E-mail: ev2_74@mail.ru
Tel.: +7 (8332) 74-24-71
6, Moskovskaya str., Kirov, 610000, Russian Federation
PhD (Arts), Associate Professor, the Department of Culture Studies and Sociology, Vyatka State University
The study is carried out as part of the implementation of the RNF grant No. 23-28-00908, “Visual Content in Modern Religious Communities in Russia.”
This article analyzes the visual and verbal content of the wall sheet “The Age and Deeds and Customs of Human Life. Behold the Years of Life…”, providing a reconstruction of the life scenario it depicts of an Old Believer community on the Yenisei River. The analysis considers doctrinal perspectives and current societal developments. The wall poster was produced during the 2010s in women’s monasteries of the Chasovennye Old Believers (“ChapelGoing,” i.e., priestless) on the Dubchesa tributary of the Yenisei River in the Turukhansk district of the Krasnoyarsk region. A person’s journey from birth to death is represented as a ladder, illustrating his or her ascent and descent during various stages of life. These stages are interpreted and contextualized using excerpts from Holy Scriptures and traditional wisdom. Through comparative analysis of the visual sources and commentary from field studies, it is possible to articulate the worldview and life strategies of Old Believers residing along the Yenisei River. The artist’s prototype was a hand-drawn lubok created in Vyga in the nineteenth century, which was later reproduced in multiple publications concerning lubok art; the twenty-first century version has been updated with new inscriptions contributed by Old Believers living in hermitages along the Yenisei tributaries. Comparative commentary and analysis of these images in expedition reports provide valuable insight into contemporary perspectives on this visual material. The tradition of manuscript copying and the creation of folk artwork remains active within Old Believer communities on the Yenisei, serving both didactic and communicative purposes, as evidenced by informant accounts and artefacts uncovered during expeditions in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. This material constitutes a distinctive source for interpreting folk art by modern anthropologists. It offers profound insight into individual lifeways and developmental paths within relatively insular religious groups.
Bykova E. V., Kostrov A. V. (2019) Staroobryadcheskii lubok «Dve dorogi — Dva puti»: kommentirovannoe prochtenie vizual’nogo obraza [Staroobryadchesky Lubok “Two Roads — Two Ways”: Reading and Commentary of a Visual Image]. Kirov: Kirov. obl. tipogr. In Russian.
Bykova E. V. (2021) «Vnutrennee sostoyanie serdtsa chelovecheskogo pri zhizni pravednoi i grekhovnoi»: rukopisnaya kniga i sovremennyi lubok staroverov-chasovennykh na Enisee [“The Inner State of the Human Heart in a Righteous and Sinful Life”: A Manuscript Book and a Modern Lubok of the Old Believer-Chapel-Goers on the Yenisei]. Tradisionnaya kul’tura [Traditional Culture]. 2021. Vol. 22. No. 2. Pp. 143–152. In Russian.
Dyushartr P. L. (2006) Russkie narodnye kartinki i gravirovannye knizhitsy. 1629– 1885 [Russian Folk Pictures and Engraved Booklets. 1629–1885]. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf. In Russian.
Itkina E. I. (1992) Russkii risovannyi lubok kontsa XVIII — nachala XX veka. Iz sobraniya Gosudarstvennogo istoricheskogo muzeya [The Drawn Russian Lubok of the Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries. From the Collection of the State Historical Museum]. Moscow: Rus. kniga. In Russian.
Itkina E. I. (2017) Risovannyi lubok staroobryadtsev v sobranii Istoricheskogo muzeya [The Old Believers’ Illustrated Lubok in the Collection of the Historical Museum]. Moscow: Istoricheskii muzei. In Russian.
Kozhurin K. Ya. (2020) Krug starovercheskoi zhizni: ot kupeli do pogosta [The Circle of Old Believer Life: From Baptism to Burial Ground]. St. Petersburg: Evraziya. In Russian.
Lotman Yu. M. (1976) Khudozhestvennaya priroda russkikh narodnykh kartinok [The Artistic Nature of Russian Folk Pictures]. In: Narodnaya gravyura i fol’klor v Rossii XVII–XIX vv.: K 150-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya D. A. Rovinskogo [Folk Engraving and Folklore in Russia in the Seventeenth-Nineteenth Centuries: On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of D. A. Rovinsky]. Ed. by I. E. Danilova. Moscow: Sov. khudozhnik. Pp. 79–153. In Russian.
Pletneva A. A. (2013) Lubochnaya Bibliya: yazyk i tekst [The Lubok Bible: Language and Text]. Moscow: Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury. In Russian.
Bykova E. V. “The Age and Deeds and Customs of Human Life. Behold the Years of Life…”: A Modern Lubok of the Old Believers of the Yenisei. Traditional Culture. 2025. Vol. 26. No. 4. Pp. 122–131. In Russian.