Family Coat of Arms of Narbut family 1914

Heorhiy Narbut, sometime before 1920, made this "Family Coat of Arms of Narbut family" – the details are so precise, almost like he’s building up the image piece by piece. The texture of the ochre background feels aged, like parchment, which makes the graphic elements pop. The black of the shield is dense, a flat void that contrasts sharply with the ornate details around it. I love the trio of horns, tied together like a bundle of wishes. It’s like Narbut’s playing with tradition, turning heraldry into something deeply personal. Looking at this, I think of artists like Hilma af Klint, who mixed symbolic language with personal vision. Both saw art as a form of knowledge, delving into hidden meanings to reveal their own unique truth.