversation between Roerich, Diaghilev and
Stravinsky35. Roerich mentions a shaman of Irkutsk as a source of some ideas as for the divination
with twigs (specifying that this was the tradition inherited from ancient Scythians). He proposes the
shaman as a model for a character in the ballet. Diaghilev changes the he-shaman into a she-shaman
simply explaining that this is more a role for a woman.
In the same way as for Ala and Lolly, it seems that Scythian-Slavic beliefs were considered as
a common well. This time it seems more probable that it was a deliberate choice as Roerichs research
made him an expert on the subject. Even if the research emphasized the links between Scythians
considered as the ancestors and their Slavic successors, he was well aware that the ballet combined
the two in an artificial manner to enhance their ancient colour, the primitivism, the barbaric violence.
Roerich also created costumes and stage sets. The scenography made by Roerich himself was the ideal
response for the libretto as it featured the leading motifs of his painting at the time: sacred stones,
sacred hills, Slavs in traditional clothing, assembly of elders, shamans in bearskins and an
environment of all-powerful nature.
Beside the Scythian suite and the Rite of spring, Prokofiev and Stravinsky integrated pagan
sources in other works that rest in the shadow of the two main primitivist achievements. The cantata
Seven, they are seven by Prokofiev (for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra, 1917) is a case in point.
Inspired by an Akkadian incantation (Mesopotamian origin, cuneiform writing, 3000 BC) in a Russian
version by Konstantin Balmont (in his collection of Ancient Calls ). At the time,
archaeological discoveries revealed the Mesopotamian (Sumero-Akkadian) civilisation to the public,
the cuneiform writing was deciphered. The incantation was among the discoveries and was translated
by the German Orientalist Hugo Winckler. It is from this translation that Balmont worked his own.36
The incantation is a spell against the uttukus or demons37 calling the spirit of the earth to
exorcize the seven evil forces that are described as ruthless, wicked, and horrific. It corresponds
perfectly to the tone of the pagan inspirations of the Scythian primitivism, the more so as the composer
treats it as a sort of ritual action where a soloist, embodying a priest (Prokofiev used the term ,
priest, in his Diary when mentioning the soloist) leads a ritual before a responding collective (chorus).
It is interesting to note that the Sumero-Akkadian world was yet only little known. The
tendency of the time was to look for links between cultures. Henry Rawlinson, perhaps the most
recognized expert on the subject explained some Semitic Babylonian language particularities by
recognizing a new language which he designates as Akkadian and which he considered to be
Scythian or Turanian with Babylonian Scyths38 at the origin of the cuneiform writing. This link
was common knowledge by the beginning of the twentieth century, probably known to Prokofiev. As
with the Scythian-Slavic source, the relations advocated by the Sumero-Akkadian research of the time
33

Herodotus, op. cit. 4.62.

Richard Taruskin, op. cit., p. 887 and 890.
35
Edited by Paul Griffiths, http://newyorkarts.net/2013/05/stravinsky-rite-of-spring-untold-story/, retrieved on 13 January
2016.
36
See for example: Nicolas Moron, Des manuscrits aux ditions de Sept, ils sont sept de Serge Prokofiev: Une histoire
retrace Revue de Musicologie T. 95, No. 2 (2009), Socit Franaise de Musicologie, p. 427-447,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40649020.
37
Kaori OConnor, The never-ending feast: the anthropology and archaeology of feasting, London-New York, Bloomsbury
Academic, 2015, p. 3.
38
Samuel Noah Kramer, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, The University of Chicago Press (Chicago
& London), 1963, p. 20.
34

can explain the apparent plurality of the inspirations of the Scythian primitivism that has an
underlying unity of intention.
Apart from the Rite, in Stravinskys works dominate pagan elements already integrated in the
Christian world, as for example in his dish-divination songs (Four Russian peasant songs, 1917 and
the third of the 1920 Four Russian Songs). The texts come from Afanasyevs collection of Russian
popular sources. The songs feature a fortune-telling ritual where trinkets are put in a dish with water to
serve as a medium for predictions. This pagan custom survived in Christian times as a part of
Christmas games. The Christian Saviours Church appears thus along Ovsen, a pagan god that
gave its name to a New Years celebration. Ovsen (Avsen) is a Slavic god associated with season
changes (solar cycle).
In a similar way, some pagan motifs point out in The Wedding, a ballet with vocal parts. The
sequence of events in the libretto follows directly a traditional peasant ceremony39. Despite their
Christian affiliation, the traditional Russian weddings were riddled with pagan traditions. The earliest
native historical source, the Primary Chronicle, reports the existence of "pagan play acting" and
dancing at the weddings of ancient East Slavic tribes. A sixteenth-century text, the Stoglav (The book
of hundred chapters), complains of the enduring contamination of Christian weddings by pagan
survivals. [] "the entire ceremony abounded in magic spells, incantations and, in general, obvious
traces of paganism."40
Stravinskys work presents the wedding as a rite of passage attached to a series of prescribed
actions and ritual phrases. The texts are inspired by sayings and coded dialogues of magical
significance (as spells to ward off evil spirits) of the traditional ceremony. In the ballet the marriage at
the church itself is not re-enacted: only the preparation, the return from the church, and the feast that
follows are featured, emphasizing all the more the pagan surviving customs. The Christian element is
not forgotten, with prayers, addressed to the Virgin Mary or the saints Cosmos and Damian, but also
the simple knowledge that the real ceremony takes place in the Church. But the pagan tone interferes
even with the prayers: when the Virgin Mary is commanded to bless the wedding and help comb the
bridegroom's hair (at 44) and then is given a direct order by the divided bassos (Pod' m svad'bu, which
is roughly "Off to the wedding with you!"), we realize that the mother of the Savior is here replacing
some ancient fertility goddess. In monotheistic religions, divinities do not get ordered about, but in
The Iliad, a warrior could order Aphrodite off the battlefield.41
The ritual rigidity of actions and words creates an archaic climate that the musical realization
will foster. The primitive power of the collective is emphasized, the bride and groom appear as playing
a role in front of their parents and guests. The composer will emphasize this point by abolishing the
traditional role distribution (see discussion of the music below). Thus, even if taking their source in the
already Christian Russia, Stravinskys works emphasize the pagan traditions at the base of it whereas
the musical realization reinforces the archaism going back to the most distant past42.

39

He essentially uses the collection of Piotr Kireyevsky from which he rearranges material with typical Stravinskyan
freedom. Additional sources pointed by researchers (Richard Taruskin and Marina Lupishko among others) have a much
lesser role (collections by Tereshchenko, Shein, and Sakharov or Dahl's Tolkovy Slovar' Zhivogo Velikorusskogo Yazyka
(Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great-Russian Language) .
40
Simon Karlinsky, Igor Stravinsky and Russian Preliterate Theater, Jann Pasler (ed.), Confronting Stravinsky: Man,
Musician and Modernist, University of California Press, 1988, p. 8-9, the quote is from: Vsevolod Vsevolodsky-Gerngross,
Istoriia russkovo teatra [A history of Russian theatre] (Leningrad, 1929), vol. 1, p. 81-82.
41
Simon Karlinsky, op. cit., p. 9.
42
Interesting but too long for this paper: it is Natalia Goncharova that made the sets and costumes for The Wedding, a subject
to be developed in my next paper on The Scythian dance in music and painting.

Scythian subjects in painting

In painting, the subjects are more circumscribed, frequently taking inspiration from a
particular type of ancient pagan art. The most remarked model is that of the kamennyie baby, the
funeral sculptures of which some are actually Scythian, the earliest of the surviving examples. The
name kamennaia baba signifies stone woman and some of the statues feature women, while others
are undifferentiated or clearly represent men. Actually, the name comes from the Turkic balbal
signifying ancestor, the importance of the Scythian cult of ancestors was well-known, mentioned
already by Herodotus. The usual translation of kamennaia baba in English is stone woman but the
Russian sense of baba is really of a peasant, not refined woman and of a certain age with that, that is
rendered in certain contexts as old woman. An entire set of beliefs developed around them among
the Russian peasantry (the statues are supposed to have powers and are addressed in prayers in a tone
evoking a sort of ancestoras they were believed to be actual old peasant women turned into stone). The
most ancient of them are generally flat and simple, cubic blocks of stone, without neck and with little
carving. The upper part of the body is favoured and the lower half shortened with no details. If hands
are visible they have similar positions, the most frequently united in their lap or the right hand raised
as if to drink from a horn (with the outline of the horn present or not). Others, more recent, are more
sophisticated, with imitation of a complex headgear with conic tops, more details and a deeper
carving.
Many artists were interested by these sculptures, among them Natalia Goncharova. She had
first hand knowledge of them through her friends, the Burliuks. On the Chernianka estate, in the
middle of the steppe, where the Burliuks lived, and where they invited their artist friends several stone
women were still standing on the grounds; one was brought to their Moscow home so they could draw
from it. At the time, the museums displayed also many such statues, for example the Historical
museum in Moscow where the artists could get plaster casts. Moreover, Goncharova initially studied
sculpture and made replicas of clay of the actual stone statues herself. She had some replicas in her
possession even after moving to Paris (that can be seen from photographs of her Paris studio).
The most characteristic paintings of the subject are Stone maiden (still life, 1908) and God of
fertility (1909-1910) by Goncharova, that deal directly with the ambiguous status of the name baba
in Russian. The first modifies the baba into maiden (deva).43 It represents a stone figure placed on a
table. It looks small compared to the real stone babas (a young version of the baba) painted in a
curled-up position as if a real size sculpture was remodelled to fit on a table. At odds with her models
her legs are delimitated (not entirely however, below her a block of stone is visible), but her hands are
joined in her lap exactly like the primitive models. The sculpture is integrated into a still life with
painting attributes, a scroll and a jar with paintbrushes. The painting art is thus presented as originating
in sculpture. The maiden seems to hold a scroll in her lap which reinforces the link. Goncharova will
consider the archaic sculpture as the source of modern painting, although she verbalizes it only a few
years later, the Stone maiden already suggests it.
The second painting, God of fertility44, associates the original neutral sense of the Turkic name
balbal (ancestor) of its title with the feminine popular interpretation of the kamennaia baba. The
painting represents a pagan divinity, seemingly made of stone, its face resembles the stone statues
model but not really the body. Nude, with big breasts and big stomach clearly carved, it has a
disproportionately enormous head and thin legs. However, as in the archaic sculptures, the upper part
of the body is bigger, the massive torso without neck and the square shoulders strongly recall the stone
babas. Although the title of the painting mentions a god, the big breasts and stomach suggest a
feminine quality (a pregnancy state?). The god occupies the left side of the canvas whereas on the
right seem to be figured the fruits (attributes ?) of his fertility: horse, flower, fish This unifying
approach evokes the archaic perception of the world as a whole, the fertility presented here is that of
the humans as well as that of the earth. The close relation between man and nature is an important part
of the primitivist quest.45 Stylistically, the manner of the Stone maiden is here further developed, the
43

Original title: (Kamennaia deva).

According to the original title , sometimes erroneously translated as Goddess of fertility.
45
As in the musical-Scythian subjects, the link between Scythian and Slavic can be suggested here. If a model for the god has
to be found in the pagan pantheon, the most probable would be the Slavic Veles (the most known god of fertility). In the
44

10

sharpened line and exaggerated contrast between light and shade bring out a multifaceted, cubist
picture, the attributes have a stone quality (through shape and colour). The archaic sculpture and cubist
modernity are thus connected.

Natalia Goncharova, God of fertility, 1909

Oil on canvas, 70.5 x 57.5 cm
The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

In paintings, the miniaturization of the original stone woman becomes the rule, small replicas
seem to have served as models. Thus, in several still lives, a stone baba statuette is standing on a table
with other objects. They are closer to the original stone women than the bigger versions. The titles
bring different levels of precision: Still life with scrolls and stela (1910, the English stela translates
the designation kamennaia baba, stone woman of the original title)46, Still life with a sculpture
(1908), Still life with pineapple (1909). All three sculptures have the most typical position of hands in
their lap, their elaborate headgear suggests however post-Scythian models as it is most characteristic
of the Cuman (Polovtsian) statues.47 In the first of these paintings, a stone statuette and a drawing (the
head of Michelangelos prophet Ezekiel from the Sistine Chapel) are represented side by side; the
primitive and the Western perfection are thus connected, put on the same level. The headgear of the
statue seems even to match the one of Ezekiels. Gauguin is probably the source of such juxtapositions
(Still life with parrots for example, with Hina, Tahitian goddess of the moon, was bought by the art
collector Ivan Morozov and probably seen by Goncharova) but instead of going to Tahiti Goncharova
finds similar objects on Russian ground and this difference is the crucial point in the creation of a new
style. The specificity of the kamennaia baba compared to artefacts represented by Gauguin will
influence style not only of the painted statues but of all the painting.
In connection with her painting, an interesting side of Goncharovas representations has to be
considered: her book illustrations that represent an important part of her creation and a significant
contribution to the book illustration in general. A clearly designated stone woman appears as an
illustration of Sergei Bobrovs poem The Stone Woman.48 Notwithstanding the title, Bobrov
describes it as a he, an idol, that watches over the steppe and is the poet, the real poet, the source of
art and life (as opposed to the Bronze Horseman by Pushkin to which he alludes, symbol of the
Westernizing art)49. The statue is certainly presented as the source of truth and durability. But, the
Scythian Pantheon apart the fact that it was far from well known only goddesses of fertility can be found (Api or
Agrimpasa).
46
In the original title ( ).
47
Interesting juxtaposition of a Polovtsian statue from the tenth-thirteenth century and the Still life with a sculpture,
strikingly similar: John Bowlt, Nicoletta Misler and Evgenia Petrova (ed.), The Russian Avant-Garde, Siberia and the East,
Milan, Skira, 2013, p. 216.
48
From Gardeners over the Vines, Moscow, Lirika, 1913, the illustration appears on p. 112-113.
49
Cf. discussion of the poem by Michael Mitsuo Kunichika, op. cit., p. 68-77.

11

dynamic of the poem comes from the illusions of vision in the steppe ; for example, the idol seems to
be moving. Goncharovas illustration features a huge statue, dominating the steppe, and as such
positioned on the diagonal of two pages that establishes the power of the baba. The space is
deconstructed so as to represent the face three times from various angles emphasising the constant
watching and the visual illusions of the steppe. It is interesting to note that in other books,
Goncharova represents also figures of the pagan world such as a woman shaman in Aleksei
Kruchenkykhs A voyage across the whole world, for example.50
The most researched and most varied pagan subjects appear in the work of Nicholas Roerich.
His archaeological career was already mentioned. His masterly approach of ethnographical sources has
its origin in his childhood that he spent mostly in Izvara, a village built on the ancient Novgorod
settlement with its traces of ancient Slavic and Finno-Ugric life. As archaeological digs took place
nearby, he also looked for traces of the past. He noted himself: Around Izvara almost near every
settlement there were vast mound fields spanning the period between the 10th and the 14th centuries.
Since my early childhood I was attracted to those unusual and uncanny barrows, where captivating
ancient metal objects would constantly be unearthed.51 Series of archaeological drawings account for
his findings from which many served him later as models for his own works.52 The studied subjects
spread rapidly in his easel paintings but also in his work for theatre (for Diaghilev but also Russian
theatres and opera) and objects he conceived for Talashkino (decorations and furniture).
For example, the characteristic appearance of Slavic settlements made of wood inspires many
paintings. Ancient Slavic houses are made of wood piles, frequently built on posts. The construction
on piles (perhaps at the origin of Baba Yagas legends of the hut on chicken legs) is featured by
Roerich in Battle in heavens (1912)53, Stone age (1910) or among the friezes for Talashkino. This
mode of building is also used in funerary pagan monuments, as represented in the House of death.
Interestingly, such funerary constructions were not well known at the time, as he is well-versed in the
subject Roerich anticipates what will be later confirmed by research.54

Nicholas Roerich, Stone age (1910)

Tempera and pencil on cardboard, 48 x 55 cm, private collection.

In representation of many settlements, one image returns, that of a Slavic sanctuary consisting
of wooden idols standing on and surrounded by sacred stones inside a circle enclosed by a palisade of
wooden poles. On the posts are fixed skulls of sacrificed animals (most frequently horses) to ward off
evil spirits (according to Slavic beliefs). The messenger, tribe has risen against tribe (1897) and Slavs
on the Dnieper (1905), feature such a sanctuary, in the background, as a marker to situate the main
scene, of messengers on the river for the first and the village with boats on the specified Dnieper for
the second. The Pagan temple (1900) also integrates a sanctuary into a representation of an entire
50

Cf. Anthony Parton, The Art and Design of Natalia Goncharova, Woodbridge, Antique Collectors Club, 2010: an entire
interesting chapter about her book illustrations, On the New Illustration: Redefining Graphic Art 1906-1914, especially
p. 236-237.
51
http://www.roerich-izvara.ru/eng/roerich-in-izvara.htm, retrieved on 23 January 2016.
52
Included in such publications as : Studies from travels through Russia (1904) and Literary Anthology of Works by Students
of Petersburg University (1896).
53
Tempera on cardboard, 66 x 95 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
54
See comments on http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=371, especially by B. A. Rybakov.

12

village. For all his paintings Roerich works on the authenticity of specific elements, a result of
archaeological and historical research. For example in The messenger, tribe has risen against tribe, the
attention to details allows to recognize a Slavic settlement of around the ninth century, with its temple,
houses, and appropriate clothing. He even consulted Vladimir Stasov an authority on Slavic
traditions to corroborate his ideas as to the shape of the boat.55
The most numerous as to the Slavic sanctuaries are the paintings and drawings in which idols
are explicitly mentioned in the title, the better known being probably the version of 1901 of The
Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (Idols)56. Here, five idols carved from wood are represented inside
a sacred circle enclosed by a fence of wood such as were found in Slavic settlements. He saw probably
such idols during the excavations in which he participated but also at Vladimir Stasovs home and
received one as a gift.57 The number of totem poles corresponds to the number officially instituted by
Vladimir the Great (XIth century) who erected statues of five pagan gods in front of his palace
(according to the Primary Chronicle: Perun, Khors, Dazhbog, Makosh, Stribog)58 with Perun
established as the most important of them. In the painting, Perun is also in the centre, seen from
behind, with a horn. Facing him, an idol with artificial eyes (objects inserted in the eyes).59 Two are on
the right of the first group, one remarkable by the importance of red colour mirroring the colours of
Perun, the other by its hair dress with a brim that resembles the Zbruch idol. The one on the left is
distinct by his straightforward pose with arms along the body (frequent among the wooden and stone
sculptures mainly of Cuman origin)60.
Among other examples of such representations: Idols of 1902 (The State Museum of Oriental
Art, Moscow)61 includes only four wooden totems. One is remarkable by its white triangular nose (a
sort of primitive simplified representation which inspired many abstract tendencies) and torques as in
some Scythian or Cuman sculptures (where they symbolize the sun). In yet another version of the
subject, Idols (1898)62 two idols appear, one in the centre with a horn (Perun); one on the side, in the
back (with artificial eyes).63
The idols stand on sacred stones and are frequently surrounded by them. The sacred stones are
also painted in other contexts, without idols, in a sanctuary arrangement or outside and seem to
gradually become the most important element in Roerichs painting, a reference for all the shapes he is
creating. The interest for the stones has a specific origin in ancient beliefs that stones have a life of
their own and are a source of magic power, an intermediary between human and supernatural forces. It
is also a source of a more inclusive, pantheistic interest of Roerich, one that he pursued all his life.
The most interesting of the stone paintings are probably The ominous ones and Conjuration of
the earth.64 The ominous ones65 features a barren landscape of barrows with stones lying in the
foreground, covered with moss. Ravens gathered here, birds that are associated with bad presage in
Russian folklore, which give the painting a sinister aspect66, especially as the burial mounds, suggest
55

Cf. letters between the Stasov and Roerich.

Idols. "The Beginning of Russia. Slavs" series. Gouache on cardboard. 49 x 50 cm.
57
For details see: Nadejda Vladimirovna Urikova, Description of 100 paintings by N.K. Roerich and 5 by S/N. Roerich
(" 100 .. 5 .."), http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=371, retrieved on 7/02/2016.
58
Evgeni Palladievich Matochkin, Archaeological motifs in the art of N.K. Roerich (
.. ), http://www.lomonosov.org/article/archeology_art.htm, retrieved on 20 January 2016. Nestors
Chronicle was probably the main source for Roerich at the time. A sixth god, Semargl was celebrated in an animal form.
59
The artificial eyes were used at the time but I did not find if they were specific for particular gods.
60
For a detail discussion see: Evgeni Palladievich Matochkin and Vladimir Leonidovich Melnikov, The Idols in N.K.
Roerichs works ( . . ), December 2009, http://www.roerich.spb.ru/article/idoly-vproizvedeniyah-n-k-reriha, retrieved on 8 February 2016.
61
Oil on canvas, 131 52 cm.
62
Oil on canvas, designated sketch, current location unknown. Source: http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=1973&info,
retrieved on 8 February 2016.
63
Among others: Idols, 1901, pastel on cardboard (Krasnodar Museum), Idols. Pagan Russia, 1910, tempera on canvas:
interesting here huge animal skulls, more than in any other of idol paintings (Modern Gallery, Zagreb).
64
Tempera and pastel on cardboard, 49.6 x 64 cm, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. The paintings of stones are
numerous, to give some other examples: Omen (1915), Path of giants (1910), Giants grave (1915), The valley of
Iarilo (1908), Starry runes (1912), Great Sacrifice (set design for The rite of spring, 1912).
65
, 1901, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, oil on canvas, 104 233.5 cm
66
Beliefs related to ravens in Russian folklore are described by Afanasyev (for example : . . . .,
1983, p. 123).
56

13

death. This painting was preceded by a gouache The ominous67 where there is a town in the
background (traditional Slavic town with wooden walls and towers surrounding it) that was abandoned
for the second version. The emphasis on the stones and barrows in the oil version gives the painting a
magical and primitive aspect. The gouache was named (Veshche, Prophetic) and the painting
(Zloveshche, adding the prefix zlo evil to the name changes its tone: Ominous or
Sinister). And certainly, the absence of human presence gives the painting a more gloomy aspect.
Interestingly, the stones were the element that returned the most systematically in similar paintings, in
another preceding study: the gouache Stones68 is practically the same without the ravens (designated
also: Sketch for Ominous). The stones were obviously the most important element.
While lifeless austerity seems like the main image of the various ominous versions of stones,
they seem to be animated by life in the Conjuration of the earth (1907). The painting features sacred
stones that seem covered with drawings of faces (some with details, others heart-shaped with only
three blotches of paint for eyes and mouth or eyes and nose corresponding to cavities in the skull). It is
a frequent subject of petroglyphic art, such forms resemble for example the Neolithic petroglyphs
(XIIIth century BC) carved on basalt stones in Sikachi-Alyan, a Nanai village on the banks of the
Amur river69. In this scenery, three shamans (with Asian traits) seem to perform a ritual. They are clad
in animal skins, including heads furthermore adorned with deer antlers (clearly visible for the one in
the middle). The painting confuses the perception of reality: the stones have human faces whereas the
humans are clothed in animal skins as if united in the same pantheistic view. This unrealistic
presentation is reinforced by the composition: the humans and stones are big but the earth seems
minuscule (or it is a hill, a barrow but it is the only part of the earth visible, the rest is sky).
Shamans and other sorcerers are another motif favoured by Roerich. He represents them
frequently performing a ritual as in The Sorcerers (1905)70 where three shamans clad in animal skins
(probably wolf-skins) are slightly leaning over several big, seemingly magical, stones. A thick,
ominous sky gives the paintings bare landscape a menacing aspect; obviously the ritual is not yet
accomplished. A similar subject appears in paintings Stone age (1910) and Calls of Iarilo (1919)71 but
also in Dances of the frieze Stone age. The North (1904)72, representing more important groups of
shamans. Here however a different moment is chosen, the enraptured dance73; perhaps a different
ritual, perhaps later in the ceremony than in the Sorcerers. Whatever the reason the result is more
dynamic, less oppressing; the colours are warmer. The elders in bearskins from The rite of spring have
a similar appearance but here, they are not the ones executing the sacrificial dance. The appearance of
the shamans and their actions correspond to Roerichs research about ancient traditions. The use of
animal skins is thus related to the belief that animals are the ancestors of the humans. This origin was
celebrated by wearing animal skins for rituals, head included, to return to the cosmological unity
(cosmos-animal-man). The duality man-animal thus obtained was a sign of supernatural power which
was associated with shamans.
The bear occupied an important place in the animal pantheon. It was seen as the manifestation
of the spirit of an ancestor. Its cult spread among Siberian people, especially the Nivkhi people that
was imitated by other parts of Russia. Rituals involving bears persisted well into the twentieth century.
The image of the bear as the ancestor of Russian people is also present in Roerichs paintings. In
Human forefathers (1911)74 a piper in a traditional Slavic clothing seems to be charming bears. The
double flute he is playing corresponds to ancient instruments (but not specific to Russia). The playing
boy is the only human element in the picture. The landscape seems natural, devoid of human
intervention; this seemingly simple painting can be read as Roerichs philosophical contemplation of
67

1901, gouache and ink on cardboard, 25.2 x 45 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Gouache on paper, 14 x 30, Astrakhan State Gallery P. M. Dogadin.
69
The Mugur-Sargol sanctuary can also be mentioned, where a man is represented among the anthropomorphic masks. For a
detailed study of possible inspirations see Evgeni Palladievich Matochkin, Archaeological motifs in the art of N.K.
Roerich, op.cit.
70
Gouache and pastel on cardboard, 52.6 x 70, The Museum of Russian Art, Kiev.
71
Oil on canvas, 114.5 x 150.5 cm, private collection (original title: ).
72
Project for Talashkino, gouache on paper, 13.4 x 60.8 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
73
Matochkin found a model for this ritual in Yakutia, cf. Evgeni Palladievich Matochkin, Archaeological motifs in the art of
N.K. Roerich, op.cit.
74
Tempera on canvas, 63.5 x 88.9 cm, Ashmolean museum, Oxford.
68

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the beauty of a world where man was an organic part of the surrounding nature.75 The same subject is
featured in Our ancestors (1919)76 only the light changes, giving the basically green landscape a
different mood.
Scythian elements of pictorial style
This direct transposition is but only a part of the role of primitive sources for the modern
painters. Another level of Scythian inspiration introduces elements of pagan provenance in works of
different subjects. More interesting stylistically, the plastic characteristics of the inserted object are
exploited as well as its meaning which gains strong symbolic qualities. Thus, for example peasants
work seen through the prism of primitive art, by Malevich or Goncharova, acquires depth, durability, a
hieratic ritual tone. It is given a timeless quality and a religious or at least ritual dimension. Less
numerous but no less important, other subjects (Biblical for example) are interpreted in such a manner.
The main models for the pictorial Scythianism are stone women and ritual masks whereas the general
worldview, pantheistic, has its consequences on the representation (immensity of an alive nature
celebrated and thus painted as animated where humans are part of a coherent whole).
The bulky stature of the stone women, their heaviness, the angularity of the stone block that
results in a rigidity of poses, the awkwardness of the carving will be transposed to other figures. An
illusion of volume is preserved, their heaviness is frequently opposed to or put against a flat
environment. The entire silhouette is imitated or only elements adapted among them the sculptural
quality of the silhouette, the appearance of the face (stone-coloured, as of clay, painted without details
as to imitate stone carving), the importance given to the upper part of the body with reduced lower
part, the absence of neck or the characteristic position of the hands (frequently joined in their lap or
one hand raised as to drink from a horn). The imitation of the stone women is a source of renewal for
the pictorial language.
The examples are numerous, for Goncharova especially the stone babas are an important
model. In Pillars of salt (1909) a biblical subject is interpreted by several figures that resemble the
archaic stone sculptures. The story is that of Lot who was saved from Sodom with his family. They
were warned against looking back but Lots wife did it anyway and turned into a pillar of salt. Many
paintings feature Lot with his daughters, his wife and the burning Sodom in the background. Here
however, whereas in the background the burning Sodom can be identified (an oppressing sky that
features the rain of fire and brimstone that fell upon the town is represented), not only Lot, but all his
family are transformed into pillars of salt. Their appearance is strongly influenced by the primitive
stone women. The general shape with no neck, the body as enclosed in a stone block (as bas-reliefs on
the stone, with very little arms and legs embedded, trapped in the cubic form) is directly borrowed
from the stone babas. The figures have the same position of the hands as the ancient sculptures. They
have no eyes only sockets, the line of the eyebrows is descending to form the nose; the mouth is
formed by geometrical traits for the two silhouettes on the left.

Natalia Goncharova, Pillars of salt (1909)

Oil on canvas, 80.5 x 96 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
75
76

Victoria Klimentieva, Nicholas Roerich: in search of Shambhala, thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 2009, p. 21.
Tempera and pencil on cardboard, 11 x 15.3 cm, St. Petersburg State Roerich-family Museum and Institute.

15

Each figure is presented at a different angle, in different position that resembles the natural
environment of the stone sculptures in the steppe. Standing on earth ground, they shifted or sank
slightly into the ground with centuries when several can be seen their positioning appears capricious
just as here (however the stone women oriented exactly the same just leaning more or less to the fore
or more or less earth yielding underneath, here they are oriented differently but the impression of the
whole is similar). The figures seem imprisoned in the stone as Lots wife was in the salt; it
corresponds to the popular interpretation of the stone women as real persons turned into stones. Thus,
the biblical story is connected with the stone baby vestiges, the Christian religion and pagan sculptures
are brought together, put on the same level, as if the pagan stone sculptures could be vestiges of
biblical times. It provides a new type of relation between the pagan traditions and Christianity and at
the same time gives a new importance to peasant beliefs (some still celebrating the stone sculptures);
finding links was the guiding idea.
Similarly painted figures appear also in Peasants gathering grapes (1912). Those angular,
squared, geometrical more than realistic forms that result from the kamennyie baby come very close to
the cubist manner. Some actual similarities with cubism can be noted (the picture-space is fractured,
the straight line is favoured over the curve). But the figures are clearly separated from the background
and in the background some elements attenuate the use of cubistic passage (planes clearly
differentiated by colour). And, with the exception of some parts of the bodies of Peasants picking
grapes, Goncharovas squared figures does not really result in multiple viewpoints with disrupted
planes on a flat surface but in a suggestion of block of stone, a heaviness, a sculptural quality of a not
yet completely carved human figure. The sculpturality, a search to reinforce the weight of figures, of
branches, leaves and grapes, is contrary to the cubist deployment of different faces of the image on a
canvas, highlighting its flatness. This has more to do with the archaic sculpture than with cubism. Her
first training being as a sculptor, the sculptor in Goncharova manifests itself here, the elements on the
painting seem as though carved from stone or wood. The colour of clay is also important.

Natalia Goncharova,
Peasants gathering grapes, oil on canvas, 145 x 130 cm.
Bashkir museum of Art M.V. Nesterov, Ufa.

It does not mean that the cubists did not influence her, but that the influence was limited and
immediately adapted; she studied the cubist style and borrowed some technical ideas to create then a
personal art. Her originality came from the association of cubist and Scythian elements, through a
series of common characteristics, the stone statue will act for her as the linchpin between the modern
cubism and the primitive squareness. She notes: While Cubism is good, it is not entirely new. The
Scythian stone stelae and Russian painted wooden dolls sold at fairs are also executed in a Cubist
manner.77 Thus, the cubism is new in painting but not in sculpture. It is the key to her interest for the
cubist manner, the pertinent stage is to go from the stone statue to the painting. The stone women are
thus considered as the source of cubism, the precursors of modernity to link the modernity with
ancient Russian art. The archaisms are feeding the development of a strongly modern style.

77

Pismo Goncharoavoi, Protiv techeniya [Against the Current], 3 (16) March 1912), quoted by Elena Basner, The Artist
Richest in Colours, Natalia Goncharova. The Russian years, St. Petersburg, Palace Editions, 2002, p. 13.

16

Therefore, while Goncharova designates specifically some of her works as cubist, for her
cubist signifies mainly a primitivist origin that found a style of adaptation into modern painting. As a
consequence, Goncharovas more cubist and more abstract painting can be viewed in the light of this
ancient statuary. In the Cubist composition, a stone baba seems to be integrated in a cubist space
whereas in the Composition (1913-1914)78 a giant stone head (as the one of the babas) emerges from
the abstract space. The angular, bulky quality of the stone babas influences the environment resulting
in a very cubist image; a sort of recreation of ancient sculpture in a modern environment and in return,
elements of cubist technique are applied to realize the archaic style.

Natalia Goncharova,
Cubist composition (1913-1914)
Oil on canvas, 62 x 52.6 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

When precise references to the stone babas are abandoned and only some characteristics used
for personal purposes the Scythian inspiration becomes the Scythian style. Many occurrences of such
figures can be noted in Goncharovas paintings, as for example in Apelsinia79 ("Country of oranges)
depicting a dozen women around orange trees, picking oranges or resting in different poses. Whereas
the colours of their dresses suggest lightness (mainly white with occasional pink parts and one blue),
their folds does not have the usual floaty appearance as the drawing favours the square line and thus
emphasizes the figure beneath, its actual sculptural quality. The faces reinforce this reading by their
muddy colour (only the three in the back have green faces as if of moss), simplified, angular features
as if roughly cut from stone, and empty eyes which take their origin in the Scythian figures. In a
fantastic environment of paradise, pleasure, rest, the reference to stone babas gives the women
represented a heavy, peasant aspect reinforced by big feet when they can be seen, further
emphasizing heaviness and a sculptural, monumental dimension on an elsewhere primitively flat
surface.80
The sculptural heaviness serves a particular purpose: giving a sense of timelessness to the
figures; especially significant when peasants are taken as subject. The quasi-ritual repetitiveness of
peasants work, the same year after year is thus celebrated, giving them an eternal quality, even more
when a biblical link can be established (grapes and vine, Apelsinia and paradise). Goncharova was
raised mainly in the country in the rhythm of their work, the calendar celebrations (agricultural
labours) and their rituals, so in fact what is the most interesting is the mythologizing of those peasants;
the identification of the everlasting stone babas with contemporary peasants is a very original method
of doing it. Elena Basner notes: The sluggish figures seem to freeze in predefined actions picking
fruit, binding sheaves, mowing and fishing transformed into timeless rituals.81
In Peasants picking apples (1911)82 the stone women model is enriched by another stylistic
manner of the Scythian primitivism, the mask-face. Two peasants are here figured working, heavy and
muddy, with angular features, big feet, rigid, awkward poses of a primitive statue. Their faces have an
78

Oil on canvas, 104,2 x 97 cm, MNAM, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

Oil on canvas, 87.9 x 123.4 cm, private collection.
80
Among other examples: The bread seller, Spring in the city, Autumn, Washing linen, Planting potatoes
81
Natalia Goncharova. The Russian years, The State Russian Museum, The Artist Richest in Colours, Elena Basner, p. 12.
82
Oil on canvas. 104 97.5 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
79

17

exaggerated oval shape, the nose is only a line, eyes showing through large almond holes as if of a
wooden mask. The impression is reinforced by a sort of rigidness of the head as if fixed on a
differently articulated body.
Close to Goncharova at the time, Kazimir Malevich paints similar subjects. In numerous
works he features Russian peasants and their various yet so repetitive occupations. Like
Goncharova he seems to search for an archetype of Russianness in those peasants, timeless in their
activities that have as much in common with modern life as with the ancient customs. The artificiality
of his figures, non realistic, awkward, massive is very similar to the kamennyie baby. However, since
the beginning, Malevich associates stone sculptures with masks and other pagan models (wooden idols
etc.) to create his very own primitivistic figures.
The closest to imitating the Scythian or Cuman sculptures83 is the painting Peasant women in
church (1911)84. What is clearly resembling is the general build of the figures: bulky silhouettes with
no neck and arms along the body, rigidly adhering to the sides. The awkward rigidity of the poses
recalls the awkward carving of the primitive sculpture. The majority of the women have their right arm
raised with the hand on their left shoulder as the babas that imitate the action of drinking from a horn
(one of the most frequent attitudes). However, their faces are shaped like primitive masks
(characteristic oval shape with a black trait that can be seen as a limit of a black scarf or that of the
mask, the hair supposedly tucked beneath or behind), some have colours that separate the face in two
halves which highlights the mask effect (one especially visible with yellow and red, others more like a
shadow difference). Their characteristic leaning toward left or right creates the crooked effect of
separated objects glued (fixed) on a body, superimposed to a face that we do not see.
Similar faces appear in the painting Peasant woman with buckets and child (1912) whereas the
general build of the bodies is even more bulky. Two heavy figures as if of stone are here featured,
without neck and with big hands and feet. Their arms are in a more dynamic position, slightly elevated
for the child and the left arm of the woman whereas, more interestingly, her right arm is held up high
supporting a carrying pole with water buckets. The presence of water buckets is in itself meaningful
as, according to some beliefs, the kamennyie baby were women carrying water turned into stone.
Accordingly, at times of drought the stone woman was an intercessor for the population (special spells
or prayers existed for asking the stone woman to bring rain). The water motif creates a link between
the peasant work and the stone statue that gives a ritual solemnity to the everyday work of carrying
buckets.

Kazimir Malevich,
Peasant woman with buckets and child (1912)
Oil on canvas. 73 x 73 cm.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

83

Discussing the Peasant women in church, Gilles Nret proposes a particular sculpture as a possible model; the caption
says: Kamennaya baba; Turco Mongol primitive sculpture. cf. Gilles Nret, Malevich, Taschen, 2003, p. 20.
84
Oil on canvas. 75 x 97.5 cm, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

18

Another combination of sources is that of a stone statue with Siberian wooden sculpture. The
drawing Praying woman (1912)85 features a head of a woman that can be related to a wooden
sculpture of the Nivkhi people86. The unusual shape of the head, due to the choice of trunk for the
sculpture, seems to be directly copied by Malevich (who adds a scarf to obtain the exact replica).
However, the drawing has a stony quality of relief that the sole shamanic object does not account for
while the arm of the woman, only partially visible, has the same position as those of the peasant
women in church. The absence of neck is common to the two sources.
The massiveness of figures as if made of stone in Malevichs paintings (as the Harvest
woman) is close to Goncharova. However, the association of several inspirations and especially a
lasting interest in shamanic masks, brings originality. His mask-like heads of peasants are as numerous
as they are spread regularly over the years, becoming even more mask-like as they become more
artificial (in a context of works that favour abstraction) with new contents added (political critique
among them). Valentina Gorbacheva87 suggests a precise model for several of Malevichs heads: the
ritual mask of the Koryak people of Kamchatka. Indeed, juxtaposed with Malevichs Head of 1928192988, beside the identical general shape, the details of the face seem very close (the long, quasi
triangular nose composed of two halves89, little eyes and mouth and their position on the face). The
imitation of masks takes mainly two forms: when a head is painted alone (several: Farmers head,
Orthodox, several with title Head of a peasant of 1911, 1928, 1929 among others) or as part of entire
figures of peasants, where the mask-head is superimposed on a bulky figure that reminds of the babas.
The most frequently the persons are standing with outstretched arms (extended along the body
mainly like in the Haymaking)90. However, in Three women (1928-1930)91 an interesting combination
of different positions of hands can be noted: on either side of the central woman that has an apparently
natural attitude, two positions typical of the stone babas can be seen. The woman on the left has its
right arm raised in a similar way to the Peasant women in church and the one on the right has her
hands on her lap as the standard baba position. In several paintings of the 1920-1930 another
characteristic of strong political significance brings those figures closer to the primitive carving: the
mask-shaped head has no face altogether evoking the minimal carving of certain wood masks or
kamennyie baby that with time faded even more. Girls in the fields (1932)92, a stature of heavy stone
with no neck but with big hands and feet is associated with an oval of the face without hair evoking
masks but with an empty face (mask-like colours for example however as the one on the right red on
one half, white on the other). Woman with rake (1930-1932)93 or Peasant woman (1928-1932)94 are
similar examples.
As Malevich distances himself from direct primitivist inspirations, his preference for the mask
over the stone sculpture is confirmed as he finds the essence of painting in associating flat geometrical
elements. As the cubism took its roots in the Scythian art for Goncharova, the decomposition of
objects into geometrical figures has a primitivist link for Malevich. Although the neo-primitivism was
a short-lived experience in Malevichs work however his geometrical style has strong roots in
precisely the Scythian primitivism.
The originality of Nicholas Roerich in this primitivist landscape is that he works more with the
worldview and beliefs of the ancient tribes than with their art. The importance of nature in the
primitive world, the pantheism that results from it are an essential element of those beliefs of which
some traces were still preserved by the peasants until today.95 Roerich emphasizes the link between
85

Pencil on paper. 18.6 x 14.2 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
See for example The Russian Avant-Garde, Siberia and the East, op. cit., p. 308: juxtaposition of the Proprietary Spirit of
the House, wooden sculpture of the Nivkhi people, Eastern Siberia, Island of Sakhalin and Malevichs Woman at prayer.
87
In The Russian Avant-Garde, Siberia and the East, op. cit., p. 306, juxtaposition of the Ritual Mask of the Koryak people
of Kamchatka with Malevichs Head (1928-29).
88
Oil on plywood. 73 x 55 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
89
See http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/changing/journey/objects/093mask.html for a similar mask.
90
1929-1930. Oil on canvas. 85.8 x 65.6 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
91
Oil on plywood. 57 x 48 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
92
Oil on canvas. 106 x 125 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
93
Oil on canvas. 100 x 75 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
94
Oil on canvas. 98.5 x 80 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
95
As in seasonal rituals, personification of seasons, etc.
86

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nature and art specifically when he notes: art had its beginnings in prehistoric times, and its origin
was nature itself.96 He establishes a manner of celebrating the power of nature in his paintings, a sort
of pictorial pantheism. The precise ethnographical reference gives way to a style drawn from
pantheism, an original primitive Scythian style, where the primitivist frame is enriched by elements of
symbolism.
The pantheistic considerations have three main stylistic consequences. First, his painting
celebrates the immensity of nature Many of N. Roerichs paintings depict his conception of
prehistoric life. In his prehistoric world, the sky is vast, the earth seems to stretch eternally beyond the
horizon, and man often figures as a tiny part of natures epic grandeur.97 In the most visible way, this
is realized by new proportions between the nature and humans in paintings (a particular relation of
sizes between the natural world, immense, dominating, and the humans, minuscule or insignificant).
Secondly, the pantheistic harmony is materialized by an interchangeability of characteristics between
elements (anthropomorphic characteristics of nature, zoomorphic attributes for humans). Finally, a
general unity is brought by colour, liberated from a strict realism in favour of a unifying function,
between man and nature (monochromatic choices). All his paintings have a connection with nature,
Roerich never represents modern cities, but timeless landscapes.98
Many paintings oppose natural phenomena frequently overwhelming the picture and little
human figures. In Battle in the Heavens (1912) for example, an immense sky animated by clouds takes
more than two thirds of the painting and dominates a peaceful lakeside landscape where, on the right,
in a corner, is visible a minuscule human settlement, merging with the natural environment by its
construction on posts. In The commands of heaven (1915)99 the picture is more dramatic, as a
frightening red sky is also the main element, further submerging the rest of the painting by its colour;
below, on the right, a group of men, barely visible, perform a ritual raising their arms in a submission
to the forces of nature. The humans seem small and weak compared to the giant and powerful clouds.
Similar proportions in a menacing environment can be seen in Chud departed beneath the earth
(1913)100 or The hidden treasure (1917)101 whereas in the Straight path (1912)102 a calmer, impassive
sky appears more impressive compared to a man even smaller.
Such view of the world is reinforced by an interchangeability of appearance, thus an
anthropomorphized nature accommodates a human without individual characteristics, part of a
collective, without a face or with zoomorphic attributes. Therefore landscapes are frequently
anthropomorphized through natural elements imitating faces, all the more interesting as this style of
representing nature takes its origin in a primitivist subject (as discussed above, inspired by petroglyphs
- lichiny). The most remarkable are the landscapes with no ethnographical, historical references, where
the primitivist inspiration has clearly become a style. In Lake Pyros. Stones (1908)103, Northern
landscape (1917)104, Autumn. Vyborg (1919)105, the anthropomorphized stones dominate the
landscape. Stones and rocks are the most frequent but clouds also seem alive in Battle in the Heavens
or The herald106, adopting similar shapes. The yearning for unity leads to a particularity of Roerichs
conception of pantheism: his most important originality is the general mineralization of phenomena,
the stones as if of stone age, the most ancient becoming the dominant element.
Humans in this context seem to be modelled on stones, emotionless, without personality or
name, part of the landscape. Frequently people are not only small but without faces (as in Ancient
life107, Battle in the heavens) or the face is not visible as they are turning their back to the viewer (as in

96

Quoted by Anita Stasulane, op. cit., p. 8.

Anita Stasulane, op. cit., p. 9.
98
If a city is features it is an ancient settlement in the middle of nature.
99
Tempera on cardboard. 75 x 97.5 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
100
Tempera on cardboard, 51 x 76 cm, State United Museum, Novgorod.
101
Oil tempera on canvas, 48.3 76.3 cm, Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York.
102
Gouache, tempera and watercolour on cardboard, 44.5 x 44.8 cm, Nizhniy Novgorod State Art Museum.
103
Gouache, tempera, pastel on cardboard, 47 54 cm, E. M. Velichko collection,
http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=2223&info.
104
Pastel, 46 x 81 cm, Estate of Louis Horch, President, Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York.
105
Oil, tempera on paper on cardboard. 23.5 x 63.5 cm The Roerich International Centre-Museum, Moscow.
106
1914, charcoal and pastel on cardboard. 75 x 88.9 cm The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
107
1904, tempera on cardboard. 42.5 x 52 cm, The A. N. Radishchev Museum of Arts, Saratov, Russia.
97

Moscow,

20

Arrows of heaven. Spears of earth108, They are waiting109, They haul them along110, etc.). Men are
frequently clothed in animal skins (shamans in Stone age. The North. Dances and Sorcerers are the
most impressive perhaps), which gives them an animal appearance and this zoomorphism is another
manner of representing the unity of nature. The only times when a person is singled out it is not as
individual but for their function in society (herald, messenger, sorcerer) or in the painting (to paint a
Slavic ancient dress for example a model is needed). It is interesting to note that, even if at first sight
different from Goncharova and Malevichs the stylistic transposition of primitive art by Nicholas
Roerich comes very close to his contemporaries in the archetypal view of figures represented in his
paintings. His characters are part of a community, no particular person is featured but a function in
society, no individual but inserted in a collective ancient life, as ancestors to Goncharovas and
Malevichs peasants.
Another unity is provided by colour, even if a realist base is always preserved, the painter
takes liberties with the represented landscape. The most impressive are the monochromatic (or quasimonochromatic) paintings where one colour overwhelms the picture providing a unity but also a
common character for the entire image. Thus, the red creates a dramatic atmosphere, fantastic even,
sometimes frightening: in The frontier of the empire111, Shadows112, Arrows of heave. Spears of earth,
The commands of heaven and The hidden treasure the red dominates the picture. The red is the colour
of the fire but not any fire, the heated earths magma mainly and thus the centre of earth, treasure that
can be found there.

Nicholas Roerich,
The frontier of the empire (1916),
oil on canvas, 117 x 199 cm,
The State Peterhof Museum Reserve,
Museum of collections,
St. Petersburg.

Elsewhere it is the yellow, the colour of air that creates sunny, more placid, sometimes even
lethargic sights (They are waiting, Motley mountain113, The herald, Stone age but also The Polovtsian
camp backdrop114) whereas the blue is mineral and has a cosmic dimension through its link with the
sky (Starry runes115 or The first arrow116 for example). In other paintings the colours are applied by
parts. For example, Chud departed beneath the earth is mainly blue as the Chud people reunite with
the stony landscape, aspiring at a unity with earth (cosmic consideration) but a single yellow strip at
the top of the painting reminds of the sunny air and peaceful life they are quitting.
The stone is the most important element in the Roerichian pantheism. The stones are the main
element of his landscapes, more present than trees, suggesting an arid land and focusing the attention
on the earth itself. Landscape with boulders (1900)117, Landscape with roadside stone (1907)118, Path
108

1915, tempera on cardboard. 103 x 188 cm Turkmen Museum of Fine Arts, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Oil
tempera
on
canvas,
48.5
x
76.5,
Nicholas
Roerich
Museum,
New
http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=319&info.
110
1915, tempera on canvas, 36,8 47 cm, Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York.
111
http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=1024.
112
1916, gouache, tempera and graphite on cardboard, 49 x 65 cm, The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
113
Oil and tempera on canvas, 49.8 x 76.4 cm, private collection, http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=2904&info.
114
For the sketch: pastel, charcoal and gouache on cardboard, 52 70,5 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
115
Tempera on cardboard, 52 x 73 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
116
Tempera on canvas, 49,5 77 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
117
Pastel on cardboard, 47 47 cm, The Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
109

York,

21

of giants (1910)119, Steps (1918)120 or Lake Pyros. Stones (1908), are representative of this approach
where the Scythian primitive element is only in the style, the subject is completely neutral
chronologically. Shapes of stones influence the representation of other elements (hills, islands, sea,
clouds). The appearance of the heavy clouds of The battle in the heavens discussed above takes its
source here. When hills (as in the eponymous painting of 1915121 or Hill of 1909) are painted they
look as giant boulders, very little trees compensate this general form, the stony aspect dominates.
Water frequently looks like dry land, in many landscapes it is not easy to determine if Roerich
represents arid steppe with barrows or sea with isles. In general the title guides the reading (examples:
Island (1915)122 or Isles. Ladoga (1918)123 but not always: in Northern landscape (1917) it is not sure
what is painted.
The stones are represented as flat forms, in a nave, clumsy, primitivistic style, at times
mysteriously angular (mysteriously as seemingly without human intervention), recalling some shapes
of primitive sculpture. Some boulders look like babas heads for example Beyond the seas of earths
great lands [2]124 a boulder on the left or They are waiting (1917) on the right. An entire baba seems
to point out from the rocks in The first arrow whereas in Mystery (1918)125 a stone sculpture emerges
on the left. This identification is more than slightly subjective but it gives some ideas of
interpretation as the shapes are rarely explicit whereas a dose of anthropomorphic representation is
always present. As the stone shapes, primitive, coarse, sometimes come close to the carving of
kamennyie baby, compared to other primitivist painters, they result from a seemingly very different
approach. As Goncharova comes from the sculptural quality of the baby, Malevich from the
artificiality of representation, Roerich comes from the actual stone. However the three artists aspire to
achieve the same thing: durability. Malevich and Goncharova confer eternity to peasants reuniting
them with their idols by the representation; the timelessness of Roerich is achieved by a pantheism
where the stone is the eternal element of which all the others stem and is sufficient to represent all the
universe. The stones are considered as part of the earth, and thus the earth is the dominating element in
the paintings (the air is heavy, the water acquires a mineral appearance, and if fire is featured it is only
the one of the centre of the earth, the red magma or petrified flames that imitate it cf. red paintings
above).
The mineral is the most important element in Roerichs world. It has a deep influence on his
style, not only the shape but the petrified state. Alexandre Andreyev notes even Roerich loves stones
above all therefore the objects he depicts whether they are humans, clouds, flowers and gods are
all stone-like.126 The simplified drawing, the pictorial rendering of pantheistic unity, the absence of
individuality even faces for humans not separated from animals, living united with the mineral
element, and the importance of anthropomorphic petroglyphs ultimately come from this research and
result in the most remarked stone-ness of his painting (as named by Serguei Makovsky).127 As he
progresses, his style combines the Scythian primitivist elements determined here with some of the
other primitivist elements (especially important will be the iconic austerity of flatness and tempera
rather than oil to obtain the polished aspect of the stone) evolving toward the unique symbolism of his
Himalayan paintings (relating man with cosmos, a logical evolution of the pantheistic primitivism).
Marginal as source of inspiration for the painters but greatly celebrated for its artistic (and
financial) value is the Scythian jewellery and other objects discovered inside the kurgans.128 At the
time, many artefacts are displayed in museums and continue to be found in digs (drawn by Roerich in
118

Tempera and pastel on cardboard, 46 47 cm, The Russian Museum, St Petersburg.

Tempera on canvas, 166 x 213 cm, Yerevan National Gallery of Armenia.
120
Tempera on cardboard, 43,5 61 cm, L. A. Fedun collection, Moscow.
121
Tempera on cardboard, 53 80 cm, The Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
122
Oil on canvas, 18 x 34 cm, private collection, Moscow.
123
Tempera on canvas, 47 84 m, private collection, USA.
124
Gouache and pastel on cardboard, 52.3 42.7 cm, The Museum-Reserve of Novgorod, Novgorod.
125
Tempera on canvas, 49.5 77 cm, Sothebys catalogue.
126
Alexandre Andreyev, The Myth of the Masters Revived: The Occult Lives of Nikolai and Elena Roerich Leiden-Boston,
Brill, 2014, p. 30.
127
Quoted by Alexandre Andreyev, The Myth of the Masters Revived: The Occult Lives of Nikolai and Elena Roerich,
Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2014, p. 30.
128
Objects such as gorytus, daggers, sheath, combs are richly decorated.
119

22

his archaeological studies)129. Their ornamental particularities are at the centre of this interest,
especially the method of repeating motifs to increase their significance (doubled at minimum130 or
constituting entire friezes) and the importance of animals, especially recumbent animals or animals
with turned heads as in the well-known brooch of a recumbent stag.131 As for other sources of
inspiration, the painters are not limited by ethnographical exactitude and they draw on the
ornamentation of several ancient styles of pagan origin of the Russian Eurasian territory. The animal
style developed in much of Asia in the iron age, for example Permian examples were frequently found
along the Scythian models, whereas some similar ornaments were typical of the ancient Slavs (as the
repeating of the same motif to amplify its significance or the integration of fantastic animal resulting
from associating different species). It must be noted that even if the inspiration belongs clearly to the
art here considered, it refers to a pagan refinement that is different from other primitivist Scythian
inspirations. However it contributes to a complete representation of the interest of the painters.
The transposition of ornamental motifs is the most elaborate in the series of projects made by
Nicholas Roerich for Princess Tenisheva to refurbish a room in Talashkino.132 The projects included a
set of furniture and a series of decorative panels on an imposed theme, the hunting in the ancient north.
Among the panels, the most interesting is perhaps the frieze of deer (Stone age. The north. Deers), as
it unites the two remarked inspirations, the repeated motifs and the animal style.

Nicholas Roerich,
Stone age. The North. Deers (1904), gouache on cardboard, 12 x 62 cm,
The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Such chains of reproduced identical figures could have been modelled on Scythian or Permian art, the
more so as the deer was one of the most frequently represented animal. Dancing shamans are
replicated in a second frieze whereas another panel is dedicated to the hunting of the walrus and can be
referred to another ancient source, the bone sculpture of the Chukchi art.133 The furniture echoes the
same motifs, the drawing of a cabinet decoration superimposes several layers of animals (birds,
antlered animals, fantastic animals) whereas the sofa project features another frieze of animals.134
The bottom of the sofa reproduces however a landscape of stones, Roerichs signature.
Other artists separate the motifs and integrate them into their own pictorial space. Kazimir
Malevich for example uses the replicated motifs as a part of representations of peasant life. Series of
trees or houses, minuscule and disposed on a horizontal line, constitute the background ornaments for
his portraits of peasants in such paintings as Haymaking (a series of women), Head of a peasant
(repeated motifs of houses on the upper line, haystacks on the left middle and women on the right)135
129

http://gallery.facets.ru/show.php?id=3448: link to drawings by Roerich of Permian art, , bronze

objects in animal style.
130
Alison Hilton notes for example a wish to increase the efficacy of a form by doubling or multiplying it (Russian folk
art, Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, p. 139).
131
Fibula in the Form of a Recumbent Stag, c. 400, bronze with glass inlay, 3.1 x 4.8 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art.
132
I limit my considerations to the drawings as it is sufficient for the discussion of the style and difficult to sort out the
actually created pieces from the others, the ones that are lost or of location unknown, etc.
133
The north. Hunting for walrus, 1904. Reference to Chukchi art: Evgeni Palladievich Matochkin, Archaeological motifs in
the art of N.K. Roerich op. cit..
134
Evgeni Palladievich Matochkin notes also the influence of the animal style of the Kama region on the Terem of Kikimora
backdrop (1910) destined for Diaghilevs ballet company, counting 17 motifs corresponding to precise ethnographical
sources (Chudskie obrazki that figure among Roerichs archaeological drawings), however the result is more fantastic than
primitivist (http://www.roerich.spb.ru/article/idoly-v-proizvedeniyah-n-k-reriha, retrieved in 8/02/2016).
135
1928-1932, oil on plywood, 55 x 72.87 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

23

Head of a peasant (frieze of women)136, or Two figures in a landscape (houses)137. The difference of
sizes between the main subject and the background friezes but also the artificially precise straight
alignment indicate their decorative function. A surprising adaptation of this style is to be found in
Malevichs Red cavalry riding138: a minuscule cavalry is disposed on a straight line. The tiny riders are
practically non-identifiable, only the horses, following one another, replicated as in the ancient animal
style friezes, whereas an empty landscape occupies the majority of the painting. The animal nature of a
ruthless charging army is perhaps at the origin of such representation, the Scythian savagery is here
recalled; however, in the ornamental logic the figures are sufficiently small to minimize their
significance or the range of their power.
In a way similar to Malevich, Natalia Goncharova uses the friezes in a decorative manner in
her peasants representations. In the Hay harvest, the manner is perhaps even more interesting as the
decorative frieze of little figures is in front (no possible illusion of reduced size due to the more distant
background), on the bottom of the painting.

Natalia Goncharova,
Hay harvest (another title: Haymaking) 1911
Oil on canvas, 96.7 x 118 cm,
The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

A similar method is used in Little forest (giant trees and minuscule humans in the front, with less
figures however)139. In Gardening140, on the contrary, a procession of women carrying pots of flowers
in the background counterpoints the work of the two figures in front (preparation for planting). Here,
there is no difference in sizes between the silhouettes which produces a very original result, an optical
illusion between the front and the background.
More than the frieze, Goncharova exploits the doubling of motifs. In Apelsinia the background
consists of minuscule double motifs of two trees, two houses and two horses whereas in Winter141, two
minuscule identical figures side by side decorate the foreground a snowy landscape of immense trees
(a very similar third one is represented slightly more on the right), a disposition to which she would
come back in Winter in Russia142. This ornamental manner is applied to the main conception of a
painting to emphasize the repetitiveness of peasants work and their collective functioning: in
Haycutting143 appear two identical figures on the right (same clothing, attitude, action), in Peasant
women with rakes144 two almost identical women carry identical rakes (same position of the body,
arms, legs, feet, same look only colour different). Among other examples can be noted Peasants
136

1928-1932, oil on plywood, 53.8 x 71.7 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
1931-1932, oil on canvas, 48 x 59 cm, private collection.
138
1928-1931, oil on canvas, 91 140 cm, The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
139
1920, oil on wood, 36.5 x 54 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
140
1908, oil on canvas, 102.9 x 123.2 cm, Tate Gallery, London.
141
1908, oil on canvas, The Russian Museum, Malaga.
142
1930s, oil on canvas, 116 x 93 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
143
1910, oil on canvas, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
144
1910, oil on canvas, 102.9 x 123.2 cm, Serpukhov Historical-Artistic Museum.
137

24

carrying grapes (women and men from the polyptych are both doubled)145, The reapers146 (three with
exact same position) or Winter, collecting brushwood147 (two quasi identical persons side by side).
Finally, the characteristic Scythian animals find their way into the paintings of Goncharova.
There is for example a possible link between the animal figures, especially the animals with turned
heads particular to Scythian art and Goncharovas motifs. Animals with head turned appear in several
paintings: The deer148, the Swan149, the Lion150 or the Peacock in the bright sunlight adopt such
position. Such adaptations of isolated motifs can be also found in Roerichs work, the doubling for
example in Pomorianie, morning151 (two haystacks or something resembling , two geese, on the
right, among tress also some identical doubled) whereas some recumbent animals with turned heads
appear as decorative motifs for example in Mystery (1918).
To sum up this part of the paper, a number of main Scythian stylistic characteristics can be
listed: sculptural appearance of figures (stone-statue conception, heaviness, muddy colour and lack of
details, with a cubist rendering of the primitive carving), mask-like faces (an oval-geometrical shape
with big eyes sometimes clearly suggesting only holes, a big, long, straight nose formed by a long line
or a triangle), mineral forms (stones or stone-shaped figures, polished and cold) dominate a unified
(pantheistically apprehended) landscape; some ornamental designs enrich the reference. These stylistic
particularities are associated with or inserted into a primitivist general context. Several of such allpurpose primitivist elements were already mentioned in the discussion: flatness of the picture space,
abandonment of geometrical perspective (modified perspective, frequently vertical), simplified,
awkward drawing (resulting in awkwardness, rigidity of poses), simplified shapes, distorted scale
(false proportions, awkward angles), vivid, contrasted colours or unnatural light. Therefore the
Scythian style can be categorized as particularizing a primitivism of a more general nature. The
inspiration, that can be circumscribed as archaic and pagan of Russian-Eurasian provenance
(considered in a broad sense) has a bearing on the subjects and the style alike to provide an originality
among the primitivist styles. A similar delimitation will be attempted for music.
Musical Scythianism
An important difference between music and painting must be noted straight away as no
Scythian or other ancient music from this period was preserved as it was never written at the time. The
available musical subject-matter is composed of recent pagan rituals (as shamanism is still practiced in
many parts of Russia) or surviving elements in folklore as noted since the nineteenth century by
ethnographers (peasant singing). Traces of pagan sources were preserved in a transformed version as
some pagan celebrations were remodelled as Christian feasts (thus the Kupala festival provided
material for the feast of St. John, but it is not sure how much of the original music was then kept).152
Numerous musical collections of traditional music were published in the nineteenth century, but their
archaism has its limits, as they evolved for centuries of oral transmission before the development of
ethnography.
An important change in the twentieth century concerns the method of transmission related to
the development of ethnomusicological approach. Not only notes of a melody of what was identified
as the main voice were noted but the entire heterophonic or polyphonic construction and manner of
145

From The Vintage (or Gathering grapes): Composition in Nine Parts, 1911-1912, Peasant Women Carrying Grapes, oil on
canvas, 130.5 x 101 cm, MNAM, Centre Pompidou, Paris and Peasants Carrying Grapes, oil on canvas, 131 x 100 cm, The
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
146
1911, oil on canvas, 106 x 132 cm, State Art Museum, Yekaterinburg.
147
1911, oil on canvas,132.3 x 103.4 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
148
Oil on canvas, 105 x 76.5 cm, private collection.
149
From The Vintage (cf. above), oil on canvas, 90.7 x 95.5 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
150
From The Vintage (cf. above), oil on canvas, 92 x 99 cm, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
151
1906, tempera on canvas, 165 285 cm, Gorlovka Art Museum, Ukraine,
152
Richard Taruskin, op. cit., p. 867, After Christianization in the tenth century, the festivals of the folk calendar were
accommodated to those of the new religion while retaining many of their older attributes. Kupala became associated with the
feast of St. John the Baptist, the Christian feast that fell closest to the summer solstice, the Midsummers Eve of all folk
agrarian religions. And that is why there grew up in Russia a whole "liturgy" of folk ritual songs known as Ivanovskiye pesni,
"Songs of St ; Johns Eve".

25

singing were precisely transcribed (dismissed before as bad, uneducated singing), while scientific
methods of transcription were developed.153 The composers, in tune with the ethnographers, operate a
revolution in the use of source material: the folkloristic source is not only considered to be a thematic
material as it was for the romantics (melody integrated into an otherwise Western, refined language)
but the melody, the accompaniment, the harsh harmony, the instrumental sonorities or the manner of
singing become equally important.
At the same time as the painters discover for themselves the until now dismissed, awkward art
of the stone sculpture, the composers discover the primitivist manner of interpretation, that was until
now equally undervalued; the logic is the same, the difference results from the difference in available
sources. A general intention of searching for the most ancient and most primitive levels of the musical
heritage seems to guide the choices, the found elements are then transposed, transformed, combined to
recreate a whole and at the same time a most interesting style. Thus, the musical style is more
independent of the Scythian sources, the subject-matter in music has not the same limits as in painting.
Many instrumental works are born of the Scythian tendency that does not have to specify an
inspiration, such as Stravinskys Three pieces for string quartet or Prokofievs Second Piano concerto
and Second Symphony.
In a similar way to the pictorial style, the musical Scythianism is at a crossroads of various
primitivisms with which it shares the basic characteristics. Among them, the main primitivist device of
general simplification of the language through simplification of structure (juxtaposing short sections
and static blocks and abandoning complex developments), favouring repetition and its derivatives
(variations) rather than subtle transformation, results in crude juxtapositions of sometimes contrasting
elements (alternation, accumulation, permutation are used). The unity is provided by primitive devices
such as ostinato. Detached from traditional progressions the harmony is simplified, the chosen
tonalities have few alterations (the basic C major is especially significant154) whereas the fifth regains
its importance (return to the open fifth sonority and parallel fifths banished since the Renaissance from
western music but also to the basic dominant-tonic opposition). The writing aspires to be awkward
(tight chord position, crude superimposition of chords, awkward prosody, etc.). Melodic archaisms are
realized by modal melodic inflections, without leading note or avoiding semitones in general.
The Scythian particularity of the primitivist style is related to a barbaric type of inspiration,
more ancient than the others before Christianity155 (iconic primitivism) and, all the more, before
the lubki (folkloristic eighteenth-nineteenth century primitivism). Thus, stylistically, Scythianism will
refer to the most archaic, barbaric, aggressive, savage part of the neo-primitivist inspiration. The
Scythian style can be identified by a specific tone that highlights the coarseness of the most archaic
layers of musical tradition: when rhythm dominates over harmony, ostinato over pedal point, awkward
sonority over a simplified clarity; when melodies have a degree of archaism that prevails over a
precise reference. Without waiting for the second part, it seems interesting to remark that for many
characteristics the Scythian primitivism is just a degree of the primitivist general. The following
discussion will detail some of the Scythian particularities and then identify more specific Scythian
characteristics and their limits.
Ostinato and pedal point are the most primitive unifying devices. The pedal point (organ point,
bordun) is a persistent sonority, frequently discreet, its primary function is that of a harmonic basis.
The ostinato is a primary rhythmic device, a basic sonority is imposed through obstinate repetition of a
note or group of notes. When the motif has a centralizing function it comes close to the pedal point,
the two can also coexist to reinforce a tonal centre. In its simplest form the ostinato is a device that
exists in the majority of non-written primitive music. Repetition is the main primitive characteristic, as
it is the most present but also the most easily perceived and thus identified feature and as such more
important for the Scythian primitivism. Systematic repetitive patterns are strongly linked to ritual

153

Mainly by Yuri Melgunov and Evgenia Linyeva who also was the first to use recording to compensate for difficulties of
writing subtle particularities of singing.
154
Frequently noticed in new uses in Prokofievs work (with piquant additions and various side-slides).
155
As in painting the pagan inspiration is considered as the most archaic even if it is not always chronologically true, or more
precisely not everywhere in Russia to the same degree.

26

music and its pagan sources, featuring savage explosions of ecstatic, shamanic dance or the hypnotic
power of incantations.
In Scythian primitivism the obstinate element is particularly potent; juxtapositions and
superimpositions of ostinatos, sometimes above a pedal point, appear in the most complex works. A
regular, repetitive, heavy and thus primitive basis is frequent. When regularity is highlighted, a
hypnotic, archaic tone is obtained. However, more frequently shifting accents are imposed on the
regular basis, source of surprise and aggressiveness to create a specifically Scythian atmosphere.
Moreover, the repeated entity is frequently dissonant (a dissonant obstinate motif or superimposition
of several motifs often of different periodicities that produces dissonance).
Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev have mastered the use of ostinato experimenting various
forms and treatments. A difference of preferences can be noted. Whereas Stravinsky inserts obstinate
motifs in a changing metric structure (the same rhythm but measures, and thus accents, change),
Prokofiev favours a constant measure (with a predilection for duple, common time, the most primitive
and square metre), creating a sort of hypnotic basis that he then disrupts internally or by opposing
sections. Prokofievs music is as a result more angular and Stravinskys more unpredictable. The most
revealing for Stravinskys manner, shifting and complex examples, are to be found in the Rite of
spring (the Augurs of spring, rehearsal 13, where savagery dominate and even more so the
Glorification of the chosen one, starting at rehearsal 104, reinforced by percussions). The
quintessential Scythian work, the Scythian suite offers examples of Prokofievs technique of explosion
of energy on a regular common time basis: for example the beginning of the second movement with
Chuzhbogs music (repeated crotchets/quavers superimposed in several instruments with repeated
notes and disruptions).156 Another striking, perhaps the most impressive four-beat repetitive ostinato is
in Seven they are seven with the choir repeating in equal notes, over and over, se-me-ro-ikh above
which soars the melody of the soloist.
Among others, simpler examples, the shifting method particularizes Stravinskys use of
ostinato in many songs as in the third of the Four Russian songs (1920), Podbliudnaia, alternating
ostinatos with surprises as bars change all the time. Two ostinato superimpositions alternate, the first
(designated here a) appears always without indication but actually alternate between , and the
second (b) with indications alternating: I, I, R, I, X and E, as a result the length of the sections is
fluctuating, better seen in a table (that does not account however for all the accentuation variety):
Measures
Ostinato pattern
Length in quavers

1
a
20

2-3
b
12

4
a
18

5-6
b
9

7
a
22

8-11
b
18

12
a
18

13-14
b
9

15
a
18

16-17
b
9

18
a
22

19-22 (23)
b
21 (note persisting
another 6 in the last bar)

The sections length (a+b corresponding to verse and chorus of the text) varies subtly between
regularity and irregularity maintaining the listener in constant feeling of unrest: 32 + 27 + 40 + 27 + 27
+ 43. Among Prokofievs shorter works the Sarcasms for example can be mentioned, the third
especially where quavers dominate whereas accented surprises disrupt the regularity.
A common for both composers type of obstinate use is to be found in hypnotic, ritual,
procession moments, frequently slower and more regular, less aggressive but more ominous. For
example, in the Ritual action of the ancestors (rehearsal 129 of the Rite) Stravinsky creates such a
moment as the repetition of sound becomes obsessive in a dominating L with all equal notes, some
crotchets some quavers, on strong beats or syncopated (but keeps 16 bars like that and subtly H and E
alternating with the L bring back the full of surprises Stravinskyan technique). This hypnotic tone is
emphasized by other parameters: piano dynamics, delicate colours (pizzicati, horns and light
percussion), the slightly fantastic sonorities of the English horn and G-flute provided with short
ornamental motifs of oriental colour. Such delicate repetitions standing out in the aggressive context
of the rest of the Rite seem to accumulate an energy bound to explode at some point and thus acquire
an ominous tone. Among Prokofievs works that use this tone, the Second Piano Concerto is
particularly rich, an exercise in hypnotic, archaic forms and processions where modal inflexions and
156

Chuzhbogs dance (second movement): note at mm. 5-26 sections of three measures loosely repeated, in the middle
elongated to 4 measures (3+3+4+3+3+3+3) disrupting the regularity of accents.

27

modern dissonances are combined (for example: in the first movement at rehearsal 7, the third
movement since the beginning or the fourth movement, rehearsal 99). These ostinato passages form
frequently archaic oases in the elsewhere savage movements with aggressive moments of ostinato.
In the obstinate context of Scythian musical space a material of modal nature is inserted. A
reversal to modality is a wide-spread trend at the turn of the century. However, one aspect can be
noted as specifically Scythian, rarely found elsewhere, the turn to the most archaic version of
modality, with only a few notes (3 or 4). Using such material, short cells are formed then subjected to
diverse transformations, combinations, superimpositions, etc. that result in a unique modern-archaic
and frequently barbaric tone. The most interesting example of this modality is to be found at the
beginning of Stravinskys Wedding which uses a three-notes material (in an anhemitonic sequence BD-E) that gives it an especially artificial quality as all the notes in the accompaniment are based on this
cell (the artificiality is reinforced by instrumentation, see below).
Ex. 1, Igor Stravinsky, The Wedding, main theme without appoggiaturas (Soprano part, bars. 1-10):

In bars 1-10, the octave E (present on a span of three octaves) is dirtied by a ninth at its base (D#) to
make sonority more aggressive (as in a badly tuned because on a primitive instrument octave).
Other sonorities enter gradually, and frequently in a replacement form as, when the D# disappears, the
fifth B-F enters (introducing another primitive device, the open fifth accompaniment, in bars 11-20).
In the Scythian suite, the Chuzhbogs theme is also based on four notes: E-B-C-D. However, it
is conceived as a mainly rhythmic theme (imposing the rhythm as the main parameter), emerging from
the repetition of E, then the E-D core accentuated whereas only the final flourish introduces the two
other notes.
Ex. 2, Sergei Prokofiev, Scythian suite, second movement, rehearsals 19-20:

Before the theme enters, an E-F obstinate bass in quavers establishes a dynamic base, the forte,
allegro, accents give it a savage colour. Only some parallelisms (the theme doubled at a fifth) and
ornamental motifs (punctuations by trombones) bring other notes. Brief thematic cells can also be
found in Seven, they are seven: motifs that repeat the incantatory Semero ikh aggressively shouted
out constitute one example whereas many secondary themes, counterpointing motifs are constructed in
such primitive manner as are the accompanying obstinate units. One permanent feature is to be noted:
based or not on short material initially, short cells are chosen as a workable unit in the course of the
work.

28

The specifically Scythian manner reveals itself in the manipulation of this material, realizing
another Scythian characteristic: the barbaric savagery. In the horizontal sense, the short motifs are
subjected to surprising juxtapositions and displacements whereas, perhaps more characteristically, in
the vertical sense, superimpositions of simple cells produce surprising effects. Frequently, defective
motifs are combined to produce a primitivist tone in a modern dissonant context. The Rite of spring
offers many motifs based on just a few notes but inserted in a dissonant context (in Spring rounds for
example the aggressive base of string ostinato and surprising horns interventions create the most
barbaric Scythian context into which are inserted short, simple motifs, the English horn motif of four
notes starting at rehearsal 14 and returning at various times, combined with the arpeggiated motif of
bassoons on three notes each, etc.).
Perhaps easier to apprehend in a simpler version, the handling of motifs of limited range, can
be analysed in the first movement of Stravinskys Three pieces for string quartet. The theme, and the
entire first violin part even, is constructed on four notes G-A-B-C, which are constantly
counterpointed by an obstinate motif played by the second violin, C#-D#-E-F#; the length of the
theme and the placement of the counterpoint are never exactly the same. Together the two parts form
an octatonic scale but the listener hears above all an aggressive handling of defective modes.157
Ex. 3, Igor Stravinsky, Three pieces for string quartet, first movement, bars 4-7, the two violins:

Another device that plays on the hearing impression and construction comes directly from the
Russian folklore. It is the peremennost, adapted to the barbaric Scythian horizontal manipulation of
themes. In its folkloristic form it is the manner of ending a song in a different tone from its beginning,
frequently one tone higher or lower; modernized by Prokofiev and Stravinsky it integrates
chromaticisms and is used for parts rather than for an entire piece. Among the examples, the initial
theme of the first movement of Prokofievs Second Piano Concerto uses the notes: G-A-B-C-D in
large position introducing a sort of archaic climate (many leaps of fourth and fifth). But already the
consequent slides lower, the beginning is transposed a second down, and it ends with chromaticisms.
Then, when the antecedent returns, it starts with a G# (it is based on the notes: E-F#-G-G#-A-B-B-CD). The illusion of the initial archaic tone persists maintained by the persistence of the general outline
with its leaps of fourth and fifth that were so marking at first.
The harsh tone of such modern manipulation of primitive modality is reinforced by an
imitation of archaic heterophony. The frequently obstinate motifs of accompaniment are arranged
in superimpositions that evoke Linyevas recordings of peasant singing, where the liberty taken
between an initial awkward unison and in general a consensual ending, produces astonishing
results.158 The Scythian interpretation favours crude, dissonant sonorities; the aggressiveness of
dissonance is artificially emphasized in the modern rendering of the various superimpositions of the
archaic heterophony.

157

It is interesting also to note the remaining material: an ostinato in the cello part (C and D) and discreet notes by the viola
(mainly D).
158
In this study, different manners considered together as they will have the same role for the composers (the chroma singing
when different versions collide, the improvisation component, the accompanying voices or podgoloski, etc.).

29

Such sonorities dominate for example in the Four Russian Peasant Songs, a series of choruses
composed by Stravinsky. In the first song, the lower voices alternate different versions of the same
motif so as to produce various intervals with the main voice (initial unison or octave for example
passes to major ninth then, the next time, minor ninth) to produce an awkward and dissonant effect.
In the second song, Ovsen, on the other hand, the voices seem not very well coordinated, while a
general movement of the voices is simple (diatonic, with step movements at the beginning, upper or
lower note and return), the desynchronized repetitions of certain notes (not the same or not at the same
time in different voices) or lingering on motifs produce constant dissonances (as if one was too late or
the other too early on a note). In The Wedding also, similar motifs result in dissonances, for example at
rehearsal 9 sopranos are divided to clash the E-C#-E against D-C#-D (so D and E at the same time)
whereas, in the same rhythm it is the central note that will oppose the altos (F#-A-F# against F#-G#F#). Such configurations are numerous throughout the work. When the voices doesnt clash between
themselves, the instruments provide a similar effect, as was seen above for the first measures of the
ballet (the D# contrasting with the dominant E is a ninth below the voice part). It imposes a tone for
the entire work.
Another level of the Scythian rendering of traditional singing is to be noted here when the
awkwardness of heterophonic intervals is adapted to instruments. The composer preserves the hollow
sonority of the primitive device and augments the crudity of the primitive awkwardness by dissonance
(as something that was intended to be a unison or octave is not well tuned and become a seventh or
ninth). Frequently, dissonances alter the ostinatos in the accompaniment. Hence the cello of the first
movement of Three pieces for string quartet seems to be a Scythian interpretation of an octave
(ostinato motif E-D-D but the central D is superimposed on a C at a lower ninth). Many works
reproduce this pattern, such as Three Tales for children, Four Russian songs, Pribautki or Renard.
It is more easy to trace the device back to its source in Stravinsky where more avowed and
assumed folkloristic sources guide the search than in Prokofiev. However, some piquant harmonies
in Prokofievs works can be seen as having their origin in the ancient heterophony. Already at the
beginning of the Scythian suite the initial motif F-D-C# appears 8 times in dialogue between strings
and clarinets but the F is put regularly against an E in the trumpets and piano (subsequent
presentations provide various enrichments but with the same principle of dominating unison against a
caustic semitone) whereas at the beginning of the first Sarcasm the initial octaves of the bass are
rapidly replaced with major sevenths with similar function and in the third Sarcasm a clear
accompaniment in thirds is established before the entry of a melody that seems out of tune (B-flat
minor against F-sharp minor).
But with Prokofiev the heterophonic principle has more realizations on a grand scale, the
idea of an underlying, diatonic simplicity hardened by sonorities seemingly resulting of sliding,
approximations (as if out of tune), or awkward superimpositions that can be traced back to the liberty
of a peasant performance (as accidents or enrichments of the traditional heterophony) is exploited in a
personnal manner in the general construction of his works. A simple, stable base (he favours
frequently C major) is subjected to the most aggressive, dissonant treatment. Frequently, like in a
folkloristic performance, the principle of starting and finishing with something clear-cut is preserved
(beginning and end on a unison or octave are the most used, a straightforward conclusion in general).
In-between, surprising superimpositions of motifs or chords, motifs borrowed from one part for
another, displaced notes, slides on the neighbouring note, etc., create pungent combinations of
diverging elements, that can produce polytonal effects. The examples are numerous, among them the
Piano Concertos n 2 and 3 are perhaps the most interesting in this manipulation of simple elements,
frequently with preserved archaism of tone (particularly at the beginning of a movement, as the modal
cantilena of the a cappella motto of the Third Concerto, or the first theme of the initial movement of
the second), sliding toward similar configurations but dissonant, superimposed on others, juxtaposed
in surprising ways. The two works are written in simple tonalities (G and C major) that correspond to
an underlying construction which provides a general tonal framing that focuses all the seemingly
complex resulting sonorities and by this clear polarization preserves a dynamism that lacks in many
modern works; it is an explosion of barbaric energy.
The methods noted here (the dissonant superimpositions of obstinate motifs, the modernized
heterophony or collages of elements above a stable basis) have one point in common: simple,

30

primitive elements are put against one another or modified, directly opposed, juxtaposed, without
transitions or voice-leading preoccupations so as to produce an aggressive by dissonance or by
surprise sonority. Although the awkwardness of combinations, without polished smoothness of the
civilized, refined art is a general primitivist characteristic (common with visual arts), when the
dissonance is reinforced in imitation of primitive figures and when the result highlights barbaric and
aggressive tone it can be considered as Scythian.
Another Scythian element appears in voice writing and it is also a matter of degree. In general,
the primitivist writing favours prosodic mistreatments and a degree of interpretation where the
meaning of the text, the conceptual element of the word is disregarded in favour of its sonority (the
numerous word-games exploiting poetical figures that highlight the sound: assonances, alliterations, or
onomatopoeias). The Scythian variant is attained when the energy of the text (rhythm, accentuation)
takes precedence over other parameters, the sonority of the syllable is used for its percussive power
and frequently with an incantatory result.
The Wedding for example consists of songs which do not bear much logical sense, but []
their sonic and rhythmic qualities are emphasized.159 The text integrates conventional formulas that
come from spells and is an excellent basis for percussive treatment. The musical realization of the
percussiveness of the syllables consists of motifs where repetitive notes in medium range and in
unison dominate, to create an incantatory tone.160 However, a Stravinskyan colour is brought by slight
differences of length of the motifs and, more characteristically, by a constant displacement of accents
due to an irregular alternation of measures of different length.
The unison with similar voices (womens choir) produces a depersonalized impression. A
general quest for impersonality participates in the creation of the archaic idiom following the idea
that collectivity is more important than individuality in traditional societies to oppose the refined
solo singing of Western music that highlights individual emotions. The chorus is generally favoured.
The Scythian variant of primitively conceived collective is strongly archaic and reinforced by some
aggressive surprises. Thus, in The Wedding, such a Scythian surprise consists in the breaking of the
traditional association of voices and roles; no roles are attributed: at one time the Bride is a soprano, at
another a tenor whereas two basses at the same time sing the Groom part at rehearsal 50.
The percussive treatment of collective singing in the Wedding has its direct equivalent in
Seven they are seven by Prokofiev. The choice of the method can be directly related to the origin of
the text, an ancient incantation. The composition started with Balmonts reading of the text, which
highlighted the barbaric atmosphere of terror. Prokofiev noted in his Diary: Balmont, at my request,
read "Seven, they are seven". He read trying to underline the terror of the piece [] I tried to
remember some of the particularities of his reading as to be able to render them in music accordingly.
For example: the beginning with terrifying whisper, also the rhythm and intonations of the
words161. The energy of the text and its rhythmic potential was since the beginning at the centre of the
composers attention. He sets the text to music so as to bring out the ritual artificiality of the
incantation, for example by creating appropriate interjections for the chorus at the expense of meaning.
In his Diary, the composer reveals some of his working steps: I asked him [Balmont] if it was
possible to have a case when the chorus, shouting out the last words of each phrase pronounced by the
priest [] could make the following exclamation. The priest: "Sitting on the thrones of Heaven and
Earth are they" and the choir: "Earth are they !" because "Earth are they !" has no meaning. But as the
exclamations of the choir follow directly each phrase, Balmont found that [] there is nothing wrong

159

Interview of Igor Stravinsky (Barcelona, 1928) quoted by Marina Lupishko "Stravinskys Svadebka (1914-23) as the
'Direct Quotation of Popular i.e. Non-Literary Verse'", http://www.ex-tempore.org/Lupishko.Use.This.Version.pdf,
retrieved on 28 December 2014, 40.
160
As for the choir starting with rehearsal 2-3, the same rehearsal 7, 24, 25 or 26; another such motif for mens voices starts
then and organizes parts of the second tableau: 27, 28, 30, 33, 44, 45 which evolves into a vocal tutti.
161
Sergei Prokofiev, op. cit., p. 666-667, , , . ,
[] ,
. : - ,
.

31

with that.162 Thus, with Balmonts agreement, the incorrect form zemli oni [Earth they are] is
chosen to allow the percussive repetition. The effect is all the more powerful as the exclamations are
repeated not only at the end of the related phrases but also several more times while the rest of the text
changes. In general, the musical realization favours aggressiveness of tone, loud whispers, shouting,
very articulated spelling out, with emphasis, like magical formulas more than melody. The repetition
becomes an art in itself: echoes (between the soloist and the chorus), fast repetitions of syllables or
words (imitating the traditional skorogovorka, especially near the end), repeated notes. The repetition
of telal and even more the obstinate, very dry Se-me-ro ikh by the chorus provides a ferocious
background for the soloists lines (the most characteristic perhaps stylistically speaking and even more
when compared with Stravinskys Wedding: in Seven they are seven the motifs take the form of
mantra series of 4 equal notes, repeated over and over, whereas in Stravinskys the length of repeated
modules is never really the same, disturbing the listener in another way).
This percussive writing emphasises one important Scythian parameter: the rhythm, the most
primitive of all parameters that has magic or ritual connotations (as in the image of shamans with their
drums). The importance of rhythm, due in part to its ostinato function, thus a centralizing one, is in
itself primitive. There is a Scythian rhythm that emphasizes its barbaric force. It consists first and
foremost of a mass of regular notes corresponding to the metrical pulse, upon which are introduced
surprises, in the most basic Scythian configuration consisting of irregularly distributed accents.
Therefore the Scythian rhythm is differentiated by intensity more than by duration of notes. Its
purpose is to create movement. Stravinsky favours a fundamental irregularity of accentuation by
inserting repetitive structures into a constantly changing meters, while Prokofiev prefers to launch a
vigorous movement in measures of the same length. On this regularity are superimposed accents,
minimally only notes of the structure are accentuated, or in a more complex form, also motifs or
separate notes and chords are introduced at odd places of the measure with the same function. The
Scythian rhythm can thus be defined as a balance between a movement that gives a sort of vital energy
to music and surprises that provide the barbaric, aggressive tone. The rhythmical writing is galvanized
by other parameters, a fast tempo and, even if less systematically, dynamics favouring forte.
The focus on rhythm is confirmed by the orchestration as the percussion group acquires a new
importance (enormous in the Scythian suite or Seven they are seven). Furthermore, the orchestra itself
can be abandoned in favour of a percussive ensemble. Thus in Stravinskys Wedding, the standard (for
a ballet) orchestral formation is replaced by a cast of four pianos and a percussion group (drums, snare
drums cymbals, timpani, xylophone). More generally, percussive writing is adapted to melodic
instruments, the piano and bowed strings mainly (dry pounding dissonant chords, non legato
articulation, frequent staccato, martellato, tense accented notes). Frequently in association with the
energy of a fast tempo, the movement is highlighted and the sonoroties seem to be closer to noise than
to harmony.
As a result, the importance of melody is reduced. For example in piano writing melodies
appear frequently in octaves (semi-unison), that can be divided between two hands without anything
more, a weak, not very pianistic arrangement, even more so as it appears in equal notes and the
movement and disposition of accents are always more vivid than the melodic outline. The perpetuum
mobile toccata patterns are here adapted, in a very harsh form.163 Skips through the keyboard reduce
further a melodic logic (distanced, no melodic relation in traditional sense between them) or, when
shorter notes are introduced, the melodic pattern frequently takes a form of a scale (up and down) or
balancing can have a similar function, non-specific melodically. Such writing can be found mainly in
Prokofievs works (as he wrote more for the piano, performing himself) but also in Stravinskys
Wedding. And it was Stravinsky that called the piano a percussive instrument. However, Stravinskys
percussive writing has the most original realizations with bowed strings.

162

Sergei Prokofiev, op. cit., p. 665, , , ,

[] : :
!. : ! ! .
, , [] .
163
Which, interestingly will make a link to the machine-like idiom later.

32

Like in the piano, the refinement of the melody is muzzled in favour of rhythmic energy, the
fast tempo and repeated chords with accents, non legato dominate. The beginning of the Augurs of
spring in the Rite of spring, is the most telling and most quoted example with pounding chords in
the strings, differentiated by accents (so not by the melody), with very tense attacks, to be played
mainly down-bow. The first of the Three movements for string quartet is also very interesting as a
similar tense and dry sound comes from playing close to the bridge (cf. indication for the first violin to
play on the G string and viola on the D string that creates tension as it is played close to the bridge).
The dominating down-bow strokes or series of movements in the same direction create tension
(second violin: four notes down/four notes up so as to prevent any legato resurgence), thus depriving
the strings of their refined sound, where melody prevails. The objective is to enhance the energy of
movement, rhythm and noise effects that are peculiar to the percussion group. Similar effects will be
found also in Prokofievs works (in the orchestra of the Third Piano Concerto for example).
Creating difficulty, as in compelling the strings to play near the bridge, participates of a more
general search for archaic sound. The misuse of instruments results in an awkward and thus archaic
sound with the bassoon at the beginning of the Rite of spring (probably due to the evocation of reed
pipes in Roerichs project)164 as the best known example. Indeed, the Scythian orchestra is a synthesis
of a barbaric, savage sound with a more generally primitivist particularity: a search for archaic sound.
Among other manners, favouring woodwind themes is frequent (evoking various reed instruments or
flutes of the past). In the Rite, Unusual color is provided by low woodwind registers (flutes in the
Introduction, English horn in "Ritual Action of the Ancestors") or by seldom used "small" instruments
(the small clarinet, the trumpet in D in "Procession of the Oldest and Wisest One").165 The roles are
similar in Prokofievs, for example in the Second Piano Concerto where the interventions of the
bassoon (especially at rehearsal 7 in the first movement in treble register)166 are reinforced by
archaisms of marriages of woodwinds (generally two instruments at a distance of an octave)167 that
produce other characteristic sonorities; even if less immediately striking than the bassoon of the Rite,
their function is the same.
Less frequent but no less memorable, the moments of explosion of energy, ecstatic
culminations of a ritual let the brass intervene. When percussion and brass (trombones with glissandos
especially) are combined in the barbaric tone, the effect is striking (in some pages of the Rite, the
Scythian suite as the Chuzhbogs dance or Seven they are seven). Not Scythian specifically in
themselves but contributing to the general savage result, a quasi-expressionistic ecstatic climate. When
this barbaric idiom is concerned, secondary parameters must also be taken into account: a fast tempo
and sharp contrasts (dynamics and registers), with a proportionally dominating powerful sonority of
forte (with roaring fff or sfff), are frequent.
In many works the barbaric explosions of the Scythian primitivism are juxtaposed with parts
were the archaic ritual tone dominate, to give a complete account of the idiom and produce masterful
works (as in the majority of compositions quoted throughout the paper, with the exception of short
pieces, inserted into series that restore the balance). The most characteristic of the Scythian style is the
barbaric, savage aspect, the most original (in the world of various primitivisms) and most easily
recognizable, due to a new energy that is brings, resulting in a revitalization of music. In certain Polish
analyses of the style the name witalizm is even preferred to Scythianism.168 At the beginning of the
twentieth century, with the collapse of tonality and its dynamic progressions, it is an aspect that many
are looking for and many will find here ideas to nourish their own styles.

164

Richard Taruskin, op. cit., p. 890, Roerich even took pains to include certain items he had described in his 1909 essay
Joy in Art. The Introduction to Part I was originally given the title Dudki (Reed Pipes), on the basis of the Neolithic
fantasy with which Roerich had ended that article.
165
Boris Mikhailovich Yarustovsky, Foreword to Igor Stravinsky, The rite of spring, full score, New York, Dover, 1989,
VIII.
166
Other examples: bassoon in the third movement, difficult skips at rehearsal 54, 55 and, with clarinet and horns at 62; the
bassoon brings an archaic sonority also to the fourth movement (especially at rehearsal 99, 101, 116, and 118).
167
First movement, for example flute and clarinet at rehearsal 3 or oboe and trumpet at rehearsal 13, clarinet and oboe at 56.
168
See writings of Magorzata Gsiorowska for example.

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To conclude
The limits of the Scythianism are at best circumscribed by the subjects, sources of
inspirations: a general pagan reference is common for the Scythian subjects, considered in a broad
sense (Scythian or Cuman religion enriched by more recent sources, various shamanisms and
persistence of pagan rituals in the folklore or in a transformed version in Christian feasts). As such it
takes a legitimate place in the primitivist landscape of the first quarter of the twentieth century,
differentiated from the fantastic, folkloristic more recent lubochnyi primitivism and the Christianprimitive inspiration, the iconic primitivism.
However, stylistically speaking, the Scythianism shares many characteristics with other
primitivisms. This common ground is essential to break off from the realistic-impressionisticsymbolic-postromantic world of the, then academic, art. The nineteenth-century art as the culmination
of the Renaissance-Romantic period is to be fought to revitalize the artistic world at a time of rapid
industrialization and pre-war (or pre-revolutionary) foreboding. The more so as for the Russians it
represents a period of foreign influence; although at other moments Russia develops by mixing
different cultures due to the immense territory here it only takes and copies precisely West-European
art. An important characteristic of the Russian primitivism is a search for roots that could account for
the Russian difference, and particularly a non-civilised, more spontaneous emotionally, more savage
nature. The pagan traditions of the Scythianism have here a special appeal differentiating itself more
efficiently, immediately from the Western culture, as the Asian element is more important in this style.
As the equivalent manifestations noted above prove, the Scythian style is as rich in music as it
is in painting. Some specific characteristics can be juxtaposed. On one hand, rather obvious primitivist
parallels can be pinpointed. Among them, the awkwardness of writing and drawing, a general
simplification, a search for the most archaic models in both, whereas the return to modality and to
ostinato devices corresponds to a return to the flatness of surface and the absence of perspective, signs
of a general tendency to revive similar archaisms of the before Renaissance time. On the other hand,
more specific Scythian characteristics can be related, distinguishing it efficiently from other
paganisms, mainly by a general savagery, coarse and heavy, the most striking and easily identifiable
aspect (due to sharp shifts of dynamics, textures, motifs, juxtaposition of contrasting elements: colours
or sonorities). The search for the most archaic sources, a level of the general primitivism that guides
the artists approach, results in the importance of stone in painting (through sculptures made of stone,
stones in themselves, but also characteristics deduced of stones as a general heaviness of figures or
musical material) and a barbaric atmosphere in music (through rhythm, ostinatos, fast tempo, accents,
or percussive hegemony). Each art finds it way to convey the atmosphere of the stone-age.
Scythianism would apply only to limited periods in the life of the artists, mainly in the first
quarter of the twentieth century. Nothing really original here, many of their contemporaries evolved
quickly from one style to another. Interestingly however, they also do not feel the obligation to
constantly go forward. Goncharovas inclusive rhetoric (everythingism, combining various styles) has
thus a direct equivalent in Stravinskys kleptomania (of taking and associating what he needs for a
particular work). Malevichs dazzling evolution is not linear as he returns to figuration after an
abstract period while Prokofiev shifts from on idiom to another never completely abandoning any of
them (he himself mentions five main lines of his creation in his Autobiography)169. Perhaps less
spectacular, Roerichs path to Shambala is more linear; however various stylistic experimentations
marked the way to his cosmic symbolism. But, even if the Scythianism is only part of their aesthetics,
the language created here will be used, modified, in other contexts, serving as a springboard for the
development of several modern styles.
The importance of the persistence of Scythian characteristics comes partly from history itself,
the barbaric elements will correspond to the historical events of the period that has seen the two World
Wars. The individuality acquired by western civilization as opposed to a primitive life that favoured
collective (in rituals, existence, conception), exalted by the Scythian style was even more threatened
by the machine as the time passed (especially around the First World War) then by the new
169

Which he calls classical, modern, toccata, lyrical and grotesque.

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revolutionary masses (resulting in part of the machine workers), and by the political anti-individual
persecutions of the 1930s. The importance of the primitive collectivity and the dispassionate
application of timeless rituals of the Scythian idiom is easily transposed to the collectively actioned
movement of the machine and the actions of revolutionary masses. The stone changes into iron, while
the primitively angular forms are more and more geometrized. As such the Scythianism will be the
most actual and actualisable of the primitivisms. From the artists here discussed, it is the most
important for Prokofiev (the most clearly evolving from stone to iron and its 1930s preoccupations)
whereas Malevich returns to the Scythian idiom as such after a suprematist experience precisely as the
1930s persecutions call for similar treatment.
But it is the initial Scythian stage with its original sources that is really specific to the Russian
art. With distancing themselves from its point of origin through derived modernisms the artists come
closer to their Western counterparts for whom the barbaric climate around the two World Wars
brought a similar savagery. It is why the Scythian primitivism must be recognized as a style on its own
right, it accounts of a unique moment of encounter of various Russian sources, European and Asian to
acquire great originality.