Amaravella (Russian: Амаравелла; from Sanskrit amaravella), or the Cosmists (Космисты), was a group of young Soviet artists active between 1923 and 1928. Its members included Aleksandr Sardan (Barabanov) (1901–1974), Boris Smirnov-Rusetsky (1905–1993), (1891–1971), (1895–1942?), (1900–1972) and (1879–1945/46).
In 1922, the artists group was founded by Fateyev, a painter who was then 32 years old.[1] The name Amaravella, however, was introduced in 1928 when Sardan coined it based from a Sanskrit word that means "bearing light" or "creative energy".
Ideologically the group belonged to the Russian cosmism movement. It embraced a range of ideas and artistic approaches that explored cosmic harmony. The artists, who lived in a commune, were heavily influenced by the ancient East's works, as well as those of Helena Blavatsky, Nicholas Roerich, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, and Victor Borisov-Musatov.
Like M. Sokolov and V. Komarovskiy, members of the Amaravella were persecuted because their work did not conform to the "socialist realism" style prescribed for Soviet art.[2] Particularly, their works were categorized as "formalism" through the 1932 decree On Restructuring Literary and Artistic Organizations, which repressed creative freedom.[3]
Several paintings of the Amaravella artists were collected by Iury Linnik, who claimed to be a cosmist poet and philosopher,[4] and Igor Savitsky.