MARTIAL ARTIST - ENGRAVER MIKHAIL MATORIN (1901-1976). IMAGE OF THE TOWN OF VYBORG IN THE LINOCUTS OF THE ARTIST
Virtuoso of prints, Mikhail Matorin, is undeservedly forgotten today both by ordinary spectators and by professional art critics. Twenty-five years of fruitful work of the artist have made ​​a great contribution into the development of the domestic drawing. The album of linoleum prints called "Vyborg", created as a result of his staying on the finnish front in june 1944, takes up a special place in his creative work. Vyborg has attracted Matorin by the originality of its northern architectural landscape and the severe beauty of forms. The town was empty; it was left by Finnish residents. Bright sunny days of June with white nights even more emphasized the epic expressiveness of architectural ensembles of the city. Language of Matorin’s linocuts is sharp, clear and emotional. Sonority of strokes and rhythm of lines are in harmony with the noble colors. Matorin’s prints were made on the basis of front-line sketches. The color linocut printmaker used up to 12 boards, achieving the effect of real painting. Matorin’s engravings are remarkable for its special harmony of tones, terseness of colours. This article is aimed at the introduction into the scientific usage of russian art-criticism new unique artistic and history- cultural material, revealing features of creativity and way of life of the engraver, M.V.Matorin. The author for the first time in Russian art-criticism examines and gives an appreciation of the album of linoleum prints "Vyborg" (1944), which is a valuable documentary material