“Autumn Caravan” Tapestry

The main pictorial motif of the presented work of art is "alasha" (kaz.) which means numerous and different in width-colored lines that fill almost the entire space of the composition. Modern pictorial concepts built in the so-called "alasha style", are quite popular among Kazakhstani masters of artistic textiles, such as: Alibai Bapanov, Bauyrzhan Doszhanov and Malik Mukanov, etc.
The pictorial features of this style stem directly from its name - "alasha", which translated from the Kazakh mean: variegated (literal translation - striped). In the traditional applied culture of the Kazakh people, the name "alasha" was applied to smooth pile-free carpets having a striped pictorial structure.
The most important pictorial element of the "Autumn Caravan" composition is presented in an exquisite color scheme, from which the name of the work actually derives. Carefully selected by the author, the colors of the rhythmic structure fill the "alasha", creating a mosaic kaleidoscope of the autumn mood. The color of the work is based on a range of colors typical for the fallen leaves of the deep autumn season - yellow-green, ochre-red and terracotta-burgundy. In turn, their color combinations harmoniously support bright stripes of locally pure colors - orange-scarlet, turquoise, creamy white and purple-coral. As a connecting color, uniting all of the above listed in a single "autumn" color, a bluish-steel shade acts here. This color, filling the entire lower background of the composition behind the walking caravan, visually creates the perspective of the space, in the distant haze of which the vertical stripes of the "alasha" dissolve, and symbolize the beginning of winter cold, filling the plot of the autumn migration with the motion and sacredness of what is happening.
In the work, the nomadic caravan, solved in a decorative-stylized manner, goes from right to left on the majestic background of the "alasha". The caravan is depicted in the very foreground and consists of riders on horses, camels loaded with various luggage and marching tents, a bull pulling a yurt on a transport platform. Also, in the caravan there are images of a hound and a white goat ling with a sheep. The main color of camels, horses and riders is creamy white. In the space of the bluish-steel background behind the caravan, small silhouettes of oriental buildings, caravan-serais, foothills and the Kazakh aul are depicted.
Another of the most important pictorial elements of the work is a thin white broken line, which simultaneously outlines the silhouettes of mountain peaks and visually separates the caravan from the striped background of the "alasha".
Author: Mukanov Malik, PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Fine Arts of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Arts, named after T. Zhurgenov, laureate of "Daryn" State Youth Prize, member of the Union of Artists of the Republic of Kazakhstan, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts (Moscow), professional artist in the field of contemporary Kazakhstani tapestry
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