Russian culture perceived the best achievements of the cultures of other countries and peoples, without losing its originality and, in turn, influencing the development of other cultures. A considerable mark was left in the history of European peoples, for example, by Russian religious thought. Russian philosophy and theology influenced Western European culture in the first half of the 20th century. thanks to the works of V. Solovyov, S. Bulgakov, P. Florensky, N. Berdyaev, M. Bakunin and many others. Finally, the most important factor that gave a strong impetus to the development of Russian culture was the "thunderstorm of the twelfth year." The rise of "patriotism in connection with the Patriotic War of 1812 contributed not only to the growth of national self-consciousness and the formation of Decembrism, but also to the development of Russian national culture, V. Belinsky wrote:" 1812, having shaken all of Russia, aroused the people's consciousness and people's pride. -historical process in Russia in the XIX - early XX century has its own characteristics.
The intelligentsia, originally made up of educated people of two privileged classes - the clergy and the nobility, is increasingly actively involved in the formation of Russian national culture. In the first half of the XVIII century. raznochintsy intellectuals appear, and in the second half of this century a special social group stands out - the serf intelligentsia (actors, painters, architects, musicians, poets). If in the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century. the leading role in culture belongs to the noble intelligentsia, then in the second half of the XIX century. - raznochintsy. The composition of the raznochintsy intelligentsia (especially after the abolition of serfdom) comes from peasants. In general, raznochintsy included educated representatives of the liberal and democratic bourgeoisie, who did not belong to the nobility, but to the bureaucracy, the bourgeoisie, the merchant class and the peasantry. This explains such an important feature of the culture of Russia in the 19th century as the process of its democratization that has begun. It also manifests itself. that cultural figures are gradually becoming not only representatives of the privileged classes, although they continue to occupy a leading position. The number of writers, poets, artists, composers, scientists from the unprivileged classes, in particular from the serfs, but mainly from among the raznochintsy, is increasing.
In the 19th century literature becomes the leading area of Russian culture, which was facilitated primarily by its close connection with the progressive liberation ideology. Pushkin's ode "Liberty", his "Message to Siberia" to the Decembrists and "Answer" to this message of the Decembrist Odoevsky, Ryleev's satire "To a temporary worker" (Arakcheev), Lermontov's poem "On the Death of a Poet", Belinsky's letter to Gogol were, in fact, , political pamphlets, militant, revolutionary appeals that inspired the progressive youth. The spirit of opposition and struggle inherent in the works of progressive Russian writers made Russian literature of that time one of the active social forces.
One of the most famous cultural figures of the nineteenth century is Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
The first Russian national poet, the ancestor of all subsequent Russian literature, the beginning of all its beginnings - such is the justly and precisely recognized place and significance of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in the development of the national art of the word. Pushkin also for the first time - at the highest aesthetic level he achieved, raised his creations to the advanced level of enlightenment of the century, the European spiritual life of the 19th century, and thereby rightfully introduced Russian literature as another and most significant national-original literature into the family of the most developed Western literatures by that time. .
Pushkin's great discovery was the assimilation of reality in all its diversity as a source and material for poetic creativity. They say that Pushkin opened a window on the world in literature. No, this window was opened in Russian poetry before him. He also destroyed all partitions, all mediastinums that separated poetry from life; since then there has been nothing in the world, in society, in nature, in the life of the human soul, that would not become an object of art. He also discovered the method of poetic creativity, which allowed the poet not to be an "echo", repeating every sound (there is nothing more wrong than such a flat understanding of Pushkin's deep and inspired declaration). The sphere of poetry under Pushkin became the most essential thing in human life - civil and patriotic deeds, dreams, grief of the people, the lyrics of nature and love. Everything was illuminated by the poet with a great thought. That is why Pushkin's poetry is perceived by us as an integral unity of life, as a unique and grandiose artistic picture of the world.
Pushkin's poetry reflected all the "impressions of life". It echoed his heroic and tragic time, reflections of the battles of the national liberation war, the aspirations of the rebels on the Senate Square. The spirit of European revolutions, peasant riots - in a word, the era
The current approach to interpreting the poet's image takes into account the entire experience of studying and interpreting his personality and heritage. Moreover, this experience is not limited to our country. Research into international perceptions and interpretations of Pushkin is expanding. Western scientists, biographers and readers of the poet are increasingly attracted by the peculiarities of Pushkin's historical thinking, the philosophical motives of his work, the inexhaustibility of genius, his amazing proteism. Despite the unambiguity and controversy of a number of interpretations offered by Western researchers and commentators on creativity, they are attracted by the mystery of Pushkin's spirit. Attention to the artistic heritage, to individual works, is combined with an increasingly obvious inclination to comprehend the poet as a person. In the uniqueness of a genius, the Western world reveals the peculiarities of the Russian character, an example of creative and moral perfection.
"... over two centuries, Pushkin did not become a past, yesterday's poet, did not turn into a "literary heritage" According to Yu. M. Lotman, Pushkin retains the properties of a living interlocutor: he answers the questions of those who come into contact with him. great artists, the scientist notes, are like the shadow of Hamlet's father: they "go ahead and call for them. Pushkin is always the way a new generation of readers needs him, but is not limited to this, remains something more, having its own secrets, something mysterious and inviting.
Pushkin lived and worked in the 19th century, and in the 20th century there were some of the most distinguished authors, for example, Sholokhov Mikhail Aleksamndrovich.
The literary world of M. Sholokhov, exterminated by "democratic critics" as a crime of "notorious socialist realism", is much richer than the socialist ideology, and more than it.
The attitude towards Sholokhov and Soviet literature was largely determined by the popular opinion that in the new Russia the very soil that gives rise to great artists has been knocked out, and under the Bolshevik government only “the offspring of Demyan Bedny, the “leading figure of proletarian culture””, faceless mediocrity, adapting and reducing belles-lettres to propaganda ideas and primitive popular print propaganda. “An unfortunate country ... that failed to single out, if not the Tolstoys and Turgenevs, then at least honest people who dare to have their own opinion,” E. Kuskova complained. “Even their great writer Sholokhov refuses to have it. Herd. Still the October herd... What a grief. And what a shame for a great country...”
The name of Sholokhov, who rose from the bottom and personified the bottom, with his people's Russia, “by definition” deprived not only of the skills of democratic life and free thinking, but also of all signs and rudiments of culture, becomes a landmark in the circles of the emigrant political and artistic elite. His arrival is too felt by everyone and everyone, but not as a benefit for oneself, but as an inconvenience and even a threat to one’s own existence, for the “Quiet Flows the Don” is not only a deep doubt in the inviolability of the existing hierarchy of social preferences and priorities, but also their resolute real revision . And therefore, Sholokhov should either be hushed up, or talk about him casually and casually, as if it were an annoying hindrance, unworthy of close attention, or, finally, try to disavow his appearance by referring to the error of “visual perception” - this is not the one for whom we accept it, for where it came from, it cannot be. “... Is it possible to expect such a masterpiece from a simple Cossack who spent his youth in the village, and even during the civil war,” a certain I.S.G. asked the white world with pathos, not doubting the answer. “A secondary combat unit” of our tragic era, Y. Terapiano said about Sholokhov with the confidence of mutual responsibility.
In 1965, Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize, but he never received recognition in Soviet Russia. It was said that Sholokhov "in no way" could represent the Russian intelligentsia, the people and Russia before the "face" of the Nobel Committee and the Foundation. Moreover, as the “world community” of Grani assured, the author of “The Quiet Don” “attaches itself to the greatness and nobility of the Russian people” and thereby “dishonors both its greatness and its nobility”, and, of course, for this reason, “modern Russian intelligentsia” “will never forgive Western culture for awarding the Nobel Prize to Sholokhov...”
On the art of the first half of the XIX century. influenced by the French Revolution (1789-1799), the war with Napoleon, the war with Spain. During this period, great progress in science. Main styles: Empire, Romanticism, French realism.
In the architecture of the first half of the 19th century, neoclassicism experienced its last flowering. By the middle of the century, the main problem of European architecture was the search for style. Due to the romantic fascination with antiquity, many masters tried to revive the traditions of the architecture of the past - this is how neo-Gothic, neo-Renaissance, neo-baroque arose. The efforts of architects often led to eclecticism - a mechanical combination of elements of different styles, old with new. The architecture is dominated by the construction of factories, offices, residential buildings, department stores, exhibition halls, libraries, train stations, covered markets, banks, etc. Banks are decorated with ancient Greek porticos, department stores - with Gothic lancet windows and towers. Factories are given the appearance of castles.
19.1.1 Art of France
Architecture. During the years of the French Revolution, not a single durable structure was built in France. This was the era of temporary buildings, usually wooden. At the beginning of the revolution, the Bastille was destroyed, monuments to the kings were demolished. In 1793 the royal academies were closed, including the academy of architecture. Instead, the National Arts Jury and the Republican Arts Club appeared, whose main tasks were to organize mass holidays and decorate Parisian streets and squares.
A pavilion was erected on Place de la Bastille with the inscription: "Here they dance." Place Louis XV was named the Place de la Révolution and added triumphal arches, statues of Liberty, fountains with emblems. The Field of Mars became a place of public gatherings with the altar of the Fatherland in the center. Les Invalides and its Cathedral have become a temple of humanity. The streets of Paris were decorated with new monuments.
Also during the years of the French Revolution, the Commission of Artists was formed, which was engaged in the improvement of the city, planned changes in its appearance. It has played a significant role in the history of architecture.
The art of Napoleonic France was dominated by the Empire style. The main event of Napoleon in the field of architecture was the reconstruction of Paris: it was supposed to connect the medieval quarters with a system of avenues crossing the city along the east-west axis. The following were built: Champs-Eysees Avenue, Rue Rivoli, the triumphal column on Place Vendôme (1806–1810, architects Jean-Baptiste Leper, Jacques Gonduin), the entrance gate of the Tuileries Palace (1806–1807, architects Ch. Persier, P. F . L. Fontaine), the triumphal arch of the Great Army (1806-1837, architects Jean-Francois Chalien and others).
Painting. In the first half of the XIX century. the French school of painting strengthened its primacy in the art of Western Europe. France was ahead of other European countries in the democratization of artistic life. Since 1791, any authors have received the right to participate in the exhibitions of the Louvre Salon, regardless of their membership in the academies. Since 1793, the halls of the Louvre have been opened to the general public. State academic education was supplanted by training in private workshops. The authorities resorted to more flexible methods of artistic policy: the distribution of large orders for the decoration of public buildings acquired a special scope.
Representatives of the painting of French romanticism - David, Ingres, Gericault, Delacroix, Gros.
Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) - the most consistent representative of neoclassicism in painting. He studied at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, in 1775-1779. visited Italy. In 1781, David was accepted as a member of the Royal Academy and received the right to participate in its exhibitions - the Louvre Salons. In 1792, David was elected as a deputy to the Convention, the highest legislative and executive body of the First Republic.
As early as 1776, a government program was developed that encouraged the creation of large paintings. David received an order for a painting about the feat of three brothers from the noble family of Horatii - "Oath of the Horatii" (1784). The action of the picture takes place in the courtyard of an ancient Roman house: a stream of light pours on the heroes of the picture from above, olive-gray twilight surrounds them. The whole composition is based on the number three: three arches (one or more figures are inscribed in each of the arches), three groups of characters, three sons, a shooting range of a sword, three women. The smooth outlines of the female group are contrasted with the chased lines of the figures of warriors.
In 1795–1799 David and his students worked on a painting "The Sabines Stopping the Battle Between the Romans and the Sabines". The artist again chose a plot that is consonant with modernity: the legend of women who stopped the war between the Romans (their husbands) and the Sabines (their fathers and brothers) sounded in France at that time as a call for civil peace. However, the huge picture, overloaded with figures, caused only ridicule from the audience.
In 1812 he left for Brussels, where he lived until his death. He painted portraits and works on antique subjects - "Death of Marat" (1793), "Portrait of Madame Recamier" (1800). The painting "The Death of Marat" was completed by the artist in less than three months and hung in the meeting room of the Convention. Marat was stabbed to death in his apartment by a noblewoman named Charlotte Corday. At the time of his death, Marat was sitting in the bath: due to a skin disease, he was forced to work this way and receive visitors. The patched sheets and the simple wooden box that replaced the table are not an invention of the artist. However, Marat himself, whose body was disfigured by illness, under the brush of David turned into a noble athlete, like an ancient hero. The simplicity of the setting gives the spectacle a special tragic solemnity.
In a grand picture "Coronation of Napoleon I and Empress Josephine at Notre Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804" (1807) David created another myth - the brilliance of the altar and the splendor of the clothes of the courtiers affect the viewer no worse than the wretched furniture and old sheets of Marat.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres(1780-1867) was an adherent of classical ideals, an original artist, alien to any falsehood, boredom and routine. In 1802 he was awarded the Rome Prize and received the right to travel to Italy. In 1834 he became director of the French Academy in Rome. Achieved the highest skill in the portrait genre - "Portrait of the Riviera".
Ingres tried to convey in painting the decorative possibilities of various types of old art, for example, the expressiveness of the silhouettes of ancient Greek vase painting, - "Oedipus and the Sphinx" (1808) And "Jupiter and Thetis" (1811).
In a monumental canvas "Vow of Louis XIII asking for the patronage of Our Lady for the Kingdom of France" (1824), he imitated the pictorial style of Raphael. The picture brought Ingres the first major success. in the picture "Odalisque and Slave" (1839) I chose a composition close to Delacroix's "Women of Algiers in their chambers" and solved it in his own way. The motley, multicolored coloring of the canvas arose as a result of the artist's passion for oriental miniatures. In 1856 Ingres completed the painting "Source" conceived by him in the 1920s. in Italy. The graceful blooming girlish body embodies the purity and generosity of the natural world.
Theodore Géricault(1791–1824) - founder of revolutionary romanticism in French painting. The first work exhibited at the Salon - “Officer of the horse rangers of the imperial guard, going on the attack” (“Portrait of Lieutenant R. Dieudonné”, 1812). The dashing rider on the canvas does not pose, but fights: the swift diagonal of the composition takes him deep into the picture, into the bluish-purple heat of battle. At this time, it became known about the defeat of the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in Russia. The feelings of the French, who knew the bitterness of defeat, were reflected in a new painting by a young artist - "Wounded cuirassier leaving the battlefield" (1814).
In 1816–1817 Gericault lived in Italy. The artist was especially fascinated by the races of bareback horses in Rome. In a painting series "The Run of Free Horses" (1817) available and expressive accuracy of reporting, and restrained heroism in the neoclassical spirit. In these works, his individual style was finally formed: powerful, rough forms are conveyed by large moving spots of light.
Returning to Paris, the artist created a painting "The raft of the Medusa" (1818-1819). In July 1816, near the Cape Verde Islands, the Meduza ship, under the command of an inexperienced captain who received a position under patronage, ran aground. Then the captain and his entourage sailed away in boats, leaving to the mercy of fate a raft with one hundred and fifty sailors and passengers, of whom only fifteen survived. In the picture, Gericault sought maximum credibility. For two years he searched for people who survived the tragedy in the ocean, made sketches in hospitals and morgues, and painted studies of the sea in Le Havre. The raft in his picture is raised by a wave, the viewer immediately sees all the people huddled on it. In the foreground - the figures of the dead and distraught; they are written in full size. The eyes of those who have not despaired yet are turned to the far end of the raft, where an African, standing on a rickety barrel, waves a red handkerchief to the crew of the Argus. Either despair or hope fills the souls of the passengers on the Medusa raft.
In 1820–1821 Gericault visited England. Influenced by Constable's writings, he wrote "Race at Epsom" (1821). The picture is permeated with movement: the horses are rushing, barely touching the ground, their figures have merged into one swift line; the low clouds are mobile, their shadows are mobile, gliding across the damp field. All contours in the landscape are blurred, the colors are smeared. Gericault showed the world as it is seen by a jockey on a galloping horse.
Eugene Deacroix(1798–1863) - French painter. The basis of Delacroix's painting are colorful spots that make up a harmonious unity; each spot, in addition to its color, includes shades of neighboring ones.
Delacroix painted his first painting on the plot of Dante's Divine Comedy - "Dante and Virgil" ("Dante's Boat") (1822). Delacroix created the painting "Massacre of Chios" (1824) under the influence of the events of the liberation revolution in Greece 1821-1829. In September 1821, Turkish punishers massacred the civilian population of Chios. In the foreground of the picture are the figures of the doomed Chians in colorful rags; the background is the dark silhouettes of armed Turks. Most of the captives are indifferent to their fate, only children vainly beg their parents to protect them. The Turkish horseman, who is dragging a Greek girl behind him, looks like a kind of symbol of enslavement. Other figures are no less symbolic: a naked wounded Greek - his blood goes into the dry ground, and a broken dagger and a bag emptied by robbers are lying nearby.
After the events in July 1830 in Paris, Delacroix created a painting "Liberty Leading the People (July 28, 1830)". The artist gave a timeless, epic sound to a simple episode of street fights. The rebels rise to the barricade recaptured from the royal troops, and Freedom itself leads them. Critics saw in her "a cross between a merchant and an ancient Greek goddess." The romantic style is felt here: Liberty is depicted as the goddess of victory, she raises the tricolor banner of the French Republic; followed by an armed mob. Now they are all soldiers of Freedom.
In 1832 Delacroix accompanied a diplomatic mission to Algeria and Morocco. Upon his return to Paris, the artist created a painting "The Women of Algeria in Their Chambers" (1833). The figures of women are surprisingly plastic. The golden-skinned faces are softly outlined, the arms are gently curved, the colorful outfits stand out brightly against the background of velvety shadows.
Antoine Gros (1771–1835) - French painter, portrait painter. Gro abandoned classical subjects - he was attracted by modern history. He created a series of paintings dedicated to the Egyptian-Syrian expedition of the Napoleonic army (1798-1799) - "Bonaparte visiting the plague victims in Jaffa" (1804). Other paintings dedicated to Napoleon - "Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge" (1797), "Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eyau" (1808). Gros in 1825 finished painting the dome of the Pantheon in Paris, replacing the image of Napoleon with the figure of Louis XVIII.
Antropov Alexey Petrovich(1716-1795) - Russian painter. Antropov's portraits are distinguished by their connection with the tradition of the parsuna, the truthfulness of the characteristics, and the pictorial techniques of the Baroque.
Argunov Ivan Petrovich(1729-1802) - Russian serf portrait painter. Author of representative ceremonial and chamber portraits.
Argunov Nikolay Ivanovich(1771-1829) - Russian serf portrait painter, who experienced the influence of classicism in his work. The author of the famous portrait of P. I. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova.
Bazhenov Vasily Ivanovich(1737-1799) - the largest Russian architect, one of the founders of Russian classicism. Author of the project for the reconstruction of the Kremlin, the romantic palace and park ensemble in Tsaritsyn, the Pashkov House in Moscow, the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. His projects were distinguished by boldness of composition, variety of ideas, creative use and combination of traditions of world classical and ancient Russian architecture.
Bering Vitus Jonassen (Ivan Ivanovich)(1681-1741) - navigator, captain-commander of the Russian fleet (1730). Leader of the 1st (1725–1730) and 2nd (1733–1741) Kamchatka expeditions. He passed between the Chukchi Peninsula and Alaska (the strait between them now bears his name), reached North America and discovered a number of islands in the Aleutian ridge. A sea, a strait and an island in the North Pacific Ocean are named after Bering.
Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich(1757-1825) - Russian portrait painter. His works are characterized by features of sentimentalism, a combination of decorative subtlety and grace of rhythms with a true transfer of character (portrait of M. I. Lopukhina and others).
Volkov Fedor Grigorievich(1729-1763) - Russian actor and theatrical figure. In 1750, he organized an amateur troupe in Yaroslavl (actors - I. A. Dmitrevsky, Ya. D. Shumsky), on the basis of which in 1756 the first permanent professional Russian public theater was created in St. Petersburg. He himself played in a number of tragedies by Sumarokov.
Derzhavin Gavrila Romanovich (1743-1816) - Russian poet. Representative of Russian classicism. The author of solemn odes imbued with the idea of a strong Russian statehood, including satire on the nobles, landscape and household sketches, philosophical reflections - "Felitsa", "Velmozha", "Waterfall". Author of many lyrical poems.
Kazakov Matvei Fyodorovich(1738-1812) - an outstanding Russian architect, one of the founders of Russian classicism. In Moscow, he developed types of urban residential buildings and public buildings that organize large urban spaces: the Senate in the Kremlin (1776–1787); Moscow University (1786–1793); Golitsynskaya (1st Gradskaya) hospital (1796–1801); house-estate of Demidov (1779-1791); Petrovsky Palace (1775-1782), etc. He showed a special talent in interior design (the building of the Nobility Assembly in Moscow). Supervised the drawing up of the master plan of Moscow. Created an architectural school.
Kantemir Antioch Dmitrievich(1708-1744) - Russian poet, diplomat. Rationalist educator. One of the founders of Russian classicism in the genre of poetic satire.
Quarenghi Giacomo(1744-1817) - Russian architect of Italian origin, a representative of classicism. He worked in Russia from 1780. The Concert Hall pavilion (1786) and the Alexander Palace (1792–1800) in Tsarskoe Selo, the Assignation Bank (1783–1790), the Hermitage Theater (1783–1787) are distinguished by monumentality and rigor of forms, plastic completeness of the image. ), Smolny Institute (1806-1808) in St. Petersburg.
Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich(1711-1755) - Russian traveler, explorer of Kamchatka, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1750). Member of the 2nd Kamchatka expedition (1733–1743). Compiled the first "Description of the land of Kamchatka" (1756).
Kulibin Ivan Petrovich(1735-1818) - an outstanding Russian self-taught mechanic. Author of many unique mechanisms. Improved polishing glass for optical instruments. He developed a project and built a model of a single-arch bridge across the river. Neva with a span of 298 m. He created a prototype of a searchlight (“mirror lamp”), a semaphore telegraph, a palace elevator, etc.
Laptev Khariton Prokofievich(1700-1763) - captain of the 1st rank. Surveyed in 1739–1742. coast from the river Lena to the river. Khatanga and the Taimyr Peninsula.
Levitsky Dmitry Grigorievich(1735-1822) - Russian painter. In compositionally spectacular ceremonial portraits, solemnity is combined with the vitality of images, colorful wealth (“Kokorinov”, 1769–1770; a series of portraits of pupils of the Smolny Institute, 1773–1776); intimate portraits are deeply individual in their characteristics, restrained in color (“M. A. Dyakova”, 1778). In the later period, he partly accepted the influence of classicism (portrait of Catherine II, 1783).
Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilievich(1711-1765) - the first Russian world-class scientist-encyclopedist, poet. The founder of the modern Russian literary language. Artist. Historian. Figure of public education and science. He studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow (since 1731), the Academic University in St. Petersburg (since 1735), in Germany (1736-1741), since 1742. - adjunct, since 1745 - the first Russian academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Member of the Academy of Arts (1763).
Maikov Vasily Ivanovich(1728-1778) - Russian poet. Author of the poems The Ombre Player (1763), Elisha, or the Irritated Bacchus (1771), Prayerful Fables (1766–1767).
Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich (1728-1766) - Russian heating engineer, one of the inventors of the heat engine. In 1763, he developed a project for a universal steam engine. In 1765, he created the first steam and heat power plant in Russia for factory needs, which worked for 43 days. Died before her trial run.
Popovsky Nikolay Nikitich(1730-1760) - Russian educator, philosopher and poet. Professor at Moscow University (since 1755). A supporter and one of the ideologists of enlightened absolutism.
Rastrelli Bartolomeo Carlo(1675-1744) - sculptor. Italian. Since 1716 - in the service in St. Petersburg, His works are characterized by baroque splendor and splendor, the ability to convey the texture of the depicted material ("Empress Anna Ioannovna with a black child", 1733-1741).
Rastrelli Varfolomey Varfolomeevich(1700-1771) - an outstanding Russian architect, a representative of the Baroque. Son of B. K. Rastrelli. His works are characterized by a grandiose spatial scope, clarity of volumes, rigor of rectilinear plans, combined with plasticity of masses, richness of sculptural decoration and color, whimsical ornamentation. The largest works are the Smolny Monastery (1748-1754) and the Winter Palace (1754-1762) in St. Petersburg, the Grand Palace in Peterhof (1747-1752), the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo (1752-1757).
Rokotov Fedor Stepanovich(1735-1808) - Russian painter. Thin in painting, deeply poetic portraits are imbued with awareness of the spiritual and physical beauty of a person (“Unknown Woman in a Pink Dress”, 1775; “VE Novosiltsova”, 1780, etc.).
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich(1717-1777) - Russian writer, one of the prominent representatives of classicism. In the tragedies "Horev" (1747), "Sinav and Truvor" (1750) and others, he raised the problem of civic duty. Author of many comedies, fables, lyrical songs.
Tatishchev Vasily Nikitich(1686-1750) - Russian historian, statesman. Managed state-owned factories in the Urals, was the Astrakhan governor. Author of many works on ethnography, history, geography. The largest and most famous work is “Russian History from Ancient Times”.
Trediakovsky Vasily Kirillovich(1703-1768) - Russian poet, philologist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1745-1759). In the work "A new and brief way to compose Russian poetry" (1735) he formulated the principles of Russian syllabo-tonic versification. The poem "Tilemakhida" (1766).
Trezzini Domenico(1670-1734) - Russian architect, representative of the early baroque. Swiss by nationality. In Russia since 1703 (invited to participate in the construction of St. Petersburg). He built the summer palace of Peter I (1710–1714), the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in the Peter and Paul Fortress (1712–1733), the building of 12 colleges (1722–1734) in St. Petersburg.
Felten Yuri Matveevich(1730-1801) - Russian architect, representative of early classicism. Author of the Old Hermitage (1771–1787), fences of the Summer Garden (1771–1784) in St. Petersburg. Participated in the construction of the granite embankments of the Neva (since 1769).
Kheraskov Mikhail Matveevich(1733-1807) - Russian writer. Author of the famous epic poem "Rossiyada" (1779), written in the spirit of classicism.
Shelikhov (Shelekhov) Grigory Ivanovich(1747-1795) - Russian merchant, pioneer. In 1775 he created a company for fur and fur trade in the northern islands of the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. He founded the first Russian settlements in Russian America. Conducted significant geographical research. On the basis of the company created by Shelikhov, the Russian-American Company was formed in 1799.
Shubin Fedot Ivanovich(1740-1805) - an outstanding Russian sculptor. representative of classicism. He created a gallery of psychologically expressive sculptural portraits (busts of A. M. Golitsyn, 1775; M. R. Panina, 1775; I. G. Orlova, 1778; M. V. Lomonosov, 1792, etc.).
Yakhontov Nikolai Pavlovich(1764-1840) - Russian composer. The author of one of the first Russian operas "Sylph, or the Dream of a Young Woman".
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Western European Art of the 18th–19th Centuries
18th century in Western Europe, the last stage of the long transition from feudalism to capitalism. In the middle of the century, the process of primitive accumulation of capital was completed, a struggle was waged in all spheres of social consciousness, and a revolutionary situation was ripening. Later, it led to the dominance of the classical forms of developed capitalism. Over the course of a century, a gigantic breakdown of all social and state foundations, concepts and criteria for evaluating the old society was carried out. A civilized society arose, a periodical press appeared, political parties were formed, a struggle was going on for the liberation of man from the shackles of a feudal-religious worldview.
In the visual arts, the importance of directly displaying life increased. The sphere of art expanded, it became an active spokesman for liberation ideas, filled with topicality, fighting spirit, denounced the vices and absurdities of not only feudal, but also the emerging bourgeois society. It also put forward a new positive ideal of an unfettered personality of a person, free from hierarchical ideas, developing individual abilities and at the same time endowed with a noble sense of citizenship. Art became national, appealed not only to the circle of refined connoisseurs, but to a broad democratic environment.
The main trends in the social and ideological development of Western Europe in the 18th century. have been uneven in different countries. If in England the industrial revolution that took place in the middle of the 18th century consolidated the compromise between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, then in France the anti-feudal movement had a more massive character and was preparing a bourgeois revolution. Common to all countries was the crisis of feudalism, its ideology, the formation of a broad social movement - the Enlightenment, with its cult of the primary untouched Nature and Reason protecting it, with its criticism of the modern corrupted civilization and the dream of the harmony of beneficent nature and a new democratic civilization gravitating towards the natural. condition.
18th century - the age of Reason, all-destroying skepticism and irony, the age of philosophers, sociologists, economists; the exact natural sciences, geography, archeology, history, and materialistic philosophy, connected with technology, developed. Invading the mental life of the era, scientific knowledge created the foundation for accurate observation and analysis of reality for art. Enlighteners proclaimed the goal of art to imitate nature, but ordered, improved nature (Didero, A. Pope), cleared by reason from the harmful effects of a man-made civilization created by an absolutist regime, social inequality, idleness and luxury. The rationalism of the philosophical and aesthetic thought of the 18th century, however, did not suppress the freshness and sincerity of feeling, but gave rise to a striving for proportionality, grace, and harmonious completeness of the artistic phenomena of art, from architectural ensembles to applied art. Enlighteners attached great importance in life and art to feeling - the focus of the noblest aspirations of mankind, a feeling that yearns for purposeful action, containing the power that revolutionizes life, a feeling capable of reviving the primordial virtues of the “natural man” (Defoe, Rousseau, Mercier), the next the natural laws of nature.
Rousseau's aphorism "A man is great only in his feelings" expressed one of the remarkable aspects of the social life of the 18th century, which gave rise to an in-depth, refined psychological analysis in a realistic portrait and genre. Poetry of feelings permeated the lyrical landscape (Gainsborough, Watteau, J. Bernet, Robert), "lyrical novel", "poems in prose" (Rousseau, Prevost, Marivaux, Fielding, Stern, Richardson), it reaches its highest expression in the rise of music (Handel , Bach, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Italian opera composers). Heroes of artistic works of painting, graphics, literature and theater of the XVIII century. on the one hand, “little people” became - people, like everyone else, placed in the usual conditions of the era, not spoiled by prosperity and privileges, subject to ordinary natural movements of the soul, content with modest happiness. Artists and writers admired their sincerity, naive immediacy of the soul, close to nature. On the other hand, the focus is on the ideal of an emancipated civilized intellectual man, born of enlightenment culture, analysis of his individual psychology, conflicting mental states and feelings with their subtle nuances, unexpected impulses and reflective moods.
Acute observation, a refined culture of thought and feeling are characteristic of all artistic genres of the 18th century. Artists sought to capture everyday life situations of various shades, original individual images, gravitated towards entertaining narratives and enchanting spectacle, sharp conflicting actions, dramatic intrigues and comedic plots, sophisticated grotesque, buffoonery, graceful pastorals, gallant festivities.
New problems were also put forward in architecture. The importance of church building has decreased, and the role of civil architecture has increased, exquisitely simple, updated, freed from excessive impressiveness. In some countries (France, Russia, partly Germany) the problems of planning the cities of the future were solved. Architectural utopias were born (graphic architectural landscapes - D.B. Piranesi and the so-called "paper architecture"). The type of private, usually intimate residential building and urban ensembles of public buildings became characteristic. However, in the art of the XVIII century. compared with previous eras, the synthetic perception and completeness of the coverage of life have decreased. The former connection of monumental painting and sculpture with architecture was broken, the features of easel painting and decorativeness intensified in them. The subject of a special cult was the art of everyday life, decorative forms. At the same time, the interaction and mutual enrichment of various types of art has increased. The achievements acquired by one art form were used more freely by others. Thus, the influence of the theater on painting and music was very fruitful.
Art of the 18th century went through two stages. The first lasted until 1740–1760. It is characterized by the modification of late baroque forms into the decorative rococo style. The originality of the art of the first half of the XVIII century. - in a combination of witty and mocking skepticism and sophistication. This art, on the one hand, is refined, analyzing the nuances of feelings and moods, striving for elegant intimacy, restrained lyricism, on the other hand, gravitating towards the “philosophy of pleasure”, towards fabulous images of the East - Arabs, Chinese, Persians. Simultaneously with the Rococo, tendencies of a realistic nature developed - for some masters they acquired a sharply accusatory character (Hogarth, Swift). The struggle of artistic trends within national schools was openly manifested. The second stage is connected with the deepening of ideological contradictions, the growth of self-consciousness, the political activity of the bourgeoisie and the masses. At the turn of the 1760s-1770s. The Royal Academy in France opposed rococo art and tried to revive the ceremonial, idealizing style of academic art of the late 17th century. The gallant and mythological genres gave way to the historical genre with plots borrowed from Roman history. They were called upon to emphasize the greatness of the monarchy, which had lost its authority, in accordance with the reactionary interpretation of the ideas of "enlightened absolutism."
Representatives of advanced thought turned to the heritage of antiquity. In France, the comte de Caylus opened the scientific era of research in this area ("Collection of Antiquities", 7 volumes, 1752-1767). In the middle of the XVIII century. the German archaeologist and art historian Winckelmann (“History of the Art of Antiquity”, 1764) called on artists to return to “the noble simplicity and calm grandeur of ancient art, which reflects the freedom of the Greeks and Romans of the era of the republic.” The French philosopher Diderot found plots in ancient history that denounced tyrants and called for an uprising against them. Classicism arose, contrasting the decorativeness of Rococo with natural simplicity, the subjective arbitrariness of passions - knowledge of the laws of the real world, a sense of proportion, nobility of thought and deeds. Artists first studied ancient Greek art at newly discovered monuments. The proclamation of an ideal, harmonious society, the primacy of duty over feeling, the pathos of reason are common features of classicism of the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the classicism of the 17th century, which arose on the basis of national unification, developed in the conditions of the flourishing of a noble society. For classicism of the XVIII century. characterized by an anti-feudal orientation. It was intended to unite the progressive forces of the nation to fight against absolutism. Outside of France, classicism did not have the revolutionary character that it had in the early years of the French Revolution.
Simultaneously with classicism, experiencing its impact, the left-wing trend continued to live. Rationalist tendencies were outlined in it: artists sought to generalize life phenomena.
In the second half of the XVIII century. sentimentalism was born with its cult of feeling and passion, worship of everything simple, naive, sincere, a pre-romantic trend in art associated with it arose, interest in the Middle Ages and folk art forms arose. Representatives of these movements asserted the value of the noble and active feelings of a person, revealed the drama of his conflicts with the environment, prompting him to interfere in real public affairs in the name of the triumph of justice. They paved the way "to the knowledge of the human heart and the magical art of presenting to the eyes the origin, development and collapse of a great passion" (Lessing) and expressed the growing need for agitated, pathetic art.
Throughout the 19th century capitalism becomes the dominant formation not only in Europe but also on other continents. Expressing the advanced ideas of the time, the realistic art of the XIX century. asserted the aesthetic values of reality, glorified the beauty of real nature and the working man. From the extra-left art of previous centuries, the realism of the 19th century. differed in that it directly reflected the main contradictions of the era, the social conditions of life of the people. Critical positions determined the basis of the method of realistic art in the 19th century.
Various areas of culture of the 19th century developed unevenly. World literature (Hugo, Balzac, Stendhal), music (Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner) reaches the highest heights. With regard to architecture and applied arts, after the rise that defined the so-called Empire style, both of these arts are in crisis. There is a disintegration of monumental forms, stylistic unity as an integral artistic system, covering all types of art. The easel forms of painting, graphics, and partly sculpture, which gravitate towards monumental forms in their best manifestations, receive the most complete development.
With national identity in the art of any capitalist country, common features are enhanced: a critical assessment of the phenomena of life, historicism of thinking, that is, a deeper objective understanding of the driving forces of social development, both past historical stages and the present. One of the main conquests of art of the XIX century. - the development of historical themes, in which for the first time the role of not only individual heroes, but also the masses of the people is revealed, the historical environment is recreated more specifically. All types of portraiture, everyday genre, landscape with a pronounced national character are widely used. The heyday is experiencing satirical graphics.
With the victory of capitalism, the big bourgeoisie becomes the main interested force in limiting and suppressing the realistic and democratic tendencies of art. Creations of leading figures of European culture Constable, Goya, Gericault, Delacroix, Daumier, Courbet,
E. Manet were often persecuted. The exhibitions were filled with polished works of the so-called salon artists, that is, those who occupied a dominant place in art salons. To please the tastes and demands of bourgeois customers, they cultivated superficial descriptions, erotic and entertaining motives, the spirit of apology for bourgeois foundations and militarism.
Back in the 1860s. leading thinkers of our time noted that "capitalist production is hostile to certain branches of spiritual production, such as art and poetry." Art interests the bourgeoisie mainly either as a profitable investment (collecting) or as a luxury item. Of course, there were collectors with a true understanding of art and its purpose, but these were few, exceptions to the rules. In general, acting as a trendsetter and the main consumer of art, the bourgeoisie often imposed its limited understanding of art on artists. The development of large-scale mass production with its impersonality and reliance on the market entailed the suppression of creativity. The division of labor in capitalist production cultivates a one-sided development of the individual and deprives the ore itself of creative integrity.
Democratic line of art of the 19th century. at the first stage - from the Great French Revolution of 1789-1794. until 1815 (the time of the national liberation struggle of peoples against Napoleonic aggression) - is formed in the fight against the remnants of the noble artistic culture, as well as manifestations of the limitations of bourgeois ideology. The highest achievements of art at that time were associated with the revolutionary pathos of the masses, who believed in the victory of the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity. This is the heyday of revolutionary classicism and the birth of romantic and realistic art.
The second stage, from 1815 to 1849, falls at the time of the establishment of the capitalist system in most European countries. In advanced democratic art, this stage is the period of the highest flowering of revolutionary romanticism and the formation of realistic art.
With the aggravation of class contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, reaching its apogee during the Paris Commune (1871), the antagonism between bourgeois values and democratic culture is even more pronounced. At the end of the XIX century. criticism of modern society, both in literature and in works of fine art, is carried out along with attempts to move away from the flagrant imperfection of the world into the sphere of "art for art's sake".
Russian art of the first half XIX century. National upsurge associated with the Patriotic War of 1812. War and the uprising of the Decembrists in Russian culture in the first third of the century. Acute contradictions of time in the 40s. Romantic motifs in literature and art, which is natural for Russia, which has been involved in the pan-European cultural process for more than a century. The path from classicism to critical realism through romanticism.
The increased social role of the artist, the importance of his personality, the right to freedom of creativity, in which social and moral problems are increasingly raised; the creation of art societies and special magazines (“Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts”, “Journal of Fine Arts”, “Society for the Encouragement of Artists”, “Russian Museum”, “Russian Gallery”), provincial art schools. The dominant style of this time is mature, or high, classicism (Russian Empire).
The architecture of the first third of the century is the solution of large urban problems. In St. Petersburg, the layout of the main squares of the capital is being completed: the Palace and the Senate. Moscow was built especially intensively after the fire of 1812. Antiquity in its Greek (and even archaic) version becomes the ideal. The Doric (or Tuscan) order is used, severe and concise. A huge role in the overall appearance of the building is played by sculpture, which has a certain semantic meaning. Color decides a lot, usually the architecture of high classicism is two-tone: columns and stucco statues are white, the background is yellow or earrings. Among the buildings, the main place is occupied by public buildings: theaters, departments, educational institutions, palaces and temples are built much less often.
A. Voronikhin - the largest architect of this time (Kazan Cathedral). A.Zakharov since 1805 - "the chief architect of the Admiralty" (Admiralty as the main ensemble of St. Petersburg). C.Rossi - the leading Petersburg architect of the first third of the 19th century. (“Russian Empire”), “thinking in ensembles”: a palace or theater turned into a town-planning hub of squares and new streets (Mikhailovsky Palace, now the Russian Museum; the building of the Alexandria Theater; the building of the Senate on the famous Senate Square). "The most rigorous" of all architects of late classicism V. Staso V(Pavlovsky barracks on the Field of Mars, the Stable Department on the Moika embankment, the regimental cathedral of the Izmailovsky regiment, the triumphant Narva and Moscow gates, the interiors of the Winter Palace after the fire), which everywhere emphasizes the mass, its plastic heaviness, static, impressiveness and heaviness. St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg (O.Montferrand) is one of the last outstanding monuments of cult architecture in Europe of the 19th century, which united the best forces of architects, sculptors, painters, masons and foundry workers, an example of classicism losing its harmony, weighting, complication.
The connection between the sculpture of the first half of the century and the development of architecture: the statues of Barclay de Tolly and Kutuzov at the Kazan Cathedral (B. Orlovsky), which gave the symbols of heroic resistance a beautiful architectural frame. (“Guy Playing Money” by N. Pimenov, “Guy Playing Pile” by A. Loganovsky). the other reveals a desire for a more direct and multilateral reflection of reality, it becomes widespread in the second half of the century, but both directions are gradually losing the features of the monumental style.
True successes of painting in romanticism. In the portrait genre, the leading place is occupied by O. Kiprensky (the painting "Dmitry Donskoy on the victory over Mamai", which gave the right to a pensioner's trip abroad; portraits of E. Rostopchin, D. Khvostov, the boy Chelishchev, Colonel of the Life Hussars E. Davydov - a collective image of the hero of the war of 1812).
Romanticism finds its expression in the landscape. S. Shchedrin (“View of Naples on a moonlit night”) was the first to open plein air painting for Russia: he painted sketches in the open air, and completed the picture (“decorated”) in the studio. In the last works of Shchedrin, interest in light and shade effects became more and more distinct. Like the portrait painter Kiprensky and the battle painter Orlovsky, the landscape painter Shchedrin often painted genre scenes.
Refraction of the everyday genre in portraits V. Tropinina (portrait of his son Arseny, portrait of Bulakhov), an artist who was freed from serfdom only at the age of 45. The best of Tropinin's portraits are marked by high artistic perfection, sincerity of images, liveliness and immediacy, which are emphasized by skillful lighting.
Tropinin only introduced a genre element into the portrait. "Father of the Russian household genre" - A. Venetsianov (“Reapers”, “Spring. On arable land”, “Peasant woman with cornflowers”, “Morning of the landowner”), who combined in his work elements of classicism, romanticism, sentimentalism and naturalism, i.e. of all the “living” artistic movements at the beginning of the 19th century. He did not reveal the sharp collisions of the life of a peasant, did not raise the “sick questions” of our time. He painted a patriarchal way of life, but he did not introduce poetry into it from the outside, he did not invent it, but drew it from the people's life itself.
The development of Russian historical painting in the 1930s and 1940s under the sign of romanticism. "The genius of compromise" between the ideals of classicism and the innovations of romanticism - K. Bryullov (“Narcissus” is a sketch that turned into a painting; “The Last Day of Pompeii” is the main work of the artist, showing the greatness and dignity of a person in the face of death). The central figure in the painting of the middle of the century is A. Ivanov (the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”, which reflected the artist’s passionate faith in the moral transformation of people, in the perfection of a person who seeks freedom and truth).
The main sources for genre painting of the second half of the century lie in the work of P. Fedotova , who managed to express the spirit of Russia in the 40s. The path from simple everyday writing to the implementation in the images of the problems of Russian life: "Major's matchmaking" (exposing the marriages of impoverished nobles with merchant "money bags"), "The Picky Bride" (a satire on marriage of convenience), “Breakfast of an aristocrat” (denunciation of the emptiness of a secular dude throwing dust in his eyes), “Anchor, more anchor!” (a tragic feeling of the meaninglessness of existence), "The Fresh Cavalier" ... Fedotov's art completes the development of painting in the first half of the 19th century. and opens a new stage - the art of critical (democratic) realism.
Russian art of the second half XIX century . Sculpture and architecture developed less rapidly during this period. The means of artistic expressiveness of classicism contradict the tasks set by the architecture of the second half of the 19th century. Historicism (retrospective stylization, eclecticism) as a reaction to the canonicity of the classic style. New types of buildings of the period of capitalism required new and diverse compositional solutions, which architects began to look for in the decorative forms of the past, using Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo motifs.
1840s: fascination with the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo. In the spirit of neo-baroque and neo-renaissance, some interiors, the Nikolaevsky Palace, are executed. In the 1970s and 1980s, classical traditions in architecture disappeared. The introduction of metal coatings, metal frame structures, brought to life a rational architecture with its new functional and constructive concepts. Technical and functional expediency in the construction of new types of buildings: industrial and administrative, stations, passages, markets, hospitals, banks, bridges, theater and entertainment facilities.
The crisis of monumentalism also affected the development of monumental sculpture. Monuments become too pathetic, fractional in silhouette, detailed (the monument to Catherine II in St. Petersburg) or chamber in spirit (the monument to Pushkin in Moscow). In the second half of the 19th century. easel sculpture develops, mainly genre, narrative, looks like a genre painting translated into sculpture (M. Chizhov "A Peasant in Trouble", V. Beklemishev "Village Love"). The animalistic genre is developing (E. Lansere and A. Aubert), which played a big role in the development of Russian realistic sculpture of small forms.
In the second half of the 19th century, a critical attitude to reality, pronounced civic and moral positions, and an acute social orientation were also characteristic of painting, in which a new artistic system of vision was formed, expressed in critical realism. A close connection between painting and literature. Artists as illustrators, straightforward interpreters of acute social problems of Russian society.
The soul of a critical direction in painting V. Perov , who picked up Fedotov’s case and managed to simply and piercingly show the sides of simple everyday life: the unsightly appearance of the clergy (“Rural Procession at Easter”), the hopeless life of Russian peasants (“Seeing the Dead”), the life of the urban poor (“Troika”) and the intelligentsia ( "The Governess's Arrival at the Merchant's House").
The struggle for the right of art to turn to real, real life at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts ("revolt of 14"). The association of graduates of the Academy who refused to write a programmatic picture on one theme of the Scandinavian epic (there are so many modern problems around!), Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (1870-1923). These exhibitions were called mobile because they were organized in St. Petersburg, Moscow, the provinces (“going to the people”). Each exhibition of the “Wanderers” is like a huge event. The ideological program of the Partnership: a reflection of life with all its acute social problems, in all its topicality. The art of the Wanderers as an expression of revolutionary democratic ideas in the artistic culture of the second half of the 19th century. The partnership was created on the initiative of Myasoedov, supported by Perov, Ge, Kramskoy, Savrasov, Shishkin , brothers Makovsky. Later they were joined by young artists; Repin, Surikov, Vasnetsov, Yaroshenko. Serov, Levitan, Polenov have been taking part in exhibitions since the mid-80s. The leader and theorist of the Wanderers I. Kramskoy.
Battle genre in the 70-80s. V.Vereshchagin (“The Apotheosis of War”) as being close to the Wanderers (organizationally, he did not belong to them). He arranged his exhibitions in different parts of the world and carried out the idea of wandering very widely.
Democracy in the genre of landscape. A little spectacular outwardly Central Russian landscape, harsh northern nature as the main theme of the painters. A.Savrasov (“Rooks Have Arrived”, “Rye”, “Country Road”) - “the king of the air”, who knew how to find in the simplest those deeply poignant, often sad features that are so strongly felt in the native landscape and so irresistibly affect the soul. ... Another concept landscape in art F. Vasilyeva (“After the Rain”, “Thaw”, “Wet Meadow”) - a “brilliant boy” who discovered the “living sky” for landscape painting, showing with his “Mozartian” fate that life is not counted for the years lived, but for how ready a person is to see, create, love and be surprised. V. Polenov (“Moscow Yard”, “Christ and the Sinner”) dealt a lot with domestic and historical genres, in which the landscape played a huge role. Polenov is a real reformer of Russian painting, who developed it along the path of plein airism. His understanding of the sketch as an independent work of art had a great influence on the painters of the subsequent time. I. Levitan as a successor to the traditions of Savrasov and Vasilyev (“Birch Grove”, “Evening Ringing”, “At the Pool”, “March”, “Golden Autumn”), “a huge, original, original talent”, “the best Russian landscape painter”.
The pinnacle of democratic realism in Russian painting of the second half of the 19th century. rightly considered the work of Repin and Surikov, who each in their own way created a monumental heroic image of the people. I. Repin (“Barge Haulers on the Volga”, “The Procession in the Kursk Province”, “The Arrest of a Propagandist”, “Refusal of Confession”, “They Did Not Expect”) - “a great realist”, who worked in a variety of genres, from folklore to a portrait, who managed to express national features of Russian life are brighter than other painters. His artistic world is whole, because it is "translucent" with one thought, one love - love for Russia. In creativity V. Surikov (“The Morning of the Streltsy Execution”, “Menshikov in Berezov”, “Boyar Morozova”, “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak”, “The Capture of the Snow Town”) historical painting has acquired its modern understanding. Surikov, as a “witness of the past,” managed to show “the terrible things of the past, he presented to mankind in his images the heroic soul of his people.” Next to Surikov, in the Russian historical genre of the second half of the 19th century. other artists also worked. In creativity V.Vasnetsova fairy tale, folklore or legendary image prevails (“Alyonushka”, “The Knight at the Crossroads”, “Bogatyrs”).
Russian art of the end XIX –beginning XX century . With the crisis of the populist movement in the 1990s, the "analytical method of nineteenth-century realism" became obsolete. The creative decline of the Wanderers, who went into the "small subject" of an entertaining genre picture. Perov's traditions were preserved at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. All types of art - painting, theatre, music, architecture - stand for the renewal of the artistic language, for high professionalism.
For painters of the turn of the century, other ways of expression are characteristic than those of the Wanderers, other forms of artistic creativity - in images that are contradictory, complicated and reflect 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 movements, associations, groupings.
The role of association artists "World of Art" in the popularization of domestic and Western European art. "World of Art" (Benoit, Somov, Bakst, Lansere, Golovin, Dobuzhinsky, Vrubel, Serov, Korovin, Levitan, Nesterov, Bilibin, Ryabushkin, Roerich, Kustodiev, Petrov-Vodkin, Malyavin) contributed to the consolidation of artistic forces, the creation of the "Union of Russian Artists ". Significance for the formation of the unification of the personality of Diaghilev, patron, organizer of exhibitions, impresario of Russian ballet and opera tours abroad ("Russian Seasons"). The main provisions of the "World of Art": the autonomy of art, the problems of art form, the main task of art is the education of the aesthetic tastes of the Russian society through acquaintance with works of world art.
The birth of the Art Nouveau style, which affected all the plastic arts, from architecture to graphics, is not an unambiguous phenomenon, it also contains decadent pretentiousness, pretentiousness, designed for bourgeois tastes, but there is also a desire for unity of style that is significant in itself. Features of Art Nouveau: in sculpture - the fluidity of forms, the special expressiveness of the silhouette, the dynamism of the composition; in painting - the symbolism of images, addiction to allegories.
The appearance of Art Nouveau did not mean the collapse of the ideas of wandering, which develops differently: the peasant theme is revealed in a new way (S. Korovin, A. Arkhipov). M. Nesterov , but the image of Rus' appears in his paintings as an ideal, enchanted world, in harmony with nature, but disappeared like the legendary city of Kitezh (“Vision to the youth Bartholomew”).
Another view of the world K. Korovina , who early began to write in the open air. His French landscapes (“Parisian Lights”) are already quite impressionistic writing. Sharp, instantaneous impressions of the life of a big city: quiet streets at different times of the day, objects dissolved in a light-air environment - features reminiscent of the landscapes of Manet, Pissarro. Impressionistic etude, pictorial maestry, artistry preserves Korovin in the portrait and still life, in decorative panels, in theatrical scenery.
Innovator of Russian painting at the turn of the century V.Serov (“The Girl with Peaches”, “The Girl Illuminated by the Sun”) is a whole stage in Russian painting. Portrait, landscape, still life, domestic, historical painting; oil, gouache, tempera, charcoal - it is difficult to find genres in which Serov would not work. A special theme in his work is peasant, in which there is no itinerant social sharpness, but there is a sense of the beauty and harmony of peasant life, admiration for the healthy beauty of the Russian people.
"Herald of Other Worlds" M.Vrubel , which caused bewilderment as a person and indignation as an artist ("Pan", "The Swan Princess", "Seated Demon", "Fortuneteller", "Lilac"). The first symbolist (?), "universal in art", the search for which is compared with the method of Leonardo da Vinci, Vrubel very quickly "falls out" of "traditional" painting, strikes with an original, full of mystery and almost demonic power in the manner of painting, which turned out to be prophetic for new artistic directions of the 20th century ...
"Miriskussnik" N. Roerich . A connoisseur of philosophy and ethnography of the East, the archaeologist-scientist Roerich had a love for retrospection, for pagan Slavic and Scandinavian antiquity (“Messenger”, “The Elders Converge”, “Sinister”) with the “World of Art”. Roerich was closest to the philosophy and aesthetics of Russian symbolism, but his art did not fit into the existing trends, because, in accordance with the artist's worldview, he appealed to all mankind with an appeal for a friendly union of all peoples. Later, historical themes give way to religious legends ("Heavenly Battle"). His decorative panel "The Battle of Kerzhents" was exhibited during the performance of a fragment of the same name from Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia" in the Parisian "Russian Seasons".
In the second generation of the "World of Art" one of the most gifted artists was B. Kustodiev , a student of Repin, who is characterized by stylization, but this is a stylization of the popular popular print (“Fairs”, “Shrovetide”, “Balagany”, “Merchant for tea”).
1903, the formation of the association "Union of Russian Artists" , which includes figures from the "World of Art" - Benois, Bakst, Somov, Dobuzhinsky, Serov, and the participants in the first exhibitions were Vrubel, Borisov-Musatov. The initiators of the creation of the association were Moscow artists associated with the "World of Art", but weighed down by the programmatic aesthetics of Petersburgers. K. Korovin was considered the leader of the "Union".
1910, creation of the association "Jack of Diamonds" (P. Konchalovsky, I. Mashkov, A. Lentulov R. Falk, M. Larionov), who spoke out against the vagueness, untranslatability, nuances of the symbolic language of the "Blue Rose" and the aesthetic stylism of the "World of Art". "Knaves of Diamonds" professed a clear construction of the picture, emphasized the objectivity of the form, intensity, full-sounding color. Still life as a favorite genre of "jacks".
"Lonely and unique" creativity P.Filonova , who set a goal to comprehend the metaphysics of the universe by means of painting, creating crystal-like forms as the primary elements of the universe ("Feast of Kings", "Holy Family"). Vitality of national traditions, great ancient Russian painting in creativity K. Petrova-Vodkina , an artist-thinker (“Bathing the Red Horse” as a pictorial metaphor, “Girls on the Volga” - an orientation to the traditions of Russian art).
The era of highly developed industrial capitalism and changes in the architecture of the city. New types of buildings: factories, stations, shops, banks, cinemas. New building materials - reinforced concrete and metal structures, which allow covering gigantic spaces, making huge storefronts.
The art of the pre-revolutionary years in Russia is marked by the unusual complexity and inconsistency of artistic searches, hence the groupings replacing each other with their own program settings and stylistic sympathies. But along with the experimenters in the field of abstract forms in the Russian art of that time, the "World of Art" and "Blue Bearers", "allies", "Knave of Diamonds", artists of the neoclassical trend simultaneously continued to work.
