Kalmyk art: local style of the buddhist iconography

In this paper I study the materials on the History of Buddhism in Kalmykia expand the research into specifically Buddhist art. There is distinctive spirituality with its own nature in the canonic figures dating back to Tibetan artistic tradition. Local style of the old-Kalmyk art is manifested both in individual formal details of the image in the figures overall aesthetic interpretation expressing the groups' worldview. The canonization of folklore characters followed by the introduction of brands, symbolic attributes and the appearance of emphasized symmetrical frontal composition is particularly noticeable in the initial stage of the assimilation of Buddhism. Generally in Kalmyk tradition laconic, poorly developed (in terms of the plot) symmetric scenes prevail, expressing tendency to the emphasized personification of the main character, which is the icon's center and the object of worship for believers. The archetypal core of iconography in the structure of Buddhist fine art in Kalmykia, the folks' figurative world vision embraces the manifestation of its local features. Buddhist artistic style in Kalmykia demonstrates how in Kalmyk folk culture the development of Buddhist iconic canon occurs. Interdependent in the artistic process canonical and folklore trends form arts ethnical features that is analyzed as a historically determinate way of viewing and organizing the world. Folklorization generally accompanied the process of Buddhist art ethnization. The basis of the Old Kalmyk art, emerging, emerging and developing, is the mechanism of interaction between the visual canon of Buddhism and the artistic traditions of ethnic culture. In the structure of culture, it is important to single out its interdependent layers: spiritual, closely related to the pre-Buddhist worldview and material, conditioned by the nomadic way of life. The historical process of interaction of innovation, which was perceived iconographic canon, and the traditions of the people is marked by the phasing of an ethnic culture capable of self-regulation in development. The phenomenon of its self-preservation is realized in the reproduction of the traditional interrelations of man, society and nature. The latter is expressed in the phenomena of style formation and stylization of the fine art of Kalmykia. The fate of the canon of Buddhism in ethnic culture is originally framed in the system of spatial mapping of the world - expressive means of architecture, painting and plastics, decorative and applied arts. In the process of artistic world modeling, a local school of easel painting and sculpture at Kalmyk temples is taking shape. The iconographic tradition of Buddhism feeds the addition of "its" pantheon in the appearance of images of pre-Buddhist origin, canonized by religion. The multiplicity of the pantheon is largely due to the polyethnic composition of the environment in which the doctrine became widespread. In Kalmyk iconography, phenomena of transformation of the perceived canon are observed. This occurs in the introduction to the image of elements of the local landscape, the ethnic features of the external appearance of images and attributes from the real environment, the originality of color plastic, as well as in the lacization of the compositional structure of the works. Metamorphosis of the artistic form accompanies the process of style formation that takes place within the iconographic canon of Buddhism.

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