Reflection of the artistic life of Siberia in Grigory Potanin’s publications on art issues

The article analyzes the literary and journalistic activities of the key pre-revolutionary period for the city of Tomsk, the ideologist of Siberian regionalism, ethnographer and public figure Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin, concerning the regional aspect of artistic life. The materials of pre-revolutionary periodicals are used as sources. The author sets himself the task of identifying the features of G. N. Potanin ideas on Siberian regionalism (a local variant of regionalism) in texts on issues of art. It is noted that in his texts Grigory Potanin is trying to systematize the artistic heritage of Siberia, singles out the names of famous painters who came from the region, analyzes the creative heritage of Vasily Surikov. Grigory Potanin insists on the need to create art galleries in the region and regularly hold exhibitions of paintings, graphics and sculpture in order to increase the level of artistic taste among the population, and as a result, general education. The author also mentions that Grigory Potanin pays attention to the work of not only professional artists, but also masters of arts and crafts, urging the motifs drawn from local flora and fauna in ornaments. Being an ethnographer, Grigory Potanin does not miss the opportunity to talk about the life of the indigenous population of Altai on the examples of a number of paintings and graphic works by local artists, such as Grigory Gurkin, Lidia Bazanova and others. Accordingly, the great importance of Grigory Potanin contributes to the development of the local intelligentsia in Tomsk, largely linking the factors influencing this process with the establishment of higher educational institutions in the city. The ideologist of regionalism considers it necessary to culturally bring the commonalty and the intelligentsia closer together and zealously experiences the outflow of the intelligentsia from the city. It can be stated that the ideas expressed by Grigory Potanin on the pages of the Tomsk press had a huge impact on his contemporaries. Perhaps, in other historical circumstances, the regional ideology could take deeper roots in Siberia. Today we can only respect the literary heritage of Grigory Potanin and keep the memory of him as a man who sincerely loved his native land and sought to enrich it culturally.