Mongolian masterpiece ‘Elder fiddler’
Veteran artist of modern Mongolian fine art, folk artist U.Yadamsuren was born on December 25, 1905, as the first son of Urjin as a herdsman, in Tumendelger soum, Dornod Province. When U.Yadamsuren was 13 years old, his father passed away and he was left to take care of his mother alone.
Using the Mongolian traditional painting method, he painted portraits such as “People’s blessing”, “Shanzchin”, “Scientist Tagol”, “Choibalsan”, “Fiddler Tudev”, “Fiddler Luvsan”, “Singer Dugarjav”, “Mongolian Galik script’s writer Ayush Guush”, “Onkhoidoi Jamts”. When painting the character of people in history, it is customary to do a lot of research and draw out the relevant things and the historical features of that time in detail.
In U.Yadamsuren’s art, the ethnographic paintings of Mongolian folk objects and clothes occupy a special basis. He drew the interior decoration, pattern and curtain design of the new state drama theater. No one in Mongolia does not know about the picture of an old man with a long white beard holding a fiddle nowadays. As in visual art, U.Yadamsuren had drawn a famous picture, named “Uvgun Huurch” which can be translated as “The Elder Fiddler”, in 1958 when he was 53 years old. In the Early 1950’s Mongolian novel writer B.Rinchen suggested the initial idea of drawing “The Old Horse-head Fiddler”.
Therefore, he painted an old man who had a long white beard and a monk of Gandan Tegchilen Monastery. Also, he painted his “Elder Fiddler” in the traditional way of Mongolian painting, which became one of the masterpieces of Mongolia because of its amazing composition, description, color harmony and narration. The artist created his work by putting a background color on thin paper, pasting a black picture on it, covering it with bright-colored paint, and highlighting the light and shadow with a light color solution. For example, when depicting the face and hands of the old man, faint lights and shadows are drawn with liquid paint. After that, with the tip of a fine brush, each image and part were highlighted with distinct border lines, and then the patterns and decorations were drawn with gold paste. This art has become one of the Mongolian National Art Pride. This wonderful drawing is kept now in the Art Gallery of Ulaanbaatar city.
U.Yadamsuren’s niece, Ya.Bulgan, inherits her grandfather’s profession and also established the named “Anima” visual arts secondary school and works as its director. She said, “My grandfather sincerely loved and respected everything national, and he was a staunch fighter for preserving and bequeathing our cultural heritage to the next generation. He said that I am a party member on the outside, but on the inside, I am a monk. Also, the general appearance of the old fiddler’s face, beard, and hat are similar to the portrait of Chinggis Khaan painted in 1947. Chinggis Khaan’s character has a warrior-like character, while the old fiddler’s character is soft and warm. When we look at this picture, it’s as if our ancestors are transformed into old fiddlers, reminding future generations that Mongolians are people with a great history, culture, traditions and heritage with the soft melody of the fiddler.” *