MOSCOW INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Specialty - organization management

Specialization

Study group

COURSE WORK

By discipline: cultural studies

on the topic: "The "Silver Age" in Russian culture"

STUDENT I.V. Zhuravleva

SUPERVISOR _____________________

Moscow 2006

Introduction ................................................ ...............................................3

Chapter 1. "Silver Age" in Russian culture .............................. 5

1.1. Science .................................................. ..............................................5

1.2. Literature ............................................... ....................................7

1.3.Theatre and music............................................... ...............................9

1.4.Architecture and sculpture............................................... .........eleven

1.5.Painting............................................... .....................................13

Chapter 2. Russian “Renaissance” ............................................. ...........16

Conclusion................................................. ......................................19

Bibliography............................................... 21

Introduction

The "Silver Age" in Russian culture, although it turned out to be surprisingly short ( late XIX- the beginning of the twentieth century), but he left his mark in the history of Russia. I consider this topic relevant, since during this period Russian culture has managed to reach the world level. The culture of Russia of the "Silver Age" is marked by high development, many achievements and discoveries. I believe that every citizen of his country should know about its culture.

The great upheavals that our country experienced in a relatively short historical period could not but be reflected in its cultural development. Russian culture, without losing its national identity, increasingly acquired the features of a pan-European character. Its ties with other countries have increased.

The purpose of my term paper is to study and analyze the "Silver Age" in Russian culture. In order to approach this goal, it is necessary to solve some of the tasks set by me. In the first chapter of my work, I want to consider everything that happened during the "Silver Age" in science, literature, theater, music, architecture, sculpture and painting. In science, there are various achievements and discoveries of world significance. Appear in the literature modernist trends: symbolism, acmeism, futurism. Theater and music reach the highest level among other countries. There are great composers. It is also worth paying attention to the greatest Russian sculptors: Trubetskoy, Konenkov, Erzya, who managed to express the main trends in the development of domestic trends. It is necessary to get acquainted with the work of the "world artists", which is associated with the revival of book graphics and the art of the book. In the "Silver Age" there was the "modern" style, which had folk roots, relying on an advanced industrial base, and absorbed the achievements of world architecture. "Modern" can be found today in any old city. One has only to look at the rounded windows, exquisite stucco and curved balcony grilles of any mansion, hotel or shop. The "Silver Age", first of all, includes a spiritual phenomenon: Russian religious revival beginning of the twentieth century. Therefore, in the second chapter of my work, I want to study and analyze the religious "renaissance". Philosophical thought reaches true peaks, which gave rise to the great philosopher N.A. Berdyaev to call the era “religious and cultural renaissance”. Solovyov, Berdyaev, Bulgakov and other major philosophers had a strong, sometimes decisive influence on the development of various spheres of Russian culture. Especially important in Russian philosophy was the appeal to ethical issues, focusing on the spiritual world of the individual, on such categories as life and destiny, conscience and love, insight and delusion.

Now it is necessary to solve all the tasks set by me, thereby I will be able to fulfill the goal in my course work.

Chapter 1. "Silver Age" in Russian culture

Russian culture second half of XIX- the beginning of the twentieth century. absorbed the artistic traditions, aesthetic and moral ideals of the "golden age" of the previous time. At the turn of the XIX - early XX centuries. In the spiritual life of Europe and Russia, there appeared tendencies related to the attitude of a person of the twentieth century. They required a new understanding of social and moral problems: personality and society, art and life, the place of the artist in society, etc. All this led to the search for new pictorial methods and funds. A peculiar historical and artistic period developed in Russia, which his contemporaries called the "silver age" of Russian culture. Expression and name "silver Age" is poetic and metaphorical, neither strict nor definite. A. Akhmatova has it in the well-known lines: "And the silver month froze brightly over the silver age ...". It is used by N. Berdyaev. A. Bely called one of his novels "Silver Dove". The editor of the magazine "Apollo" S. Makovsky used it to designate the entire time of the beginning of the 20th century. Russian culture in the conditions of the development of the country at the beginning of the 20th century acquired a significant scope and a number of new directions. In Russia, there was an upsurge in the field of education: the number of educational institutions grew, the activities of teachers and teachers of higher educational institutions became more active. The publishing business developed rapidly. Now let's take a closer look at what happened during the Silver Age in science, literature, theater, music, architecture, sculpture and painting.

1.1 Science

In the second half of the XIX - early XX century. the process of differentiation of sciences, their division into fundamental and applied ones, deepened. The needs of Russia's industrial development and new attempts at philosophical understanding of the relationship between nature and society left a special imprint on the state of the natural and human sciences.

In the natural sciences, the discovery of the Periodic Law by D.I. Mendeleev was of the greatest importance. chemical elements. The classical theory of the chemical structure of organic bodies was created by A.M. Butlerov. Fundamental and applied value had research mathematicians P.L. Chebyshev, A.M. Lyapunov in the field of number theory, probability theory and a number of sections of mathematical physics. Outstanding discoveries were made in physics and mechanics. The works of A.G. Stoletov prepared the conditions for the creation of modern electronic technology. A revolution in electric lighting was made by the discoveries of P.N. Yablochkov (arc lamp), A.N. Lodygin (incandescent lamp). The gold medal was awarded to A.S. Popov for the invention of electrical communication without wires (radio). PN Lebedev confirmed the electromagnetic nature of light. N.E. Zhukovsky created the theory of hydraulic shock, discovered the law that determines the magnitude of the lift force of an aircraft wing, developed the vortex theory of a propeller, etc. K.E. Tsiolkovsky substantiated the possibility of space flights with his work in the field of rocket dynamics. The encyclopedic works of V.I.Vernadsky contributed to the emergence of new trends in geochemistry, biochemistry, and radiology. Major successes were noted in the development of biology and medicine. I.M. Pavlov developed the doctrine of higher nervous activity and the physiology of digestion. K.A. Timiryazev founded the Russian school of plant physiology. Russian geographers and ethnographers continued their exploration of little-known countries. S.O. Makarov made 2 round-the-world voyages, gave a systematic description of the Black, Marmara and North Seas. He also suggested using icebreakers to explore the Northern Sea Route. Discoveries in the natural sciences (the divisibility of the atom, x-rays, radioactivity) changed the previous idea of ​​the materiality of the world and greatly influenced the social sciences. Philosophy manifested the need for a new understanding of nature, society and their connection with man. Criticism of Ch.Darwin's evolutionary theory intensified. At the same time, Marxism became widespread in Russia as a philosophical basis for the knowledge and transformation of society. Interest in historical knowledge has grown tremendously. S. M. Solovyov wrote many works on various historical problems. VO Klyuchevsky had a huge impact on the development of national historical science.

Thus, we examined the main achievements in the development of science of the "Silver Age".

1.2 Literature

Russian literature continued to play an exceptionally important role in cultural life countries.

realistic direction in Russian literature at the turn of the twentieth century. continued L.N. Tolstoy (“Resurrection”, “Hadji Murad”, “Living Corpse”), A.P. Bunin ("The Village", "The Gentleman from San Francisco") and A.I. Kuprin ("Olesya", "The Pit"). At the same time, new artistic qualities appeared in realism. This is connected with the spread of neo-romanticism. Already the first neo-romantic works "Makar Chudra", "Chelkash" and others brought fame to A.M. Gorky.

Appear in the literature modernist trends: symbolism, acmeism, futurism.

Russian symbolism as a literary trend developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Creativity in the understanding of the symbolists is a subconscious-intuitive contemplation of secret meanings that are accessible only to the artist-creator. The theoretical, philosophical and aesthetic roots and sources of creativity of writers-symbolists were very diverse. So V. Bryusov considered symbolism a purely artistic direction, Merezhkovsky relied on Christian teaching, Vyach. Ivanov sought theoretical support in the philosophy and aesthetics of the ancient world, refracted through the philosophy of Nietzsche; A. Bely was fond of Vl. Solovyov, Schopenhauer, Kant, Nietzsche.

The artistic and journalistic organ of the Symbolists was the journal Scales (1904-1909).

It is customary to distinguish between "senior" and "junior" symbolists. The "elder" (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, F. Sologub, D. Merezhkovsky), who came to literature in the 90s, preached the cult of beauty and free self-expression of the poet. The "younger" symbolists (A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov, S. Solovyov) brought philosophical and theosophical quests to the fore. The Symbolists offered the reader a colorful myth about a world created according to the laws of eternal Beauty.

In 1910, symbolism was replaced by acmeism(from the Greek "acme" - the highest degree of something). N.S. Gumilyov (1886 - 1921) and S.M. Gorodetsky (1884 - 1967) are considered the founders of acmeism. Acmeists, in contrast to the symbolic nebula, proclaimed the cult of real earthly existence, "a courageously firm and clear outlook on life." But together with him they tried to affirm, above all, the aesthetic-hedonistic function of art, evading social problems in their poetry. Philosophical idealism remained the theoretical basis. However, among the acmeists there were poets who in their work were able to go beyond this “platform” and acquire new ideological and artistic qualities (A.A. Akhmatova, S.M. Gorodetsky, M.A. Zenkevich). The work of A.A. Akhmatova occupies a special place in the poetry of acmeism. The first collections by A. Akhmatova "Evening" and "Rosary" brought her great fame.

Simultaneously with acmeism in 1910-1912. arose futurism, divided into several groups: "Association of Egofuturists" (I. Severyanin and others), "Mezzanine of Poetry" (V. Lavrenev, R. Ivlev and others), "Centrifuge" (N. Aseev, B. Pasternak and others. ), "Gilea", the participants of which D. Burlyuk, V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov and others called themselves Cubo-Futurists, Budtlyans, i.e. people from the future. Futurism proclaimed a revolution of form independent of content, absolute freedom poetic word. Futurists abandoned literary traditions.

There were bright individualities in the poetry of that time, which cannot be attributed to a certain trend - M. Voloshin (1877-1932), M. Tsvetaeva (1892-1941).

Conclusion: modernist trends appeared in the literature of the Silver Age: symbolism, acmeism and futurism.

1.3. Theater and music

The most important event in the social and cultural life of Russia at the end of the 19th century was the opening of an art theater in Moscow (1898), founded by K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. At first, the new theater was not easy. The income from the performances did not cover the expenses. Savva Morozov came to the rescue, having invested half a million rubles in the theater in five years. In a short time, an ensemble of remarkable actors was formed in the Art Theater (V.I. Kachalov, I.M. Moskvin, O.L. Kniper-Chekhov, etc.). In staging plays by Chekhov and Gorky, new principles of acting, directing, and design of performances were formed. An outstanding theatrical experiment, enthusiastically received by the democratic public, was not accepted by conservative criticism. In 1904, the theater of VF Komissarzhevskaya arose in St. Petersburg, the repertoire of which reflected the aspirations of the democratic intelligentsia. The directing work of Stanislavsky's student E.B. Vakhtangov is marked by the search for new forms, his productions of 1911-1912. are joyful and entertaining. In 1915, Vakhtangov created the 3rd studio of the Moscow Art Theater. One of the reformers of the Russian theater, A.Ya. Tairov, sought to create a "synthetic theater" with a predominantly romantic and tragic repertoire. Russian theater of the 19th century - This is mainly the theater of the actor. Only a very well-coordinated troupe made up a single ensemble.

The influence of the Moscow Art Theater in those years also extended beyond the dramatic stage. A galaxy of wonderful "singing actors" appeared on the opera stage - F.I. Chaliapin, L.V. Sobinov, A.V. Nezhdanova. Gifted with brilliant vocal abilities, during the performance they not only performed their opera parts, but also played like first-class actors. Of particular importance for the popularization of the theatrical and musical art of Russia was the activity of S.P. Diaghilev, who organized the Russian Seasons (1907-1913) in Europe, which became a triumph of Russian culture. The names of Russian dancers flashed on the newspaper pages - Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky. Representatives of the "Mighty Handful" (M.P. Mussorgsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.) and other Russian composers (P.I. Tchaikovsky, S.V. Rakhmaninov, etc.) created many opera, ballet, chamber - vocal and symphonic works. At the beginning of the twentieth century. The search for new musical means of expression was continued by A.N. Skryabin, in whose works chamber and symphony surprisingly intertwined.

Conclusion: in the second half of the XIX century. our music has received worldwide recognition and has a place in the family European cultures. The first years of the 20th century saw the heyday of the Russian theater.

1.4.Architecture and sculpture

In the second half of the XIX century. Russian architects faced new challenges. Previously, they built mainly palaces and temples, but now they had to design railway stations, factory buildings, huge shops, banks. The use of iron and glass expanded, and the use of concrete began. The emergence of new building materials and the improvement of building technology made it possible to use constructive and artistic techniques, the aesthetic understanding of which led to the approval of the Art Nouveau style (from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the World War). Masters of the "modern" era sought to ensure that everyday items bore the imprint of folk traditions. Convex glass, curved window sashes, fluid forms of metal bars - all this came to architecture from "modern". In the work of F.O. Shekhtel (1859-1926), the main development trends and genres of Russian modernity were embodied to the greatest extent. The formation of style in the master's work went in two directions - national-romantic, in line with the neo-Russian style (Yaroslavsky railway station in Moscow, 1903) and rational (A.A. Levenson's printing house in Mamontovsky per., 1900). The features of Art Nouveau were most fully manifested in the architecture of the Ryabushinsky mansion at the Nikitsky Gate, where the architect, abandoning traditional schemes, applied the asymmetric planning principle. The early "modern" was characterized by the desire for spontaneity, immersion in the flow of formation, development. In the late "modern" the calm "appolonistic" beginning began to prevail. Elements of classicism returned to architecture. In Moscow, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Borodinsky Bridge were built according to the project of the architect R.I. Klein. At the same time, the buildings of the Azov-Don and Russian commercial and industrial banks appeared in St. Petersburg.

Like architecture, sculpture at the turn of the century was freed from eclecticism. Eclecticism - a variety of directions and a shift in styles. The renewal of the artistic and figurative system is associated with the influence of impressionism. The first consistent representative of this trend was P.P. Trubetskoy (1866-1938). Already in the first works of the sculptor, the features of the new method appeared - “looseness”, unevenness of texture, dynamism of forms, permeated with air and light. The most remarkable work of Trubetskoy is the monument to Alexander III in St. Petersburg (1909, bronze). Trubetskoy's younger contemporary was S.T. Konenkov. He managed to introduce folk motifs into sculpture, which, first of all, were embodied in carvings on huts, handicraft toys and other works of applied art. S.F. Nefedov-Erzya was able to convey both the state of mind and beauty in his sculptures human body. Marble, wood, and such new materials as cement and reinforced concrete were obedient to him.

Conclusion: the age of "modern" was very short, but it was a very bright period in the history of architecture. In addition to Trubetskoy, Konenkov and Erzya, other well-known sculptors worked in Russia at that time, but it was these three masters who with particular force managed to express the main trends in the development of domestic trends in the early twentieth century - increased attention to inner world of man and the desire for nationality.

1.5.Painting

At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, significant changes took place in Russian painting. Genre scenes faded into the background. The landscape lost its photographic quality and linear perspective, becoming more democratic, based on the combination and play of color spots. The portraits often combined the ornamental conventionality of the background and the sculptural clarity of the face. The blurring of boundaries between genres at the turn of the century in the historical theme led to the emergence of historical genre. Artists of this direction: A.P. Ryabushkin, A.V. Vasnetsov, M.V. Nesterov. Impressionism, as a direction, is represented in the works of such artists as I.I. Levitan (“Birch Grove”, “March”); K.A. Korovin is the brightest representative of Russian impressionism (“Paris”). central figure art of the turn of the century V.A. Serov (“Girl with peaches”, “Girl illuminated by the sun”). The representatives of the picturesque symbolism were M. Vrubel and V. Borisov-Musatov. M.A. Vrubel was a versatile master. He successfully worked on monumental paintings, paintings, decorations, drawings for stained-glass windows. The central image of Vrubel's work is the Demon ("Seated Demon", "Prone Demon"). V. Borisov-Musatov created a beautiful and sublime world in his canvases. His work is one of the most striking and large-scale phenomena. At the turn of the century, the artistic association "World of Art" appeared. Artists of this direction: K.A.Somov, N.A.Benois, E.E.Lancere, M.V.Nesterov, N.K.Roerich, S.P.Dyagilev and others. when huge cities grew, built up with faceless factory buildings. They were worried that art was being squeezed out and became the property of a small circle of "chosen ones". The revival of book graphics, the art of the book, is connected with the work of the “world artists”. Without limiting themselves to illustrations, the artists introduced cover sheets, intricate vignettes and endings in the Art Nouveau style into books. The understanding came that the design of the book should be closely related to its content. The graphic designer began to pay attention to such details as the size of the book, the color of the paper, the font, the edge.

In 1907, another art association "Blue Rose" arose in Moscow, which included symbolist artists, followers of Borisov-Musatov (P.V. Kuznetsov, M.S. Saryan). The “Goluborovtsy” were influenced by the Art Nouveau style, hence the characteristic features of their painting - flat-decorative stylization of forms, the search for sophisticated color solutions.

The artists of the “Jack of Diamonds” association (R.R. Falk, I.I. Mashkov and others), having turned to the aesthetics of post-impressionism, fauvism and cubism, as well as to the techniques of Russian popular print and folk toys, solved the problems of revealing the materiality of nature, constructing a form color. The initial principle of their art was the assertion of the subject as opposed to spatiality. In this regard, the image of inanimate nature - still life - was put forward in the first place.

In the 1910s in painting is born primitivist trend associated with the assimilation of style children's drawing, signboards, popular prints and folk toys. Representatives of this trend are M.F. Larionov, N.S. Goncharova, M.Z. Shagal, P.N. Filonov. The first experiments of Russian artists in abstract art date back to this time, one of the first manifestos of which was Larionov's book "Luchism" (1913), and V.V. Kandinsky and K.S. Malevich became true theorists and practitioners.

Thus, the extraordinary diversity and inconsistency of artistic pursuits, numerous groupings with their own program settings reflected the tense socio-political and complex spiritual atmosphere of their time.

In general, the achievements of the Russian culture of the "Silver Age" received worldwide recognition. Many domestic scientists were honorary members of European academies and scientific institutions. Domestic science has been enriched by a number of achievements. The names of Russian travelers remained on the geographical map of the world. The creativity of artists is developing, their associations are being created. There are searches for new solutions and forms in architecture and sculpture. The art of music is enriched. Drama theater is in its heyday. In domestic literature, new artistic forms were born.

Culture of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. marked by a high level of development, many achievements that have added to the treasury of world culture. She vividly expressed the turning point of her time, its searches, difficulties, both progressive and crisis phenomena.

Religious philosophy reached special heights, giving the whole period the name of the philosophical renaissance, which we will get acquainted with in the next chapter of my term paper.

Chapter 2. Russian "Renaissance"

The Silver Age is a manifestation of the spiritual and artistic renaissance, marking the rise of Russian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The culture of the turn of the century rehabilitated the political "unprincipledness", ethical uncertainty, creative individualism and spiritual chosenness, condemned in due time by representatives of Russian democratic culture. This peculiar revival of the ideals and principles of the Russian classics gave reason to contemporaries to call the Silver Age metaphorically - the Russian "cultural renaissance". Among other things, this name included the idea of ​​the Renaissance completeness, universalism, cultural multidimensionality and encyclopedism. This characteristic of the Russian cultural Renaissance gives a lot for understanding the deep patterns of the Silver Age era itself, which led Russia to the revolution.

Supporters of the religious Renaissance saw in the revolution of 1905-1907. a serious threat to the future of Russia, they perceived it as the beginning of a national catastrophe. They saw the salvation of Russia in the restoration of Christianity as the foundation of all culture, in the revival and affirmation of the ideals and values ​​of religious humanism. The onset of a cultural renaissance contradicted any rationalistic logic and was often justified only by the spiritual choice of Russian culture itself. N. Berdyaev, who continued and substantiated the concept of "Russian spiritual and cultural renaissance", characterized the implementation of a holistic style of culture in the Silver Age as a difficult struggle of "renaissance people" against the "narrowed consciousness" of the traditional intelligentsia. At the same time, it was a return to the creative heights of the spiritual culture of the 19th century.

The Russian cultural Renaissance was created by a whole constellation of brilliant humanitarians - N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, D.S. Merezhkovsky, S.N. Trubetskoy and others. A collection of articles by prominent philosophers, Vekhi, published in 1909, sharply raised the question of the values ​​of the Russian intelligentsia, of understanding the ways of further development of Russia.

The foundations of the religious and philosophical Renaissance, which marked the "silver age" of Russian culture, were laid by V.S. It was at this time that the foundations of his future system began to take shape.

The condition for creating an integrative style of culture and achieving cultural synthesis at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. there was a repulsion from the differentiating tendencies of the previous era, a rethinking or rejection of the facts that limit the freedom of creativity and the creative personality. Among them, Berdyaev mentions social utilitarianism, positivism, materialism, as well as atheism and realism, which significantly schematized the philosophical, moral and aesthetic worldview of the Russian intelligentsia in the second half of the 19th century.

At the forefront of culture began to advance tasks:

Creative self-awareness of artists and thinkers of this time;

Creative rethinking and updating of previously existing cultural traditions;

Russian democratic social thought: at the same time, the democratic heritage was opposed mainly by the elite concepts of culture, which brought to the fore the creative personality and individual creativity - in the field of art, philosophy, science, morality, politics, religion, social life, everyday behavior, etc., those. any values ​​and norms;

As for the very principles of Russian democratic culture, the cultural figures of the Silver Age quite consistently opposed vulgarly interpreted materialism - conscious idealism, atheism - poetic religiosity and religious philosophy, nationalities - individualism and personal worldview, social utilitarianism - the desire for abstract philosophical Truth, abstract Good ;

The official canons of Orthodoxy, which was opposed to "creatively understood" religion - "new religious consciousness", sophiology, mystical-religious quest, theosophy, "God-seeking";

Well-established schools in art - classical realism in literature, wandering and academism in painting, kuchkism in music, the traditions of Ostrovsky's social realism in the theater, etc .; traditionalism in art was opposed by a variety of artistic modernism, including formal artistic innovation, demonstrative subjectivism.

Thus, the ground for a new cultural synthesis arose.

The Russian "Renaissance" reflected the attitude of people who lived and worked on the verge of centuries. The religious and philosophical thought of that period painfully searched for answers to the questions of Russian reality, trying to combine the incompatible material and spiritual, the denial of Christian dogmas and Christian ethics.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that the work I have done is fully consistent with the goals and objectives set in the introduction. In the first chapter, I reviewed and analyzed the "Silver Age" in Russian culture, namely in science, literature, theater, music, architecture, sculpture and painting. In the second chapter, we got acquainted with the cultural "renaissance",

The period from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the World War went down in history as the “silver age of Russian culture”. We learned that the "Silver Age" was of great importance for the development of not only Russian, but also world culture. Its leaders for the first time expressed serious concern that the emerging relationship between civilization and culture is becoming dangerous, that the preservation and revival of spirituality is an urgent need. It was at the turn of the century that processes developed in art that led to the formation of a type of mass culture with its inherent primitivism in depicting human relations. Artistic styles were born in which the usual meaning of concepts and ideals shifted. Gone were the life-like opera and genre painting. Symbolist and futuristic poetry, music, painting, new ballet, theater, architectural modernity were born. The beginning of the twentieth century was deposited on the library shelves with many high-quality examples of book art. In painting, the association "World of Art" was of great importance, which became an artistic symbol of the border of two centuries. A whole stage in the development of Russian painting is associated with him. A special place in the association was occupied by M.A. Vrubel, M.V. Nesterov and N.K. Roerich. An important feature of the development of the culture of the "Silver Age" is the powerful rise of the humanities.

In Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century there was a real cultural "renaissance". Russia experienced the flowering of poetry and philosophy, intense religious quests, mystical and occult moods. Religious quests are now recognized not only as not refuted by science, but even confirmed by it; Religion approaches art: religion is seen as its creative and aesthetic nature, and art appears as a symbolic language of religious and mystical revelations. The Russian religious and philosophical Renaissance, marked by a whole constellation of brilliant thinkers - N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, D.S. Merezhkovsky, S.N. Trubetskoy, G.P. Fedotov, P.A. Florensky, S. L. Frank and others - largely determined the direction of development of culture, philosophy, ethics, not only in Russia, but also in the West. In the artistic culture of the Russian “Renaissance”, a unique combination of realistic traditions of the outgoing 19th century and new artistic trends took place. The "Silver Age" ended with a mass exodus of its creators from Russia. However, this did not destroy the great Russian culture, the development of which continued to mirror the contradictory trends in the history of the twentieth century.

Most importantly, Russia has enriched world culture with achievements in a wide variety of fields. Russian culture more and more reveals itself to the world and opens the world for itself.

Bibliography

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The Silver Age is usually called the period of development of Russian culture at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. The term itself is applicable only to Russian culture; in the West and East, other definitions are used to refer to this period, for example, in France “belle-epoque” or modernism in English-speaking countries. Most often, speaking of the Silver Age, they mean artistic culture and mainly poetry.

The Silver Age is named so by analogy with the Golden Age, the period of the beginning of the 19th century, when Pushkin and poets-lyceum students worked. In addition, the Silver Age is associated not with the flourishing of culture, as such, but rather with its decline, the era of decadence and nostalgia for bygone times.

Not all poets and artists who lived and worked during this period can be attributed to the culture of the Silver Age, in addition, many of those who are considered a classic representative of the Silver Age continued their creative career after its completion.

The most famous poets of the Silver Age are: A. Akhmatova, N. Gumilyov, A. Blok, K. Balmont, M. Voloshin, M. Tsvetaeva, V. Bryusov, A. Bely, I. Severyanin, B. Pasternak, I. Annensky etc.

The author of the term Silver Age is considered to be the philosopher N. Berdyaev, who, speaking of the period between the two centuries, called it the Russian Renaissance. Here is what the philosopher writes about him in his work “Self-Knowledge” (Berdyaev N. A. Self-Knowledge (the experience of a philosophical autobiography). - M, 1990): “Now it is difficult to imagine the atmosphere of that time. Much of the creative upsurge of that time entered into the further development of Russian culture and is now the property of all Russian cultured people. But then there was an intoxication with a creative upsurge, novelty, tension, struggle, challenge. During these years, many gifts were sent to Russia. This was the era of the awakening of independent philosophical thought in Russia, the flowering of poetry and the sharpening of aesthetic sensibility, religious anxiety and quest, interest in mysticism and the occult. New souls appeared, new sources of creative life were discovered, new dawns were seen, the feeling of decline and death was combined with the hope of the transformation of life. But everything happened in a rather vicious circle ... ".

N. Berdyaev Photo 1912

The culture of the Silver Age was essentially an elitist and intellectual culture, not designed for the mass reader. However, at that time the concept of mass literature did not exist at all. In this regard, it is impossible to apply the concept of the Silver Age to the entire Russian culture of this period. Therefore, some researchers warn against considering the Silver Age only as a chronological period, according to formal features.

The Silver Age is rather a way of thinking characteristic of certain poets and philosophers, who often argued among themselves and were carriers of completely opposite views. However, all this controversy, creative searches, the socio-political context in which they essentially took place and formed that specific atmosphere that is commonly called the Silver Age today, and which Berdyaev’s words quoted above so capaciously characterize.

At the turn of the century in Russian artistic culture, in particular in literature, a new artistic direction emerged - modernism. This was a global trend, since modernism is characteristic of both European and American cultures. Modern was a natural result of the search for a new way of knowing the world around us. Part of the Russian intelligentsia believed that it was possible to have a direct, naive view of nature. Rejecting the analysis of social relations and the complexity of the human psyche, this part sought solace in the "quiet poetry of everyday life." The other part believed that art should strive for the intensity of feelings and passions, that the artistic image in art should become a symbol that gives rise to complex associations. Symbolism emerged as artistic movement in Russian poetry. Its features appeared in the works of such symbolists of the early 20th century as V. Bryusov, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, A. Bely. Their credo: material world- this is only a mask through which another world of the spirit shines through. Images of a mask, a mysterious stranger, beautiful lady often appear in the poetry and prose of the Symbolists. The surrounding world in their works is depicted as something illusory, chaotic, as an inferior reality in relation to the world of ideas.

The onset of the Silver Age is strongly associated with the Symbolists. Indeed, culturologists propose to consider the beginning of this era in 1892, when the ideologist and oldest member of the Symbolist movement D. Merezhkovsky read the report “On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature.” So for the first time the Symbolists declared themselves, so the Silver Age debuted.

From left to right: D. Filosofov, Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky

Early 20th century It was an era of prosperity for the Symbolists, but by the 1910s, crisis phenomena were ripe in it. The attempt of the Symbolists to lead the literary movement and dominate the artistic consciousness of the era failed. In society, the question again arises about the relationship of art to reality, about the meaning and place of art in the development of Russian national history and culture.

Saint Petersburg. Photo from the 1900s

The mood of pessimism, which intensified in society after the defeat of the revolution of 1905, was clearly manifested in the poetry of acmeists and futurists, in particular in the works of L. Andreev, N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova. The prose writers I. Bunin and A. Kuprin, who wrote in a realistic manner, introduced new forms of romanticism into literature.

In his famous article “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism, N. Gumilyov wrote (Gumilev N. The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism // Gumilev N. Favorites. - M., 2001): “A new direction is replacing symbolism, no matter how it is called acmeism ( from the word acme ("acme") the highest degree of something, color, blooming time), or adamism (a courageously firm and clear outlook on life), in any case, requiring a greater balance of power and more exact knowledge relationship between subject and object than it was in symbolism. In such a naming of themselves, the desire of the acmeists themselves to comprehend the heights of literary skill is reflected. Symbolism was very closely connected with acmeism, which its ideologists constantly emphasized, starting from symbolism in their ideas.

The traditions of the Symbolists, which laid the foundation for the Silver Age, were also reflected in painting, in particular in the work of artists M. Vrubel, V. Serov (itinerant artist), K. A. Korovin, N. K. Roerich and many others.

The Swan Princess. Hood. M. Vrubel, 1900, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Art Nouveau dominated this century in painting, sculpture and architecture. This was the name given to the modern style in European and American art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is distinguished by the poetics of symbolism, high discipline of composition, emphasized aestheticism in the interpretation of utilitarian details, the decorative rhythm of flexible, flowing lines, passion for social and romantic motives, emphasis on the individuality of the artist.

During the Silver Age in painting, instead of a realistic method of directly reflecting reality in the forms of this reality, the priority of artistic forms that reflect reality only indirectly is asserted. The polarization of artistic forces at the beginning of the 20th century, the controversy of multiple artistic groups intensified exhibition and publishing (in the field of art) activities.

Genre painting in the 90s of the XIX century. loses its leading role. In search of new themes, artists turn to changes in the traditional way of life, which they themselves observe. Industrialization, which is replacing traditional agrarian relations, is reflected in artistic creativity. Artists are attracted by the theme of the split of the peasant community, the prose of stupefying labor and the revolutionary events of 1905. The blurring of boundaries between genres at the turn of the century in the historical theme led to the emergence of the historical genre. For example, the artist A.P. Ryabushkin was not interested in global historical events, but in the aesthetics of Russian life in the 17th century, refined beauty ancient Russian ornament, emphasized decorativeness (Rapatskaya L. A. Russian artistic culture. - M., 1993).

They're coming! (The people of Moscow during the entry of a foreign embassy into Moscow at the end of the 17th century) Hood. A. P. Ryabushkin, 1901, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In the philosophy of the Silver Age, there is a tendency towards cosmism, which means the desire to know a person in his unity with the Universe, the activity of his spiritual world. Philosophers who adhere to this current presented the Universe as a living organism, as an animated complete system and talked about the impossibility of separating the natural and the spiritual. Within the framework of the philosophy of the Silver Age and under the relentless influence of symbolism, the meaning of the theory of evolution was rethought, since it did not affect the spiritual essence of man.

Among the philosophers of the Silver Age, there were several directions: philosophical and theological, the brightest representatives of which were V. S. Solovyov and N. F. Fedorov; natural science, which was defended by A. L. Chizhevsky, V. I. Vernadsky and K. E. Tsiolkovsky; artistic, inspired by N. K. Roerich.

Theater and music at the turn of the century in Russia are also marked by the seal of the Silver Age. The most important event was the opening in Moscow of an art theater in 1898, founded by K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. In staging plays by Chekhov and Gorky, new principles of acting, directing, and design of performances were formed. An outstanding theatrical experiment, enthusiastically received by the democratic public, was not accepted by conservative criticism, as well as representatives of symbolism. V. Bryusov, a supporter of the aesthetics of a conventional symbolic theater, was closer to the experiments of V.E. Meyerhold - the founder of the metaphorical theater (Balakina T.I. History of Russian culture. Part 2. -M., 1994).

The building of the Moscow Art Theater in Kamergersky Lane. Photo 1900s

In 1904, the theater of V. F. Komissarzhevskaya arose in St. Petersburg, the repertoire of which reflected the aspirations of the democratic intelligentsia. E. B. Vakhtangov's directorial work is marked by the search for new forms, his productions of 1911-12. are joyful and entertaining. In 1915, Vakhtangov created the 3rd studio of the Moscow Art Theater, which later became the theater named after him (1926).

The building of the Komissarzhevskaya theater in St. Petersburg. Photo 1900s

The development of the best traditions of musical theater is associated with the St. Petersburg Mariinsky and Moscow Bolshoi theaters, as well as with private opera S. I. Mamontov and S. I. Zimin in Moscow. The most prominent representatives of the Russian vocal school, world-class singers, true children of the Silver Age, were F. I. Chaliapin, L. V. Sobinov, N. V. Nezhdanova. The ballet master M. M. Fokin and the ballerina A. P. Pavlova became the reformers of the ballet theater. Russian musical art began to be recognized and admired all over the world.

Fyodor Chaliapin

The outstanding composer N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov continued to work in his favorite genre of fairy-tale opera. The highest example of realistic drama was his opera The Tsar's Bride (1898). In the work of composers of the Silver Age, there was a departure from social realistic issues, an increased interest in philosophical and ethical problems, in cosmism, the ideas of which occupied not only philosophers, but the entire layer of cultural relations of the era. This found its fullest expression in the work of brilliant pianist and conductor, outstanding composer S. V. Rachmaninov; in the emotionally intense music of A. N. Scriabin, with sharp features of modernism; in the works of I. F. Stravinsky, which harmoniously combined interest in folklore and the most modern musical forms (Grushevitskaya T. G., Sadokhin A. P. Culturology. Textbook. 3rd ed. - M .: Unity, 2010).

The unity and integrity of the concept of the Silver Age and all Russian culture related to it lies in the combination of old and new, outgoing and emerging, in the mutual influence of different types of art, in the interweaving of traditions and innovation. In fact, the Russian Renaissance combined the realistic traditions of the 19th century, the outgoing, and the new directions of the nascent century - the 20th.

The Silver Age did not abolish realism in the general palette of Russian cultural creativity. It was in the era of the Silver Age that the later creations of L. N. Tolstoy (“Resurrection”, “The Living Corpse”), theatrical dramaturgy of A. P. Chekhov (“The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”), the works of V. G. Korolenko, V. V. Veresaeva, A. I. Kuprin, I. A. Bunin, early works of M. Gorky. Realist artists were also present on the cultural canvas of the Silver Age - Repin and Surikov wrote their works and exhibited everywhere. Rather, we can say that the Silver Age enriched the traditions of realism, giving them a new direction, which placed at the forefront a person with his spiritual quest and suffering.

In conclusion, it makes sense to say a few words about the impact that the culture of the Silver Age had on the further development of culture and, in general, to determine its cultural significance.

The culture of the Silver Age was the final stage in the formation and development of the Russian nation, which only by the end of the 19th century. acquired signs of an integral ethnic community. The Russian national culture, which flourished during the Silver Age, played a consolidating role in the multinational Russian Empire, which then turned into the Soviet Republic.

The upheaval that occurred in Russia at the turn of the century affected primarily its cultural and spiritual life. Artists, poets and philosophers of the Silver Age hastened to draw attention to man, to his place in the world and to the relationship that permeates all living space (cosmism), reducing attention to the problem of sociality. They certainly succeeded, since the era of the turn of the century is considered the heyday of Russian art and culture and can only be compared in scale with Pushkin's Golden Age.

The demarcation of creative forces provided the Silver Age with a wide variety of artistic activities, which did not stop even after its completion. And this is the defining influence of the Silver Age on the development of all subsequent socio-cultural activities. Artists in all areas of art became crowded within the established classical rules. All this led to the creation of new trends: symbolism, acmeism, futurism, cubism, abstractionism, etc. The artist of the universal type has become and remains the ideal of the time.

Russian culture of the Silver Age (term by N. A. Berdyaev). During this period, there was a meeting of two different cultural streams: on the one hand, traditions coming from the 19th century prevailed, on the other hand, a tendency to search for non-traditional forms appeared.

In architecture, the Art Nouveau style is being promoted. A characteristic feature of the culture of the early 20th century was the emergence and rapid spread of urban mass culture. The most striking example of this phenomenon was the unprecedented success of a new kind of spectacle - cinema.

The growth of the industry created a demand for educated people. The number of secondary and higher educational institutions grew rapidly: by 1914 there were more than 200 of them. Saratov University was founded (1909).

In general, the education system did not meet the needs of the country.

The modernization of the country also required a fresh influx of forces into the sphere of natural sciences. New technical institutes were opened in Russia.

V. I. Vernadsky (1863–1945), an encyclopedist, one of the founders of geochemistry, the doctrine of the biosphere, which later formed the basis of his idea of ​​the noosphere, or the sphere of the planetary mind, is among the famous scientists of this time. In 1903, the work of the creator of the theory of rocket propulsion, K. E. Tsiolkovsky (1875–1935), was published. The works of N. E. Zhukovsky (1847–1921) and I. I. Sikorsky (1889–1972) in aircraft construction were of significant importance.

The development of literature went in line with the traditions of Russian classical literature of the 19th century, the living personification of which was L. N. Tolstoy. Russian literature of the beginning of the 20th century. represented by the names of A. Chekhov, M. Gorky, V. Korolenko, A. Kuprin, I. Bunin, etc.

Early 20th century was the heyday of Russian poetry. New trends were born: acmeism (A. Akhmatova, N. Gumilyov), symbolism (A. Blok, K. Balmont, A. Bely, V. Bryusov), futurism (V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky), etc.

The theatrical life was also rich, where the Bolshoi (Moscow) and Mariinsky (Petersburg) theaters occupied the leading positions. In 1898, K. Stanislavsky and V. Nemirovich-Danchenko founded the Moscow Art Theater (originally the Moscow Art Theater).

At the beginning of the XX century. the attention of the musical community was drawn to the work of such talented Russian composers as:

1) A. Scriabin;

2) N. Rimsky-Korsakov;

3) S. Rachmaninov;

4) I. Stravinsky.

Particularly popular among various segments of the urban population was the one that appeared at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. cinema; in 1908 the first Russian feature film "Stenka Razin" was released.

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  General characteristic culture silver century. Education And the science. Literature. Theater. Cinema. Russian culture late 19th – early 20th century was named silver century(term N. A. Berdyaev).


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  General characteristic culture silver century. Education And the science. Literature. Theater. Cinema.
  Literature, movie, theater, media, painting, architecture and sculpture in Russia 1991–2003


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  General characteristic culture silver century. Education And the science. Literature. Theater. Cinema. Russian culture late 19th – early 20th century was named silver


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  General characteristic culture silver century. Education And the science. Literature. Theater. Cinema. Russian culture late 19th – early 20th century was named silver century(term N. A. Ber. Painting, architecture and sculpture of the Golden century...


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  Theater. Movie.
  Periodization and general characteristic culture Ancient Egypt. Religion. Education And the science. Literature.


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  General characteristic culture Middle Ages. Education And the science. Worldview. Literature. Theater. IV century The Great Migration of Nations began - the invasion of tribes from Northern Europe and Asia into the territory of the Roman Empire.


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  Modern ways of broadcasting are spreading culture- television, "world wide web" Internet.
  New industries are developing Sciences: 1) space
  6) cloning, etc. Great changes have occurred in the field cinematography.


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  General characteristic culture 20-30s 20th century Education And the science. Sport. Literature. Public life. Cinema.
  General characteristic Education And the science.


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  Literature and social thought, museums, theater, the music of Golden century Russian culture(second half).
  Education And the science. Second half of the 19th century - the time of the final approval and consolidation of national forms and traditions in Russian art.


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  Literature, music, theater, painting and architecture of the era of the Great Patriotic War.
  General characteristic era of the Great Patriotic War. Education And the science.

Found similar pages:10

Silver age of Russian culture lasts less than a quarter of a century: 1900 - 1922

The significance of this period lies in the fact that Russian culture - if not all, but only part of it - was the first to realize the perniciousness of development, the value orientations of which are one-sided rationalism, non-religiousness and lack of spirituality.

The Silver Age includes such poets as M.I. Tsvetaeva (1892 - 1941), S.A. Yesenin (1895 - 1925) and B.L. Parsnip (1890 - 1960), composer A.N. Scriabin (1871/72 - 1915) and painter M.A. Vrubel (1856 - 1910). The artistic association "World of Art" (1898 - 1924) should also be attributed to the Silver Age.

The Silver Age was of great importance for the development of not only Russian, but also world culture. Its leaders for the first time expressed serious concern that the emerging relationship between civilization and culture is becoming dangerous, that the preservation and revival of spirituality is an urgent need.

The Silver Age includes two main spiritual phenomena: Russian religious revival of the early 20th century, also known as "god-seeking"; russian modernism, covering symbolism and acmeism.

Russian avant-garde is a separate, independent phenomenon. The inclusion of it in the Silver Age, which many authors do, is due more to chronology than to more significant motives.

Russian modernism is part of the spiritual renaissance and embodies Russian artistic revival. Modernism has set itself the task of reviving the inherent value and self-sufficiency of art, freeing it from a social, political or any other service role.

From the point of view of modernism, art must move away from two extremes: utilitarianism and academicism. It should be "art for art's sake", "pure" art. Its purpose is to solve its internal problems, to search for new forms, new techniques and means of expression. Its competence includes the inner spiritual world of a person, the sphere of feelings and passions, intimate experiences, etc. Russian modernism embraced the Europeanized part of the Russian intelligentsia. This is especially true for the Russian symbolism. He had his domestic predecessors. First and foremost among them is A.S. Pushkin - the ancestor of Russian classical literature. Art Nouveau is most fully represented by the art association. "World of Art", which was created in St. Petersburg A.N. Benoit (1870 - 1960) and S.P. Dyagelivy (1872 - 1929). It included artists L.S. Bakst (1866 - 1924), M.V. Dobuzhinsky (1875 - 1957), HER. Lansere (1875 - 1946), A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva (1871 - 1955), N.K. Roerich (1874 - 1947), K.A. Somov (1869 - 1939).

Symbolism included two generations of poets: first – D.S. Merezhkovsky, V.Ya. Bryusov, K.D. Balmont. They see art as an impulse towards the ideal meaning of eternal images. V.Ya. Bryusov was convinced that true art cannot be accessible and understandable to everyone; second generation– A.A. Blok, A. Bely, V.I. Ivanov. In their work, symbolism ceases to be a purely aesthetic phenomenon, only art. It acquires a religious and philosophical dimension, closely merges with mysticism and occultism. Becomes more complex and multidimensional symbol. Art at the same time strengthens its connection with real life. The understanding of art as the highest way of knowing is equally strengthened. At the same time, the former opposition between ideal and reality, earthly and heavenly, was weakened.

Symbolism as poetry and art received the most vivid and complete embodiment in the work of A. Blok. The theme of Russia, love for her, are devoted to his best poems, including "Rus", "Scythians", "Motherland". A significant place is occupied by the theme of revolution. He devoted many philosophical and aesthetic works to her. Realizing the inevitability of the revolution, and seeing its destructive nature, A. Blok puts forward his own solution to the problem in the poem "The Twelve". He proposes to unite the revolution with Christianity, to place Christ at its head. It is impossible not to “cancel” it, but to combine it with Christian humanism and thereby “humanize” it.

Acmeism(from the Greek "akme" - the highest degree of flowering) are primarily three names: N.S. Gumilyov (1886 - 1921), O.E. Mandelstam (1891 - 1938), A.A. Akhmatova (1889 - 1966). It arose as a poetic association "Workshop of Poets" (1911), opposing itself to symbolism, the center of which was the "Academy of Verse". Supporters of acmeism rejected ambiguity and hints, ambiguity and immensity, abstractness and abstractness of symbolism.

They rehabilitated a simple and clear perception of life, restored the value of harmony, form and composition in poetry. At the same time, they retained the high spirituality of poetry, the desire for true artistry, deep meaning and aesthetic perfection.

Municipal Educational Institution

Secondary School No. 27

"Eureka-Development"

"The Silver Age of Russian Culture"

Completed by: Sukhanova Galina,

11th grade student

Checked by: Uklein Vadim

Vasilevich

Mirny, 2008

Plan

INTRODUCTION

· What is culture?

· MAIN PART

o Silver Age culture:

- Beginning of the Silver Age

- Enlightenment

- The science

- Literature

Symbolism

· Acmeism

Futurism

- Painting

- Architecture

Modern

Neoclassicism

· Constructivism

- Sculpture

- Music, theater, ballet, cinema

- Historical features of the Silver Age

o CONCLUSION

- Conclusion

- List of unfamiliar words

- List of used literature

INTRODUCTION

H

H You can't understand the present without knowing the past. The historical and cultural experience of the past helps to solve the problems of the present. Russia is currently at the turn of the twenty-first century. And the Russian state is experiencing a turning point in its development.

Culture is one of the most important areas of public life, the spiritual and creative potential of society at a certain stage of its development. At present, the cognitive and moral function of the history of culture is increasing. Most people who are interested in the past of Russia, first of all, learn about national history through the history of culture.

Culture (cultura) is a Latin word. It means cultivation, processing, improvement.

Culture is the result of human creativity in various areas of its activity. This is the totality of all the knowledge that society has at one stage or another of its development. But in the process of cultural development, a person not only acts, creating a world of objects and ideas, but also changes himself, creates himself. The state of society as a whole depends on the cultural level of its members.

Culture, its achievements, especially in such areas as science, education, literature, fine arts, have always been the privilege of the ruling classes. However, the culture of society is not reduced to the culture of the ruling classes. It is necessary to warn against a simplistic assessment of this culture as reactionary, and popular as progressive in everything: it should be borne in mind that the same class on different stages community development could act either as a carrier of the progressive development of culture, or as a brake on it.

Subordinating on the whole to general historical laws, the historical-cultural process retains a certain internal independence. This gives grounds to single out in the history of culture periods reflecting, first of all, changes in the process of its development.

The culture of a people is part of its history. Its formation, subsequent development is closely connected with the same historical factors that influence the formation and development of the country's economy, its statehood, political and spiritual life of society. Naturally, the concept of culture includes everything that is created by the mind, talent, needlework of the people, everything that expresses its spiritual essence, a view of the world, nature, human existence, and human relations.

Finally, we must not forget that the monuments of the culture of the past are the heritage of the culture of the future. cultural heritage is the most important form which expresses continuity in the historical development of society. Today we are especially aware of this.

MAIN PART

Beginning of the Silver Age

Early 20th century - a turning point not only in the political and socio-economic life of Russia, but also in the spiritual state of society. The industrial era dictated its own conditions and norms of life, destroying traditional and people's ideas. The aggressive onslaught of production led to a violation of the harmony between nature and man, to the smoothing of human individuality, to the triumph of standardization of all aspects of life. This gave rise to confusion, a disturbing sense of impending disaster. All the ideas of good and evil, truth and falsehood, beauty and ugliness that had been suffered by previous generations now seemed untenable and required an urgent and radical revision.

The processes of rethinking the fundamental problems of mankind have affected, to one degree or another, philosophy, science, literature, and art. And although such a situation was typical not only for our country, in Russia spiritual quests were more painful, more piercing than in the countries of Western civilization. The flowering of culture during this period was unprecedented. It covered all types of creative activity, gave rise to outstanding works of art and scientific discoveries, new areas of creative research, opened a galaxy of brilliant names that have become the pride of not only Russian, but also world culture, science and technology. This socio-cultural phenomenon went down in history under the name of the Silver Age of Russian culture.

A new stage in the development of Russian culture is conditionally, starting from the reform of 1861 to the October Revolution of 1917, called the "Silver Age". For the first time this name was proposed by the philosopher N. Berdyaev, who saw in the highest achievements of the culture of his contemporaries a reflection of the Russian glory of the previous "golden" eras, but this phrase finally entered the literary circulation in the 60s of the last century.

Silver Age. So the turn of the XIX-XX centuries was called. - the time of spiritual innovation, a major leap in the development of national culture. It was during this period that new literary genres, the aesthetics of artistic creativity was enriched, a whole galaxy of prominent educators, scientists, writers, poets, artists.

Many peoples who inhabited the Russian Empire had received their own alphabet by this time, they had their own literature, their own national intelligentsia.

The beginning of the Silver Age was laid by the Symbolists, a small group of writers who carried out at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. "aesthetic revolution". Symbolists in the 90s years XIX V. came up with the idea to reassess all values. It was based on the problem of the relationship between individual and collective principles in public life and in art. This problem was not new. It arose immediately after the abolition of serfdom and the implementation of the Great Reforms, when civil society began to actively form. The Narodniks were among the first to try to solve it. Considering the collective beginning as determining, they subordinated to it the individual beginning, the personality - to society. A person was valuable only if he was useful to the collective. The populists considered socio-political activity to be the most effective. In it, a person had to reveal himself. The strengthening in society of the populist approach to man and his activity, which occurred in the 60s - 80s of the XIX century, led to the fact that they began to look at literature, philosophy and art as a secondary phenomenon, less necessary compared to political activity. The Symbolists directed their "aesthetic revolution" against the populists and their ideology.

The phrase "Silver Age" became a permanent definition of Russian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; it began to be used as a designation for the entire artistic and, more broadly, the entire spiritual culture of the beginning of the 20th century in Russia.

The concept of "Silver Age" cannot be reduced to the work of one or even dozens of significant artists - it characterizes the "spirit of the era": bright individualities. The very spiritual atmosphere of the time provoked a creative person to artistic self-thinking. It was a borderline, transitional, crisis era: the development of capitalism, the revolutions that swept the country, Russia's participation in the First World War ...

Late XIX - early XX centuries. represents a turning point not only in the socio-political, but also in the spiritual life of Russia. The great upheavals that the country experienced in a relatively short historical period could not but be reflected in its cultural development.

Education

The education system in Russia has taken steps forward. Although it still remained three-stage, it was supplemented with new structures.

The modernization process included not only fundamental changes in the socio-economic and political spheres, but also a significant increase in literacy and the educational level of the population. To the credit of the government, this need was taken into account. State spending on public education from 1900 to 1915 increased by more than 5 times.

The focus was on elementary school. The government intended to introduce universal primary education in the country. However, school reform was carried out inconsistently. Several types of elementary school have been preserved, the most common being parochial schools (in 1905 there were about 43,000 of them). The number of zemstvo elementary schools increased. In 1904 there were 20.7 thousand of them, and in 1914 - 28.2 thousand. In 1900, more than 2.5 million students studied at the elementary schools of the Ministry of Public Education, and in 1914 - already 6 million

The restructuring of the secondary education system began. The number of gymnasiums and real schools grew. In gymnasiums, the number of hours devoted to the study of subjects of the natural and mathematical cycle increased. Graduates of real schools were given the right to enter higher technical educational institutions, and after passing the exam in Latin - to the physics and mathematics departments of universities.

In 1896, on the initiative and at the expense of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, a network of commercial schools was created, providing an average seven-year, eight-year education, which provided general education and special training. In them, unlike gymnasiums and real schools, joint education of boys and girls was introduced. In 1913, 55,000 people, including 10,000 girls, studied in 250 commercial schools under the auspices of commercial and industrial capital. The number of secondary specialized educational institutions has increased: industrial, technical, railway, mining, land surveying, agricultural, etc.

Since 1912, higher primary schools were put into operation, where one could enter after primary school and then transfer to secondary educational institutions without an exam. Great changes have also taken place in higher education. In conditions of a revolutionary upsurge, the tsarist government restored the autonomy of higher educational institutions, allowed student organizations and the election of deans and rectors. In 1909, another (ninth) university was founded in Saratov. New technical universities appeared in St. Petersburg, Novocherkassk, Tomsk.

To ensure the reform of the elementary school, pedagogical institutes were opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as more than 30 higher courses for women, which marked the beginning of mass access for women to higher education. In 1911, women's right to higher education was legally recognized.

By 1912 there were 16 technical higher educational institutions. Private higher education institutions have become widespread. In 1908, a draft law on the opening of the first people's university was passed through the Duma. Worked in 1908 - 1918. at the expense of the liberal figure, General A. L. Shanyavsny, the university provided secondary and higher education and contributed to the democratization of higher education. It included persons of both sexes, regardless of nationality and political views. By 1914, there were about 105 institutions of higher learning, with approximately 127,000 students. At the same time, over 60% of students did not belong to the nobility.

The literacy rate has risen to 39%. The network of cultural and educational institutions, along with Sunday schools, was supplemented by working courses, educational workers' societies and people's houses. They were established, as a rule, with funds wealthy people and were a kind of clubs with a library, an assembly hall, a tea shop and a trading shop.

However, despite advances in education, 3/4 of the country's population remained illiterate. Due to high tuition fees, secondary and higher schools were inaccessible to a significant part of the population of Russia. 43 kopecks were spent on education. per capita, while in England and Germany - about 4 rubles, in the USA - 7 rubles. (in terms of our money).

The science

Russia's entry into the era of industrialization was marked by success in the development of science. At the beginning of the 20th century. the country made a significant contribution to world scientific and technological progress, which was called the "revolution in natural science", since the discoveries made during this period led to a revision of established ideas about the world around.

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. Russian science is moving to the forefront. At that time, scientists appeared in its various fields, whose discoveries change traditional ideas about the world around us. In the field of natural sciences, the works of the physiologist I.P. Pavlov played such a role. An unprecedented surge was characterized by research in the field of biology, psychology, and human physiology. IP Pavlov created the doctrine of higher nervous activity, of conditioned reflexes. In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for research in the physiology of digestion.

The physicist P. N. Lebedev was the first in the world to establish the general patterns inherent in wave processes of various nature (sound, electromagnetic, hydraulic, etc.) "made other discoveries in the field of wave physics. He created the first physical school in Russia.

The foundations of the new sciences (biochemistry, biogeochemistry, radiogeology) were laid at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. V. I. Vernadsky. Ahead of their time, scientists who devoted themselves to the development of fundamentally new areas of science worked. N. E. Zhukovsky, who played a huge role in the development of aeronautics, laid the foundations of modern hydrodynamics and aerodynamics. Zhukovsky from the beginning of the 20th century. focused on these issues. Together with him worked a large group of his students, who subsequently grew into prominent specialists in various fields of aviation science and technology. In 1902, under the leadership of Zhukovsky, one of the first wind tunnels in Europe was built at the mechanical office of Moscow University. In 1904, under his leadership, the first aerodynamic institute in Europe was built in the village of Kuchino near Moscow. In the same year, Zhukovsky organized an aeronautical section at the Moscow Society of Lovers of Natural Science, Anthropology and Ethnography. In 1910, with the direct participation of Zhukovsky, an aerodynamic laboratory was opened at Moscow Higher Technical School.

After the October Revolution of 1917, Zhukovsky, together with the young scientists he led, became actively involved in the creation of a new Soviet aviation. In December 1918, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) was established by government decree, and Zhukovsky was appointed its head. The theoretical courses for military pilots created by Zhukovsky were reorganized into the Moscow Aviation College, on the basis of which the Institute of Red Air Fleet Engineers was established in 1920, which was transformed in 1922 into the Air Force Engineering Academy named after Professor N.E. Zhukovsky.

A number of Zhukovsky's studies were devoted to the theory of the motion of a heavy rigid body around a fixed point, and these studies were remarkable for the geometric method used in them. Zhukovsky paid much attention to the problem of traffic stability. She was the subject of his doctoral dissertation On the Strength of Motion (1879, published in 1882), which served as the basis for studying the stability of airplanes in the air. Several works were devoted to the theory of gyroscopes.

Zhukovsky carried out a number of studies on partial differential equations and on approximate integration of equations. He was the first to widely apply the methods of the theory of functions of a complex variable in hydro- and aerodynamics. In articles on theoretical astronomy, Zhukovsky touched upon the theory of comet tails and gave a simple method for determining the elements of planetary orbits.

Zhukovsky's scientific merits were highly appreciated in a special decree of the Council of People's Commissars in December 1920.

A student and colleague of Zhukovsky was S. A. Chaplygin, a Russian scientist, one of the founders of aerodynamics, an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1929). He created works on theoretical mechanics, hydrodynamics, aerodynamics and gas dynamics.

At the origins of modern astronautics was a nugget, a teacher of the Kaluga gymnasium K. E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1903, he published a number of brilliant works that substantiated the possibility of space flights and determined the ways to achieve this goal. He was the first to substantiate the possibility of using rockets for interplanetary communications, indicated rational ways for the development of astronautics and rocket science, and found a number of important engineering solutions for the design of rockets and a liquid-propellant rocket engine. Technical ideas Tsiolkovsky are used in the creation of rocket and space technology.

The outstanding scientist V. I. Vernadsky gained world fame thanks to his encyclopedic works, which served as the basis for the emergence of new scientific directions in geochemistry, biochemistry, and radiology. His teachings on the biosphere and noosphere laid the foundation for modern ecology. The innovation of the ideas expressed by him is fully realized only now, when the world is on the verge of an ecological catastrophe.

Vernadsky made a significant contribution to mineralogy and crystallography. In 1888-1897, he developed the concept of the structure of silicates, put forward the theory of the kaolin core, refined the classification of silica compounds, and studied the slip of crystalline matter, primarily the shear phenomenon in rock salt and calcite crystals. In 1890-1911 he developed genetic mineralogy, established a connection between the form of crystallization of a mineral, its chemical composition, genesis and formation conditions. In the same years, Vernadsky formulated the main ideas and problems of geochemistry, within the framework of which he carried out the first systematic studies of the regularities of the structure and composition of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Since 1907, Vernadsky has been conducting geological research radioactive elements laying the foundation for radiogeology.

In 1916-1940 he formulated the main principles and problems of biogeochemistry, created the doctrine of the biosphere and its evolution. Vernadsky set the task of quantitatively studying the elemental composition of living matter and the geochemical functions performed by it, the role of individual species in the conversion of energy in the biosphere, in the geochemical migrations of elements, in lithogenesis and mineralogenesis. He schematically outlined the main trends in the evolution of the biosphere: the expansion of life on the surface of the Earth and the strengthening of its transformative influence on the abiotic environment; an increase in the scale and intensity of biogenic migrations of atoms, the emergence of qualitatively new geochemical functions of living matter, the conquest of new mineral and energy resources by life; transition of the biosphere into the noosphere.

In 1903 Vernadsky's monograph "Fundamentals of Crystallography" was published, and in 1908 the publication of separate issues of "Experience in Descriptive Mineralogy" began.

In 1907, Vernadsky began research on radioactive minerals in Russia, and in 1910, he created and headed the Radium Commission of the Academy of Sciences. Work at KEPS stimulated the development of Vernadsky's systematic research on the problems of biogeochemistry, the study of living matter and the biosphere. In 1916 he began to develop the basic principles of biogeochemistry, the study of the chemical composition of organisms and their role in the migration of atoms in the geological shells of the Earth.

In 1908, the Nobel Prize was awarded to the biologist I. I. Mechnikov for his work on immunology and infectious diseases. Once, when Mechnikov was observing the motile cells (amoebocytes) of a starfish larvae under a microscope, he came up with the idea that these cells, which capture and digest organic particles, not only participate in digestion, but also perform in the body protective function. Mechnikov confirmed this assumption with a simple and convincing experiment. Having introduced a rose thorn into the body of a transparent larva, after a while he saw that amoebocytes had accumulated around the splinter.

In 1891-92, Mechnikov developed the doctrine of inflammation, closely related to the problem of immunity. Considering this process in a comparative evolutionary aspect, he assessed the phenomenon of inflammation itself as a protective reaction of the body, aimed at liberation from foreign substances or the focus of infection.

The beginning of the 20th century is the heyday of Russian historical science. Leading experts in the field national history were V. O. Klyuchevsky, A. A. Kornilov, N. P. Pavlov-Silvansky, S. F. Platonov. P. G. Vinogradov, R. Yu. Vipper, and E. V. Tarle dealt with the problems of world history. The Russian school of oriental studies gained world fame. The revolutionary situation in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. It was accompanied by a rise in general interest in politics, in the humanities: history, philosophy, economics, and law. These sciences from "cabinet" turned into publicistic, a number of scientists began to engage in political activities.

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. religious philosophy, the foundations of which were laid by V. S. Solovyov, acquired special significance. With extraordinary force and persuasiveness, he spoke out against the materialism and positivism that dominated Russian science, trying to enrich philosophy with ideas drawn from Christianity. Following Solovyov, such remarkable philosophers as N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, P. A. Florensky, S. N. and E N. Trubetskoy, S. L. Frank and others.

At this time, a number of very striking works appeared related to various areas of historical research: “Essays on the History of Russian Culture” by P. N. Milyukov, “Peasant Reform” by A. A. Kornilov, “History of Young Russia” by M. O. Gershenzon etc.

At the beginning of the XX century. scientific and technical societies were also popular. They united scientists, practitioners, amateur enthusiasts and existed on the contributions of their members, private donations. Some received small government subsidies. The most famous were: the Free Economic Society (it was founded back in 1765), the Society of History and Antiquities (1804), the Society of Lovers Russian literature(1811), Geographical, Technical, Physicochemical, Botanical, Metallurgical, several medical, agricultural, etc. These societies were not only the centers of research work, but also widely promoted scientific and technical knowledge among the population. A characteristic feature of the scientific life of that time were the congresses of natural scientists, doctors, engineers, lawyers, archaeologists, etc.

Literature

Russian literature continued to play an exceptionally important role in the cultural life of the country. During these years, Leo Tolstoy still lived and worked. In 1899, his last novel, Resurrection, was published, in which a protest against social evil and social injustice sounded sharp and angry. Tolstoy did not accept and did not support modernism in art.

A significant development in the development realistic direction in Russian literature there were works by such writers as I.A. Bunin, V.V. Veresaev, A.I. Kuprin, A.N. Tolstoy, N.G. Garin-Mikhailovsky, E.V. Chirikov and others.

At the time in question, A.P. created his best works. Chekhov: novels and stories ("My Life", "Men", "House with a Mezzanine", "Lady with a Dog", "The Bride", etc.), dramatic works staged on the stage of the Art Theater. His work reflected "terrifyingly simple" and complex life in Russia. Chekhov was not a supporter of a certain system of socio-political views, but his works carried the expectation of a new, a better life. "The present culture," he wrote in 1902, "is the beginning of work for a great future."

In the 90s, the creative path of A.M. Gorky (Peshkov, 1868-1936) began. Gorky published his first story "Makar Chudra" in 1892 in the newspaper "Tiflis Bulletin". The Essays and Stories, published in the late 1990s, brought the writer national fame. The heroic romance of young Gorky was a hymn to "the madness of the brave" and reflected the democratic revolutionary sentiments that had spread in the 1990s. In his works written at that time ("Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", "Girl and Death", "Song of the Falcon", "Petrel"), he glorified a proud, free person, love as a source of life, fearlessness of those who called for a fight and was ready to give his life for freedom.

During these years, young writers came to Russian literature. In 1893, the first story by I.A. Bunin "Tanka" appeared in the journal "Russian wealth". In 1897, a collection of his stories "To the End of the Earth" was published, dedicated to the bitter fate of the peasant settlers. In the late 90s, the first significant works of A.I. Kuprin appeared ("Olesya", "Moloch"). I.A. Bunin (1870-1953) and A.I. Kuprin (1870-1938) - the largest writers of Russian realistic literature of the 20th century. Bunin in the pre-emigrant period wrote such significant works as "The Village" (1910), "Dry Land" (1911), in which the suffering and thinking rural Russia spoke. The writer did not hide his "great sadness" about the disappearance of the old way of life. Kuprin's story "The Duel" (1905) had a great public resonance, which was perceived as a picture of decay not only in the army, but also discord in all public life.

The main forces of realist writers were grouped around the book publishing partnership "Knowledge" (1898-1913). In 1900, Gorky began to cooperate in this publishing house, becoming one of its leaders (since 1902). He widely attracted young and already well-known writers to participate in the collections "Knowledge".

One of the new phenomena in the literature of the 20th century was proletarian poetry, in which the theme of the struggle of the working class sounded. Its peculiarity was social optimism and romantic pathos. The poets themselves considered their poetry only as a "precursor" new literature future. In 1914, the first "Collection of Proletarian Writers" was published, edited by M. Gorky.

The theme of the proletarian enters literature. In 1906, A.M. Gorky wrote the drama "Enemies", the novel "Mother", in which he formulates new aesthetic principles for reproducing life. In one of his letters to A.P. Chekhov, he wrote about the need to establish "heroic realism", which would not only depict life, but would also be "higher than it, better, more beautiful." In the novel "Mother" for the first time the life of the workers was depicted reliably, the characters - Pavel and Nilovna - had their own prototypes (the head of the Sormovskaya party organization Pyotr Zalomov and his mother Anna Kirillovna). Completely in Russian, the novel "Mother" was published in 1907 abroad. At the same time, the book was translated into a number of foreign languages.

Symbolism

Russian symbolism as a literary trend took shape at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

"SYMBOLISM" is a trend in European and Russian art that arose at the turn of the 20th century, focused primarily on artistic expression through SYMBOL"things in themselves" and ideas that are beyond the limits of sensory perception. In an effort to break through the visible reality to the "hidden realities", the supertemporal ideal essence of the world, its "imperishable" beauty, the Symbolists expressed a longing for spiritual freedom, a tragic premonition of world socio-historical shifts, trust in centuries-old cultural values ​​as a unifying principle.

The culture of Russian symbolism, as well as the very style of thinking of the poets and writers who formed this trend, arose and took shape at the intersection and mutual complement, outwardly opposing, but in fact firmly connected and explaining one another, lines of philosophical and aesthetic attitude to reality. It was a feeling of unprecedented novelty of everything that the turn of the century brought with it, accompanied by a feeling of trouble and instability.

The theoretical, philosophical and aesthetic roots and sources of creativity of writers-symbolists were very diverse. So V. Bryusov considered symbolism a purely artistic direction, Merezhkovsky relied on Christian teaching, Vyacheslav Ivanov sought theoretical support in the philosophy and aesthetics of the ancient world, refracted through the philosophy of Nietzsche; A. Bely was fond of Vl. Solovyov, Schopenhauer, Kant, Nietzsche.

Initially, symbolic poetry was formed as romantic and individualistic poetry, separating itself from the polyphony of the "street", closed in the world of personal experiences and impressions.

“In fact, symbolism has never been a school of art,” A. Bely wrote, “but it was a tendency towards a new worldview, refracting art in its own way ... And we considered new forms of art not as a change of forms alone, but as a distinct sign changes in the internal perception of the world.

The artistic and journalistic organ of the Symbolists was the journal Scales (1904 - 1909). “For us, representatives symbolism, as a coherent world outlook, - wrote Ellis, - there is nothing more alien than the subordination of the idea of ​​life, the inner path of the individual - to the external improvement of the forms of community life. For us, there can be no question of reconciling the path of an individual heroic individual with the instinctive movements of the masses, always subordinated to narrowly selfish, material motives.

These attitudes determined the struggle of the symbolists against democratic literature and art, which was expressed in the systematic slander of Gorky, in an effort to prove that, having become in the ranks of proletarian writers, he ended as an artist, in attempts to discredit revolutionary democratic criticism and aesthetics, its great creators - Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky.

The Symbolists tried in every possible way to make "their" Pushkin, Gogol, called by V. Ivanov "a frightened spectator of life", Lermontov.

A sharp opposition between symbolism and realism is also connected with these attitudes. “While realist poets,” writes K. Balmont, “view the world naively, as simple observers, obeying its material basis, symbolist poets, recreating materiality with their complex impressionability, rule over the world and penetrate into its mysteries.” Symbolists seek to oppose reason and intuition. “... Art is the comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways,” says V. Bryusov and calls the works of the Symbolists “mystical keys of secrets” that help a person reach freedom.

V. Ya. Bryusov (1873 - 1924) passed a complex and difficult path of ideological searches. The revolution of 1905 aroused the admiration of the poet and contributed to the beginning of his departure from symbolism. However, Bryusov did not immediately come to a new understanding of art. Bryusov's attitude to the revolution is complex and contradictory. He welcomed the cleansing forces that rose to fight the old world, but believed that they only bring the element of destruction:

I see a new fight in the name of a new will!

Break - I'll be with you! build - no!

The poetry of V. Bryusov of this time is characterized by the desire for a scientific understanding of life, the awakening of interest in history. A. M. Gorky highly valued the encyclopedic education of V. Ya. Bryusov, calling him the most cultured writer in Rus'. Bryusov received and welcomed October revolution and actively participated in the construction of Soviet culture.

The ideological contradictions of the era (one way or another) influenced individual realist writers. In the creative fate of L. N. Andreev (1871 - 1919), they affected a well-known departure from the realistic method. However, realism as a trend in artistic culture retained its position. Russian writers continued to be interested in life in all its manifestations, the fate of the common man, and the important problems of social life.

The traditions of critical realism continued to be preserved and developed in the work of the greatest Russian writer I. A. Bunin (1870 - 1953). His most significant works of that time are the stories The Village (1910) and The Dry Valley (1911).

1912 was the beginning of a new revolutionary upsurge in the social and political life of Russia.

D. Merezhkovsky, F. Sologub, Z. Gippius, V. Bryusov, K. Balmont and others are a group of "senior" symbolists who were the initiators of the movement. In the early 900s, a group of "junior" symbolists emerged - A. Bely, S. Solovyov, V. Ivanov, A. Blok and others.

The platform of the "younger" symbolists is based on the idealistic philosophy of V. Solovyov with his idea of ​​the Third Testament and the advent of the Eternal Feminine. V. Solovyov argued that the highest task of art is “... the creation of a universal spiritual organism”, that a work of art is an image of an object and phenomenon “in the light of the future world”, which explains the understanding of the role of the poet as a theurgist, a clergyman. This, according to A. Bely, "combines the heights of symbolism as an art with mysticism."

The recognition that there are “other worlds”, that art should strive to express them, determines artistic practice symbolism in general, the three principles of which are proclaimed in the work of D. Merezhkovsky “On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature”. This is “... mystical content, symbols and expansion of artistic impressionability” .

Based on the idealistic premise of the primacy of consciousness, the symbolists argue that reality, reality is the creation of the artist:

My dream - and all spaces

And all the lines

The whole world is one of my decorations,

My footprints

(F. Sologub)

“Having broken the fetters of thought, being shackled is a dream,” Balmont urges. The vocation of the poet is to connect the real world with the world beyond.

The poetic declaration of symbolism is clearly expressed in V. Ivanov's poem "Among the Deaf Mountains":

And I thought: “Oh genius! Like this horn

You must sing the song of the earth, so that in the hearts

Wake up another song. Blessed is he who hears."

And from behind the mountains came the answering voice:

“Nature is a symbol, like this horn. She

Sounds like an echo. And the echo is God.

Blessed is he who hears the song and hears the echo.”

Symbolist poetry is poetry for the elite, for the aristocrats of the spirit.

A symbol is an echo, a hint, an indication; it conveys a hidden meaning.

Symbolists strive to create a complex, associative metaphor, abstract and irrational. This is V. Bryusov’s “voiced-sounding silence”, V. Ivanov’s “And bright eyes are dark rebelliousness”, A. Bely’s “dry deserts of shame” and his own: “Day - dull pearls - a tear - flows from sunrise to sunset." Quite accurately, this technique is revealed in the poem 3. Gippius "Seamstress".

On all phenomena there is a seal.

One seems to merge with the other.

Having accepted one - I try to guess

Behind him is another What is hidden.

The sound expressiveness of the verse acquired a very great importance in the poetry of the Symbolists, for example, in F. Sologub:

And two deep glasses

From thin-voiced glass

You substituted for the light cup

And sweet lila foam,

Lila, lila, lila, rocked

Two dark scarlet glasses.

Whiter, lily, alley gave

Bela was you and ala...

The revolution of 1905 found a peculiar refraction in the work of the Symbolists.

Merezhkovsky greeted the year 1905 with horror, having witnessed with his own eyes the coming of the "coming boor" predicted by him. Blok approached the events excitedly, with a keen desire to understand. V. Bryusov welcomed the cleansing thunderstorm.

After the revolutionary events of 1905, contradictions intensified even more in the ranks of the Symbolists, which eventually led this direction to a crisis.

By the tenth years of the twentieth century, symbolism needed to be updated. “In the depths of symbolism itself,” wrote V. Bryusov in the article “The Meaning modern poetry”, - new currents arose, trying to infuse new forces into the decrepit organism. But these attempts were too partial, their initiators too imbued with the same traditions of the school, for the renovation to be of any significance.

However, it should be noted that the Russian Symbolists made a significant contribution to the development of national culture. The most talented of them, in their own way, reflected the tragedy of the situation of a person who could not find his place in a world shaken by grandiose social conflicts, tried to find new ways for artistic understanding of the world. They own serious discoveries in the field of poetics, the rhythmic reorganization of verse, and the strengthening of the musical principle in it.

The last pre-October decade was marked by searches in modernist art. The controversy surrounding symbolism that took place in 1910 among the artistic intelligentsia revealed its crisis. As N. S. Gumilyov put it in one of his articles, "symbolism has completed its circle of development and is now falling."

Acmeism

Replaced symbolism acmeism. In 1912, with the collection "Hyperborea", a new literary movement declared itself, giving itself the name acmeism (from the Greek acme, which means the highest degree of something, the time of flowering). The "shop of poets", as its representatives called themselves, included N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, G. Ivanov, M. Zenkevich and others. M. Kuzmin, M. Voloshin also joined this direction. , V. Khodasevich and others.

N. S. Gumilyov (1886 - 1921) and S. M. Gorodetsky (1884 - 1967) are considered the founders of acmeism.

Acmeists, in contrast to the symbolist nebula, proclaimed the cult of real earthly existence, "a courageously firm and clear outlook on life." But at the same time, they tried to affirm, first of all, the aesthetic-hedonistic function of art, evading social problems in their poetry. In the aesthetics of acmeism, decadent tendencies were clearly expressed, and philosophical idealism remained its theoretical basis. However, among the acmeists there were poets who, in their work, were able to go beyond this “platform” and acquire new ideological and artistic qualities (A. A. Akhmatova, S. M. Gorodetsky, M. A. Zenkevich).

Acmeists considered themselves the heirs of a "worthy father" - symbolism, which, in the words of N. Gumilyov, "... completed its circle of development and is now falling." Affirming the animal primeval beginning(they also called themselves Adamists), the Acmeists continued to “remember the unknowable” and in its name proclaimed every renunciation of the struggle to change life. “To rebel in the name of other conditions of being here, where there is death,” writes N. Gumilyov in his work “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism,” “is just as strange as a prisoner breaking a wall when there is an open door in front of him.”

S. Gorodetsky also claims this: “After all the “rejections”, the world is irrevocably accepted by acmeism, in the totality of beauties and ugliness.” Modern man felt like a beast, “devoid of both claws and wool” (M. Zenkevich “Wild Porphyry”), Adam, who “... looked around with the same clear, vigilant eye, accepted everything he saw, and sang hallelujah to life and the world ".

And at that same time, the acmeists constantly sound notes of doom and longing. The work of A. A. Akhmatova (A. A. Gorenko, 1889 - 1966) occupies a special place in the poetry of acmeism. Her first poetry collection "Evening" was published in 1912. Critics immediately noted the distinctive features of her poetry: restraint of intonation, emphasized intimacy of themes, psychologism. Akhmatova's early poetry is deeply lyrical and emotional. With her love for man, faith in his spiritual powers and capabilities, she clearly departed from the acmeist idea of ​​"original Adam." The main part of the work of A. A. Akhmatova falls on the Soviet period.

The first collections by A. Akhmatova "Evening" (1912) and "Rosary" (1914) brought her great fame. A closed, narrow intimate world is displayed in her work, painted in tones of sadness and sadness:

I do not ask for wisdom or strength.

Oh, just let me warm myself by the fire!

I'm cold... Winged or wingless,

The merry god will not visit me.

The theme of love, the main and only one, is directly related to suffering (which is due to the facts of the biography of the poetess):

Let it lie like a tombstone

For my life love.

Characterizing early work A. Akhmatova, A. Surkov says that she appears "... as a poet of a sharply defined poetic individuality and a strong lyrical talent ... "female" intimate lyrical experiences ...".

A. Akhmatova understands that “we live solemnly and difficultly”, that “somewhere there is a simple life and light”, but she does not want to give up this life:

Yes, I loved them those gatherings of the night

Ice glasses on a small table,

Over black coffee odorous, thin steam,

Fireplace red heavy, winter heat,

The gaiety of a caustic literary joke

And a friend's first look, helpless and creepy."

Acmeists sought to return to the image its living concreteness, objectivity, to free it from mystical encryption, about which O. Mandelstam spoke very angrily, assuring that the Russian symbolists “... sealed all words, all images, destining them exclusively for liturgical use. It turned out to be extremely uncomfortable - neither pass, nor stand up, nor sit down. You can't dine on a table, because it's not just a table. You can’t light a fire, because maybe it means something that you yourself won’t be happy about later. ”

And at the same time, acmeists argue that their images are sharply different from realistic ones, because, in the words of S. Gorodetsky, they "... are born for the first time" "as hitherto unseen, but now real phenomena." This determines the sophistication and peculiar mannerism of the acmeistic image, in whatever deliberate bestial savagery it appears. For example, Voloshin:

People are animals, people are reptiles,

Like a hundred-eyed evil spider,

Weave in rings looks.

The range of these images is narrowed, which achieves extreme beauty, and which allows you to achieve ever greater sophistication when describing it:

Slower snow hive

More transparent than crystal windows,

And a turquoise veil

Carelessly thrown on a chair.

Fabric intoxicated with itself

Indulged in the caress of light,

She experiences summer

As if untouched by winter.

And if in ice diamonds

Eternity frost flows,

Here - flutter dragonflies

fast living blue-eyed.

(O. Mandelstam)

Significant in its artistic value is the literary heritage of N. S. Gumilyov. His work was dominated by exotic and historical theme he was a singer strong personality". Gumilyov played a large role in the development of the form of verse, which was distinguished by its sharpness and accuracy.

In vain did the Acmeists dissociate themselves so sharply from the Symbolists. We meet the same "other worlds" and longing for them in their poetry. Thus, N. Gumilyov, who hailed the imperialist war as a “holy” cause, asserting that “seraphim, clear and winged, visible behind the shoulders of warriors,” a year later wrote poems about the end of the world, about the death of civilization:

Monsters are heard peaceful roars,

Suddenly, the rain is pouring down,

And everyone tightens up the fat ones

Light green horsetails.

The once proud and brave conqueror understands the destructiveness of the enmity that has engulfed humanity:

Not all equals? Let the time roll

We understood you, Earth:

You're just a gloomy porter

At the entrance to God's fields.

This explains their rejection of the Great October Socialist Revolution. But their fate was not uniform. Some of them emigrated; N. Gumilyov allegedly "took an active part in the counter-revolutionary conspiracy" and was shot. In the poem "Worker" he predicted his end at the hands of the proletarian, who cast a bullet, "which will separate me from the earth."

And the Lord will reward me in full

For my short and short century.

I did it in a light gray blouse

A short old man.

Such poets as S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova, V. Narbut, M. Zenkevich could not emigrate.

For example, A. Akhmatova, who did not understand and did not accept the revolution, refused to leave her homeland:

He said, "Come here

Leave your land deaf and sinful,

Leave Russia forever.

I will wash the blood from your hands,

I will take out black shame from my heart,

I will cover with a new name

The pain of defeat and resentment.

But indifferent and calm

I covered my ears with my hands

She did not immediately return to creativity. But the Great Patriotic War again awakened in her a poet, a patriotic poet, confident in the victory of his Motherland (“Courage”, “Oath”, etc.). A. Akhmatova wrote in her autobiography that for her in verse "... my connection with time, with the new life of my people."

The work of such talented acmeist poets as N. Gumilyov, S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova, M. Kuzmin, O. Mandelstam went beyond the proclaimed theoretical principles. Each of them introduced into poetry his own, only his own motives and moods, his own poetic images.

Futurism

Simultaneously with acmeism in 1910 - 1912. arose futurism.

Futurists came up with different views on art in general and on poetry in particular. They declared themselves opponents of modern bourgeois society, which deforms the individual, and defenders of the “natural” man, his right to free, individual development. But these statements were often reduced to an abstract declaration of individualism, freedom from moral and cultural traditions.

Unlike the acmeists, who, although opposed to symbolism, nevertheless considered themselves to a certain extent its successors, the futurists from the very beginning proclaimed a complete rejection of any literary traditions and, above all, of the classical heritage, arguing that it was hopelessly outdated. In their loud and boldly written manifestos they glorified new life, developing under the influence of science and technological progress, rejecting everything that was “before”, declared their desire to remake the world, which, from their point of view, poetry should contribute to a large extent.

Like others modernist currents, futurism was internally contradictory. The most significant of the futuristic groups, which later received the name of cubo-futurism, united such poets as D. D. Burliuk, V. V. Khlebnikov, A. Kruchenykh, V. V. Kamensky, V. V. Mayakovsky, and some others. A variety of futurism was the ego-futurism of I. Severyanin (I. V. Lotarev, 1887 - 1941). The Soviet poets N. N. Aseev and B. L. Pasternak began their creative career in a group of futurists called "Centrifuge".

Futurism proclaimed a revolution of form, independent of content, the absolute freedom of poetic speech. Futurists abandoned literary traditions. In their manifesto with the shocking title "A Slap in the Face of Public Taste", published in a collection with the same name in 1912, they called for Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy to be thrown off the "Steamboat of Modernity". Rejecting everything, they affirmed "The lightning of the new coming Beauty of the Self-valuable Word." Unlike Mayakovsky, they did not try to overthrow the existing system, but only sought to update the forms of reproduction of modern life.

A. Kruchenykh defended the poet's right to create an "abstruse" language that does not have a specific meaning. In his writings, Russian speech was indeed replaced by a meaningless set of words. However, V. Khlebnikov (1885 - 1922), V.V. Kamensky (1884 - 1961) managed in their creative practice to carry out interesting experiments in the field of the word, which had a beneficial effect on Russian and Soviet poetry.

Among the futurist poets, the creative path of V. V. Mayakovsky (1893 - 1930) began. His first poems appeared in print in 1912. From the very beginning, Mayakovsky stood out in the poetry of Futurism, introducing his own theme into it. He always spoke not only against "all kinds of junk", but also for the creation of a new one in public life.

In the years leading up to the Great October Revolution, Mayakovsky was a passionate revolutionary romantic, an accuser of the realm of the “fat”, foreseeing a revolutionary thunderstorm. The pathos of the denial of the entire system of capitalist relations, the humanistic faith in man sounded with great force in his poems "A Cloud in Pants", "Flute-Spine", "War and Peace", "Man". Mayakovsky later defined the theme of the poem "A Cloud in Pants", published in 1915 in a truncated form by censorship, as four cries of "down": "Down with your love!", "Down with your art!", "Down with your system!", " Down with your religion!” He was the first of the poets who showed in his works the truth of the new society.

In the Russian poetry of the pre-revolutionary years there were bright individualities that are difficult to attribute to a particular literary trend. Such are M. A. Voloshin (1877 - 1932) and M. I. Tsvetaeva (1892 - 1941).

Russian culture on the eve of the Great October Revolution was the result of a complex and long journey. Its distinctive features have always been democracy, high humanism and genuine nationality, despite periods of cruel government reaction, when progressive thought and advanced culture were suppressed in every possible way.

The richest cultural heritage of the pre-revolutionary period, the cultural values ​​created over the centuries constitute the golden fund of our national culture.

Painting

In painting, the "Silver Age" continued until the emigration from Russia of a galaxy of outstanding representatives of abstract art (Larionov, Goncharova, Kandinsky, Malevich, Tatlin, etc.).

In this difficult period for the country, for the painters of the turn of the century, other ways of expression, other forms of artistic creativity became characteristic - in contradictory, complicated images and reflecting modernity without illustrativeness and narrative. Artists painfully seek harmony and beauty in a world that is fundamentally alien to both harmony and beauty. That is why many saw their mission in cultivating a sense of beauty. This time of "eves", the expectation of changes in public life, gave rise to many trends, associations, groupings, a clash of different worldviews and tastes. But it also gave rise to the universalism of a whole generation of artists who came forward after the "classical" Wanderers. It is enough to name only the names of V.A. Serov and M.A. Vrubel.

After 1915 Moscow becomes the capital of innovative art . From 1916 to 1921, it was in Moscow that avant-garde tendencies in painting were formed. The Jack of Diamonds association (Konchalovsky, Kuprin, Falk, Udaltsova, Lentulov, Larionov, Mashkov, etc.), which denied academic and realistic art, and the Supremus circle (Malevich, Rozanova, Klyuv, Popova) are gaining strength. In Moscow and St. Petersburg every now and then new directions, circles and societies appear, new names, concepts and approaches appear:

Departure from realism towards "poetic realism" in the work of V. A. Serov. According to Sternin G.Yu., one of the largest artists, an innovator of Russian painting at the turn of the century, was Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (1865-1911). His "Girl with peaches" (portrait of Vera Mamontova) and "Girl illuminated by the sun" (portrait of Masha Simanovich) are a whole stage in Russian painting. Serov was brought up among prominent figures of the Russian musical culture(father - a famous composer, mother - a pianist), studied with Repin and Chistyakov, studied the best museum collections in Europe and, upon returning from abroad, entered the environment of the Abramtsevo circle.

The images of Vera Mamontova and Masha Simanovich are imbued with a sense of the joy of life, a bright feeling of being, a bright victorious youth. This was achieved by “light” impressionistic painting, for which the “principle of chance” is so characteristic, a sculpted form with a dynamic, free brushstroke that creates the impression of a complex light-air environment. But unlike the Impressionists, Serov never dissolves an object in this environment so that it dematerializes, his composition never loses stability, the masses are always in balance. And most importantly, it does not lose the integral generalized characteristics of the model.

Serov quickly moved into the ranks of the best portrait painters in Russia, shrewdly sharpening the most characteristic features of the model and achieving the utmost liveliness of the light-air and color environment.

In the direction of impressionism by K. A. Korovin. Korovin, under the influence of impressionism, developed a free decorative style. Colorful spectacular theatrical scenery. Already in the early landscapes of Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin (1861-1939) purely pictorial problems were solved - to write gray on white, black on white, gray on gray. A “conceptual” landscape (M.M. Allenov’s term), such as Savrasov’s or Levitan’s, does not interest him.

For the brilliant colorist Korovin, the world appears as a "riot of colors." Generously gifted by nature, Korovin was engaged in both portraiture and still life, but it would not be a mistake to say that landscape remained his favorite genre. He brought into art the strong realistic traditions of his teachers from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - Savrasov and Polenov, but he has a different view of the world, he sets other tasks. Korovin's generous gift for painting brilliantly manifested itself in theatrical and decorative painting. As a theater painter, he worked for the Abramtsevo Theater (and Mamontov was almost the first to rate him as theater artist), for the Moscow Art Theatre, for the Moscow Private Russian Opera, where he began his lifelong friendship with Chaliapin, for the Diaghilev entreprise.

Korovin raised theatrical scenery and the importance of the artist in the theater to a new level, he revolutionized the understanding of the role of the artist in the theater and had a great influence on his contemporaries with his colorful, "spectacular" scenery, revealing the very essence of a musical performance.

In the direction of post-impressionism V. E. Borisov-Musatov. Already in Borisov-Musatov's early plein-air sketches-paintings, there is a feeling of an exciting, inexplicable mystery ("Window"). The main motive through which the “other world” hidden under the haze of colors opens up for the artist is the “noble nests”, decaying old estates (usually he worked in the estates of Sleptsovka and Zubrilovka in the Saratov province). The smooth, “musical” rhythms of the paintings again and again reproduce the favorite themes of Borisov-Musatov: these are the corners of the park and female figures (the artist’s sister and wife), which seem to be images human souls wandering in the otherworldly realm of sleep. In most of his works, the master preferred watercolor, tempera or pastel to oil, achieving a special, “melting” lightness of the brushstroke.

From picture to picture (“Tapestry”, “Pond”, “Ghosts”) the feeling of the “other world” is growing; in the "Requiem", written in memory of the deceased sister, we already see a whole multi-figured sacrament, where the deceased is accompanied by her "astral twins". At the same time, the master also creates pure, deserted landscapes, full of the finest lyricism (“Halnut Bush”, “Autumn Song”). He gravitates toward the large, monumental style of wall painting, but all ideas of this kind (for example, a cycle of sketches on the theme of the seasons, 1904-05) fail to be realized in architecture.

The dreamy temperament of the artist (“I live in a world of dreams and fantasies among birch groves dozing off in a deep sleep of autumn fogs,” he writes to A. N. Benois in 1905 from Tarusa) does not deprive his work of a sense of historicity. The poetics of estate life is filled with him (just as in the literature of that time - in the works of A.P. Chekhov, I.A. Bunin, A. Bely, etc.) with a premonition of approaching fatal, catastrophic milestones. The early death of the master strengthened the perception of his images as a lyrical requiem dedicated to old Russia. Borisov-Musatov was the direct predecessor of the Blue Rose artists, who were united, in particular, by a deep respect for his legacy.

In the direction of "pictorial symbolism" by M. A. Vrubel. The artist's craving for monumental art, which went beyond the easel painting, intensified over the years; a powerful outburst of this thrust were the giant panels "Mikula Selyaninovich" and "Princess of Dreams". However, it was easel painting, albeit acquiring the character of a panel, that remained the main channel of his search. The coloristic luxury of such canvases as "Girl against the backdrop of a Persian carpet", "Venice", "Spain" does not obscure the anxiety lurking behind the external magnificence. Sometimes the gaping of dark chaos is moderated by folklore elements: in the paintings "Pan", "The Swan Princess", "Toward the Night" mythological themes are inseparable from the poetry of native nature. The lyrical revelation of the landscape, as if enveloping the viewer with its colorful haze, is especially impressive in Lilac. More analytical and nervously tense are the portraits of Vrubel by K. D. and M. I. Artsybushev, as well as S. I. Mamontov.

Vrubel created his most mature paintings and graphic works at the turn of the century - in the genre of landscape, portrait, book illustration. In the organization and decorative-planar interpretation of a canvas or sheet, in a combination of the real and the fantastic, in a commitment to ornamental, rhythmically difficult decisions in his works of this period, the features of modernity are increasingly asserting themselves.

Vrubel brighter than others reflected the contradictions and painful throwing of the turn of the era. On the day of Vrubel’s funeral, Benois said: “Vrubel’s life, as it will now go down in history, is a marvelous pathetic symphony, that is, fullest form artistic life. Future generations ... will look back on the last decades of the 19th century as on the "Vrubel era" ... It was in it that our time was expressed in the most beautiful and saddest thing that it was capable of.

Art historians note that genre painting developed in the 90s, but it developed somewhat differently. Thus, the peasant theme is revealed in a new way. The split in the rural community is emphatically and incriminatingly depicted by Sergey Alekseevich Korovin (1858-1908) in the painting “On the World”. Abram Efimovich Arkhipov (1862-1930) was able to show the hopelessness of existence in hard exhausting work in the film "Washerwomen". He achieved this to a large extent thanks to new pictorial discoveries, to a new understanding of the possibilities of color and light. Reticence, a well-found expressive detail make more tragic picture Sergei Vasilyevich Ivanov (1864-1910) “On the road. Death of a migrant. Shafts sticking out, as if raised in a cry, dramatize the action much more than the dead man depicted in the foreground or the woman howling over him. Ivanov owns one of the works dedicated to the revolution of 1905 - "Execution". The impressionistic technique of “partial composition”, as if accidentally snatched from the frame, is preserved here too: only a line of houses, a line of soldiers, a group of demonstrators are outlined, and in the foreground, in a square illuminated by the sun, the figure of a dog killed and running from shots. Ivanov is characterized by sharp light and shade contrasts, an expressive contour of objects, and a well-known flatness of the image. His tongue is lapidary.

In the 90s of the XIX century. an artist enters art, who makes the worker the protagonist of his works. In 1894, a painting by N.A. Kasatkina (1859-1930) "Miner", in 1895 - "Coal miners. Change".

At the turn of the century, a slightly different path of development than that of Surikov is outlined in the historical theme. So, for example, Andrey Petrovich Ryabushkin works more in the historical genre than in the purely historical genre. “Russian women of the 17th century in the church”, “Wedding train in Moscow. XVII century”, “They are coming. (The people of Moscow during the entry of a foreign embassy into Moscow at the end of the 17th century)”, “Moskovskaya street of the 17th century on a holiday” and so on - these are everyday scenes from the life of Moscow in the 17th century. Ryabushkin was especially attracted to this century, with its gingerbread elegance, polychrome, patterned. The artist aesthetically admires the bygone world of the 17th century.

Apollinary Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1856-1933) pays even more attention to the landscape in his historical compositions. His favorite subject is also the 17th century, but not everyday scenes, but the architecture of Moscow. A street in Kitay-Gorod. Beginning of the 17th century. Painting “Moscow at the end of the 17th century. At Dawn at the Resurrection Gates” was probably inspired by the introduction to Mussorgsky’s opera “Khovanshchina”, for which Vasnetsov had performed sketches of scenery shortly before.

A new type of painting, in which folklore artistic traditions were mastered in a completely special way and translated into the language of modern art, was created by Philip Andreevich Malyavin (1869-1940), who in his youth was engaged in icon painting in the Athos Monastery, and then studied at the Academy of Arts under Repin. His images of "women" and "girls" have a certain symbolic meaning - a healthy soil of Rus'. His paintings are always expressive, and although these are, as a rule, easel works, they receive a monumental and decorative interpretation under the artist's brush. "Laughter", "Whirlwind" is a realistic depiction of peasant girls laughing contagiously loudly or rushing uncontrollably in a round dance. Malyavin combined in his painting expressive decorativeism with realistic fidelity to nature.

The theme of Ancient Rus', like a number of masters before him, was addressed by Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov (1862-1942), but the image of Rus' appears in the artist’s paintings as a kind of ideal, almost enchanted world, in harmony with nature, but disappeared forever like the legendary city of Kitezh . This keen sense of nature, delight in the world, in front of every tree and blade of grass is especially pronounced in one of Nesterov's most famous works of the pre-revolutionary period - "The Vision of the Youth Bartholomew." Before turning to the image of Sergius of Radonezh, Nesterov had already expressed interest in the theme of Ancient Rus' with such works as "Christ's Bride", "The Hermit", creating images of high spirituality and quiet contemplation. He dedicated several more works to Sergius of Radonezh himself, "The Youth of St. Sergius", the triptych "Works of St. Sergius", "Sergius of Radonezh".

In the artist's desire for a flat interpretation of the composition, elegance, ornamentality, refined sophistication of plastic rhythms, an undoubted influence of Art Nouveau manifested itself.

An exceptionally important place in the development abstract painting belongs to the brilliant Russian artist, poet and art theorist V.V. Kandinsky (1866-1944). In 1910 he created the first abstract work and wrote a treatise entitled "On the Spiritual in Art" (published in 1912 on German, fragments of the Russian version were read by N. I. Kulbin in December 1911 at the All-Russian Congress of Artists in St. Petersburg). Having put forward its spiritual content as the fundamental foundation of art, Kandinsky believed that the innermost meaning can be most fully expressed in compositions organized on the basis of rhythm, the psychophysical effect of color, contrasts of dynamics and statics.

Abstract canvases were grouped by the artist into three cycles: "Impressions", "Improvisations" and "Compositions". The rhythm, the emotional sound of color, the vigor of the lines and spots of his pictorial compositions were called upon to express powerful lyrical sensations, similar to the feelings awakened by music, poetry, and views of beautiful landscapes. The carrier of inner experiences in Kandinsky's non-objective compositions was the coloristic and compositional orchestration, carried out by pictorial means - color, point, line, spot, plane, contrasting collision of colorful spots. Another creator of contemporary art was K.S. Malevich (1878-1935). The era of Suprematism (from Latin supremus - the highest, the last), or the art of geometric abstraction, begins with him. Coming from a large Polish family, he came to Moscow in 1905 to study painting and sculpture. After the outbreak of World War I, he performed a number of propaganda patriotic popular prints with texts by V. V. Mayakovsky for the Sovremenny Lubok publishing house. In the spring of 1915, the first canvases of an abstract geometric style appeared, which soon received the name "Suprematism". The invented direction - regular geometric figures, written in pure local colors and immersed in a kind of "white abyss", where the laws of dynamics and statics dominated - Malevich gave the name "Suprematism". The term he composed went back to the Latin root "suprem", which formed in mother tongue artist, Polish, the word "Suprematia", which in translation meant "superiority", "supremacy", "dominance". At the first stage of the existence of a new artistic system, Malevich sought to fix the primacy, the dominance of color over all other components of painting with this word. In 1915, Malevich exhibited 39 "non-objective" works in Petrograd, among them "Black Square". In 1931 he created sketches for the murals of the Red Theater in Leningrad, the interior of which was designed according to his design. In 1932-33. headed the experimental laboratory at the Russian Museum. The work of Malevich in the last period of his life gravitated towards the realistic school of Russian painting.

The revolution of 1917 forced painters to transfer innovative experiments from the closed space of workshops to open areas city ​​streets. Freed from the enslavement of the plot and objects, the painters rushed to the discovery of the inner laws of art. The new style was characterized by geometric abstractions from the simplest figures (square, rectangle, circle, triangle).

Architecture

The architecture of the Silver Age developed in a direction that emphasized the functional purpose of buildings. Basically, these were rich mansions and public buildings. They were distinguished by magnificent external decoration, stucco molding. Silhouettes of ships, tower cranes, airplanes were depicted on the facades of houses. City building was under way. Complex development was carried out in large cities of Russia.

Architecture as an art form is most dependent on socio-economic relations. Therefore, in Russia, under the conditions of the monopoly development of capitalism, it has become a focus of sharp contradictions, which led to spontaneous urban development, which caused damage to urban planning and turned large cities into monsters of civilization.

Tall buildings have been turned courtyards in poorly lit and ventilated wells. Greenery was being squeezed out of the city. The disproportion between the scale of new buildings and old buildings has acquired a grimace-like character. At the same time, industrial architectural structures appeared - plants, factories, stations, arcades, banks, cinemas. For their construction, the latest planning and design solutions were used, reinforced concrete and metal structures were actively used, which made it possible to create premises in which large masses of people were simultaneously located.

Modern

It is difficult to find a period in the history of architecture when the incandescence creative pursuits would be so hot and tense, and the results of the searches would be so diverse, ambiguous and contradictory. The natural result of these searches was the amazing diversity and exceptional diversity of modernity in its concrete manifestations. The first manifestations of modernity date back to the last century of the 19th century, neoclassicism was formed in the 1900s.

Art Nouveau in Russia is characterized by the rejection of classical forms. He openly emphasized the functional purpose of buildings, attaching great importance to structures, facades, interiors and using fresco, mosaic, stained glass, ceramics, and sculpture to decorate them. The buildings acquired a distinctly individualized appearance and were distinguished by a free layout. In St. Petersburg, the entire Petrograd side is built up in the Art Nouveau style; in Moscow, such buildings are scattered around the historical center inside the Garden Ring. The leading architect of this style was Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel (1859-1926). According to his designs, the building of the Moscow Art Theater and the Ryabushinsky mansion at the Nikitinsky Gates (1900-1902) were built in Moscow - the most typical works of pure Art Nouveau. His own Yaroslavsky railway station is an example of stylistically mixed architecture. In the Ryabushinsky mansion, the architect departs from the traditional predetermined construction schemes and uses the principle of free asymmetry. Each of the facades is arranged in its own way. The building is sustained in the free development of volumes, and with its protrusions resembles a plant taking root, this corresponds to the principle of Art Nouveau - to give an organic form to an architectural building. On the other hand, the mansion is quite monolithic and meets the principle of a bourgeois dwelling: "My house is my fortress." Diverse facades are united by a wide mosaic frieze with a stylized image of irises ( floral ornament characteristic of the Art Nouveau style). Stained-glass windows are characteristic of Art Nouveau. Whimsical and whimsical types of lines prevail in them and in the design of the building. These motifs reach their zenith in the interior of the building. The furniture and decorations were designed by Shekhtel.

The alternation of gloomy and light spaces, the abundance of materials that give a bizarre play of light reflection (marble, glass, polished wood), the colored light of stained-glass windows, the asymmetric arrangement of doorways that change the direction of the light flux - all this transforms reality into a romantic world. In the course of the development of style, Schechtel appears rationalistic tendencies. The trading house of the Moscow Merchant Society in Malo Cherkassky Lane (1909), the building of the printing house "Morning of Russia" (1907) can be called pre-constructivist. The main effect is the glazed surfaces of huge windows, rounded corners, which give the building plasticity.

The most significant masters of Art Nouveau in St. Petersburg were F.I. Lidval (1870-1945, hotel “Astoria”, Azov-Don Bank) I.N. Lyalevich (building of the company “Merteks” on Nevsky Prospekt).

Neoclassicism

In St. Petersburg, Art Nouveau was strongly influenced by classicism. So born neoclassical architectural style. Its representatives were the architects I. A. Fomin and I. V. Zholtovsky.

I. A. Fomin in 1919 headed the architectural workshop of the Council for the regulation of the plan of Petrograd and its outskirts under the Council of Public Utilities. He owns the redevelopment and landscaping of the Field of Mars in Petrograd (1920-1923). According to his project, the Institute of Chemical Technology was built in Ivanovo (1929). The main buildings in Moscow: the residential building of the Dynamo society (1928-1930, together with A. Ya. Langman) - one of the first attempts to search for a new style; the new building of the Moscow City Council (1929-1930), the building of the Ministry of Railways at the Red Gate (1933-1936); participated in the construction of the arches of the Moscow metro station "Krasnye Vorota" (1935); designer of the Sverdlov Square station (now Teatralnaya; 1938, together with L. M. Polyakov). One of the first Moscow works of Zholtovsky was participation in the restoration of the building of the Metropol Hotel, which burned down just before its completion in 1902. The following year, he won a competition for the design of the building of the Racing Society in Moscow (1903-05). At the same time, he built the mansion of the manufacturer Nosov on Vvedenskaya Square, the architecture of which is of a dual nature.

Zholtovsky's works are characterized by the use of compositional techniques and architectural motifs. classical architecture especially during the Renaissance. The first post-revolutionary works of the architect were the redevelopment project of Moscow (together with A. V. Shchusev) and the project of the general plan and pavilions of the All-Russian Agricultural and Handicraft and Industrial Exhibition, which opened on August 19, 1923 in Moscow, on the banks of the Moscow River. Zholtovsky's project was carried out almost without any changes. Neoclassicism was a purely Russian phenomenon and was most widespread in St. Petersburg in 1910. This trend aimed to revive the traditions of Russian classicism by Kazakov, Voronikhin, Zakharov, Rossi, Stasov, Gilardi in the second half of the 18th and the first third of the 19th century. They created many outstanding structures, distinguished by harmonious compositions and exquisite details. The work of Alexander Viktorovich Shchusev (1873-1949) merges with neoclassicism. But he turned to the heritage of the national Russian architecture of the 11th-17th centuries (sometimes this style is called the neo-Russian style). Shchusev built the Marfa-Mariinsky Convent and the Kazan Station in Moscow. With all its merits, neoclassicism was a special variety in the highest form of retrospectivism.

Constructivism

Direction in Russian art of the 1920s. (in architecture, decorating, and theatrical and decorative art, poster, book art, artistic design, design). Proponents of constructivism, putting forward the task of "designing" the environment that actively guides life processes, sought to comprehend the shaping possibilities of new technology, its logical, expedient designs, as well as the aesthetic possibilities of materials such as metal, glass, and wood. The constructivists sought to oppose the ostentation of luxury with the simplicity and emphasized utilitarianism of new objective forms, in which they saw the reification of democracy and new relations between people. In architecture, the principles of constructivism were formulated in the theoretical speeches of A. A. Vesnin and M. Ya. Ginzburg, practically they were first embodied in the project of the Palace of Labor for Moscow created by the brothers A. A., V. A. and L. A. Vesnin (1923 ) with its clear, rational plan and the constructive basis of the building (reinforced concrete frame) identified in the external appearance. In 1924, a creative organization of constructivists, the OSA, was created, whose representatives developed the so-called functional design method, based on a scientific analysis of the features of the functioning of buildings, structures, and urban complexes. Along with other groups of Soviet architects, constructivists (the Vesnin brothers, Ginzburg, I. A. Golosov, I. I. Leonidov, A. S. Nikolsky, M. O. Barshch, V. N. Vladimirov, etc.) searched for new principles plans of populated areas, put forward projects for the reorganization of life, developed new types of public buildings (Palaces of Labor, Houses of Soviets, workers' clubs, kitchen factories, etc.). At the same time, in their theoretical and practical activities, the constructivists made a number of mistakes (treatment of the apartment as a "material form", schematism in the organization of life in certain projects of communal houses, underestimation of climatic conditions, etc.

The aesthetics of constructivism in many ways contributed to the development of modern artistic design. On the basis of the developments of constructivists (A. M. Rodchenko, A. M. Gan and others), new types of utensils, fixtures, and furniture were created that were easy to use and designed for mass production; artists developed designs for fabrics (V. F. Stepanova, L. S. Popova) and practical models of work clothes (Stepanova, V. E. Tatlin). Constructivism played a significant role in the development of poster graphics (photomontages by the Stenberg brothers, G. G. Klutsis, Rodchenko) and book design (using expressive possibilities font and other typesetting elements in the works of Gan, L. M. Lissitzky and others). In the theater, the constructivists replaced traditional scenery with "machines" subordinated to the tasks of stage action for the work of actors (works by Popova, A. A. Vesnin, and others on the productions of V. E. Meyerhold, A. Ya. Tairov). Some ideas of constructivism were embodied in the Western European (W. Baumeister, O. Schlemmer and others) fine arts. One of the founders of Russian constructivism chose the language of the poster of the 1920s, emphasizing the invariable role of revolutionary Soviet art in mobilizing the people to defeat the enemy. In the early 1920s, the domestic poster quickly acquired an original look that distinguished it from the poster art of Western European countries. Compositional experiments with blocks of text, fonts, color, geometric shapes and photographic images led the artists to create a poster of a new "design". He not only informed, enlightened and agitated, but also "revolutionarily rebuilt" the consciousness of citizens by artistic means, free from the excesses of traditional descriptiveness and illustrativeness. The language of such a poster was akin to the language of architectural and book experiments, literary and theatrical innovations, cinematographic montage of those years.

The first experience of the dynamic figurative embodiment of the idea of ​​revolutionary struggle was demonstrated by L. Lissitzky's poster “Beat the Whites with a Red Wedge!”, Printed in Vitebsk in 1920. However, the commonwealth of "advertising designers" A. Rodchenko and V. Mayakovsky laid the foundation for the implementation of revolutionary artistic ideas in the poster. It was the Soviet advertising of 1923-1925, created by the efforts of these masters, that was the forerunner of the political poster of constructivism. And the authors themselves constantly emphasized the agitational and political significance of their advertising works, which urged everyone to buy Mosselprom products and suck the nipples of Rezinotrest (1923). A. Rodchenko's passion for creative photomontage, documentary and staged photography allowed the master to be the pioneer of a new poster form. In an advertisement for Dziga Vertov's chronicle film Kinoglaz, he demonstrated the possibilities of using photo montage in combination with catchy text both to convey the task of the film's author to "reveal and show the truth" and to achieve a strong emotional impact of the poster on the viewer (1924). The pinnacle of the laconic embodiment of the advertising idea was "Lengiz" by A. Rodchenko with a photo portrait of L. Brik (1925). The indisputable masterpieces of the use of photomontage include advertising film posters by A. Rodchenko's contemporaries: A. Lavinsky for S. Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin" (1926), V. and G. Stenberg for Dziga Vertov's documentary film "The Eleventh" (1928) and S. Semenov-Menes for the film by V. Turin "Turksib" (1929). The poster was a field for various creative experiments. "Advertising in a tram" by D. Bulanov from Leningrad demonstrated an agitation platform for millions of residents of a socialist city (1927). In the poster of the OZET lottery, M. Dlugach made the image of the “hammer and sickle” a political symbol of the country, assembled from photographs that create a background for a young man invitingly raised his hand (1930). The years 1924-1925 can rightly be considered the birth of the constructivist political poster. Photomontage made it possible to convey a picture of real life, to compare the past and present of the country, to show its success in the development of industry, culture and the social sphere. Lenin's death raised the need to create "Leninist exhibitions" and "corners" in workers' and village clubs, educational institutions and military units. Agitation and educational posters, combining documentary photographs with text "inserts", illustrated the pages of the leader's biography and his precepts, as on the sheet of Yu. Chass and V. Kobelev "Lenin and electrification" (1925). G. Klutsis, S. Senkin and V. Elkin created a series of photomontage political posters (“There can be no revolutionary movement» G. Klutsis; “Only a party led by an advanced theory can fulfill the role of an advanced fighter” S. Senkin. Both 1927). The photomontage poster finally established itself as the main means of mobilizing the masses during the years of the first five-year plan (1928/29-1932). He demonstrated the power of a developing power, the basis of which was the unity of the people. The poster of G. Klutsis "Let's carry out the plan of great works" (1930) became a model. A special sound was given to it by the "street" format in two printed sheets. The raised hand of the worker on the poster by V. Kulagina symbolized the call to female shock workers of the five-year plan to join the ranks of the Communist Party (1932). G. Klutsis also found a compositional solution for posters with a photograph of Stalin. The figure of the leader in an unchanging gray overcoat with quotes from his statements against the backdrop of collective farm work or the construction of factories and mines convinced everyone of the correct choice of the path that the country was following (“For the socialist reconstruction of the countryside ...”, 1932). V. Elkin created a collective portrait of the country's leadership and unfolded on the poster "Long live the Red Army - the armed detachment of the proletarian revolution!" grandiose picture holiday parade on Red Square (1932). In the early 1930s, V. Koretsky and V. Gitsevich joined the ranks of the followers of constructivist artists. They developed a poster form in which photographs were toned and combined with a hand-drawn image. The poster by V. Gitsevich “For the proletarian park of culture and recreation” (1932) and the sheet by V. Koretsky “Soviet athletes are the pride of our country!” (1935), which clearly and concisely reflected the most important ideological principles of those years. It should be noted that in the photomontage poster of the mid-30s, G. Klutsis, V. Elkin, S. Senkin, V. Koretsky and other artists abandoned the constructivist experiment with fonts and test blocks, focusing on the image.

Poster slogans occupied mainly a place at the bottom of the sheet (G. Klutsis "Long live our happy socialist homeland ...", 1935). Retaining originality and standing out against the general background of the world poster, as evidenced by its success at international exhibitions, the photomontage political poster has lost its former dominance on the streets of our country's cities. The vast propaganda experience of the constructivist artists proved to be in demand only when creating the pavilions of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow (opened in 1939) and national expositions of the USSR at exhibitions abroad. The last work of L. Lissitzky was the poster “Everything for the front! All for victory! (1942).

Sculpture

Like architecture, sculpture at the turn of the century was freed from eclecticism. The renewal of the artistic and figurative system is associated with the influence of impressionism. The features of the new method are “looseness”, unevenness of texture, dynamism of forms, permeated with air and light. Sculpture at the beginning of the 20th century developed under the strong influence of Impressionism, which forced the masters to turn to the search for new plastic volumes, pay great attention to the dynamics of images. This explains its democracy and content. Sculptors actively participated in the search for new, modern hero. Materials became more diverse: not only marble and bronze were used, as before, but also stone, wood, majolica, even clay. Attempts were made to introduce color into the sculpture. At that time, a brilliant galaxy of sculptors worked - P.P. Trubetskoy, A.S. Golubkina, S.T. Konenkov, A.T. Matveev. The very first consistent representative of this direction P.P. Trubetskoy, abandons the impressionistic modeling of the surface, and enhances the overall impression of oppressive brute force. He created 50 sculptural works: "Moscow cabman" (1898), "Princess M.K. Tenishev” (1899), “I.I. Levitan" (1899), "F.I. Chaliapin" (1899-1890), "S.Yu. Witte” (1901) and others. Statuettes, picturesque in modeling (“Leo Tolstoy on a horse”, 1900), an equestrian monument to Alexander III in St. Petersburg (opened in 1909). In 1906 he went to Paris, in 1914 - to the USA. During this period, he performed busts and sculptures of prominent figures of European and American culture of that time. The original interpretation of impressionism is inherent in the work of A.S. Golubkina, who reworked the principle of depicting phenomena in motion into the idea of ​​awakening the human spirit. The female images created by the sculptor are marked by a sense of compassion for people who are tired, but not broken by life's trials.

The art of Anna Semyonovna Golubkina (1864-1927) bears the stamp of her time. It is emphatically soulful and always deeply and consistently democratic. Golubkina is a convinced revolutionary. Her sculptures “Slave” (1905), “Walking” (1903), a portrait of Karl Marx (1905) are a natural response to the advanced ideas of our time. Golubkina is a great master of psychological sculptural portraiture. And here she remained true to herself, working with the same creative enthusiasm on portraits of both the Great Writer (“Lev Tolstoy”, 1927), and a simple woman (“Marya”, 1905.). The special richness and variety of stylistic and genre forms the sculptural work of Sergei Timofeevich Konenkov (1874-1971) was distinguished. His work "Samson Breaking the Bonds" (1902) was inspired by the titanic images of Michelangelo. “The militant worker of 1905 Ivan Churkin” (1906) is the personification of an invincible will, tempered in the fire of class battles. After a trip to Greece in 1912, like V. Serov, he became interested in ancient archaic. Images of pagan ancient Greek mythology were intertwined with images of ancient Slavic mythology. Abramtsevo's folklore ideas were also embodied in such works as "Velikosil", "Stribog", "Old Man" and others. "The Beggar Brotherhood" (1917) was perceived as Russia fading into the past. The carved wooden figures of two poor miserable wanderers, hunched, gnarled, wrapped in rags, are both realistic and fantastic. The traditions of classical sculpture were revived by Ivan Timofeevich Matveev (1878-1960), a student of Trubetskoy at the Moscow School. He developed a minimum of basic plastic themes in the motives of a nude figure. The plastic principles of Matveev's sculpture are most fully revealed in the images of young men and boys (“Seated Boy”, 1909, “Sleeping Boys”, 1907, “Young Man”, 1911, and a number of statues intended for one of the park ensembles in the Crimea). Antique light curves of the figures of boys in Matveev are combined with the specific accuracy of postures and movements, reminiscent of the paintings of Borisov-Musatov. Matveev in his works embodied the modern thirst for harmony in modern art forms. On the whole, the Russian sculptural school was little affected by avant-garde tendencies, and did not develop such a complex range of innovative aspirations, characteristic of painting.

Theatre, Music, Ballet, Cinema

The Silver Age is not only the rise of poetry, it is also the era of artistic discoveries in theatrical art. At the end of the XIX century. performing arts survived the crisis, which manifested itself in the fact that the repertoire of theaters was mostly entertaining in nature, it did not affect the pressing problems of life, the acting did not differ in the richness of techniques. Deep changes were needed in the theater, and they became possible with the appearance of plays by A.P. Chekhov and M. Gorky. In 1898, the Moscow Art and Public Theater was opened (since 1903 the Moscow Artistic theater), founded by Stanislavsky (1868 - 1938) and Nemirovich - Danchenko (1858 -1943), innovators of theatrical art.

Rebuild the entire life of the Russian theater, remove all bureaucracy, captivate everyone with a common interest artistic forces- so the tasks of the new theater were determined. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, using the domestic and world experience of the theater, asserted a new type of art that meets the spirit of the times. The theater repertoire was dominated by plays by Chekhov (The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters), then by Gorky (Petty Bourgeois, At the Bottom). The best performances productions of Griboedov's Woe from Wit, Turgenev's A Month in the Country, Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird, and Shakespeare's Hamlet were staged.

A notable feature of the culture of the early XX century. were the works of outstanding theater directors. K. S. Stanislavsky, the founder of the psychological acting school, believed that the future of the theater was in deep psychological realism, in solving the most important tasks of acting transformation. V. E. Meyerhold searched in the field of theatrical conventionality, generalization, the use of elements of a folk show and mask theater. E. B. Vakhtangov preferred expressive, spectacular, joyful performances.

Early 20th century - this time creative takeoff great Russian composers-innovators A. N. Scriabin, I. F. Stravinsky, S. I. Taneyev, S. V. Rachmaninov. In their work, they tried to go beyond traditional classical music, to create new musical forms and images. The musical performing culture also flourished significantly. Russian vocal school was represented by the names of outstanding opera singers F. I. Chaliapin, A. V. Nezhdanova, L. V. Sobinov, I. V. Ershov. New trends also affected the ballet scene. They are associated with the name of the choreographer M. M. Fokin

By the beginning of the XX century. Russian ballet has taken a leading position in the world of choreographic art. The Russian school of ballet relied on the academic traditions of the late 19th century, on stage productions by the outstanding choreographer M. I. Petipa that had become classics. At the same time, Russian ballet has not escaped new trends. The young directors A. A. Gorsky and M. I. Fokin, in opposition to the aesthetics of academism, put forward the principle of picturesqueness, according to which not only the choreographer and composer, but also the artist became full-fledged authors of the performance. The ballets by Gorsky and Fokine were staged in the scenery by K. A. Korovin, A. N. Benois, L. S. Bakst, N. K. Roerich. Russian ballet school"Silver Age" gave the world a galaxy of brilliant dancers - A. T. Pavlov, T. T. Karsavin, V. F. Nizhinsky and others. At the beginning of the 20th century. more and more clearly manifested a tendency to combine different types of creative activity. At the head of this process was the "World of Art", uniting in its ranks not only artists, but also poets, philosophers, musicians. In 1908-1913. S. P. Diaghilev organized the "Russian Seasons" in Paris, London, Rome and other capitals of Western Europe, represented by ballet and opera performances, theater painting, music, etc. In the first decade of the 20th century. in Russia, following France, a new art form appeared - cinematography. In 1903, the first "electrotheatres" and "illusions" appeared, and by 1914 about 4,000 cinemas had already been built. In 1908 the first Russian feature film "Stenka Razin and the Princess" was shot, and in 1911 the first full-length film "The Defense of Sevastopol" was shot. Cinematography developed rapidly and became very popular. In 1914, there were about 30 domestic film companies in Russia. And although the bulk of film production was made up of films with primitive melodramatic plots, world-famous cinema figures appeared: director Ya. A. Protazanov, actors I. I. Mozzhukhin, V. V. Kholodnaya, A. G. Koonen. The undoubted merit of cinema was its accessibility to all segments of the population. Russian cinema films, which were created mainly as adaptations of classical works, became the first signs in the formation of "mass culture" - an indispensable attribute of bourgeois society.

Historical features of the Silver Age

By the time Alexander III came to the throne, the balance of power in Europe was beginning to change. After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war, the process of folding new political groupings begins. Russia's further role in European politics was to be determined by the position it would take in this situation. The Austro-Russian-German alliance concluded under Alexander II, proclaimed as Union of the Three Emperors almost completely lost confidence in himself after the Bosnian crisis of 1875 - 1878, during which Bismarck openly supported Austria-Hungary, concluding an alliance with it against Russia. Tension in Europe gradually grew, a new agreement was required to balance the policy of the Austro-German bloc.

1881 - 1886 Having ascended the throne in 1881, Alexander III continued for some time the Germanophile policy of his father. In the early 80s. Germany remained the most important market for agricultural products for Russia. In addition, an alliance with her could become a support in the struggle against England - at that time the main political rival of Russia, especially in connection with the clash of colonial interests of the two powers in Central Asia.

1882 At the same time, Germany is willingly moving closer to Italy, which is extremely dissatisfied with the colonial policy of France (in particular, Italy claimed Tunisia, over which France manages to establish its protectorate). The German-Italian political partnership will continue to rest entirely on mutual rivalry with France. Austria was also involved in the union, hoping for allied help in the event of a fight with Russia. The result of the negotiations between the three governments was the secret treaty between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, signed on May 8 (20), 1882 in Vienna, known as the Triple Alliance. According to this treaty, the allied powers pledged not to participate in alliances directed against one of them.

The role of Russia in European politics quite noticeably receded into the background. This is easy to see, at least in relation to the strongest powers, who until recently perceived it as an equal to themselves, now, without much doubt, creating an alliance of a military nature without any of its participation (“benevolent neutrality”, in the context of the aggravation of relations with France, can be considered military union). In such a situation, the Union of the Three Emperors for these powers, most likely, was an auxiliary and temporary measure designed to exclude the possibility of a Russian-French alliance (which could strengthen the main rival, France). It is clear that in this form the strength of this union could already be questioned even then. The real attitude of Germany and Austria-Hungary to their "obligations" becomes especially noticeable in the light of events in the Balkans.

The fact that in the Balkan conflict Austria-Hungary and Germany opposed Russia undoubtedly undermined the "Union of the Three Emperors", which by the time it expired (1887) had already been effectively canceled. With the participation of German diplomacy in 1887. An Austro-Anglo-Italian alliance was concluded - the Mediterranean Entente. His main goal was to undermine Russian influence in Turkey. In essence, it was a new political grouping, directed not only against France, but also against Russia. As already mentioned, which is very important, Germany was the founder of this bloc.

Obviously, Russia was limited in the choice of allies - such an ally should have been a state strong enough to resist the members of the Mediterranean Entente. In view of the sharp increase in contradictions between Russia and Germany, even the Anglo-Russian colonial confrontation did not seem so irreconcilable. Such a sharp change in interstate attitudes seems especially unexpected in the light of the previous conflicts between England and the Russian Empire, especially in Central Asia. For a long time Central Asia will become an integral part of the Russian state (together with a number of hard-to-assimilate nationalities, the management of which will continue to require constant attention).

The contradictions described above - a fairly clear reflection of the trends that prevailed in relations between England and Russia at that time - the division of their spheres of colonial influence (mainly in the east), and not the struggle for the independence of one of the states, made this conflict secondary to the general political situation in Europe.. So, the cooling in relations between Germany and Russia, and the agreement between Germany, Austria and Italy, naturally prepared the rapprochement between Russia and France. The basis for this rapprochement, as already mentioned, was the presence of common opponents - England and Germany. So, from an examination of this very important period in the history of Russia and the world, several conclusions can be drawn. It is obvious that the military-political priorities of Russia, its economic condition, some personality traits of Alexander III (his political short-sightedness) found their manifestation in the foreign policy of Russia implemented by him, for example, a change in relations with Germany, which led to an alliance with France. This alliance represented a significant shift in the balance of power in Europe. In many respects, this predetermined the alignment of forces in the subsequent World War I, as, in my opinion, the very reason for the war - the formation of clear military-political groups and the clash of their interests. This also shows the inevitability of the cataclysms that followed in Russia and in world history, economy and culture. What indicates the continuity of historical and political periods and processes. The year 1894 turned out to be a turning point in the history of Russia. Its main event was the death of Emperor Alexander III and the accession of the last Russian autocrat. And by the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Empire was an absolute monarchy, in which all power belonged to Emperor Nicholas II. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the struggle of the peasantry for land has intensified significantly. Peasant uprisings increasingly turned into uprisings. So, for example, in the spring of 1902, peasant uprisings broke out in the Kharkov and Poltava provinces. A powerful peasant movement unfolded in the Caucasus. The year 1901 passed in mass political demonstrations, and the workers spoke with representatives of the democratic intelligentsia. Demonstrations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kharkov, Kyiv were held under the slogans of political freedom. Thus, 1901-1903. marked a transition to a combination of economic and political methods of struggle of the working class.. Nevertheless, as we see, the spiritual development of Russia in this period was quite diverse.

CONCLUSION

Conclusion

Culture is an integral part of human life. Culture organizes human life. In human life, culture to a large extent performs the same function that genetically programmed behavior performs in the life of animals.

Studying this topic, I realized how important it is to study it. With full confidence, I can say that the end of the XIX - the beginning of the XX centuries. was marked by the rapid flowering of Russian culture. No wonder this time is called the Silver Age. Russian culture reflected all the contradictions of the socio-economic and socio-political life of Russia, had a profound impact on the moral state of the people, and contributed to the world treasury of culture.

Yes, all innovations and discoveries were difficult for Russia. Many great people have not been heard, but we cannot belittle the dignity of the Silver Age, we cannot but talk about its greatness. It seems to me that on the threshold of the 21st century we should pay more attention to the culture of the past era. We must understand it, and then it will be easier for us to create our own, new culture.