plate no. 0870
Crimea. Baidar Valley
Ivan Bilibin, 1918
recreation guide
Ivan Bilibin’s 'Crimea. Baidar Valley' (1918) is an oil landscape that reflects his broader engagement with Art Nouveau aesthetics and the expressive potential of natural scenery. While Bilibin is widely known for his stylized illustrations of Russian fairy tales, his landscape work from this period demonstrates a commitment to capturing the 'spiritual element' and 'epic scope' often associated with Romanticism and the Hudson River School traditions, which emphasize the contemplation of natural beauty (Source 4, Source 5). The painting likely employs the principles of simultaneous contrast to harmonize the inherent colors of the valley, ensuring that the lightest tones are lowered and the darkest heightened to create a true gradation of light and depth (Source 3).
estimated time
20-30 hours over 5-7 sessions
materials
4 items
steps
4 in sequence
materials
| item | purpose | modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Oil paints (Ultramarine, White, Black, Yellow Ochre, Red Ochre, Vermilion) | Primary pigments for underpainting and glazing | — |
| Oil of Copavia (or modern stand oil/linseed oil) | Medium for the first and second paintings, as per Reynolds' method cited in historical practice | Stand oil or refined linseed oil |
| Varnish | Mixed with oil for later glazing stages to achieve transparency | Dammar varnish or synthetic resin varnish |
| Canvas or prepared panel | Support for the oil painting | — |
preparation
surface prep
Prepare a neutral ground. While Bilibin’s specific ground for this piece is not detailed, the historical method referenced involves establishing a monochrome preparation (grisaille) to handle the tonal structure before introducing color (Source 2).
underdrawing
Bilibin’s preparatory methods for landscapes are not explicitly detailed in the provided sources. However, given his background in illustration and Art Nouveau, a precise linear underdrawing is likely, though it should remain subtle to allow for the atmospheric effects of the landscape (Source 8).
underpainting
Create a grisaille (monochrome underpainting) using black, ultramarine, and white mixed with oil of copavia. This step mentally extracts red and yellow tones, focusing on the structural light and shadow. This aligns with the historical method described by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which Bilibin’s contemporaries and predecessors often utilized (Source 2).
color palette
Ultramarine
Pure pigment
Underpainting and sky tones, consistent with the 'black, ultramarine, and white' initial palette (Source 2)
White
Lead white or Titanium white
Highlights and mixing in the grisaille stage (Source 2)
Black
Ivory black or Lamp black
Shadows and depth in the grisaille stage (Source 2)
Yellow/Red Tones
Yellow Ochre, Red Ochre, Vermilion
Glazing and scumbling over the dry grisaille to introduce warmth and local color (Source 2)
composition
The composition likely emphasizes a wide view with the sky included, as is standard in landscape painting to create a coherent composition (Source 4). The arrangement of elements should aim for a 'true gradation of light' through the juxtaposition of tones, where the highest tone is enfeebled and the lowest heightened at the line of juxtaposition (Source 3).
step by step
underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing
underpainting
step 01
Mix black, ultramarine, and white with oil of copavia to create a grisaille. Paint the tonal structure of the Baidar Valley, focusing on the contrast between light and dark areas without using red or yellow hues.
Tip — Ensure the grisaille is completely dry before proceeding. This step establishes the 'true gradation of light' (Source 3).
Grisaille
first pass
step 02
Apply transparent glazes of yellow and red tones over the dry grisaille. Use oil as the medium initially. This mimics the process of tinting an engraving with watercolors, allowing the underlying monochrome to influence the final color.
Tip — Be aware of simultaneous contrast; adjacent colors will affect each other’s appearance. The lightest tones will be lowered and darkest heightened (Source 1).
Glazing
refining
step 03
Introduce semi-opaque scumbling to add texture and coldness where needed, particularly in shadowed areas or distant mountains. Mix varnish with oil for greater transparency and mastery of the glaze.
Tip — Scumbling over a darker ground tends to coldness, which can be used to create a 'grey bloom' in atmospheric distances (Source 2).
Scumbling
finishing
step 04
Refine the color harmony by adjusting tones based on the law of simultaneous contrast. Ensure that the colors inherent to the landscape (sky, earth, vegetation) are harmonized with their neighbors.
Tip — Check for color shifts caused by adjacent hues. The eye may perceive colors inaccurately due to mixed contrast, so verify tones against the model or reference (Source 1).
Simultaneous Contrast
critical techniques
Simultaneous Contrast
Used to harmonize colors in the landscape. When two colored objects are viewed together, neither appears as its peculiar color but as a tint resulting from the peculiar color and the complementary of the other. This is crucial for achieving color harmony in Art Nouveau landscapes (Source 1).
Glazing and Scumbling
Glazing involves applying a transparent coat of color, while scumbling is semi-opaque painting through which the underlying painting shows. This method was practiced by old masters and is effective for building up color depth without muddying the palette (Source 2).
Chiaroscuro via Tone Juxtaposition
Creating depth by placing flat tints of different tones side by side. The highest tone is enfeebled and the lowest heightened at the boundary, creating a true gradation of light (Source 3).
common pitfalls
- →Ignoring simultaneous contrast: Failing to account for how adjacent colors alter each other’s appearance can lead to disharmony. The eye is susceptible to fatigue when disentangling these modifications (Source 1).
- →Applying glazes on wet underpainting: The grisaille must be completely dry before glazing and scumbling to ensure proper transparency and adhesion (Source 2).
- →Overusing black for darkening: Adding black to colors can cause hue shifts (e.g., yellows shifting greenish). It is better to use complementary colors to neutralize and darken without shifting hue (Source 7).
- →Neglecting the spiritual/romantic element: Landscape painting in this tradition aims for more than topographical accuracy; it seeks to convey the spiritual benefits of contemplating natural beauty (Source 4, Source 5).
what the sources don't tell us
Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.
- ·Specific color choices for the Baidar Valley (e.g., exact shades of green for vegetation or blue for the sky) are not detailed in the sources.
- ·Bilibin’s specific brushwork style for this landscape is not described; the guide relies on general Art Nouveau and old master techniques.
- ·The exact composition of the Baidar Valley (placement of mountains, rivers, etc.) is not provided in the text, so the artist must rely on reference images or imagination consistent with landscape conventions.
grounded in
The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.
Laws of Contrast of Colour↗
- 315-318, 324 — applied to Understanding simultaneous contrast and color harmony in the landscape
- 6 — applied to Chiaroscuro and tone juxtaposition for depth
The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Grisaille underpainting, glazing, and scumbling techniques
cross-referenced from
Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.
Wikipedia: Landscape painting↗
- part 1, part 8 — applied to Contextualizing the landscape genre and Romantic/Hudson River influences
Wikipedia: Color theory↗
- part 6 — applied to Avoiding hue shifts when darkening colors
Read more about the corpus on the sources page and how the guides are built on the methods page.
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