---> "World of Art": stages and nature of activity. Easel and theatrical and decorative arts, magazine graphics and literary illustration. A.A. Benois is the leader of the art association. The "older" generation of organizers of the "World of Art" at the turn of the 1890s -
In 1898, a new art association was founded in St. Petersburg, called the World of Art. The artist A.N. Benois and philanthropist S.P. Diaghilev were at the head of the formed circle. The main core of the association was L.S. Bakst, E.E. Lansere, K.A. Somov. The World of Art arranged exhibitions and published a magazine under the same name. The association included a lot of artists: M.A. Vrubel, V.A. Serov, I.I. Levitan, M.V. Nesterov, A.P. Ryabushkin, N.K. Roerich, B.M. Kustodiev, ZE .Serebryakova, K.S. Petrov-Vodkin.
"Classic" period of activity of the "World of Art" - 1898-1904; During this time, 6 exhibitions were organized. The last, sixth exhibition was an attempt by S.P. Diaghilev to prevent the active delimitation of creative forces within the "World of Art" (in 1901 a number of Moscow artists left the society and organized an "Exhibition of 36 Artists", in 1903 - the "Union of Russian Artists" was formed).
The aesthetics of most representatives of the "World of Art" is a Russian version of Art Nouveau. Miriskussniki defended the freedom of individual creativity. Beauty was recognized as the main source of inspiration. The modern world, in their opinion, is devoid of beauty and therefore unworthy of attention. In search of the beautiful, the artists of the "World of Art" often turn to the monuments of the past in their works. For artists of the early twentieth century, social problems in history lose their paramount importance, the leading place in their work is occupied by the image of the beauty of ancient life, the reconstruction of historical landscapes, the creation of a poetic romantic image of "bygone centuries". Acute collisions and significant historical figures interested them much less than the originality of the costume, the unique flavor of antiquity. The leading in the works of many artists who were part of the "World of Art" was the historical and everyday genre.
The classical period in the life of the association fell on 1900-1904 - at this time, the group was characterized by a special unity of aesthetic and ideological principles. Artists organized exhibitions under the auspices of the World of Art magazine.
The artistic orientation of the "World of Art" was associated with Art Nouveau and Symbolism. In contrast to the ideas of the Wanderers, the artists of the World of Art proclaimed the priority of the aesthetic principle in art. The members of the "World of Art" argued that art is primarily an expression of the artist's personality. In one of the first issues of the magazine, S. Diaghilev wrote: "A work of art is important not in itself, but only as an expression of the creator's personality." Believing that modern civilization is antagonistic to culture, the "World of Art" sought an ideal in the art of the past. Artists and writers, in their paintings and on magazine pages, revealed to the Russian society the then little appreciated beauty of medieval architecture and ancient Russian icon painting, the grace of classical Petersburg and the palaces surrounding it, made them think about the modern sound of ancient civilizations and re-evaluate their own artistic and literary heritage.
In the history of theatrical and decorative painting of the 20th century, the masters of the "World of Art" played an outstanding role, the significance of which is not limited by the boundaries of the national visual culture. We are talking not only about the wide European recognition of Russian theater artists, but also about the direct impact of the latter on the world theatrical and decorative painting. By this time, Russian theatrical and decorative painting, which once knew periods of high prosperity, managed to fall into a miserable decline, because it had largely lost touch with the advanced phenomena of modern national art. From the hands of great artists, it passed into the hands of "professionals" who knew nothing outside their narrow specialty, and even in it they rarely rose above the craft level. At the Mammoth Opera, this practice was abandoned. Great painters again turned to theatrical work - at first the Wanderers V.M. Vasnetsov and V.D. Polenov, and after them the masters of the younger generation - M. Vrubel and K. Korovin. As a result of their activities, the role of the artist in the theater has increased again, and the confidence in the creative environment has grown stronger that the scenery and costumes are an integral element of the artistic image created by the performance. The work of M. Vrubel, A. Golovin and K. Korovin had yet another meaning: overcoming the “everydayism” of impersonal standard scenery, they created on the stage an atmosphere of a special “theatrical reality”, poetically exalted above everyday life.
Individual artists of the "World of Art" were involved in theatrical life at a time when such productions as the opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" in the scenery of Vrubel (1900), the ballet "The Little Humpbacked Horse" in the scenery of K. Korovin (1901) had already been created and the opera The Maid of Pskov in the scenery of Golovin (1901). A new stage in the development of Russian decorative painting began.
In 1898, the first issue of the monthly illustrated art magazine "World of Arts" was published in St. Petersburg, which was published until 1904. The magazine was the organ of the artistic association "World of Art" and symbolist writers.
From the first issue, the artists who rallied around S.P. Diaghilev, not only participated in the creation of the magazine, making covers, preparing illustrations, screensavers and vignettes, but formed a new idea of popular and artistic publications. They drew attention to the importance of font and format, the relationship between text and illustrations.
The Bronze Horseman with illustrations by A.N. Benois and White Nights in the design of M.V. Dobuzhinsky. In exile, the "World of Art" continued to create illustrated editions, which were printed in Paris, Berlin, Rome and New York. A.N. Benois illustrated "The Captain's Daughter" by A.S. Pushkin, "The Sinner" by Henri de Regnier. I.Ya.Bilibin made drawings for Russian folk tales and French medieval ballads. B.D. Grigoriev performed 60 illustrations for "The Brothers Karamazov" by F.M. Dostoevsky, designed "First Love" by I.S. Turgenev, "Childhood" by A.M. Gorky and "Children's Island" by S. Cherny.
Chapter 3. Artists - organizers and figures of the "World of Art"
The main members of the association "World of Art", who formed the concept of "World of Art", were: Alexander Nikolaevich Benois, Konstantin Andreevich Somov and Lev Samoilovich Bakst. It was they who determined the ideology and direction of the work of the association. In the future, many different artists participated in the exhibitions of the World of Art.
Let us turn to the work of the masters - the main figures of the "World of Art".
The artistic tastes of Alexander Benois were formed under the influence of the creative atmosphere of the family, which formed the circle of his interests. Before us is the famous portrait of Alexandre Benois by Bakst
Benois is shown as an artist, art historian and connoisseur of culture of the 18th century. Benois is sitting in an armchair with a book in his hands, here in the room we see a portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The canvases turned to the wall indicate that we have a painter in front of us.
Alexandre Benois was born on May 3, 1870 into a well-known family of artists and architects. His father, Nikolai Leontyevich Benois, was an architect, and his maternal grandfather, Albert Katarinovich Cavos, was also an architect. He rebuilt the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater after the fire of 1853. Maternal great-grandfather - Venetian Katarino Cavos was a composer, writer of operas, ballets, vaudeville. In the early 1800s, he entered the service in the St. Petersburg imperial theaters. The brother of Alexander Nikolayevich - Albert - was a watercolor artist, another brother - Leonty - an architect, builder of Orthodox churches in Russia, Poland and Germany. "The Benois House near Nikola Morsky", where the Benois family lived, was well known in St. Petersburg. It has survived to this day. The house was filled with works of art - paintings, engravings, antiques. On the contrary, Nikolsky Naval Cathedral, built in the time of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna by the architect Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky, rises from it. The beautiful appearance of the cathedral in the Baroque style remained forever in the memory of Alexander Benois and answered his love for the art of the 18th century. Friends recalled the great pedagogical gift of Alexander Benois. Possessing an excellent literary style and deep knowledge of art history, he began to publish critical articles on art issues in his youth, and in 1893 he took part in the publication of the book by the German researcher Richard Muther "The History of Painting in the 19th Century", for which he wrote a large section on Russian painting. After graduating from the Faculty of Law, Benois, like Diaghilev, subsequently did not practice law, but devoted himself to art.
Favorite time of Alexandre Benois - XVIII century, Versailles of the last years of the life of Louis XIV. The artist depicted elegant courtiers and the old king in the Versailles park, where the king "walked in any weather", intimate scenes, such as bathing marquises.
The artist showed the court life going down in history, once magnificent, immersed in luxury, and sad in the last years of the king's life. The composition of the vast spaces of the park spoke to the artist not so much about the greatness of the king, but about the creative genius of the architect who created this splendor. In the painting "The King's Walk" the action takes place in the park of Versailles.
The desert alleys stretching into the distance emphasize the loneliness of the king among the small retinue accompanying him. The artist conveyed the elusive mood of sadness, the atmosphere of a fading era. In another painting on the same theme, the unhurried procession of the king and courtiers past fountains and statues is perceived as a theatrical performance, and the bronze figures of frolicking cupids in the pool seem more alive than these sad masks.
The painting “The Venetian Garden” is close in mood, where the masked figures seem to be a dream, shadows, and the statues are animated and seem to be talking to each other. In this interpretation of the conclusion, there is a certain thought: life is transient, art is eternal.
The works of Benois also reflected the times of Peter the Great, before whom the figures of the "World of Art" bowed. Before us - "Peter I on a walk in the Summer Garden."
The king on the alley of the garden in front of the fountain, among the motley elegant crowd of courtiers, attracts attention with his tall stature and a contented, cheerful face. have now been restored.
An unsurpassed erudite in matters of life of the past centuries, Benoit knew the customs, costumes, and interiors to the subtleties. The subjects he chose did not deal with big historical issues; the artist created fantasies for private moments of life, trying to convey the spirit of the era. In this regard, his painting "Parade under Paul I" is interesting.
Cloudy winter day. Through the grid of falling snow, the pink Mikhailovsky Castle is visible, the right wing of which has not yet been completed. Soldiers are marching on the parade ground in front of the castle. The emperor, busy with his favorite business - the drill of soldiers - is depicted in the center on a white horse. Behind him are his retinue and sons. An officer, similar to Paul I, gives the tsar a report. In the depths we see strange figures of soldiers not participating in the march. They run after them and pick up the fallen cocked hats. Indeed, under Paul I, there was a special detachment that had to ensure that the fallen cocked hats did not remain lying on the ground, and pick them up. The general solution of the picture, which presents a harsh landscape with a castle, with endlessly falling snow, with marching soldiers and the tsar - all this creates an expressive image of St. Petersburg during the reign of Paul I.
Benois was also a remarkable illustrator and theater decorator. Until now, his illustrations for The Queen of Spades and The Bronze Horseman by A. S. Pushkin remain unsurpassed. In one of the illustrations for The Queen of Spades - "Hermann at the Countess's Entrance" - the artist created an expressive picture, conveying the tense expectation of the hero during the Countess's carriage leaving at dusk. The drawing “In the gambling house” shows the gloomy atmosphere of this institution, where a tragedy is about to break out. Benoit turned to illustrating The Bronze Horseman back in 1905 and did not leave this work, improving it, until the book was published in 1922. The artist showed the white nights, following the lines of the poet “I write, I read without a lamp”, a flood, and a particularly impressive moment - a huge black silhouette of the Horseman, appearing from around the corner, and running from him in fear of poor Eugene - “behind him everywhere is the Copper Horseman with he galloped with a heavy stomp.” Back in 1904, Benois published an excellent book for children - “ABC”. If in our time this book would not remain only as an antique value, but would be widely known, it would bring much joy to both children and adult readers. The book was republished in 1990. Drawings full of fantasies and childhood memories of the author himself, impressions from the toys that filled his house, from visits to the theater, where during the performance the devil jumped out of the hatch on the stage and acted as a "black" in bright clothes - all this was forever remembered and reflected in " ABC.
Full of comfort and special warmth are the drawings depicting “dacha” and “grandfather”, and the dwarf, which appeared from the cake to the admiration of gentlemen and ladies in powdered wigs and elegant dresses, takes us directly to the 18th century beloved by the author.
In the history of theatrical and decorative art, Alexandre Benois’s design of ballets by N. N. Tcherepnin’s “Pavilion of Armida” on the theme of the 18th century and I. F. Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” on the theme of a Russian farce performance remained an unforgettable phenomenon. The ballet "Pavilion of Armida" takes the viewer into a fairy tale with heroes coming to life depicted on the tapestry. This ballet immerses the viewer into the world of knights, gentlemen and ladies. The ballet "Petrushka" was staged in Paris, in the "Russian Seasons", and we will turn to it later.
Benois was a multi-talented person. He left many works as an art critic and historian of Russian and Western European art, studied little-studied monuments and the work of forgotten masters. Above mentioned his participation in the German edition of Richard Muther's book "The History of Painting in the 19th Century". A few years later, in 1901 and 1902, two volumes of Benoit's research on Russian art came out of print in a Russian edition, which made a "stunning impression" on the Russian public. Subsequently, Benois published several books on the history of Western European art. Alexander Benois was the first figure in Russian culture of his time, who drew the attention of his contemporaries to the beauty of St. Petersburg architecture. After A. S. Pushkin, no one remembered the beauty of St. Petersburg. Under the influence of writers of the 19th century, the capital was perceived only as a state-owned, cold city, hostile to a small person. The artists of the "World of Art" captured in their paintings the immortal creations of St. Petersburg architects, discovered the beauty and harmony of the garden and park ensembles of Tsarskoye Selo, Peterhof, Pavlovsk, Oranienbaum. And in this matter - first of all, the merit of Benois. Konstantin Andreevich Somov, an outstanding artist of the "World of Art", was born on November 18, 1869.
Before us is his self-portrait. The artist presented himself in a relaxed pose, on the couch. A broad manner of writing and a realistic interpretation of images distinguished the works of Somov, a student of Repin. Portraits of parents were painted in the same manner. The artist's father, Andrey Ivanovich Somov, was the curator of the Hermitage. He significantly enriched the museum's collection with works of German painting.
The artist's mother, Nadezhda Konstantinovna, sang beautifully. Somov was also a musically gifted person - a talented pianist and singer. His sister, Anna Andreevna, in the marriage of Mikhailov, was engaged in artistic embroidery. Somov had another brother, Alexander, who died early. Somov was very attached to his parents, dearly loved his sister and brother, paid much attention to his orphaned children.
After graduating from the Karl Ivanovich May gymnasium, where Somov studied with Alexander Benois and Dmitry Filosofov, he attended classes at the Academy of Arts for some time. Somov's early works are landscapes and portraits of people close to him. In the landscapes of the 1890s, he depicted with great feeling fluffy bushes with fluttering foliage, sunlight penetrating through the branches of trees, dense thickets of grasses. Such are the works - "The Road to Sekerino", "Garden" and others.
Somov created a new direction in Russian art, a new understanding of historical painting. This quality manifested itself already in the paintings of the 1890s. The main things in his works are not known events, not the psychology of the characters, but the mood, the transfer of the “spirit of the era”. Already in the early period of creativity, Somov was able to convey a special historical atmosphere. His paintings and drawings revived the long past times of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Somov worked long and carefully on his paintings and drawings and was always dissatisfied with himself. Benoit recalled: "He often sits for hours (without any exaggeration) over any one line." Dobuzhinsky, a participant in the World of Art exhibitions, also recalled this feature of Somov: “He worked, like Serov, very hard and slowly, recognizing only the best colors /…/ I had a real love for his art, it seemed to me something then truly precious, and his influence on me was no less than Benoit, but completely different /... / The freedom and skill of his painting, where there was not a piece that was not made with feeling, fascinated me. And most importantly, the extraordinary intimacy of his work, the mystery of his images, a sense of sad humor and his then “Hoffmannian” romance deeply disturbed me and opened up some strange world close to my vague moods /… / He was small in stature, quite full at that time , cut his hair with a “hedgehog” and wore a mustache, dressed with great taste, but modestly, and in all his manners, gait and everything that makes up the outward appearance of a person, there was an extraordinary grace. He had a particularly sweet manner of laughing and the most sincere cheerful laugh /.../ We unusually soon and sincerely got together, and Kostya became one of my closest and dearest friends for life. gardens and bosquets - all these were the plots and characters of Somov's works. One of the motives of his work is young women sleeping in cozy interiors, an example of which you see.
A masterfully painted bouquet of lilacs brings a suffocating aroma to the elegant room of the lady and causes a bright blush on her face. Somov’s paintings are permeated with a cheerful peculiar lyricism or light mockery, as can be seen, for example, in the interpretation of the works “The Mocked Kiss”, where a gentleman from the bushes peeps behind a kissing couple , or "skating rink".
It is built as a triptych, each scene of which has its own funny episode. Subtle penetration into the atmosphere of everyday life of the early 19th century is distinguished by the watercolor “Walk after the rain”.
A light, calm mood prevails here. It is brought in by joyful, ringing golden-green colors of trees, grass and flowers washed by the rain. There is a rainbow in the sky, which first appeared at Somov. It brings out the purity and freshness of nature after a recent rain. In the alley of the park, in front of the statues, on a patterned bench, a young woman with an umbrella, in a colorful dress and a hat decorated with flowers, sits half-turned to the viewer. Here, a little girl in golden clothes is playing on the grass. Two young men who approached her are talking to a lady. As in other drawings, Somov interprets nature in a gentle, generalized way and figures in more detail. The artist's favorite time - the 18th and early 19th centuries - he reproduces subtly and poetically. Somov was a remarkable portrait painter, whose work researchers put on a par with the works of Levitsky and Kramskoy. He created a portrait gallery, small in number, but significant in its picturesque merits, of the actors of the "Silver Age": these are artists, poets, society ladies, relatives and friends. Somov brought his understanding of the image into the portraits. Unique in this sense is the portrait of Anna Karlovna Benois, the wife of Somov's friend Alexander Benois.
She was distinguished by a cheerful, cheerful character, was a lively, energetic, flirtatious young woman. In the portrait, we see a pensive, somewhat detached from the outside world, immersed in herself, a woman in a dress of the late 18th century. She is depicted in the park, which is solved as a distant background. The artist chose the pastel technique for this portrait, despite the fact that the portrait is quite large, and pastel works of such a large format are no longer found in Somov's creative heritage. Here, this technique has an ideological meaning: pastel allows you to perceive objects as if through a light haze, which corresponds to the thoughtfulness of the heroine and the whole atmosphere of the picture. Somov created a deep, tragic image of a contemporary in the painting “Lady in Blue”.
It is known that his fellow student at the Academy, the artist Elizaveta Mikhailovna Martynova, is represented here. She lived a short life - she died of a lung disease. Her hopes for happiness, success and recognition did not come true. "Lady in Blue" has become a kind of symbol of the era. The artist presented in the picture a young woman in an old dress, against the backdrop of the greenery of the park, with a book in her hand. Her gaze, directed at the viewer, is full of sadness and sorrow. The rich blue color of the dress contrasts with the white lace collar and emphasizes the pallor of a beautiful face. The artist gave a symbolic meaning to the personal experiences of E. M. Martynova, creating a generalized image.
Another "image of the era" was captured by Somov in the portrait of the artist Anna Petrovna Ostroumova - (since 1905 - Ostroumova-Lebedeva).
Somov worked on the portrait for a very long time - during the winter of 1900-1901. There were seventy-three sessions, each lasting four hours. Anna Petrovna recalled that she "talked, laughed, twirled", but the picture turned out to be "a dreamy, sad figure." Somov "did not knock anything from the original task." He revealed the spiritual essence of the model, her seriousness and thoughtfulness, despite the fact that Anna Petrovna herself joked and laughed during the sessions, because she had a cheerful character. But Somov created a generalized spiritualized image of the creative personality of his time. The portrait is made in dark colors with variations of deep blue, pink and purple tones. Landscapes by Somov were often exhibited at exhibitions: these are summer cottages near St. Petersburg, Martyshkino, where his family lived in the summer, roads, arable land, a peasant yard, etc. The main theme of his work remained, like that of Benois, the 18th century. Cavaliers and ladies in wigs and crinolines, masquerades with harlequins and columbines, love dates, mysterious letters, scenes from Italian comedies are the characteristic plots of Somov's paintings.
The artist also worked in porcelain, creating similar images, such as "Lady taking off her mask." At the same time, Somov’s work contains a reminder of the quickly passing moments of life, which are symbolized by the rainbow and fireworks that are often found in his paintings. Somov loved that long-gone world to which he devoted his work, and the artist’s talent brought a unique, penetrating charm to his art. It is these qualities that distinguish the painting “Harlequin and the Lady” of 1921.
The theme of "harlequinades", Italian festivities, "harlequins and ladies" was developed by the artist in different years, in various versions and in different techniques - gouache, watercolors, oil on canvas. Before us is one of these pictures. In the foreground, as on a theatrical stage, a lady and a gentleman dressed as a harlequin are dancing facing the viewer. They dance in the frame of an arch made of branches, painted with jewelery subtlety. In the depths, between the trees, couples in masquerade costumes whirl and fireworks soar into the dark sky. The lush bouquet of roses that adorns the stage seems to exude a strong fragrance and speaks of eternal, unfading beauty. The artist has created his own fantastic world of celebration of life, fun and beauty. But in all this there is a note of sadness - that this world came to life only in the imagination of the artist. The third largest representative of the "World of Art" was Lev Samoilovich Bakst (Rosenberg).
He came from a wealthy Jewish family. Bakst was born on April 27, 1866 in the city of Grodno, but the family soon moved to St. Petersburg, where the future artist became interested in theater and arranged "theater games" at home with his sisters and younger brother. Interesting information about Bakst's childhood impressions is reported by his biographer N.A. Borisovskaya, referring to the theater historian Andrei Levinson, to whom Bakst told about himself: “The first years of his life were impressed by meetings with his grandfather (in 1891 Bakst adopted his surname). The elder Bakst, "a Parisian of the second empire", an epicurean, a secular man, a friend of the Duke of Morny (a French diplomat and vaudeville author, bred by Alphonse Daudet in the novel "Nabob" under the name of Count More), lived out his life in St. Petersburg, immersed in memories. The sophistication of the old chambers, the luxury of the furnishings of his house were for Bakst almost the only artistic impression of early childhood, and the grandfather himself - an amazing old man, full of mystery and charm - was preserved in his memory as the embodiment of good taste.
In the gymnasium, the future artist became addicted to drawing. Sculptor Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky advised the young man to enter the Academy of Arts. The first time he did not enter, but after private lessons on a special program, the attempt was a success. In those days, artists, even the most famous, did not always graduate from this educational institution. For example, Viktor Vasnetsov, Vrubel, Benois, Serov and Somov left the walls of the Academy for various reasons. Bakst also left the Academy before receiving his diploma. His painting "Lamentation of Christ" was made in a genre, new for that time, realistic manner, and the Academic Council criticized it.
By this time, Bakst's father had died, and the family needed financial assistance. Bakst worked extensively on illustrating various magazines and books for children to help the family. Soon he met the brothers Albert and Alexandre Benois and began to attend the Benois circle, which was mentioned above. In 1893, Bakst left for Paris, where he continued his studies in private studios of French artists, in particular, Jean-Louis Gerome, the author of salon-academic works, and the Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt, a famous master of spectacular portraits, landscapes, historical and genre paintings.
Lev Bakst began his career as a portrait painter. The portraits made by him in the 1890s and the beginning of the 20th century have become firmly established in the history of art. The artistry inherent in the character of Bakst was reflected in the presented self-portrait of 1893. The artist's traditional velvet beret and loose blouse emphasize his creative appearance, but at the same time, the main thing is revealed - swiftness, will, strength of character. A year before Levitan's death, Bakst painted his graphic portrait. The expressive face of Levitan makes a strong impression with the deep and sad look of his large eyes.
Bakst created portraits of artists, poets, musicians - creative personalities from his close circle. We have already spoken about the famous portrait of S. P. Diaghilev. Somewhat earlier - in 1902 - Bakst painted a portrait of an unknown lady called “Dinner. Lady with oranges.
It is believed that Benois' wife, Anna Karlovna, served as the prototype. But before us is not a specific portrait, but rather a generalized image of a lady in the Art Nouveau style. The picture is dominated by the graceful silhouette of a lady in a black dress, in a black hat resembling a huge butterfly, against an almost colorless background with a greenish tint, in contrast with the orange spots of oranges. This color scheme gives the picture sophistication and decorativeness. And not only the color scheme. The emphatically linear solution of the lady's silhouette contrasts with the lush train of her dress and the generalized, as if carelessly, written folds of the tablecloth. Decorativeness, contrast, a certain mystery of the image - all these qualities are inherent in the Art Nouveau style.
There is also a spectacular portrait of the poet Zinaida Gippius, the wife of the writer Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky, who participated in the journal with his literary studies. Her figure seemed to be "a living embodiment of the artistic modernism professed by the magazine." The sharp tongue of Zinaida Gippius and poetic impromptu brought a playful note to the collections. So, one of her poetic jokes characterizes the role of Diaghilev in the affairs of the association:
Napoleon ruled the people
And the trembling was great before him,
Hero honor! We can't break the law!
And without supervision - we are all miserable.
Chicken coop - a single rooster is given,
He rules, multiplying his vassals.
And in the herd there is Napoleon: a ram.
And in the World of Art there is: Seryozha.
Later, during the period of Diaghilev's famous "Russian Seasons", Bakst became famous as an outstanding theater decorator of his era. He was already on his way to this worldwide success in St. Petersburg. It was mentioned above that Bakst, while still a member of the Benois circle, was carried away by Ancient Greece, and since then the ancient theme has become the leading one in his art. In 1902 he designed Euripides' Hippolytus and in 1904 Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus for productions at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. “In Hippolyta, the action took place in the royal halls and in front of the temple. The main characters - a young queen in love with her stepson, and a beautiful young man - inspired the artist to create magnificent colorful clothes. But in "Oedipus" the characters are Oedipus, blinded and subjected to voluntary exile, wandering with a guide - his daughter Antigone. Creating beggar's rags is a difficult task for the luxury-loving Bakst. He took the soul in the clothes for the ancient choir. Exquisite costumes in black and white with silver elements looked great against the backdrop of rich green foliage.
In 1903, the ballet Fairy of Dolls was staged with great success on the stage of the Hermitage Theatre, the costumes and scenery for the performance were made according to sketches by Bakst. “The success of the Hermitage production of The Doll Fairy was so great that it was immediately transferred to the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre,” where it lasted for twenty-two years. Bakst designed the performance in the style of the 1850s, which the audience especially liked. Bakst took part in the design of the World of Art magazine, creating vignettes and headpieces in which the antique theme prevailed. The stamp created by Bakst - the symbol of the "World of Art" - in the form of a strong, but lonely eagle proudly sitting on top, gained particular fame. Large spots of light and shadow create contrast and contribute to the monumentality of the image of the eagle, corresponding to the meaning of the "World of Art" in artistic life. Bakst's largest, monumental work in these years was "Elysium" - a curtain for the Vera Fedorovna Komissarzhevskaya Drama Theater, made in 1906.
Paradise is depicted on the curtain. "There, invisible to mortals, blessed heroes live forever, who received immortality from the gods." The curtain is truly huge - more than ten meters in height and about seven - in width. The entire space of the canvas is occupied by evergreen trees, against which bright flowers in luxurious vases and white marble columns sparkle. Among this magnificence, small figures of people who have fallen into these paradises "by the special grace of the gods" are barely distinguishable. However, this "paradise" makes a gloomy impression: the greenery of giant trees is too dark, the figures of people lost there are too small, in whose poses anxiety is felt. Apparently, the artist remembered the fatalism of the ancient Greeks, the inconstancy of their gods.
In 1907, together with V. A. Serov, Bakst made a trip to Greece; he told about his impressions in the book Serov and I in Greece, published in 1923. The landscapes of Greece seen by the artists made a strong and unexpected impression with their colors and subsequently served both Bakst and Serov for works on an antique theme. Bakst wrote: “... What an unexpected Greece! Rows of sandy-reddish cliffs are cut by dark yellow horizontal lines of fortresses, where - from a distance toy - tiny soldiers march in columns. Above, scattered herds of ash-grey olive groves; even higher - again naked cliffs - wild, classical, dotted, like a leopard skin, with irregular dark brown spots. Subsequently, in the scenery and costumes for the ballets of 1911-1912 on antique themes for Diaghilev's Russian Seasons and a decorative panel on the theme of Long's story "Daphnis and Chloe", a writer of the 2nd-3rd centuries, and other works (they will be discussed below) Bakst created the atmosphere of mythical Greece. A trip to Greece also had an impact on Serov's work. He combined the impressions of Greek landscapes and drawings on ancient vases in the paintings “Odysseus and Navzikaya” and “The Rape of Europe”, giving the images the angularity and generality inherent in the Art Nouveau style. Bakst’s fascination with Ancient Greece brought to life the symbolic work “Terror antiquus” (“Antique horror").
Bakst began this picture even before his trip to Greece, but the trip enriched him with new impressions. He completed the work in 1908. The picture depicts the death of the mythical Atlantis, which can be associated with the idea of the death of the world, of the approaching social catastrophe, which many representatives of the creative intelligentsia foresaw at the beginning of the 20th century. A large, almost square painting by Bakst depicts “a panorama of a rocky archipelago swallowed up by the deep sea, small human figures rush about in horror, and structures and statues of different centuries proudly rise above them, in the center, as a symbol of eternal imperishable beauty, is the archaic Aphrodite with a mysterious smile on her face. stone lips and a blue dove in his hand. The canvas, inspired by the story of the death of Atlantis, as well as other semi-scientific-semi-fantastic hypotheses that actively invaded the literature and art of the early 20th century, indirectly reflected the perception of grandiose social upheavals by the artist, who affirmed the enduring significance of cultural values bequeathed to future generations. One can only add to the above text of the researcher that the idea of the death of the world (or the death of Atlantis) does not contradict the artist's interpretation not only of "imperishable beauty", but, which seems to us especially significant, of the power of all-conquering love, embodied - and not by chance - in the image of the goddess the love of Aphrodite. In the future, all of Bakst's creative activity was connected with Diaghilev's Russian Seasons, for which he created the famous sketches of costumes and scenery that remained forever in the history of ballet. This work will be discussed below. Benois, Somov and Bakst are the main and most typical representatives of the "World of Art", whose work especially vividly embodied the artistic and ideological orientation of the association. Soon, in 1900, they were joined by Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere and Anna Petrovna Ostroumova (since 1905 - Ostroumova-Lebedeva); in 1902 - Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky. Lansere - Benoit's nephew - was only five years younger than his uncle. The son of the famous sculptor Yevgeny Alexandrovich Lansere and the elder sister of Alexander Benois, Ekaterina Nikolaevna, he grew up in a creative environment and, not without the influence of the World of Art, made the 18th century his main theme. But at the same time, as Dobuzhinsky recalled, “he was rarely at Diaghilev’s, he seemed somehow not in the“ tone ”of the whole atmosphere - /... / I liked him and the friendliness, akin to Benois, special modesty and at the same time “openness” and some nobility. And in appearance he was like this: slender, with a beautiful long face, with a sharp profile and clear eyes. The fact that he painted with his courageous and strong hands - his strong, as if iron line - impressed me extremely.
Paintings by Lansere dedicated to the Peter the Great era and views of old St. Petersburg - “Petersburg at the beginning of the 18th century. The Building of the Twelve Colleges”, “Boat of Peter I”, “Walk on the Pier”, “Old Nikolsky Market in St. Petersburg”, “Ships of Peter the Great” perfectly convey the atmosphere of St. Petersburg under construction, its citizens and even the weather with strong winds and cloudy days. The image of St. Petersburg of the first quarter of the 18th century, created by the artist in the drawing for the postcard of the Community of St. Eugenia - “The Old Winter Palace in the middle of the 18th century” is a special penetration into the Petrine era: the bridge across the Winter Canal opens up a view of the old Winter Palace of Peter. Lansere with great feeling, authentically, brings the viewer into the real world of a bygone era. In the painting "Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in Tsarskoye Selo" Lansere created a majestic image of the empress leaving the palace into the park with her large retinue.
Lansere's talent convinces us of the indisputable reality of what is happening, as if the artist saw this scene with his own eyes. A painter and draftsman, he worked as an illustrator, theater artist, interior designer. He also decorated the World of Art magazine with vignettes, headpieces and endings, and created his own symbol of the World of Art - the image of the winged horse Pegasus flying over the expanses of the earth. Lansere's graphic skills developed in line with the achievements of the World of Art. The skill of all the artists of the "World of Art" was also manifested in the design of the book. The desire to bring the drawing into line with the book page, to subordinate it to the plane of the sheet - this was a new understanding of the laws of illustration. If Benois and Dobuzhinsky included motifs of the 18th or early 19th centuries in their vignettes and screensavers, Somov - floral ornaments, and Bakst went from ancient motifs, then Lansere also turned to fantastic images - dragons, fabulous snakes. In 1911-1914, Lansere became interested in illustrating Leo Tolstoy's story "Hadji Murad" The story was published after the death of the writer. Lansere went to the Caucasus to see the places where the events described in the story took place, and truthfully depict the action. “Therefore, the first stage of work on illustrations was almost scientific, exploratory in nature,” the researcher writes. “Lanceray collected iconographic material, studied /…/ memoirs.” The action of the story takes place not only in the Caucasus, but also in St. Petersburg, which determined the stylist of the drawings. Illustrations on the theme of the Caucasus are solved in a picturesque, emotional manner, as, for example, in the drawing "Hadji Murad descends from the mountains", and the artist depicted the view of St. Petersburg - Palace Square - in a clear graphic manner, corresponding to the architecture framing the square. In the future, Lansere worked mainly as an illustrator and theater artist. Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky also became the most prominent representative of the World of Art, despite the fact that he joined the association a little later.
Dobuzhinsky was born in Novgorod, in the family of a general. His childhood passed in St. Petersburg. He studied at the university at the Faculty of Law, then, for several years, at a private art school in Munich. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Dobuzhinsky entered the Ministry of Railways, which did not interfere with his painting. His old acquaintance from his studies in Munich, Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar, introduced him to Diaghilev and Benois. “My personal acquaintance with the World of Art circle happened when the magazine was already in full bloom, in the third year of its existence,” Dobuzhinsky recalled. - /.../ On the same day, Grabar brought me to both Diaghilev and Benois. Benois at that time was busy editing the magazine Artistic Treasures of Russia and, although he was the "soul" of the World of Art, he visited Diaghilev relatively rarely, and I met him in the editorial office of his magazine. Diaghilev's apartment, where the editorial office was, was a typical St. Petersburg "master's" apartment, with large windows overlooking the Fontanka. On Tuesdays, he had staff meetings. I began attending these meetings weekly. It was crowded and very lively. In the dining room, at the tea table with dryers, by the samovar, the nanny Dunya, ... (immortalized by Bakst in the same portrait with Diaghilev), was in charge, who gave the dining room a very sweet and unexpected comfort. Everyone shook hands with her. These meetings were just friendly meetings, and on these Tuesdays the magazine itself was the least talked about. It was done somewhere “behind the scenes” and, as it were, at home: Diaghilev himself and Filosofov did all the work, for a long time there was no secretary (then only a modest student Grishkovsky appeared). Bakst right there, at Diaghilev's, in the back room was also engaged in "dirty work" - he retouched photographs for clichés, even made his patterned inscriptions for the magazine, etc. In a small room near the front there was a warehouse of magazine issues, with which Diaghilev's footman was fiddling - blackish Vasily Zuykov, flying around St. Petersburg with all sorts of editorial assignments. We see that Dobuzhinsky's memories of the atmosphere prevailing in the editorial office are continued by the story of another participant in meetings and meetings in Diaghilev's apartment, the writer P.P. Pertsov, cited above. And this atmosphere, saturated with creativity and energy, rallied such different people and contributed to the birth of a unique magazine and the development of the creativity of all the leaders of the association. About his acquaintance with Benoit, Dobuzhinsky says: “On the same memorable November day in 1902, Grabar, before bringing me to Diaghilev, introduced me to Alexander / N / Nikolaevich / Benois. This first meeting was in the editorial office of the journal Artistic Treasures of Russia, which was then edited by Benois /.../ In Benois, I thought I would meet an arrogant, ironic person, as I imagined him from his poisonous and intelligent critical articles, or an important "art connoisseur" who will immediately crush me with his learning. Instead, I saw the sweetest and most cheerful friendliness and attention, which both amazed and captivated me in Benois, and all my worries immediately disappeared. Benoit was then in his thirties, but he looked rather old-fashioned, round-shouldered, even “played like a grandfather” a little, had a fair bald head, beard, pince-nez with a drawstring, and was rather baggy (like Serov). All this was unexpected for me, I naively wanted, knowing him from his paintings, that in his appearance there was a correspondence with the elegant age that he liked to portray! But this ridiculous "disappointment" lasted only the first moment. Benois knew very little about me, only what Grabar could tell him, and he saw only a few of my works. But he spoke to me as an equal in our common tastes, and his confidence made me seem to be "his own" for him and most of all immediately brought me closer to him. He immediately gave me the first order - to make one vignette in a magazine and draw some inscriptions. Very soon I began to visit Benois in his small apartment on Ofitserskaya Street, where I was captivated by her extraordinary comfort and the prevailing sweet and warm nepotism /... / He himself was a true "storehouse" of knowledge, and communication with him, the smartest and most charming interlocutor, was my real “art university” /…/ Benois really introduced me to the 18th century, which at one time had a very strong effect on my imagination.” Dobuzhinsky's talent manifested itself, like other artists of the "World of Art", in different forms: he is known as an illustrator, painter and theater decorator. M. V. Dobuzhinsky, like A. N. Benois and A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, captured the architecture of St. Petersburg, while his main interest lay in the area not of the front, but of modern poor St. Petersburg with its low houses, courtyards, outskirts.
Dobuzhinsky owns a work on a retrospective theme, permeated with subtle irony and full of peculiar charm - "Province of the 1830s".
The picture takes us back to the times of Pushkin and Gogol. Most of all, Dobuzhinsky worked as an illustrator and theater artist. Dobuzhinsky illustrated the works of M. Yu. Lermontov, F. M. Dostoevsky, G. Kh. Andersen and much more. He was also a master of graphic portraits in pencil, ink or watercolor, sketches and caricatures. Among his works of this genre, the portrait of the writer and art critic Konstantin Alexandrovich Syunnerberg, called by Grabar "The Man with Glasses", is especially famous.
Syunnerberg was a friend of Dobuzhinsky, and since few people know about this person in our time, we provide information about him from the book "Memoirs" by the artist himself. “He was an extremely educated person and a real “European” (Swede by blood). Some inner elegance and aristocracy was attractive in him, but in appearance he could seem like a “biscuit” and a “man in a case”. He was thin, almost skinny, wore a neatly trimmed beard, was clean to the point of disgust, and he had amazingly beautiful hands. He was all “buttoned up”, as it were, even his glasses with bluish lenses were like his “shield”, and when he took them off, he seemed like a completely different person /... / It was always interesting to talk with him, both of us were interested in modern poetry (he himself wrote poetry), and our conversations at his home were especially fascinating /.../ Konstantin Alexandrovich was married to a very sweet, beautiful, full of burning Varvara Mikhailovna, whom my wife soon met and became close to. Their apartment was not far from ours, and we often went to each other /…/ I was always attracted by the wide view from the window of this apartment to vegetable gardens with verdant ridges, to black piles of firewood, some kind of backyards and endless fences and to the walls of distant colorful houses with factory chimneys behind. And I painted this view many times, and against this background, a few years later, I made a large generational portrait of him. The portrait was painted in 1905-1906, at the most disturbing time, when the artist responded with his participation in revolutionary magazines to the shooting of a workers' demonstration in January 1905. Anxiety is felt in the portrait, reflecting the mood of the artist himself. A constant participant in the exhibitions of the World of Art, Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, was born in St. Petersburg, in the family of a comrade chief prosecutor, St. Synod.
Recall that we place her portrait by Serov. Anna Petrovna studied at the Academy of Arts under I. E. Repin and the engraver V. V. Mate. “There was a very strange combination of graceful fragility in her, which affected her somewhat painfully ugly head tilted to one side, and at the same time some kind of internal hardness. This was expressed in that portrait of Somov. The strength was also in what she did: it was not for nothing that she devoted herself to such an unfeminine business, wood engraving, the very technique of which does not allow any approximation or formlessness. At the same time, this art of hers was so far from any dryness. She took up Petersburg themes before me,” wrote Dobuzhinsky, “and was able to convey his landscapes with special intimacy.” Ostroumova-Lebedeva became a famous engraver. For several years she lived abroad, in Paris she communicated with Somov and Benois, became a member of the World of Art. Her works dedicated to the famous palace and park ensembles of Pavlovsk and Tsarskoye Selo and, of course, St. Petersburg gained fame. She captured the arch of "New Holland" - a mysterious old corner of St. Petersburg, and one of the most beautiful places in the capital - the Exchange columns overlooking the fortress and much more.
The activities of the "World of Art" attracted many, especially young artists. These include Valentin Alexandrovich Serov. The son of a famous composer, Alexander Nikolaevich Serov, he was born in St. Petersburg. In the 1880s he studied with P. P. Chistyakov at the Academy of Arts, which he did not find it necessary to finish. Serov was a member of the Council of the Academy of Arts and the Tretyakov Gallery. Already in the late 1890s, he became close to the artists of the "World of Art" and, perhaps, not without their influence, he turned to the theater and to historical painting on the theme of the 18th century. Dobuzhinsky recalled Serov: “At meetings, he always sat aside, listened and, without letting go of his cigarettes, drew something in an album. He also made evil, very similar caricatures of those present, especially Bakst, with whom he was especially friendly. Next to him, he seemed casually dressed, he was stocky, with an unusually sharp look from under his brows. For the most part, in this noisy company, he kept quiet, but one remark of his, always sharp, either amused everyone or aroused serious attention. Everyone valued Serov’s opinion very much and considered him as an indisputable authority, he judged everything calmly and was a real common “restraining center”. Benois once called him "the conscience of the World of Art." I gradually “got used to” him, and understood the love that everyone had for him, as well as for his art. Serov managed to play a crucial role in the fate of the journal. In 1900 he painted a portrait of Emperor Nicholas II.
“Sessions lasted a very long time, since Serov used to make a sketch, erase it clean and next time write again - until the work satisfied him. So the portrait of Nicholas II was made for the last time, it seems, at the thirty-fifth or so session. Involuntarily, the artist and his model began to talk to each other. By the way, I remember an excerpt from these conversations, told by Serov in the editorial office, - writes the writer P.P. Pertsov, - they were talking about finances. “I don’t understand anything in finance,” Serov said. “So do I,” his interlocutor confessed. During the long hours of these sessions, Serov had time to talk about the journal, its tasks and the critical situation. The result was the appointment of a subsidy from "own" funds of 30,000 rubles a year. This made it possible to publish the magazine as exquisitely as it was published.
In 1902, the young artist Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich also joined the association. Roerich's main interest lay in the field of pagan and Christian Rus' and the culture of ancient India, the study of which he devoted many years. Roerich first took part in the Moscow exhibition "World of Art" in 1902 and subsequently participated in other exhibitions, and also designed several performances in Diaghilev's entreprise. After leaving Russia in 1918, Roerich lived and worked in America, where he founded several educational institutions, and from the end of the 1920s, having completed his famous expeditions to India, Mongolia and Tibet, he remained forever in India. Roerich was associated with the "World of Art" educational activities. "The magazine" World of Art "became a new stage in the history of art criticism, and in the study of the history of art in Russia," the research notes. – Indeed, the range of problems he touches on is so extensive, his short-lived activity is so energetic that any researcher of culture not only at the turn of the century, but also of the subsequent time, turning to the history of painting, music or art criticism, will not be able to avoid such a phenomenon as “The World arts."
The magazine introduced the public to the work of modern artists, and thereby contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about contemporary artistic life. Separate issues were dedicated to Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1899, No. 1), Ilya Efimovich Repin (1899, No. 10), Elena Dmitrievna Polenova (1899, No. 18), Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin (1899, No. 21–22), Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov ( 1900, No. 1–2), Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (1900, No. 3–4), Isaac Ilyich Levitan (1901, No. 1), Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1903, No. 10–11). In May 1899, the public widely celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of A. S. Pushkin. At that time, the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" with watercolors by A. N. Benois and a three-volume edition of the works of A. S. Pushkin, illustrated by V. A. Serov, M. A. Vrubel, V. M. Vasnetsov and members of the "World of Art" - K. A. Somov and A. N. Benois. A special issue of the magazine "World of Art" was dedicated to A. S. Pushkin with articles by Diaghilev on drawings for the poet's works. The pages of the magazine contained photographs of monuments of ancient Russian architecture, wooden utensils, and objects of applied art made by Elena Dmitrievna Polenova and Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov in the old Russian style . Of particular importance were the reproductions of paintings by artists of the 18th century, whom Stasov considered only imitators of Western European masters. In essence, the World of Art opened to the public a whole century of the history of Russian culture, almost forgotten by the end of the 19th century. The magazine introduced readers to Western European art of the Middle Ages and modern times. Many issues also contained articles not only about artistic, but also about musical life, notes on foreign exhibitions. To discuss the composition of the next issue of the magazine, friends gathered in Diaghilev's apartment at 11, Fontanka Embankment, where he lived from the winter of 1900-1901. Diaghilev was the central figure of the "World of Art". Alexandre Benois recalled: “He was the only one among artists who did not create anything artistic, and he even abandoned his composition and singing; but we, the artists, did not cease to consider him our own, because, just as we painted pictures and scenery, composed ballets and operas, wrote articles and books, so he, with the same inspiration, with the same burning, made up a magazine, arranged exhibitions, organized performances "of global importance". Publishing work was accompanied by the organization of exhibitions. All works for the exhibition were chosen by Diaghilev himself. Sometimes it happened that the artist did not want to exhibit any thing, considering it unsuccessful, but Diaghilev insisted, and the artist gave up. And then it turned out that it was the "rejected" picture that was successful and entered into any large collection. And sometimes it happened the other way around - Diaghilev would never agree to take the painting to the exhibition, despite the desire of the artist. Ostroumova-Lebedeva: recalled: “Sergey Pavlovich was inexhaustible with energy, amazing perseverance and perseverance, and most importantly, he had the ability to make people work with enthusiasm, with enthusiasm, as he himself set an example of full devotion of himself to achieve the intended goal. There used to be a great rush at the exhibition, Diaghilev, like a whirlwind, rushes through it, keeping pace everywhere. He doesn’t lie down at night, but, having taken off his jacket, he carries pictures along with the workers, uncorks the boxes, hangs them up, hangs them out - in sweat, but cheerfully, infecting everyone around him with enthusiasm. Artel workers implicitly obeyed him, and when he addressed them with a playful word, they smiled broadly, from the bottom of their mouths, and sometimes laughed out loud. And everything was on time. Sergei Pavlovich left home in the morning, took a bath, and, elegantly dressed like a dandy, was the first to open the exhibition. Night work did not affect him. His dark, smooth hair was parted very carefully. A white strand of hair stood out in front of her forehead. A full ruddy face with large brown eyes shone with intelligence, self-satisfaction, energy. He was persistent and charming when he wanted to get something from someone, and almost always succeeded. On January 28, 1900, the 2nd exhibition of the "World of Art" took place at the Museum of the School of Baron A. L. Stieglitz. Only Russian artists were presented at this exhibition: the members of the World of Art and participants of previous exhibitions - Benois, Vrubel, Serov, Somov, Levitan. Works by artists of the 18th and early 19th centuries were also shown: Borovikovsky, Bryullov and Kiprensky. Thus, the organizers of the exhibition emphasized the enduring significance of the art of these painters for the history of Russian culture.
In November of the same year, at the request of Serov, members of the World of Art staged another exhibition with the same name in the halls of the Academy of Arts. She was charitable in favor of needy students. The World of Art exhibitions have always been a significant event in the life of St. Petersburg. They were eagerly awaited, prepared with enthusiasm, and hotly discussed. The very design of these exhibitions was not similar to the well-known "Mobile", "Spring" and others, where paintings hung monotonously on the walls, and sculptural works, as an addition, stood in the corners of the hall. In arranging exhibitions, Diaghilev showed great taste and ingenuity. The paintings were placed on special stands, the halls were carefully decorated with flowers. For each artist, a special background, special frames were selected.
On January 5, 1901, the 3rd exhibition of the World of Art opened in the Titian Hall of the Academy of Arts. Diaghilev designed it in an unusual way - he divided the hall into a series of cozy white rooms, where the ceilings were covered with white muslin, and flowers stood in front of the paintings. There was also a posthumous exhibition of works by I. I. Levitan, who died in July 1900 at the age of thirty-nine. Sixty-five of his works were exhibited at the exhibition. In the IV volume of the magazine "World of Art" for 1900, Diaghilev placed an article dedicated to the memory of the artist who died so early. Diaghilev recalled: “The figure of Levitan rises with special majesty and touching / .... / no one before him in all of Russian painting knew how to express on the canvas all the endless charm of those various sensations that each of us experienced with such bliss on a cool morning or in the rays warm evening in a wretched northern Russian village. Further, Diaghilev writes about "Pushkin's understanding of Russian nature in all his work", that "all Moscow landscape painters fell under the spell of his talent." phenomena of the artistic life of Russia ". In December 1901, in Moscow, several St. Petersburg and Moscow painters, among whom were participants in the World of Art, opened an exhibition called" 36 ". The initiators of this exhibition association were Muscovites - Apollinary Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, Vasily Vasilyevich Perepletchikov and others, mainly landscape painters, graduates of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. They decided to oppose themselves to both the Wanderers and the World of Art, since many did not like the “dictatorship” of Diaghilev, and the unequal position of young people took place in the Association of the Wanderers. But this association did not last long - only two years. Having arranged a second exhibition in December of the following year, 1902, it ceased to exist. The first exhibition was attended by Benois, Somov and Lansere. But they did not participate in the second exhibition. After the closing of the second exhibition "36" in February 1903, Muscovites united with the World of Art in a new association - the "Union of Russian Artists". This organization consisted of Moscow painters and members of the "World of Art". Soyuz exhibitions were held in many cities of Russia and abroad. Briefly, the history of the "Union" is as follows: joint exhibitions with the "World of Art" continued until 1908. Then the Petersburgers separated from the Muscovites due to mutual criticism, and since 1910 their history has taken different paths.
Meanwhile, the exhibitions of the World of Art continued, which Diaghilev continued to organize. On March 9, 1902, the 4th exhibition took place in the halls of the Passage. Then Sergei Pavlovich decided to transfer her to Moscow, and in November of the same year the exhibition was opened in Moscow, in the halls of the Stroganov School. At the Moscow exhibition of the World of Art, new works by Serov, Somov, Vrubel were shown. For the first time participated in the exhibition "The World of Art", as already mentioned, Roerich, whose work "The City is being built" (from the life of the ancient Slavs) was acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery. The same exhibition was attended by Moscow painters from among the "36" - Alexander Yakovlevich Golovin, Leonid Osipovich Pasternak, Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar. The World of Art exhibition in Moscow was a huge success. Questions for the 3rd chapter: Artists - organizers and figures of the World of Art.
1. Name the artists - organizers and main figures of the "World of Art" association.
2. What is the Benois family known for?
3. What was the first book published by A. N. Benois?
4. What historical era did A. N. Benois like to portray?
5. Name the paintings by A. N. Benois from the life of Louis XIV.
6. Tell us about the paintings by A. N. Benois dedicated to Peter I.
7. What was the name of the painting by A. N. Benois about Paul I?
8. What works of A. S. Pushkin were illustrated by A. N. Benois?
9. What do you remember from the book by A. N. Benois "ABC"?
10. What performances did A. N. Benois design?
11. Who was the first to pay attention to the beauty of the architecture of St. Petersburg and its suburbs, and how did this manifest itself?
12. In what family was K. A. Somov born? Who was his father?
13. What talent distinguished K. A. Somov and his mother?
14. What was the new understanding of historical painting in the work of K. A. Somov? Describe the most characteristic of his paintings.
15. What are the features of the portraits of K. A. Somov? Name the most famous portraits.
16. Where did L. S. Bakst study after leaving the Academy of Arts?
17. Name the most famous works of L. S. Bakst.
18. What are the remarkable portraits of A. N. Benois and S. P. Diaghilev by L. S. Bakst?
19. Tell us about the characteristic features of Art Nouveau in the painting by L. S. Bakst “Dinner. Lady with oranges.
20. How did the trip to Greece affect the work of L. S. Bakst?
21. Describe the painting by L. S. Bakst "Terror antiquus".
22. Name the paintings by E. E. Lansere characteristic of the "World of Art".
23. In what types of art did M. V. Dobuzhinsky work?
24. What new things did the artists of the World of Art bring to the design of the book?
25. Tell us about the works of A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva. What technique did she use?
26. What was the name of the joint exhibitions of the World of Art with Muscovites? How long did they last?
"World of Art" - an organization that arose in 1898 and united the masters of the highest artistic culture, the artistic elite of Russia of those years. The beginning of the "World of Art" was laid by the evenings in the house of A. Benois, dedicated to art, literature and music. The people who gathered there were united by their love for beauty and the belief that it can only be found in art, since reality is ugly. Having arisen, also as a reaction to the petty topics of the “late” Wanderers, the World of Art soon turned into one of the major phenomena of Russian artistic culture. Almost all famous artists participated in this association - Benois, Somov, Bakst, Lansere, Golovin, Dobuzhinsky, Vrubel, Serov, Korovin, Levitan, Nesterov, Ryabushkin, Roerich, Kustodiev, Petrov-Vodkin, Malyavin, even Larionov and Goncharova. Of great importance for the formation of this association was the personality of Diaghilev, a patron and organizer of exhibitions, and later - the impresario of Russian ballet and opera tours abroad (Russian Seasons, which introduced Europe to the work of Chaliapin, Pavlova, Fokine, Nijinsky and others. ). At the initial stage of the existence of the World of Art, Diaghilev arranged an exhibition of English and German watercolors in St. Petersburg in 1897 and an exhibition of Russian and Finnish artists in 1898. Under his editorship from 1899 to 1904, a magazine was published under the same name, consisting of two departments: artistic and literary (the latter - of a religious and philosophical plan, D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius collaborated in it before the opening of his journal "New Way" in 1902. Then the religious and philosophical direction in the journal "World of Art" gave way place of the theory of aesthetics, and the journal in this part became a platform for the symbolists, headed by A. Bely and V. Bryusov). The journal had the profile of a literary and artistic almanac. Abundantly supplied with illustrations, at the same time it was one of the first examples of the art of book design - an area of artistic activity in which the "World of Art" acted as true innovators. Type design, page composition, intros, vignettes - everything was carefully thought out.
In the editorial articles of the first issues of the journal, the main provisions of the "World of Art" were clearly formulated about the autonomy of art, that the problems of modern culture are exclusively problems of artistic form, and that the main task of art is to educate the aesthetic tastes of Russian society, primarily through acquaintance with works world art. We must give them their due: thanks to the World of Art, English and German art was really appreciated in a new way, and most importantly, Russian painting of the 18th century and the architecture of St. Petersburg classicism became a discovery for many. "World of Art" fought for "criticism as an art", proclaiming the ideal not of a scientist and art critic, but of a critic-artist who has a high professional culture and erudition. The type of such a critic was embodied by one of the creators of The World of Art, A.N. Benoit.
One of the main places in the journal's activity was the promotion of the achievements of the latest Russian and, in particular, Western European art. Parallel to this, the World of Art introduces the practice of joint exhibitions of Russian and Western European artists. The first exhibition of the "World of Art" brought together, in addition to Russians, artists from France, England, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Finland, etc. Both St. Petersburg and Moscow painters and graphic artists took part in it. But the crack between these two schools - St. Petersburg and Moscow - was outlined almost from the first day. In March 1903, the last, fifth exhibition of the World of Art closed, in December 1904 the last issue of the magazine World of Art was published. Most of the artists went over to the organized "Union of Russian Artists", writers - and the magazine "New Way" opened by Merezhkovsky's group, Moscow symbolists united around the magazine "Bases", musicians organized "Evenings of Contemporary Music", Diaghilev completely went into ballet and theater. His last significant work in the visual arts was a grandiose historical exhibition of Russian painting from iconography to the present in the Paris Autumn Salon of 1906, then exhibited in Berlin and Venice (1906). - 1907). In the section of modern painting, the main place was occupied by "World of Art". This was the first act of pan-European recognition of the "World of Art", as well as the discovery of Russian painting of the 18th - early 20th centuries. in general for Western criticism and a real triumph of Russian art.
In 1910 an attempt was made to breathe life back into the World of Art. In the environment of painters at this time there is a delimitation. Benois and his supporters break with the "Union of Russian Artists", with the Muscovites, and leave this organization, but they understand that the secondary association called "World of Art" has nothing to do with the first. Benois sadly states that "not reconciliation under the banner of beauty has now become a slogan in all spheres of life, but a fierce struggle." Fame came to the “World of Art” members, but the “World of Arts”, in fact, no longer existed, although formally the association existed until the beginning of the 20s - with a complete lack of integrity, on unlimited tolerance and flexibility of positions, reconciling artists from Rylov to Tatlin, from Grabar to Chagall. How can one not remember the Impressionists here? The community that was once born in Gleyre's workshop, in the "Salon of the Rejected", at the tables of the Guerbois cafe and which was to have a huge impact on all European painting, also fell apart on the threshold of its recognition. The second generation of "World of Art" is less busy with the problems of easel painting, their interests lie in graphics, mainly books, and theatrical and decorative arts, in both areas they made a real artistic reform. In the second generation of “World of Art” there were also major individuals (Kustodiev, Sudeikin, Serebryakova, Chekhonin, Grigoriev, etc.), but there were no innovative artists at all, because since the 10s the World of Art has been overwhelmed by a wave of epigonism. Therefore, when describing the World of Art, we will mainly talk about the first stage of the existence of this association and its core - Benois, Somov, Bakst.
Arguing with academic-salon art, on the one hand, and with late wandering, on the other, World of Art proclaims the rejection of direct social tendentiousness as something that allegedly fetters the freedom of individual creative self-manifestation in art and infringes on the rights of the artistic form. Subsequently, in 1906, the leading artist and ideologist of the group A. Benois will declare the slogan of individualism, with which the "World of Art" came out at the beginning, "artistic heresy." The individualism that was proclaimed by the "World of Art" at the beginning of his speeches was nothing more than upholding the rights of freedom of creative play. "Miriskusnikov" was not satisfied with the one-sided specialization inherent in the fine arts of the second half of the 19th century in the field of easel painting alone, and within it - in certain genres and in certain (relevant) subjects "with a trend". Everything that the artist loves and worships in the past and present has the right to be embodied in art, regardless of the topic of the day - such was the creative program of the "World of Art". But this seemingly broad program had a significant limitation. Since, as the "World of Art" believed, only admiration for beauty gives rise to genuine creative enthusiasm, and immediate reality, they believed, is alien to beauty, then the only pure source of beauty, and, consequently, inspiration, is art itself as the sphere of beauty par excellence. Art, thus, becomes a kind of prism through which the "World of Art" examine the past, present and future. Life interests them only insofar as it has already expressed itself in art. Therefore, in their work, they act as interpreters of already perfect, ready-made beauty. Hence the predominant interest of the artists of the "World of Art" to the past, especially to the eras of the dominance of a single style, which makes it possible to single out the main, dominant and expressing the spirit of the era "line of beauty" - the geometric schematics of classicism, the whimsical curl of rococo, rich forms and chiaroscuro baroque, etc.
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870-1960) was the leading master and aesthetic legislator of the "World of Art". The talent of this artist was distinguished by extraordinary versatility, and the volume of professional knowledge and the level of general culture were unparalleled in the highly educated circle of figures of the "World of Art". Painter and easel graphic artist, illustrator and book designer, master of theatrical scenery, director, author of ballet librettos, Benois was at the same time an outstanding historian of Russian and Western European art, a theorist and sharp publicist, an insightful critic, a major museum figure, an incomparable connoisseur of theater, music and choreography. . However, just listing the spheres of culture, deeply studied by Alexander Benois, does not yet give a correct idea of the spiritual image of the artist. The essential thing is that there was nothing pedantic about his astonishing erudition. The main feature of his character should be called an all-consuming love for art; versatility of knowledge served only as an expression of this love. In all his activities, in science, art criticism, in every movement of his thought, Benois always remained an artist. Contemporaries saw in him the living embodiment of the spirit of artistry.
But there was one more feature in Benois' appearance, sharply noticed in the memoirs of Andrei Bely, who felt in the artist, first of all, “a diplomat of the responsible party of the World of Art, leading a great cultural cause and sacrificing a lot for the sake of the whole; A.N. Benois was the main politician in it; Diaghilev was an impresario, entrepreneur, director; Benois gave, so to speak, a staged text ... ". The artistic policy of Benois united around him all the figures of the "World of Art". He was not only a theorist, but also the inspirer of the tactics of the "World of Art", the creator of its changeable aesthetic programs. The inconsistency and inconsistency of the ideological positions of the journal is largely due to the inconsistency and inconsistency of Benois's aesthetic views at that stage. However, this inconsistency itself, reflecting the contradictions of the era, gives the artist's personality a special historical interest.
Benois possessed, in addition, a remarkable pedagogical talent and generously shared his spiritual wealth not only with friends, but also with “everyone who wanted to listen to him. It is this circumstance that determines the strength of Benois's influence on the entire circle of artists of the World of Art, who, according to the correct remark of A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, passed "with him, unnoticed by himself, the school of artistic taste, culture and knowledge."
By birth and upbringing, Benois belonged to the St. Petersburg artistic intelligentsia. For generations, art was a hereditary profession in his family. Maternal great-grandfather of Benois K.A. Kavos was a composer and conductor, his grandfather was an architect who built a lot in St. Petersburg and Moscow; the artist's father was also a major architect, the elder brother was famous as a watercolor painter. The consciousness of the young Benois developed in an atmosphere of art and artistic interests.
Subsequently, recalling his childhood, the artist especially insistently emphasized two spiritual streams, two categories of experiences that powerfully influenced the formation of his views and, in a certain sense, determined the direction of all his future activities. The first and strongest of them is connected with theatrical impressions. From the earliest years and throughout his life, Benoit experienced a feeling that can hardly be called otherwise than the cult of the theater. The concept of "artistic" was invariably associated by Benoit with the concept of "theatricality"; it was in the art of the theater that he saw the only opportunity to create in modern conditions a creative synthesis of painting, architecture, music, plastic arts and poetry, to realize that organic fusion of the arts, which seemed to him the highest goal of artistic culture.
The second category of adolescent experiences that left an indelible imprint on Benoit's aesthetic views arose from the impressions of country residences and St. Petersburg suburbs - Pavlovsk, the old dacha of Kushelev-Bezborodko on the right bank of the Neva and, above all, Peterhof, and its numerous monuments of art. “From these ... Peterhof impressions ..., probably, all my further cult of Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo, Versailles came about,” the artist later recalled. The early impressions and experiences of Alexandre Benois go back to the origins of that bold reassessment of the art of the 18th century, which, as already indicated above, is one of the greatest merits of the "World of Art".
The artistic tastes and views of the young Benois were formed in opposition to his family, which adhered to conservative "academic" views. The decision to become an artist matured very early in him; but after a short stay at the Academy of Arts, which brought only disappointment, Benois preferred to get a legal education at St. Petersburg University, and to go through professional art training on his own, according to his own program.
Subsequently, hostile criticism has repeatedly called Benoit an amateur. This was hardly fair: daily hard work, constant training in drawing from nature, an exercise in fantasy in working on compositions, combined with an in-depth study of art history, gave the artist a confident skill that was not inferior to the skill of his peers who studied at the Academy. With the same perseverance, Benois prepared for the work of an art historian, studying the Hermitage, studying special literature, traveling to historical cities and museums in Germany, Italy and France.
The painting by Alexander Benois "The Walk of the King" (1906, State Tretyakov Gallery) is one of the most striking and typical examples of painting in the "World of Art". This work is part of a cycle of paintings resurrecting scenes of Versailles life from the era of the Sun King. The cycle of 1905-1906, in turn, is a continuation of an earlier Versailles suite of 1897-1898, entitled "The Last Walks of Louis XIV", begun in Paris under the influence of the memoirs of the Duke de Saint-Simon. In Versailles landscapes, Benois merged the historical reconstruction of the 17th century, the artist's modern impressions, his perception of French classicism, French engraving. Hence the clear composition, clear spatiality, the grandeur and cold rigor of rhythms, the opposition between the grandiosity of art monuments and the smallness of human figures, which are only staffage among them - the first series entitled "The Last Walks of Louis XIV".
Benois's Versailles is a kind of landscape elegy, a beautiful world presented to the eyes of modern man in the form of a desert stage with dilapidated scenery of a long-played performance. Previously magnificent, full of sounds and colors, this world now seems a little ghostly, shrouded in graveyard silence. It is no coincidence that Benois depicts the Versailles park in the autumn and at the hour of bright evening twilight in The King's Walk, when the leafless "architecture" of a regular French garden against the background of a bright sky turns into a transparent, ephemeral building. The effect of this picture is as if we saw a real big stage in a sharp distance from the balcony of the last tier, and then, having examined this world reduced to puppet sizes through binoculars, we would combine these two impressions into a single spectacle. The distant, thus, approaches and comes to life, remaining distant, the size of a toy theater. As in romantic fairy tales, at the appointed hour, a certain action is played out on this stage: the king in the center talks with the maid of honor, accompanied by courtiers marching at precisely specified intervals behind them and in front of them. All of them, like figurines of an old clockwork clock, slide along the edge of the pond to the light sounds of a forgotten minuet. The theatrical nature of this retrospective fantasy is subtly revealed by the artist himself: he revives the figurines of frisky cupids inhabiting the fountain - they comically pretend to be a noisy audience, freely located at the foot of the stage and staring at the puppet show played by people.
The motive of ceremonial exits, trips, walks, as a characteristic accessory of the everyday ritual of bygone times, was one of the favorites of the "World of Art". We also meet with a peculiar variation of this motif in “Peter I” by V.A. Serov, and in the picture by G.E. Lansere "Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in Tsarskoye Selo" (1905, GGT). Unlike Benois, with his aestheticization of the rationalistic geometry of classicism, Lansere is more attracted to the sensual pathos of the Russian Baroque, the sculptural materiality of forms. The image of portly Elizabeth and her rosy-cheeked courtiers, dressed with rude pomp, is devoid of that shade of theatrical mystification that is characteristic of A. Benois' King's Walk.
Benois turned into a semi-fairy, toy king none other than Louis XIV, whose reign was distinguished by incredible splendor and splendor, and was the heyday of French statehood. In this deliberate reduction of past greatness, there is a kind of philosophical program - everything serious and great in its turn is destined to become a comedy and a farce. But the irony of the "World of Art" does not mean only nihilistic skepticism. The purpose of this irony is not at all to discredit the past, but just the opposite - the rehabilitation of the past in the face of the possibility of a nihilistic attitude towards it through an artistic demonstration that the autumn of bygone cultures is beautiful in its own way, like their spring and summer. But in this way the special melancholy charm that marked the appearance of beauty among the “artificial worlds” was bought at the price of depriving this beauty of its connection with those periods when it appeared in the fullness of vital power and greatness. The aesthetics of the "World of Art" are alien to the categories of the great, sublime, beautiful; beautiful, elegant, graceful is more akin to her. In its ultimate expression, both of these moments - sober irony, bordering on naked skepticism, and aestheticism, bordering on sensitive exaltation - are combined in the work of the most complex of the masters of the group - K.A. Somov.
The activity of Benois, an art critic and art historian, who, together with Grabar, updated the methods, techniques and themes of Russian art history, is a whole stage in the history of art history (see "History of Painting of the 19th Century" by R. Muter - volume "Russian Painting", 1901-1902; "Russian School of Painting", edition of 1904; "Tsarskoe Selo in the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna", 1910; articles in the magazines "World of Art" and "Old Years", "Art Treasures of Russia" and etc.).
According to the unanimous recognition of his closest associates, as well as according to later criticism, Somov was the central figure among the artists of the "World of Art" in the first period of the history of this association. Representatives of the "World of Art" circle saw him as a great master. “The name of Somov is known to every educated person, not only in Russia, but throughout the world. This is a world size... For a long time he has already gone beyond the limits of both schools and eras, and even Russia and entered the world arena of a genius, ”the poet M. Kuzmin wrote about him. And this is not the only and not even the most enthusiastic review. If Diaghilev should be called the organizer and leader, and Benois - the ideological leader and main theorist of the new artistic movement, then Somov belonged at first to the role of the leading artist. The admiration of contemporaries is explained by the fact that it was in the work of Somov that the main pictorial principles were born and formed, which later became guiding for the entire group of the World of Art.
The biography of this master is very typical for the circle of the "World of Art". Konstantin Andreevich Somov (1869-1939) was the son of the curator of the Hermitage, a well-known art figure and collector. The atmosphere of art surrounded him from childhood. Somov's interest in painting, theater, literature and music arose very early and passed through his whole life. Upon leaving the gymnasium (1888), where his friendship with Alexander Benois and Philosophov began, the young Somov entered the Academy of Arts and, in contrast to all the other founders of the World of Art, spent almost eight years (1889-1897) there. He undertook a number of trips abroad - to Italy, France and Germany (1890, 1894, 1897-1898, 1899, 1905).
Unlike most of his colleagues in the "World of Art" Somov never taught, did not write articles, did not try to play any role in public circles. The life of the artist proceeded closed and solitary, among a few friends - artists, devoted only to work, reading, music and collecting antiquities.
Two characteristic features distinguish Somov's artistic personality. One of them is determined by his relatively early creative maturity. Somov was a skilled craftsman and a completely original artist when his peers Bakst and Benois were just beginning to look for an independent path in art. But this advantage soon turned into a disadvantage. Even the most sensitive contemporaries felt something painful in Somov's premature maturity. The second feature of Somov was sharply noticed by his friend and admirer S. Yaremich: “... Somov is by nature a powerful realist, akin to Vermeer-van Delft or Pieter de Goch, and the drama of his position lies in the bifurcation into which every outstanding Russian painter. On the one hand, life attracts and beckons him ..., on the other hand, the inconsistency of the general life with the life of the artist distracts him from the present ... There is hardly any other artist, so gifted with the ability of the sharpest and there is so much room in his work for purely decorative tasks and the past.” It could be assumed that Somov's works are the more significant, the closer they remain to living, concretely seen nature and the less they feel the bifurcation and isolation from real life, which the critic speaks of. However, it is not. The very duality of the artist's consciousness, so typical of his era, becomes a source of sharp and peculiar creative ideas.
One of the most famous portraits of Somov is “The Lady in Blue. Portrait of Elizaveta Mikhailovna Martynova (1897-1900, State Tretyakov Gallery), is the artist's program work. Dressed in an old dress, reminiscent of Pushkin's Tatyana "with a sad thought in her eyes, with a French book in her hands", the heroine of the Somov portrait, with an expression of fatigue, longing, inability to struggle in life, all the more betrays the dissimilarity with her poetic prototype, forcing her mentally feel the depth of the abyss separating the past from the present. It is in this work of Somov, where the artificial is intricately intertwined with the genuine, the game - with seriousness, where a living person looks bewildered and questioning, helpless and abandoned among fake gardens, the pessimistic background of the world of art "abandonment into the past" and the impossibility for modern man is expressed with emphasized frankness. to find there salvation from oneself, from one's real, not illusory sorrows.
Close to The Lady in Blue is the portrait painting Echoes of the Past (1903, paper on cardboard, watercolor, gouache, State Tretyakov Gallery), where Somov creates a poetic characterization of the fragile, anemic female beauty of a decadent model, refusing to convey real household signs of modernity. He dresses the models in ancient costumes, gives them the features of secret suffering, sadness and dreaminess, painful brokenness.
A brilliant portraitist, Somov in the second half of the 1900s creates a suite of pencil and watercolor portraits that present us with an artistic and artistic environment, well known to the artist and deeply studied by him, the intellectual elite of his time - V. Ivanov, Blok, Kuzmin, Sollogub, Lansere , Dobuzhinsky, etc. In portraits, he uses one general technique: on a white background - in a certain timeless sphere - he draws a face in which similarity is achieved not through naturalization, but by bold generalizations and apt selection of characteristic details. This lack of signs of time creates the impression of static, stiffness, coldness, almost tragic loneliness.
Somov's later works are pastoral and gallant festivities ("The Ridiculous Kiss", 1908, the State Russian Museum; "Walk of the Marquise", 1909, the State Russian Museum), "Colombina's Tongue" (1913-1915), full of caustic irony, spiritual emptiness, even hopelessness. Love scenes from the 18th - early 19th centuries. are always given with a touch of eroticism. The latter was especially evident in his porcelain figurines dedicated to the illusory pursuit of pleasure.
Love game - dates, notes, kisses in the alleys, arbors, trellises of regular gardens or in magnificently decorated boudoirs - the usual pastime of Somov heroes, who appear to us in powdered wigs, high hairstyles, embroidered camisoles and dresses with crinolines. But in the fun of Somov's paintings there is no genuine cheerfulness; people rejoice not because of the fullness of life, but because they know nothing else, sublime, serious and strict. This is not a merry world, but a world doomed to merriment, to a tiresome eternal holiday that turns people into puppets, a phantom pursuit of the pleasures of life.
Before anyone else in The World of Art, Somov turned to the themes of the past, to the interpretation of the 18th century. ("Letter", 1896; "Confidentialities", 1897), being the forerunner of Benois' Versailles landscapes. He is the first to create an surreal world, woven from the motifs of the nobility, estate and court culture and his own purely subjective artistic sensations, permeated with irony. The historicism of the "World of Art" was an escape from reality. Not the past, but its staging, longing for its irretrievability - this is their main motive. Not true fun, but a game of fun with kisses in the alleys - such is Somov.
The theme of the artificial world, a fake life, in which there is nothing significant and important, is the leading one in Somov's work. It has as its premise a deeply pessimistic assessment by the artist of the mores of modern bourgeois-aristocratic society, although it was Somov who was the most striking spokesman for the hedonistic tastes of this circle. Somovsky farce is the wrong side of the tragic worldview, which, however, rarely manifests itself in the choice of specially tragic plots.
Somov's painting techniques ensure consistent isolation of the world he depicts from the simple, artless. Somov's man is fenced off from natural nature by props of artificial gardens, walls upholstered with damask, silk screens, and soft sofas. It is no coincidence that Somov is especially willing to use the motives of artificial lighting (a series of "Fireworks" of the early 1910s). An unexpected flash of fireworks catches people in risky, randomly ridiculous, angular poses, plot motivating the symbolic assimilation of life to a puppet theater.
Somov worked a lot as a graphic artist, he designed S. Diaghilev's monograph on Levitsky, A. Benois's essay on Tsarskoe Selo. The book, as a single organism with its rhythmic and stylistic unity, was raised by him to an extraordinary height. Somov is not an illustrator, he “illustrates not a text, but an era, using a literary device as a springboard,” wrote art critic A.A. Sidorov.
The role of M.V. Dobuzhinsky in the history of the "World of Art" in its significance is not inferior to the role of the senior masters of this group, although he was not one of its founders and was not a member of the youthful circle of A.I. Benoit. Only in 1902 Dobuzhinsky's graphics appeared on the pages of the World of Art magazine, and only from 1903 did he begin to take part in exhibitions under the same name. But, perhaps, none of the artists who joined the named group in the first period of its activity came as close as Dobuzhinsky to understanding the ideas and principles of the new creative trend, and none of them contributed such a significant and original contribution to the development of the artistic method of the "World of Art".
Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky (1875-1957) was a man with a university education and broad cultural interests. He became addicted to drawing as a child and began to prepare early for the activity of the artist. Along with the fine arts, he was attracted to literature and history; he read a lot and used to illustrate what he read. The earliest artistic impressions that forever sunk into his memory were gleaned from children's books with illustrations by Bertal, G. Dore and V. Bush.
Graphics always came to Dobuzhinsky easier than painting. In his student years, he studied under the guidance of the Wanderer G. Dmitriev-Kavkazsky, who, however, did not have any influence on him. “Fortunately,” as the artist said, he did not get into the Academy of Arts and did not experience its impact at all. After graduating from the university, he went to study art in Munich and for three years (1899-1901) studied in the workshops of A. Ashbe and S. Holloshi, where I. Grabar, D. Kardovsky and some other Russian artists also worked. Here Dobuzhinsky completed his artistic education and formed his aesthetic tastes: he highly valued Manet and Degas, forever fell in love with the Pre-Raphaelites, but the German landscape painters of the late 19th century and the artists of the Simplicissimus had the strongest influence on him. The preparation and creative development of the young Dobuzhinsky quite organically brought him into contact with the "World of Art". Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Dobuzhinsky met with active support from Grabar and Benois, who highly appreciated his talent. In the early drawings of Dobuzhinsky (1902-1905), reminiscences of the Munich school are intertwined with the quite obvious influence of the senior masters of the World of Art, primarily Somov and Benois.
Dobuzhinsky among the artists of the "World of Art" stands out sharply for the thematic repertoire of works dedicated to the modern city. But just as in Somov and Benois the “spirit of the past” is expressed through the artistic style of the era, embodied in architecture, furniture, costumes, ornamentation, so Dobuzhinsky’s modern urban civilization expresses itself not in the actions and actions of people, but through the appearance of modern urban buildings. , in dense rows closing the horizon, blocking the sky, crossed out by factory chimneys, stunning innumerable rows of windows. For Dobuzhinsky, the modern city appears as a realm of monotony and standard, erasing and absorbing human individuality.
Just as programmatic as for Somov "The Lady in Blue" is for Dobuzhinsky's painting "The Man with Glasses. Portrait of Konstantin Alexandrovich Syunnerberg” (1905-1906, State Tretyakov Gallery). Against the background of the window, behind which, at some distance, in front of an abandoned wasteland, a city block is piled up, depicted from the back, unpresentable side, where factory chimneys and bare firewalls of large tenement houses rise above the old houses, the figure of a thin man in a jacket dangling on his stooped shoulders looms. The flickering lenses of his glasses, coinciding with the outlines of the eye sockets, give the impression of empty eye sockets. In the black and white modeling of the head, the design of a bare skull is exposed - a frightening ghost of death appears in the outlines of a human face. In the affected frontality, the emphasized verticalism of the figure, the immobility of the pose, a person is likened to a mannequin, a lifeless automaton - this is how, in relation to the modern era, Dobuzhinsky transformed the theme of the “puppet show”, played in retrospect by Somov and Benoit on the stage of the past. There is something "demonic" and pitiful at the same time in Dobuzhinsky's ghostly man. He is a terrible creature and at the same time a victim of the modern city.
Dobuzhinsky also worked a lot in illustration, where his cycle of ink drawings for Dostoevsky's White Nights (1922) can be considered the most remarkable. Dobuzhinsky also worked in the theater, designed for Nemirovich-Danchenko "Nikolai Stavrogin" (staged "Demons" by Dostoevsky), Turgenev's plays "A Month in the Country" and "The Freeloader".
The sophistication of fantasy, aimed at reuniting and interpreting the language, the stylistic handwriting of foreign cultures, in general "foreign language" in the broadest sense, has found its most natural organic application in the area where this quality is not only desirable, but necessary - in the field of book illustration. Almost all the artists of the "World of Art" were excellent illustrators. The largest and artistically outstanding illustrative cycles of the era when the “miriskusnich” direction was dominant in this area are the illustrations by A. Benois for The Bronze Horseman (1903-1905) and E. Lansere for Hadji Murad (1912- 1915).
Evgeny Evgenievich Lanceray (1875-1946) in his work touched upon all the main problems of book graphics in the early 20th century. (see his illustrations for the book “Legends of the ancient castles of Brittany”, for Lermontov, the cover for Bozheryanova’s “Nevsky Prospekt”, etc.), Lansere created a number of watercolors and lithographs of St. Petersburg (“Kalinkin Bridge”, “Nikolsky Market”, etc. ). Architecture occupies a huge place in his historical compositions (“Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in Tsarskoye Selo”, 1905, State Tretyakov Gallery). We can say that in the work of Serov, Benois, Lansere a new type of historical painting was created - it is devoid of a plot, but at the same time it perfectly recreates the appearance of the era, evokes many historical, literary and aesthetic associations. One of the best creations of Lansere - 70 drawings and watercolors for L.N. Tolstoy "Hadji Murad" (1912-1915), which Benois considered "an independent song that perfectly fits into the mighty music of Tolstoy."
Benois the illustrator is a whole page in the history of the book. Unlike Somov, Benois creates a narrative illustration. The plane of the page is not an end in itself for him. The illustrations for The Queen of Spades were rather complete independent works, not so much the “art of the book”, as A.A. Sidorov, how much "art is in the book." A masterpiece of book illustration was the graphic design of The Bronze Horseman (1903, 1905, 1916, 1921-1922, ink and watercolor imitating colored woodcuts).
Petersburg - the city "beautiful and terrible" - the main character of the illustrations by Benois. In the style of these illustrations, the “system of prisms” typical of the “World of Art” in general, but in this case a rather complex “system of prisms”, in which the images and pictures of Pushkin’s St. "in painting - F. Alekseeva (in the illustrations accompanying the odic introduction of the story), and the poetic charm of the interiors of the Venetian school in interior scenes, and the graphics of the first third of the 19th century, and not only Pushkin's Petersburg, but also Dostoevsky's Petersburg, for example, in famous night chase scene. The central theme of Pushkin's Petersburg story - the conflict between a private individual and state power personified in the image of the Bronze Horseman, acting for the individual in the form of a sinister fate - found its high artistic embodiment in the frontispiece, completed in 1905. In this watercolor drawing, Benois managed to achieve amazing simplicity and clarity in expressing a complex idea, that is, a quality that is akin to Pushkin's great simplicity. But the shade of gloomy “demonism” in the guise of the Bronze Horseman, as well as the likening of the persecuted Eugene to the image of an “insignificant worm” ready to mix with dust, not only indicates the presence of another “prism” quite characteristic of the “World of Art” - Hoffmann’s fantasy, but also means a shift from Pushkin's objectivity towards a purely individualistic in nature sense of horror before the dispassionateness of historical necessity - a feeling that Pushkin did not have.
Theatrical scenery, akin to the art of book illustration insofar as it is also concerned with the interpretation of someone else's design, was another area where the World of Art was destined to bring about a major artistic reform. It consisted in rethinking the old role of the theater artist. Now he is no longer the designer of the action and the inventor of convenient stage enclosures, but the same interpreter of music and dramaturgy, the same equal creator of the performance as the director and actors. So, in the process of I. Stravinsky composing music for the ballet "Petrushka", A. Benois unfolded visual images of the future performance in front of him.
The scenery of "Petrushka", this, according to the artist, "the ballet of the street", resurrected the spirit of the fair-farm festival.
The heyday of the activities of the "World of Art" in the field of theatrical and decorative art dates back to the 1910s and is associated with organized by S.P. Diaghilev (the idea belonged to A. Benois) "Russian Seasons" in Paris, which included a series of symphony concerts, opera and ballet performances. It was in the performances of "Russian Seasons" that the European public first heard F. Chaliapin, saw A. Pavlova, got acquainted with the choreography of M. Fokine. It was here that the talent of L.S. Bakst - an artist who belonged to the main core of the "World of Art".
Together with Benois and Somov, Lev Samoilovich Bakst (1866-1924) is one of the central figures in the history of the World of Art. He was a member of the youth circle, in which the ideological and creative tendencies of this direction were born; he was among the founders and active contributors of the magazine, which carried out a new aesthetic program; he, together with Diaghilev, "exported" Russian art to Western Europe and achieved its recognition; the world fame of the Russian theatrical and decorative painting of the "World of Art" fell primarily to the lot of Bakst.
Meanwhile, in the system of development of ideas and principles of The World of Art, Bakst has a completely separate and independent place. Actively supporting the tactics of unification and sharing, on the whole, its main aesthetic positions, Bakst, at the same time, followed a completely independent path. His painting is not like the painting of Somov and Benois, Lansere and Dobuzhinsky; it comes from other traditions, relies on a different spiritual and life experience, refers to other themes and images.
The path of the artist was more complex and winding than the smooth and consistent evolution characteristic of the work of many of his friends and associates. There is a shade of paradox in Bakst's quests and throwings; the line of its development is drawn in steep zigzags. Bakst came to the "World of Art" as if "from the right"; he brought with him the skills of the old academic school and reverence for the traditions of the nineteenth century. But very little time passed, and Bakst became the most "leftist" among the participants in the "World of Art"; he became more active than others with Western European Art Nouveau and organically mastered its techniques. It turned out to be easier for Western viewers to recognize Bakst as “their own” than any other artist of the World of Art.
Bakst was older than Somov by three years, Benois by four years, and Diaghilev by six years. The difference in age, in itself insignificant, had a certain significance at a time when the figures of the "World of Art" were young men. Among the young dilettantes who grouped around Benois and made up his circle. Bakst was the only artist with some professional experience. He studied at the Academy of Arts for four years (1883-1887), sometimes made portraits to order and acted as an illustrator in the so-called "thin magazines". The Russian Museum holds several landscape and portrait studies by Bakst, painted in the first half of the 1890s. They are not of high artistic quality, but quite professional. They already show Bakst's characteristic decorative flair; but by their principles they do not go beyond late academic painting.
Soon, however, Bakst's work took on a different character. At the first exhibitions of the "World of Art" Bakst acted mainly as a portrait painter. It is enough to take a closer look at the series of portraits he created at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries to understand what concepts Bakst's painting originated from at the beginning of his activity and in what direction it developed in the future.
One of the most famous works of the artist is a portrait of Alexander Benois (1898, State Russian Museum). In this early work, filled with pastels, still imperfect and not alien to illusionistic tendencies, one can discern a whole range of creative ideas that then determined for Bakst the task and meaning of portraiture. Nature is taken here in the stream of her living states, in all the variability of her specific, accurately noticed qualities. The main role is played by the desire to reveal the character, to identify the individual psychological characteristics of the depicted person. This tendency directly goes back to the creative principles of Russian realistic painting. Like the portrait painters of the second half of the 19th century, the artist's task here is to capture some moment of the flowing reality, some fragment of real life. From here comes the plot idea - to depict Benoit as if taken by surprise, without any thought of posing; hence the compositional structure of the portrait, emphasizing the ease, as if by chance, of the pose and expression of the model; hence, finally, there is an interest in everyday characteristics, in the introduction of elements of the interior and still life into the portrait.
Another, somewhat later work of the artist is built on similar principles - a portrait of the writer V.V. Rozanov (pastel, 1901, State Tretyakov Gallery). However, here one can already see the guiding trend in the development of Bakst's portraiture, an attempt to free himself from the traditions of psychological realism of the 19th century.
In the portrait of Rozanov, the desire for psychological and everyday characteristics is also manifested, and in the interpretation of the form it is easy to notice the features of illusionism. And yet, in comparison with the portrait of Benois, other, new qualities are immediately evident here. The format of the painting, narrow and elongated, is deliberately emphasized by the vertical lines of the door and bookshelves. On a white background, which occupies almost the entire plane of the canvas, a dark silhouette of the person being portrayed emerges, outlined by a rigid contour line. The figure is shifted from the central axis of the picture and no longer merges with the interior, but is sharply opposed to it. The shade of intimacy characteristic of the Benois portrait disappears.
Refusing to understand the portrait as a moment fixed on the canvas of the flowing reality, Bakst - almost simultaneously with Somov - from now on begins to build his work on other foundations. In Bakst's reflections predominate over direct observation, generalization prevails over elements of analysis.
The content of the portrait characteristic is no longer nature in the stream of its living states, but a certain, peculiarly idealized idea of the depicted person. Bakst does not give up the task of revealing the inner world of this particular person in his individual uniqueness, but at the same time he strives to sharpen in the appearance of the portrayed typical features characteristic of the cool people of the “World of Art”, realizes the image of the “positive hero” of his era and his close ideological environment. These features have acquired a quite distinct and complete form in the portrait of S.P. Diaghilev with a nanny (1906, State Russian Museum). Varying the same theme of the human figure in the interior, the artist, as it were, rearranges the accents, rethinks the old techniques in a new way, brings them into a coherent consistent system and subordinates to the intended image. There are no traces of illusionism and naturalistic thoroughness, which marked earlier portraits. Compositional rhythms are built on a sharp asymmetry. Picturesque masses do not balance each other: the right half of the picture seems overloaded, the left half is almost empty. With this technique, the artist creates an atmosphere of special tension in the portrait, which is necessary to characterize the image. Diaghilev's pose is given a ceremonial impressiveness. The interior, together with the image of the sitting old nanny, becomes like a commentary that complements the portrait description.
It would be a mistake to say that the image of Diaghilev in this portrait is beyond psychological. On the contrary, Bakst puts into the image a whole set of sharp and well-aimed psychological definitions, but in the same place he deliberately limits them: we have a portrait of a posing person. The moment of posing is the most important part of the plan, in which there is not even a hint of everyday intimacy; posing is emphasized by the whole system of the picture: both the outlines of Diaghilev's silhouette, and his expression, and the spatial construction of the composition, and all the details of the situation.
There are no motives of the 18th century in Bakst's graphics. and estate themes. He gravitates towards antiquity, moreover, to the Greek archaic, interpreted symbolically. His painting "Terroantiquus" (tempera, 1908, State Russian Museum) enjoyed particular success among the Symbolists. A terrible stormy sky, lightning illuminating the abyss of the sea and the ancient city - and over all this universal catastrophe dominates the archaic statue of the goddess with a mysterious frozen smile.
Subsequently, Bakst completely devoted himself to theatrical and scenery work, and his scenery and costumes for the ballets of the Diaghilev entreprise, performed with extraordinary brilliance, virtuoso, artistically, brought him worldwide fame. In its design there were performances with Anna Pavlova, ballets by Fokine.
The exotic, spicy East, on the one hand, Aegean art and Greek archaic, on the other, these are two themes and two stylistic layers that were the subject of Bakst's artistic passions and formed his individual style.
He designs mainly ballet performances, among which his masterpieces were the scenery and costumes for "Scheherazade" to the music of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1910), "The Firebird" by I.F. Stravinsky (1910), Daphnis and Chloe by M. Ravel (1912) and staged by V.F. Nijinsky to music by C. Debussy for the ballet The Afternoon of a Faun (1912). In a paradoxical combination of opposing principles: bacchic riotous brilliance, sensual astringency of color and lazy grace of a weak-willed flowing line of a drawing that retains a connection with early modern ornamentation, this is the originality of Bakst's individual style. Making sketches of costumes, the artist conveys the character, color image-mood, plastic drawing of the role, combining the generalization of the contour and color spot with jewelry-careful finishing of details - jewelry, patterns on fabrics, etc. That is why his sketches can least of all be called drafts, but are complete works of art in themselves.
A.Ya. Golovin is one of the greatest theater artists of the first quarter of the 20th century, I.Ya. Bilibin, A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva and others.
A special place in the "World of Art" is occupied by Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947). A connoisseur of philosophy and ethnography of the East, an archaeologist-scientist, Roerich received an excellent education, first at home, then at the Faculty of Law and History and Philology, then at the Academy of Arts, in the workshop of Kuindzhi, and in Paris in the studio of F. Cormon. Early he gained the authority of a scientist. He was related to the “World of Art” by the same love for retrospection, only not of the 17th-18th centuries, but of pagan Slavic and Scandinavian antiquity and Ancient Rus', stylization trends, theatrical decorativeness (“Messenger”, 1897, State Tretyakov Gallery; “Elders Converge” , 1898, State Russian Museum; "Sinister", 1901, State Russian Museum). Roerich was most closely associated with the philosophy and aesthetics of Russian symbolism, but his art did not fit into the framework of existing trends, because, in accordance with the worldview and worldview of the artist, it turned, as it were, to all mankind with an appeal for a friendly union of all peoples. Hence the special monumentalism and epic nature of his paintings. After 1905, the mood of pantheistic mysticism grew in Roerich's work. Historical themes give way to religious legends (The Heavenly Battle, 1912, State Russian Museum). The Russian icon had a huge influence on Roerich: his decorative panel The Battle of Kerzhents (1911) was exhibited during the performance of a fragment of the same title from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia in the Paris Russian Seasons.
Due to the evolution of the initial aesthetic attitudes, a split within the editorial office of the magazine, the department of the Moscow group of artists "World of Art" by 1905 ceased its exhibition and publishing activities. In 1910, the "World of Art" was resumed, but it was already functioning exclusively as an exhibition organization, not bound, as before, by the unity of creative tasks and stylistic orientation, uniting artists of various trends.
However, there were a number of artists from the World of Art of the “second wave”, in whose work the artistic principles of the senior masters of the World of Art were further developed. Among them belonged B.M. Kustodiev.
Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev (1878-1927) was born in Astrakhan, in the family of a teacher. He studied drawing and painting with the artist P.A. Vlasov in Astrakhan (1893-1896) and at the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1896-1503), since 1898 - in the workshop of professor-head I.E. Repin. In 1902-1903, Repin was involved in joint work on the painting “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council. Being a student of the Academy of Arts, he traveled around the Caucasus and the Crimea on vacation, and later on every year (since 1900) he spent the summer in the Kostroma province; in 1903 he made a trip along the Volga and with D.S. Stelletsky kim in Novgorod.
In 1903, for the painting "Bazaar in the Village" (until 1941, located in the Novgorod Historical and Art Museum), Kustodiev received the title of artist and the right to travel abroad. At the end of the same year, as a pensioner of the Academy, he left for Paris, where he worked for a short time in the studio of R. Menard and at the same time got acquainted with modern art, visited museums and exhibitions. In April 1904 he left Paris for Spain to study the old masters; returned to Russia in early summer. In 1909 he was awarded the title of academician.
Kustodiev and in the future repeatedly made trips abroad: in 1907, together with D.S. Stelletsky, - to Italy; in 1909 - to Austria, Italy, France and Germany; in 1911 and 1912 - to Switzerland; in 1913 - to the south of France and Italy. He spent the summer of 1917 in Finland.
Genre and portrait painter in painting, easel and illustrator in graphics, theater decorator, Kustodiev also worked as a sculptor. He made a number of portrait busts and compositions. In 1904, Kustodiev became a member of the New Society of Artists; he has been a member of the World of Art since 1911.
The object of Kustodiev's exquisite stylizations in the spirit of painted toys and popular prints is patriarchal Rus', the mores of the township and merchant class, from which the artist borrows a special aesthetic code - a taste for everything colorful, excessively colorful, intricately ornamental. Hence the bright festive “Fairs”, “Shrovetide”, “Balagany”, hence his paintings from the petty-bourgeois and merchant life, conveyed with caustic irony, but not without admiring these red-cheeked, half-asleep beauties behind a samovar and with saucers in chubby fingers (“Merchant”, 1915, State Russian Museum; "Merchant for tea", 1918, State Russian Museum).
"Beauty" (1915, State Tretyakov Gallery) is the perfect example of Kustodiev's stylization in the spirit of the merchant's "aesthetics of quantity", expressed by the hyperbolic injection of this quantity - the body, fluff, satin, jewelry. A pearl-pink beauty in the realm of duvets, pillows, featherbeds and mahogany is a goddess, an idol of merchant life. The artist gives a sense of the typically "World of Art" ironic distance in relation to the values of this life, cleverly interweaving delight with a gentle smile.
The "World of Art" was a major aesthetic movement at the turn of the century, which reassessed the entire modern artistic culture, approved new tastes and problems, returned to art - at the highest professional level - the lost forms of book graphics and theatrical and decorative painting, which received all European recognition through their efforts. -nie, who created a new art criticism, promoted Russian art abroad, in fact, even opened some of its stages, like the Russian XVIII century. The "World of Art" created a new type of historical painting, portrait, landscape with its own stylistic features (distinct stylistic tendencies, the predominance of graphic techniques over pictorial ones, a purely decorative understanding of color, etc.). This determines their significance for Russian art.
The weaknesses of the "World of Art" were reflected primarily in the variegation and inconsistency of the program, proclaiming the model "either Böcklin, then Manet"; in idealistic views on art, affected indifference to the civic tasks of art, in programmatic apathy, in the loss of the social significance of the picture. The intimacy of the "World of Art", the features of the original limitations determined the short historical period of his life in the era of formidable portents of the impending proletarian revolution. These were only the first steps on the path of creative searches, and very soon the young ones overtook the World of Art students.
L.S. Bychkova
World of Art in the world of art*
The art association and the magazine "World of Art" are significant phenomena in the Russian culture of the Silver Age, clearly expressing one of the essential aesthetic trends of their time. The Commonwealth of the World of Arts began to take shape in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. 19th century around a group of young artists, writers, artists who sought to renew the cultural and artistic life of Russia. The main initiators were A.N. Benois, S.P. Diaghilev, D.V. Filosofov, K.A. Somov, L.S. Bakst, later M.V. friends connected by the same culture and common taste ”, in 1899 the first of five exhibitions of the magazine was held, the association itself was officially formalized in 1900. The magazine lasted until the end of 1904, and after the revolution of 1905 the official activities of the association ceased. In addition to the members of the association, many outstanding artists of the turn of the century, who shared the main spiritual and aesthetic line of the "World of Art", were involved in the exhibitions. Among them, first of all, we can name the names of K. Korovin, M. Vrubel, V. Serov, N. Roerich, M. Nesterov, I. Grabar, F. Malyavin. Some foreign masters were also invited. Many Russian religious thinkers and writers also published on the pages of the journal, advocating in their own way for the “revival” of spirituality in Russia. This is V. Rozanov,
* The article uses materials from research project No. 05-03-03137a, supported by the Russian Humanitarian Foundation.
D. Merezhkovsky, L. Shestov, N. Minsky and others. The magazine and the association in its original form did not last long, but the spirit of the World of Art, its publishing, organizational, exhibition and educational activities left a noticeable mark on Russian culture and aesthetics, and the main members of the association - the World of Art - have retained this spirit and aesthetic predilections almost throughout their lives. In 1910-1924. The "World of Art" resumed its activity, but already in a very expanded composition and without a sufficiently clearly oriented first aesthetic (essentially aesthetic) line. Many of the representatives of the association in the 1920s. moved to Paris, but even there they remained adherents of the artistic tastes of their youth.
Two main ideas united the participants of the World of Art into an integral community: 1. The desire to return to Russian art the main quality of art artistry, free art from any tendentiousness (social, religious, political, etc.) and direct it into a purely aesthetic direction. Hence, the slogan l'art pour l'art, popular among them, although old in culture, the rejection of the ideology and artistic practice of academism and wandering, a special interest in romantic and symbolist trends in art, in the English Pre-Raphaelites, French nabids, in the painting of Puvis de Chavana, Böcklin's mythologism, Jugendstil aestheticism, Art Nouveau, but also E.T.A. a tendency to include Russian culture and art in a broad European artistic context. 2. On this basis - romanticization, poetization, aestheticization of the Russian national heritage, especially of the late, XVIII - early XIX centuries, oriented towards Western culture, general interest in post-Petrine culture and late folk art, for which the main participants in the association received a nickname in artistic circles "retrospective dreamers".
The main trend of the "World of Art" was the principle of innovation in art based on a highly developed aesthetic taste. Hence the artistic and aesthetic preferences, and the creative attitudes of the World of Art. In fact, they created a solid Russian version of that aesthetically sharpened movement of the turn of the century, which gravitated towards the poetics of neo-romanticism or symbolism, towards the decorativeness and aesthetic melodiousness of the line, and in different countries had different names (Art Nouveau, Secession, Art Nouveau), and in Russia it was called the style " modern".
The participants in the movement themselves (Benoit, Somov, Dobuzhinsky, Bakst, Lansere, Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Bilibin) were not great artists, did not create artistic masterpieces or outstanding works, but wrote several very beautiful, almost aesthetic pages in the history of Russian art, actually showing the world that the spirit of nationally oriented aestheticism in the best sense of this unfairly underestimated term is not alien to Russian art. Typical for the style of the majority of the World of Art were refined linearity (graphic - they brought Russian graphics to the level of an independent art form), fine decorativeness, nostalgia for the beauty and luxury of past eras, sometimes neoclassical tendencies and intimacy in easel works. At the same time, many of them also gravitated towards the theatrical synthesis of the arts - hence the active participation in theatrical productions, Diaghilev's projects and the "Russian Seasons", an increased interest in music, dance, and modern theater in general. It is clear that the majority of the World of Arts were wary, and as a rule, sharply negative about the avant-garde movements of their time. The "World of Art" sought to find its own innovative path in art, firmly connected with the best traditions of the art of the past, alternative to the path of the avant-garde artists. Today we see that in the twentieth century. The efforts of the World of Art specialists practically did not receive any development, but in the first third of the century they contributed to maintaining a high aesthetic level in Russian and European cultures and left a good memory in the history of art and spiritual culture.
Here I want to dwell on the artistic attitudes and aesthetic tastes of some of the main representatives of the "World of Art" and artists who actively joined the movement in order to identify the main artistic and aesthetic trend of the entire movement in addition to what is well shown by art historians based on the analysis of artistic creativity. the world of arts themselves.
Konstantin Somov (1869-1939) in the "World of Art" was one of the most refined and refined aesthetes, nostalgic for the beauty of classical art of the past, until the very last days of his life, looking for beauty or its traces in contemporary art and, to the best of his ability, trying to create this beauty. In one of his letters, he explains to A. Benois why he cannot in any way participate in the revolutionary movement of 1905, which swept the whole of Russia: “... first of all, I am madly in love with beauty and I want to serve it; loneliness with few and what's in
human soul is eternal and intangible, I value above all. I am an individualist, the whole world revolves around my “I” and, in essence, I do not care about what goes beyond this “I” and its narrowness” (89) . And to the complaints of his correspondent about the upcoming “rudeness”, he consoles him with the fact that there is enough of it at all times, but beauty always remains next to him - it is enough in any system to “inspire poets and artists” (91).
In beauty, Somov saw the main meaning of life and therefore all its manifestations, but especially the sphere of art, he considered through aesthetic glasses, however, his own, rather subjective production. At the same time, he constantly sought not only to enjoy aesthetic objects, but also to develop his own aesthetic taste. Already a forty-year-old well-known artist, he does not consider it shameful to go to I. Grabar's lecture on aesthetics, but he acquires the main aesthetic experience throughout his life when communicating with art itself. In this, until the last days of his suddenly cut short life, he was tireless. From his letters and diaries we see that his whole life was spent in art. In addition to creative work, constant, almost daily visits to exhibitions, galleries, museums, artists' studios, theaters and concert halls. In any city where he got, he first ran to museums and theaters. And we find a brief reaction to almost every such visit in his diaries or letters. Here, in January 1910, he was in Moscow. “I get tired during the day, but nevertheless I go to the theater every evening” (106). And the same records until the last years of his life in Paris. Almost every day theaters, concerts, exhibitions. At the same time, he visits not only what he knows for sure that he will receive aesthetic pleasure, but also many things that cannot satisfy his aesthetic need. Professionally follows the events in the artistic life and looks for at least traces of beauty.
And he finds them almost everywhere. He does not forget to mention the beauty of the landscape, which he discovers in France, and in America, and in London, and in Moscow of the Soviet period; about the beauty of Chartres Cathedral or the interiors of houses and palaces that he had to visit in different countries of the world. However, with special and constant love, he enjoys the beauty of art. At the same time, with the same passion, he listens to music, opera, watches ballet and theatrical performances, reads fiction, poetry and, of course, does not miss a single opportunity to see paintings: both old masters and his contemporaries. And with every contact with art, he has something to say. At the same time, his judgments, although quite subjective, often turn out to be
well-aimed and precise, which is further emphasized by their conciseness. The general impression, a few specific remarks, but even from them we feel well both the level of aesthetic consciousness of Somov himself, and the spirit of the atmosphere of the Silver Age in which this consciousness was formed.
“In the evening I was at a concert by Koussevitzky. There was a Bach Mass. A work of extraordinary beauty and inspiration. The performance was excellent, very harmonious” (1914) (138). In complete delight with the performance of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Toscanini: “I never heard anything like it in my life” (Paris, 1930) (366). On the performance of the mass by the papal choir in Notre Dame: “The impression of this choir is unearthly. I have never heard such harmony, purity of voices, their Italian timbre, such delightful trebles” (1931) (183). On the performance of Mozart's opera Idomeneo by the Basel choir: "She turned out to be absolutely brilliant, incomparable beauty" (Paris, 1933) (409), etc. etc. Already in old age, he spent four evenings in the gallery of the theater, where the Wagner tetralogy was performed by the Bayreuth troupe. It was not possible to get other tickets, and each performance lasted 5-6 hours. End of June, heat in Paris, "but still great pleasure" (355).
Somov attended ballet with even greater enthusiasm throughout his life. Especially Russian, whose best forces turned out to be in the West after the 1917 revolution. Here is both aesthetic pleasure and professional interest in decoration, which was often (especially in the early Diaghilev performances) performed by his friends and colleagues from the World of Art. In ballet, music, theater, and in painting, of course, Somov takes the greatest delight in classics or refined aestheticism. However, the first third of the twentieth century was in full swing with something else, especially in Paris. Avant-garde tendencies gained more and more strength, all avant-garde trends flourished, and Somov watches, listens, reads all this, tries to find traces of beauty in everything, which are far from always found, so he often has to give sharply negative assessments of what he saw, heard, read.
Everything tending towards the aestheticism of the beginning of the century especially attracts the attention of the Russian artist, and avant-garde innovations are not assimilated by him, although it is felt that he is striving to find his own aesthetic key to them. It turns out very rarely. In Paris, he attends all Diaghilev's performances, often admires the dancers, choreography, less satisfied with the scenery and costumes, which in the 1920s.
have often been done by the cubists. “I love our old ballet,” he confesses in a 1925 letter, “but that does not prevent me from enjoying the new one as well. Choreography and great dancers, mostly. I can’t digest the scenery of Picasso, Matisse, Derain, I love either the illusory nature or the lush beauty” (280). In New York, he walks "to the last rows of the gallery" and enjoys the game of American actors. He looked through many plays and concludes: “I have not seen such a perfect game and such talents for a long time. Our Russian actors are much lower" (270). But he considers American literature second-rate, which does not prevent, he notes, the Americans themselves from being satisfied with it. Delighted with individual pieces by A. France and M. Proust.
In modern fine arts, Somov most of all likes many things of his friend A. Benois: both graphics and theatrical scenery. He is delighted with Vrubel's paintings and watercolors - "something incredible in terms of the brilliance and harmony of colors" (78). He was impressed by Gauguin in the Shchukin collection; once praised the colorful (popular) range of colors in one of the theatrical works of N. Goncharova, although later, based on her still lifes, he speaks of her as stupid and even idiotic, “judging by these stupid things of hers” (360); remarked in passing that Filonov had "great art, albeit unpleasant" (192). In general, he is stingy with praises for his fellow painters, sometimes he is sarcastic, bilious and even rude in reviews of the work of many of them, although he does not praise himself either. He often expresses dissatisfaction with his work. Often he informs his friends and relatives that he is tearing up and destroying sketches and sketches that he did not like. Yes, and many finished works, especially those already exhibited, he does not like.
Here are almost randomly chosen judgments of Somov about his works: “The 18th century began to write, a lady in purple on a bench in a park of an English character. Extremely trite and vulgar. He is not capable of a good job” (192). “He began another vulgar drawing: the marquise (damned!) Is lying on the grass, at a distance two are fencing. I painted until 9 pm. The crap came out. I'll try to color tomorrow. My heart felt sick" (193). About his works in the Tretyakov Gallery (and the best ones were taken there, including the famous “Lady in Blue”): “what I was afraid of, I experienced: “I didn’t like“ Lady in Blue ”, like everything else mine ... " (112). And such statements are not uncommon in him and show the special aesthetic exactingness of the master to himself. At the same time, he knows moments of happiness from painting and is convinced that “painting, after all, but delights life and sometimes gives happy moments” (80). He is especially strict with his colleagues in the shop and, above all,
everything, to any elements of avant-gardism in art. He, like most of the World of Arts, does not understand and does not accept. This is the inner position of the artist, expressing his aesthetic credo.
Somov's strict aesthetic eye sees flaws in all his contemporaries. Gets and Russians, and the French in the same measure. This, of course, is not always about the work of a particular master as a whole, but about specific works seen at a particular exhibition or workshop. Expresses, for example, the "merciless truth" to Petrov-Vodkin about his painting "Attack", after which he wanted to "shoot himself or hang himself" (155-156). At one of the exhibitions in 1916: "Korovin's snitching"; Mashkov's painting is "beautiful in colors, but somehow idiotically stupid"; the works of Sudeikin, Kustodiev, Dobuzhinsky, Grabar are not interesting (155). At the 1918 exhibition: “Grigoriev, a wonderfully talented, but bastard, stupid, cheap pornographer. Something I liked ... Petrov-Vodkin is still the same boring, stupid, pretentious fool. The same unbearable combination of unpleasant pure blue, green, red and brick tones. Dobuzhinsky is a terrible family portrait and the rest is insignificant” (185). Throughout his life, he had one attitude towards Grigoriev - “talented, but frivolous, stupid and narcissistic” (264). On the first performance of the production of The Stone Guest by Meyerhold and Golovin: “Flight-minded, very pretentious, very ignorant, heaped up, stupid” (171). Yakovlev has many wonderful things, but “he still doesn’t have the main thing - mind and soul. Nevertheless, he remained an external artist" (352), "there is always some kind of superficiality and haste in him" (376).
Western artists get even more from Somov, although his approach to everything is purely subjective (like practically any artist in his field of art). So, in Moscow, at the first meeting with some masterpieces in the Shchukin collection: “I liked Gauguin very much, but not Matisse at all. His art is not art at all!” (111). Painting by Cezanne was never recognized as art. In the last year of his life (1939) at the Cezanne exhibition: “Except for one (or maybe three) beautiful still lifes, almost everything is bad, dull, without valers, stale colors. The figures and his naked "bathing" are downright filthy, mediocre, inept. Ugly portraits" (436). Van Gogh, with the exception of certain things: "not only not brilliant, but also not good" (227). Thus, almost everything that goes beyond the refined World of Art aestheticism, which underlay this association, is not accepted by Somov, does not give him aesthetic pleasure.
He speaks even more sharply about the avant-garde artists, whom he met in Moscow and then regularly saw in Paris, but the attitude towards them was constant and almost always negative. About the exhibition “0.10”, at which, as you know, Malevich exhibited his Suprematist works for the first time: “Absolutely insignificant, hopeless. Not art. Terrible tricks to make noise" (152). At the 1923 exhibition at the Academy of Arts on Vasilyevsky: “There are many leftists - and, of course, terrible abomination, arrogance and stupidity” (216). Today it is clear that there was a lot of "arrogance and stupidity" at such exhibitions, but there were also many works that are now included in the classics of the world avant-garde. Somov, like most of the World of Arts, unfortunately, did not see this. In this sense, he remained a typical adherent of traditional, but in his own way understood painting. He also did not respect the Wanderers and academicians. In this, all the World of Arts were united. Dobuzhinsky recalled that they were generally of little interest to the Wanderers, "treated their generation disrespectfully" and never even talked about them in their conversations.
However, far from everything in the avant-garde is sharply denied by Somov - where he sees at least some traces of beauty, he treats his antagonists condescendingly. So, he even liked Picasso's cubist scenery and costumes for Pulcinella, but Picasso's curtain, where "two huge women with arms like legs, and with legs like an elephant, with bulging triangular boobs, in white chlamys are dancing some kind of wild dance”, he succinctly described: “Disgusting!” (250). He saw Filonov's talent, but treated his painting very coldly. Or highly appreciated S. Dali as an excellent draftsman, but on the whole he was indignant at his art, although he watched everything. About the illustrations of the meter of surrealism for the “Songs of Maldoror” by Lautreamont in some small gallery: “All the same, the same ones hanging down by a yard..., half-rotten legs. Bone steaks on the human thighs of his wild figures<...>But what a brilliant Dali talent, how beautifully he draws. Is he pretending to be the only one, special, or genuine erotomania and maniacism at all costs? (419). Although, paradoxically, he himself, as is well known from his work, was not alien to eroticism, though aesthetic, cutesy, crinoline. Yes, and something pathological often attracted him. In Paris, I went to the Musée patologique, where I watched ... wax dolls: illnesses, wounds, childbirth, fetuses, monsters, miscarriages, etc. I love such museums - I want to go to the musée Grèvin" (320)
The same applies to literature, theater, music. Everything avant-garde somehow repelled him, offended his aesthetic taste. For some reason he especially disliked Stravinsky. Scolds his music often and on every occasion. In literature, Bely angered him. “I read “Petersburg” by Andrei Bely - disgusting! Tasteless, foolish! Illiterate, like a lady, and, most importantly, boring and uninteresting” (415). By the way, “boring” and “uninteresting” are his most important negative aesthetic assessments. He never said that about Dali or Picasso. In general, he considered all avant-gardism to be some kind of bad trend of the times. “I think today's modernists,” he wrote in 1934, “in 40 years will completely disappear and no one will collect them” (416). Alas, how dangerous it is to make predictions in art and culture. Today, these "modernists" are paid fabulous money, and the most talented of them have become classics of world art.
In the light of the grandiose historical upheavals in the art of the twentieth century. many of the sharply negative, sometimes rude, extremely subjective assessments of the work of avant-garde artists by Somov seem to us unfair and seem to even somehow belittle the image of a talented artist of the Silver Age, a sophisticated singer of poetics of the crinoline-gallant 18th century idealized by him, nostalgic for the exquisite, self-invented aesthetic. However, in this artificial, refined and surprisingly attractive aestheticism, the reasons for his negative attitude towards avant-garde searches and experiments with form are rooted. Somov especially sharply caught in the avant-garde the beginning of a process directed against the main principle of art - its artistry, although the masters criticized by him in the early twentieth century. he still felt weak enough, and painfully experienced it. The refined taste of the aesthete reacted nervously and sharply to any deviation from beauty in art, even in his own. In the history of art and aesthetic experience, he was one of the last and consistent adherents of the "fine arts" in the truest sense of the concept of classical aesthetics.
And at the end of the conversation about Somov, one of his extremely interesting, almost Freudian and very personal confessions in his diary dated February 1, 1914, revealing the main aspects of his work, his gallant-pretentious, crinoline, mannerist XVIII century. and to some extent, it opens the veil over the deep unconscious, libidinal meaning of aestheticism in general. It turns out that in his paintings, according to the artist himself, his innermost intimate-erotic intentions were expressed, his sensually sharpened
Ego. “The women in my paintings are languishing, the expression of love on their faces, sadness or lust is a reflection of myself, my soul<...>And their broken poses, their deliberate ugliness - a mockery of myself and at the same time of eternal femininity, contrary to my nature. It is, of course, difficult to guess me without knowing my nature. This is a protest, annoyance that I myself am in many ways like them. Rags, feathers - all this attracts me and attracted me not only as a painter (but self-pity also comes through here). Art, its works, favorite paintings and statues for me are most often closely related to gender and my sensuality. I like what reminds me of love and its pleasures, even if the plots of art do not speak directly about it at all” (125-126).
An extremely interesting, bold, frank confession, which explains a lot both in the work of Somov himself, and in his artistic and aesthetic predilections, and in the refined aesthetics of the World of Art as a whole. In particular, his indifference to Rodin (he has no sensuality), or his passion for ballet, endless enthusiasm for outstanding dancers, admiration for the aging Isadora Duncan and sharp criticism of Ida Rubinstein are understandable. However, all this cannot be covered in one article, and it is time to move on to other, no less interesting and gifted representatives of the World of Art, their views on the artistic situation of their time.
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky (1875-1957). Dobuzhinsky's aesthetic predilections, which began to manifest themselves even before he joined the circle of the World of Art, well reflect the general spiritual and artistic atmosphere of this association, a partnership of like-minded people in art who sought to "revive", as they believed, artistic life in Russia after the dominance of academicians and Wanderers on the basis of close attention. attention to the actual artistry of the visual arts. At the same time, all the members of the World of Art were patriots of St. Petersburg and expressed in their art and in their passions a special St. Petersburg aestheticism, which differed significantly from Moscow in their view.
Dobuzhinsky was a particularly striking figure in this regard. He loved St. Petersburg from childhood and became in fact a refined, refined singer of this unique Russian city with a pronounced Western orientation. Many pages of his Memoirs breathe great love for him. Upon his return from Munich, where he studied in the workshops of A. Azhbe and S. Hollosha (1899-1901) and where he became well acquainted with the art of his future friends and colleagues in the first issues of the World of Art magazine, Dobuzhinsky with particular poignancy
felt the peculiar aesthetic charm of St. Petersburg, its modest beauty, its amazing graphics, special color atmosphere, its expanses and lines of roofs, the spirit of Dostoevsky penetrating it, the symbolism and mysticism of its stone labyrinths. In me, he wrote, “some kind of native feeling that had lived since childhood for the monotonous government buildings, amazing Petersburg prospects was firmly established in a new way, but the underside of the city pricked me even more sharply now.<...>These rear walls of houses are brick firewalls with their white stripes of chimneys, an even line of roofs, as if with fortress battlements - endless pipes - sleeping canals, black high stacks of firewood, dark wells of yards, blind fences, wastelands "(187) . This special beauty fascinated Dobuzhinsky, who was under the influence of the Munich Art Nouveau (Stuck, Böcklin), and largely determined his artistic face in the World of Art, where he was soon introduced by I. Grabar. “I stared intently at the graphic features of St. Petersburg, peered at the brickwork of the bare, unplastered walls and at their “carpet” pattern, which itself forms in the unevenness and spots of the plaster” (188). He is captivated by the ligature of the countless lattices of St. Petersburg, the antique masks of Empire buildings, the contrasts of stone houses and cozy corners with rustic wooden houses, he is delighted with naive signboards, pot-bellied striped barges on the Fontanka and motley people on Nevsky.
He begins to clearly understand that "Petersburg with all its appearance, with all the contrasts of the tragic, curious, majestic and cozy is really the only and most fantastic city in the world" (188). And before that, he already had the opportunity to travel around Europe, to see Paris, and some cities in Italy and Germany. And in the year of joining the circle of the World of Art (1902), he felt that it was precisely this beauty of the “newly acquired” city “with its languid and bitter poetry” that no one had yet expressed in art, and he directed his creative efforts to this incarnation. “Of course,” he admits, “I was embraced, like my entire generation, by the trends of symbolism, and it is natural that a sense of mystery was close to me, which, it seemed, was full of Petersburg, as I now saw it” (188). Through the “vulgarity and darkness of Petersburg everyday life” he constantly felt “something terribly serious and significant that lurked in the most depressing underside” of “his” Petersburg, and in the “sticky autumn slush and the dull Petersburg rain that had charged for many days” it seemed to him that “Petersburg nightmares and “petty demons” crawled out of every crack” (189). And this poetry of Peter attracted Dobuzhinsky, although it frightened him at the same time.
He poetically describes the “terrible wall” that loomed in front of the windows of his apartment: “a dull, wild-colored wall, also black, the saddest and most tragic one you can imagine, with damp patches, peeling and with only a small, blind-sighted window.” She irresistibly attracted him to her and oppressed him, evoking memories of the gloomy worlds of Dostoevsky. And he overcame these depressing impressions from the terrible wall, as he himself narrates, depicting it with “all its cracks and deprivation, ... already admiring it” - “the artist won in me” (190). Dobuzhinsky considered this pastel to be the first “real creative work”, and many of his works, both in graphics and in theatrical and decorative art, are permeated with its spirit. Later, he himself wondered why it was from this “wrong side” of St. Petersburg that he began his great work, although from childhood he was also attracted by the ceremonial beauty of the capital city of Peter.
However, if we recall the work of Dobuzhinsky, we will see that it was the romantic (or neo-romantic) spirit of the old cities (especially St. Petersburg and Vilna, close to him in the gymnasium years) that magnetically attracted him with its symbolic secrets. In Vilna, which he fell in love with from adolescence and considered his second hometown along with St. Petersburg, he was most attracted as an artist by the old "ghetto" "with its narrow and crooked streets, crossed by arches, and with multi-colored houses" (195), where he made many sketches, and beautiful, very delicate and highly artistic engravings based on them. Yes, this is understandable if we look into the aesthetic predilections of the young Dobuzhinsky. This is not the clear and direct light and harmonious beauty of Raphael's "Sistine Madonna" (she did not impress him in Dresden), but the mysterious twilight of Leonard's "Madonna in the Rocks" and "John the Baptist" (169). And then there are the early Italians, Sienese painting, Byzantine mosaics in San Marco and Tintoretto in Venice, Segantini and Zorn, Böcklin and Stuck, the Pre-Raphaelites, the Impressionists in Paris, especially Degas (who became for him forever one of the "gods"), Japanese engraving and, finally, the World of Art, whose first exhibition he saw and carefully studied even before he personally met them in 1898, was delighted with their art. Most of all, as he admits, he was "captivated" by the art of Somov, which struck him with its subtlety, with whom, having entered the circle of his idols a few years later, he became friends. The sphere of aesthetic interests of the young Dobuzhinsky clearly testifies to the artistic orientation of his spirit. She, as we clearly see in his Memoirs,
completely coincided with the symbolist-romantic and refined-aesthetic orientation of the main World of Arts, who immediately recognized him as one of their own.
Dobuzhinsky received basic information about the “World of Art” from Igor Grabar, with whom he became close friends in Munich during his apprenticeship with German teachers and who was one of the first to see a real artist in him and correctly helped his artistic development, gave clear guidelines in the field of art education . For example, he compiled a detailed program of what to see in Paris before Dobuzhinsky's first brief trip there, and later introduced him to the circle of the World of Art. Dobuzhinsky carried gratitude to Grabar throughout his life. In general, he was a grateful student and a sympathetic, benevolent colleague and friend of many artists close to him in spirit. He is completely alien to the spirit of skepticism or snobbery, characteristic of Somov, in relation to his colleagues.
Dobuzhinsky gave brief, benevolent and well-aimed descriptions of almost all participants in the association, and they to some extent allow us to get an idea of the nature of the artistic and aesthetic atmosphere of this interesting direction in the culture of the Silver Age, and of the aesthetic consciousness of Do-buzhinsky himself, because . he made most of the notes about his friends through the prism of his work.
A. Benois “pricked” him back in his student years, when his “romantic” drawings were shown at the first exhibition of the World of Art, one of which had a great resemblance to Dobuzhinsky’s favorite motifs - the Vilna baroque. Then Benois greatly influenced the formation of the graphic style of the young Dobuzhinsky, strengthened him in the correctness of the chosen angle of vision of the urban landscape. Then they were brought together by a love of collecting, especially old engravings, and the cult of their ancestors, and a craving for the theater, and the support that Benois immediately provided to the young artist.
Dobuzhinsky became especially close to Somov, who turned out to be in tune with him with the amazing subtlety of graphics, “sad and sharp poetry”, which was not immediately appreciated by his contemporaries. Dobuzhinsky was in love with his art from the first meeting, it seemed to him precious and greatly influenced the development of his own work, he admits. “This may seem strange, since his themes have never been my themes, but the amazing observation of his eye and at the same time “miniaturity”, and in other cases the freedom and skill of his painting, where there was nothing
a piece that was not made with feeling - fascinated me. And most importantly, the extraordinary intimacy of his work, the mystery of his images, his sense of sad humor and his then “Hoffmannian” romance deeply disturbed me and opened up some strange world close to my vague moods” (210). Dobuzhinsky and Somov became very close and often showed each other their work at a very early stage in order to listen to each other's advice and comments. However, Dobuzhinsky, he admits, was often so struck by Somov's sketches with their "languid poetry" and some inexpressible "aroma" that he could not find words to say anything about them.
He was also close to Leon Bakst, at one time he even taught classes with him at the art school of E.N. Zvantseva, among whose students Marc Chagall was then. He loved Bakst as a person and valued him for his book graphics, but especially for the theatrical art, to which he devoted his whole life. Dobuzhinsky characterized his graphic works as "astonishingly decorative", full of "special enigmatic poetry" (296). He attributed great merit to Bakst both in the triumph of Diaghilev's "Russian Seasons", and in general in the development of theatrical and decorative art in the West. "His "Scheherazade" drove Paris crazy, and from this begins the European, and then the world fame of Bakst." Despite the seething artistic life in Paris, it was Bakst, according to Dobuzhinsky, who for a long time "remained one of the irremovable trendsetters of 'taste'." His productions caused endless imitation in theaters, his ideas varied to infinity, brought to the point of absurdity, his name in Paris "began to sound like the most Parisian of Parisian names" (295). For the World of Arts with their cosmopolitanism, this assessment sounded like a special praise.
Against the background of the St. Petersburg “Europeanism” of the main world artists, along with Roerich, Ivan Bilibin especially stood out with his aesthetic Russophilism, who wore a Russian beard à la moujik and limited himself only to Russian themes expressed by a special exquisite calligraphic technique and subtle stylizations for folk art. In the circle of the World of Arts, he was a prominent and sociable figure. N. Roerich, on the contrary, according to the memoirs of Dobuzhinsky, although he was a regular participant in the exhibitions of the World of Art, did not get close to its participants. Perhaps that is why “his great skill and very beautiful colors seemed too “prudent”, emphatically spectacular, but very decorative.<...>Roerich was a “mystery” for everyone, many even doubted whether his work was sincere or only far-fetched, and his personal life was hidden from everyone” (205).
Valentin Serov was the Moscow representative in the "World of Art" and was revered by all its participants for his outstanding talent, extraordinary diligence, innovation in painting and constant artistic search. If the Wanderers and Academicians of the World of Art ranked among the supporters of historicism, then they saw themselves as adherents of "style". In this regard, Dobuzhinsky saw both tendencies in Serov. Especially close in spirit to the "World of Art" was the late Serov "Peter", "Ida Rubinstein", "Europe", and Dobuzhinsky saw in this the beginning of a new stage, which, alas, "did not have to wait" (203).
Dobuzhinsky made brief, purely personal, although often very accurate notes on almost all the World of Art and the artists and writers who stood close to them. With good feelings, he recalls Vrubel, Ostroumova, Borisov-Musatov (beautiful, innovative, poetic painting), Kustodiev, Chyurlionis. In the latter, the World of Arts was attracted by his ability to "look into the infinity of space, into the depths of centuries", "pleased with his rare sincerity, a real dream, deep spiritual content." His works, “appearing as if by themselves, with their grace and lightness, amazing colors and composition, seemed to us some kind of unfamiliar jewels” (303).
Of the writers, Dobuzhinsky was especially attracted by D. Merezhkovsky, V. Rozanov, Vyach. Ivanov (he was a frequent visitor to his famous Tower), F. Sologub, A. Blok, A. Remizov, i.e. authors who collaborated with the "World of Art" or close to him in spirit, especially the symbolists. In Rozanov, he was struck by an unusual mind and original writings full of "the most daring and terrible paradoxes" (204). In Sologub's poetry, Dobuzhinsky admired "saving irony", and Remizov seemed to him in some things "a real surrealist even before surrealism" (277). Ivanov was flattered by the fact that “he showed especially careful respect for the artist as the owner of some secret of his own, whose judgments are valuable and significant” (272).
With a special, almost intimate feeling of love, Dobuzhinsky describes the atmosphere that reigned in the association of the World of Arts. The soul of everything was Benoit, and the informal center was his cozy house, in which everyone often and regularly gathered. Issues of the magazine were also prepared there. In addition, they often met at Lansere, Ostroumova, Dobuzhinsky at crowded evening tea parties. Dobuzhinsky emphasizes that the atmosphere in the World of Art was familial, not bohemian. In this "exceptional atmosphere of intimate life" and art was "a friendly common cause." Much has been done
together with the constant help and support of each other. Dobuzhinsky proudly writes that their work was extremely disinterested, independent, free from any tendencies or ideas. The opinion of like-minded people was the only valuable one; the members of the community themselves. The most important incentive for creative activity was the feeling of being “pioneers”, discoverers of new areas and spheres in art. “Now, looking back and remembering the then unprecedented creative productivity and everything that began to be created around,” he wrote in adulthood, “we have the right to call this time really our “Renaissance”” (216); “it was a renewal of our artistic culture, one might say its revival” (221).
Innovation and "revival" of culture and art was understood in the sense of shifting the emphasis in art from everything secondary to its artistic side without abandoning the depiction of visible reality. “We loved the world and the beauty of things too much,” wrote Dobuzhinsky, “and there was no need then to deliberately distort reality. That time was far from any "isms" that came (to us) from Cezanne, Matisse and Van Gogh. We were naive and pure, and perhaps this was the merit of our art" (317). Today, a century after those most interesting events, with some sadness and nostalgia we can kindly envy this highly artistic naivety and purity and regret that all this is far in the past.
And the process of close attention to the aesthetic specifics of art began even among the forerunners of the World of Art, some of whom subsequently actively collaborated with the World of Art, feeling that he was continuing the work they had begun. Among such forerunners-participants, it is necessary first of all to name the names of the largest Russian artists Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910) and Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939).
They, as well as the direct founders of the World of Art, were disgusted by any tendentiousness of art, which comes to the detriment of purely artistic means, to the detriment of form and beauty. About one of the exhibitions of the Wanderers Vrubel complains that the overwhelming majority of artists care only about the topic of the day, about topics that are interesting to the public, and "the form, the main content of plasticity, is in the pen" (59). In contrast to many professional aesthetics of his time, and modern ones, leading endless discussions about form and content in art, a true artist who lives art feels well that form is
this is the true content of art, and everything else is not directly related to art proper. This most important aesthetic principle of art, by the way, united such, in general, different artists as Vrubel, Korovin, Serov, with the World of Art proper.
The true art form is obtained, according to Vrubel, when the artist conducts "love conversations with nature", is in love with the depicted object. Only then does a work arise that delivers a “special pleasure” to the soul, which is characteristic of the perception of a work of art and distinguishes it from a printed sheet, which describes the same events as in the picture. The main teacher of the art form is the form created by nature. She “stands at the head of beauty” and without any “code of international aesthetics” is dear to us because “she is the bearer of a soul that will open up to you alone and tell you yours” (99-100). Nature, showing its soul in the beauty of form, thereby reveals our soul to us. Therefore, Vrubel sees true creativity not only in mastering the technical craft of the artist, but, above all, in a deep direct feeling of the subject of the image: to feel deeply means “to forget that you are an artist and be glad that you are, first of all, a person” (99).
However, the ability to “feel deeply” in young artists is often beaten off by the “school”, drilling them on plasters and sitters in working out technical details and etching in them all sorts of memories of a direct aesthetic perception of the world. Vrubel, on the other hand, is convinced that along with mastering technique, the artist must retain a “naive, individual look”, because it contains “all the strength and source of the artist’s pleasures” (64). Vrubel came to this on his own experience. He describes, for example, how he redid the same place dozens of times at his work, “and now, about a week ago, the first living piece came out, which delighted me; I look at his focus and it turns out - just a naive transfer of the most detailed living impressions of nature ”(65). He repeats practically the same thing and explains in the same words that the first impressionists did in Paris a dozen years ago, also admiring the direct impression of nature, conveyed on canvas, with whose art Vrubel, it seems, was not yet familiar. At that time, he was more interested in Venice and the old Venetians Bellini, Tintoretto, Veronese. Byzantine art also seemed to him native: “I was in Torcello, my heart stirred joyfully - dear, as it is, Byzantium” (96).
Already this intimate recognition of the "native" Byzantine art is worth a lot, testifies to a deep understanding of the essence of real art. With all and throughout his life of his painful search for "purely and stylishly beautiful in art" (80), Vrubel understood well that this beauty is an artistic expression of something deep, expressed only by these means. His long-term search for form boiled down to this, both when painting the famous lilac bush (109), and when working on Christian subjects for Kyiv churches - the author's artistic rethinking of the Byzantine and Old Russian style of temple art, and when working on the theme of the Demon, eternal for him, and indeed when painting any picture. And he connected them with the purely Russian specifics of artistic thinking. “Now I’m back in Abramtsevo and again it hits me, no, it doesn’t hit me, but I hear that intimate national note that I so want to catch on canvas and in ornament. This is the music of a whole person, not dissected by the distractions of the orderly, differentiated and pale West” (79).
And the music of this "whole man" can only be conveyed by purely pictorial means, so he constantly and painfully seeks "picturesqueness" in each of his works, notices it in nature. Yes, in fact, only such a nature attracts his attention. In 1883, in a letter from Peterhof to his parents, he described in detail the paintings that were being worked on and planned, and all his attention was drawn exclusively to their picturesque side, to pure painting. “Instead of music” in the evenings, he goes to look closely at the “very picturesque life” of local fishermen. “I liked one old man between them: a face as dark as a copper penny, with faded dirty gray hair and a tousled beard in felt; a smoky, tarred sweatshirt, white with brown stripes, strangely wraps up his old waist with protruding shoulder blades, monstrous boots on his feet; his boat, dry inside and on top, resembles weathered bone in shades; from the keel, wet, dark, velvety-green, clumsily arched - exactly the back of some marine fish. A lovely boat - with patches of fresh wood, silky shine in the sun, reminiscent of the surface of the Kuchkur straws. Add to it the lilac, bluish-blue tints of the evening swell, cut by the whimsical curves of the blue, reddish-green silhouette of the reflection, and this is the picture that I intend to paint ”(92-93).
The "picture" is so juicy and picturesquely described that we can almost see it with our own eyes. Close to this, he describes some of his other works and new ideas. At the same time, do not forget to emphasize them.
picturesque character, picturesque nuances of the type: “This is a study for subtle nuances: silver, plaster, lime, furniture coloring and upholstery, a dress (blue) - a delicate and subtle range; then the body with a warm and deep chord translates to a variegation of flowers and everything is covered with the sharp power of the blue velvet of the hat ”(92). From this it is clear that at the noisy gatherings of modern youth, where questions of the purpose and significance of the plastic arts are discussed and the aesthetic treatises of Proudhon and Lessing are read, Vrubel is the only and consistent defender of the thesis "art for art's sake", and "the mass of defenders of the utilization of art" opposes him ( 90). The same aesthetic position led him to the "World of Art", where he was immediately recognized as an authority and he himself felt himself a full participant in this movement of defenders of artistry in art. “We, the World of Art,” Vrubel declares not without pride, “want to find real bread for society” (102). And this bread is good realistic art, where, with the help of purely pictorial means, not official documents of visible reality are created, but poetic works that express the deepest states of the soul (“illusion the soul”), awakening it “from the little things of everyday life with majestic images” (113) delivering spiritual pleasure to the viewer.
K. Korovin, who accepted the program of the World of Arts and actively participated in their exhibitions, studied the aesthetic-romantic view of nature and art from the excellent landscape painter A.K. Savrasov. He memorized many of the teacher's aesthetic statements and followed them in his life and work. “The main thing,” Korovin wrote down Savrasov’s words to his students, among whom he and Levitan were in the forefront, “is contemplation - a sense of the motive of nature. Art and landscapes are not needed if there is no feeling.” “If there is no love for nature, then there is no need to be an artist, no need.<...>We need romance. Motive. Romance is immortal. Mood is needed. Nature is always breathing. She always sings, and her song is solemn. There is no greater pleasure than the contemplation of nature. The earth is paradise, and life is a mystery, a beautiful mystery. Yes, a secret. Celebrate life. The artist is the same poet ”(144, 146).
These and similar words of the teacher were very close to the spirit of Korovin himself, who retained Savrasov's romantic and aesthetic pathos, but in expressing the beauty of nature he went much further than his teacher in finding the latest artistic techniques and using modern pictorial finds, in particular impressionistic. In theoretical terms, he does not make any discoveries, but simply, and sometimes even quite primitively
expresses his aesthetic position, akin to the position of the World of Arts and sharply contradicting the "aesthetics of life" that dominated his time, the Wanderers and democratically oriented aesthetics and art critics (like Pisarev, Stasov, etc.), who both him and Vrubel, and all the World of Arts after the first the exhibitions of 1898 were recorded in bulk as decadents.
Korovin writes that from childhood he felt something fantastic, mysterious and beautiful in nature, and throughout his life he did not get tired of enjoying this mysterious beauty of nature. “How beautiful evenings, sunsets, how many moods in nature, its impressions,” he repeats almost word for word the lessons of Savrasov. - This joy is like music, the perception of the soul. What poetic sadness" (147). And in his art, he sought to express, embody the directly perceived beauty of nature, the impression of the experienced mood. At the same time, he was deeply convinced that "the art of painting has one goal - the admiration of beauty" (163). He issued this maxim to Polenov himself when he asked him to speak about his large canvas Christ and the Sinner. Out of decency, Korovin praised the picture, but remained cold to the subject, for he felt cold in the master's pictorial means themselves. At the same time, he actually followed the concept of Polenov himself, who, as Korovin once wrote, was the first to tell his students “about pure painting, How it is written ... about the variety of colors ”(167). This How and became the main thing for Korovin in all his work.
“To feel the beauty of paint, light - this is what art is expressed a little, but it is truly true to take, enjoy freely, the relationship of tones. Tones, tones are more truthful and sober - they are the content" (221). Follow the principles of the Impressionists in your work. To look for a plot for tone, in tones, in color relations - the content of the picture. It is clear that such statements and searches were extremely revolutionary both for Russian academicians of painting and for the Wanderers of the 90s. 19th century Only young people from the World of Art could understand them, although they themselves did not yet reach the courage of Korovin and the Impressionists, but they treated them with reverence. With all this enthusiasm for searches in the field of purely artistic expressiveness, Korovin had a good sense of the general aesthetic meaning of art in its historical retrospective. “Only art makes a man out of a man,” is the intuitive insight of a Russian artist, ascending to the heights of German classical aesthetics, to the aesthetics of the greatest romantics. And here, too, a polemic with positivists and materialists, unexpected for Korovin: “It’s not true, Christianity
did not deprive a person of a sense of aesthetics. Christ commanded to live and not to bury talent. The pagan world was full of creativity, under Christianity, perhaps twice as much” (221).
In fact, Korovin, in his own way, is looking for the same thing in art as all the world of art - artistry, the aesthetic quality of art. If it exists, he accepts any art: both pagan and Christian, both old and new, the most modern (impressionism, neo-impressionism, cubism). If only it affected "aesthetic perception", delivered "spiritual pleasure" (458). Therefore, his special interest in the decorativeness of painting as a purely aesthetic property. He writes a lot about the decorative qualities of theatrical scenery, on which he constantly worked. And he saw the main goal of the scenery in that they organically participate in a single ensemble: dramatic action - music - scenery. In this regard, he wrote with particular admiration about the successful production of Rimsky-Korsakov's Tsar Saltan, where the geniuses of Pushkin and the composer successfully merged into a single action based on the scenery of Korovin himself (393).
In general, Korovin sought, as he writes, in his scenery, so that they deliver the same pleasure to the eye of the audience as music to the ear. “I wanted the eye of the spectator to enjoy aesthetically as well as the ear of the soul to music” (461). Therefore, in the foreground in his work, he always has How which he derives from something artist, not what, which should be a consequence How. He repeatedly writes about this in his draft notes and letters. Wherein How is not something far-fetched, artificially tortured by the artist. No, according to Korovin, it is a consequence of his organic search for the “language of beauty”, moreover, the search for an unconstrained, organic one - “forms of art are only good when they are from love, freedom, from ease in themselves” (290). And true is any art where there is such an involuntary, but coupled with sincere search, expression of beauty in an original form.
Under all these and similar judgments of Korovin, almost every member of the World of Arts could subscribe. The search for the aesthetic quality of art, the ability to express it in an adequate form was the main task of this community, and almost all of its members managed to solve it in their own way in their work, to create, although not brilliant (with the exception of some outstanding paintings by Vrubel), but original artistically valuable works of art that have taken their rightful place in the history of art.
Notes
See at least monographs: Benois A.N. The emergence of the "World of Art". L., 1928; Etkind M. Alexander Nikolaevich Benois. L.-M., 1965; Gusarova A.P. "World of Art". L., 1972; Lapshina N.P. "World of Art". Essays on history and creative practice. M., 1977; Pruzhan I. Konstantin Somov. M., 1972; Zhuravleva E.V. K.A.Somov. M., 1980; Golynets S.V. L.S. Bakst. L., 1981; Pozharskaya M.N. Russian theatrical and decorative art of the late XIX - early XX century. M., 1970, etc.
"World of Art" "World of Art"
(1898–1904; 1910–1924), an association of St. Petersburg artists and cultural figures (A.N. Benoit, K. A. Somov, L.S. Bakst, M.V. Dobuzhinsky, HER. Lansere, AND I. Golovin, AND I. Bilibin, Z. E. Serebryakova, B. M. Kustodiev, N.K. Roerich, S.P. Diaghilev, D. V. Philosophers, V. F. Nouvel, etc.), who published the magazine of the same name. Writers and philosophers D. S. Merezhkovsky, N. M. Minsky, L. I. Shestov, V. V. Rozanov collaborated with the journal. With its programmatic literary and visual material, the desire to lead the artistic movement of the era, the World of Art was a new type of periodical for Russia. The first issue was published in November 1898. Each magazine, from the cover to the typeface, was an integral work of art. The publication was subsidized by well-known patrons S.I. Mammoths and Princess M. K. Tenisheva, its ideological orientation was determined by the articles of Diaghilev and Benois. The journal was published until 1904. Thanks to the activities of the World of Art specialists, the art of book design is also experiencing an unprecedented flourishing.
The community of artists, who later formed the core of the association, began to take shape at the turn of the 1880s and 1890s. Officially, the association "World of Art" took shape only in the winter of 1900, when its charter was drawn up and an administrative committee was elected (A. N. Benois, S. P. Diaghilev, V. A. Serov), and existed until 1904. Consciously assuming the mission of reformers of artistic life, the World of Arts actively opposed academicism and later Wanderers. However, they always remained close, according to Benois, "deposits of genuine idealism" and "humanitarian utopia" of the 19th century. In previous art, the World of Art valued tradition above all else. romanticism, considering it a logical conclusion symbolism, in the formation of which in Russia they were directly involved.
With their increased interest in foreign art, many World of Arts have earned a reputation as Westerners in the literary and artistic environment. The magazine "World of Art" regularly introduced the Russian public to the easel and applied arts of foreign masters, both old and modern (English Pre-Raphaelites, P. Puvis de Chavannes, artists of the group " Nabis" and etc.). In their work, the World of Art people focused mainly on German artistic culture. In national history, they were attracted by the era of the 18th century, its customs and mores. In the culture of the 18th - the first third of the 19th century. The World of Arts were looking for a poetic key to unraveling the mysteries of all subsequent Russian history. Soon they were nicknamed "retrospective dreamers". Artists had a special ability to feel the poetic aroma of bygone eras and create a dream of a "golden age" of Russian culture. Their works convey to the viewer the exciting charm of a festive, theatrical life (court ceremonies, fireworks), accurately recreate the details of toilets, wigs, flies. The World of Arts paint scenes in parks, where refined ladies and gentlemen coexist with the characters of the Italian commedia dell'arte - Harlequins, Columbines, and others (K. A. Somov. "Harlequin and Death", 1907). Fascinated by the past, they combine the dream of it with sad melancholy and irony, realizing the impossibility of returning to the past (K. A. Somov. "Evening", 1902). The characters in their paintings do not resemble living people, but puppets acting out a historical performance (A.N. Benois. The King's Walk, 1906).
Exhibiting works of old masters at their exhibitions, the World of Arts at the same time tried to attract to them those painters, sculptors and graphic artists who had a reputation for paving new paths in art. Five exhibitions of the magazine "World of Art" were held in St. Petersburg in 1899-1903. In addition to paintings and drawings by the World of Art artists, the expositions included works by major Russian masters of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. (M. A. Vrubel, V. A. Serova, K. A. Korovin, F. A. Malyavin and etc.). A special place at the exhibitions was given to products arts and crafts, in whose works the members of the association saw a manifestation of "pure" beauty. A significant event in the artistic life was the grandiose “Historical and Art Exhibition of Russian Portraits” organized by Diaghilev in the halls of the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg (1905).
In 1910, exhibitions under the name "World of Art" reappeared (continued in Russia until 1924; the last exhibition under this sign took place in 1927 in Paris, where many World of Art artists emigrated after the revolution). However, only the name united them with the previous expositions. The founders of the association gave way to their leading role in the artistic life of the next generation of painters. Many World of Art members joined a new organization - Union of Russian Artists, created on the initiative of Muscovites.
(Source: "Art. Modern Illustrated Encyclopedia." Under the editorship of Prof. A.P. Gorkin; M.: Rosmen; 2007.)
See what "World of Art" is in other dictionaries:
"World of Art"- "World of Art", art association. Formed in the late 1890s. (the statute was approved in 1900) on the basis of a circle of young artists, art historians and art lovers (“self-education society”), headed by A. N. Benois and ... ...
Russian Art Association. Formed in the late 1890s. (officially in 1900) on the basis of a circle of young artists and art lovers, headed by A. N. Benois and S. P. Diaghilev. As an exhibition union under the auspices of Mir magazine ... ... Art Encyclopedia
- "World of Art", Russian art association. Formed in the late 1890s. (officially in 1900) in St. Petersburg on the basis of a circle of young artists and art lovers, headed by A. N. Benois and S. P. Diaghilev. As an exhibition union under ... ...
1) artistic association. Formed in the late 1890s. (the statute was approved in 1900) on the basis of a circle of young artists, art historians and art lovers (the “self-education society”), headed by A. N. Benois and S. P. Diaghilev. As … St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)
"World of Art"- "The World of Art", an illustrated literary and artistic magazine of the association "The World of Art" and (until 1903) symbolist writers. It was published in 18991904 (until 1901 once every 2 weeks, from 1901 monthly). Publisher M. K. Tenisheva and S. I. Mamontov (in ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"
World of Art: The world of art (sociology) is a set of people involved in artistic creation or the creation, consumption, storage, distribution, criticism of works of art. The world of art (organization) artistic ... ... Wikipedia
- "World of Art", a literary and artistic illustrated magazine, an organ of the association "World of Art" and symbolist writers. It was published in 1898/99 1904 in St. Petersburg (until 1901 once every 2 weeks, from 1901 monthly). Publishers in 1899 Princes M. K. ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
A literary and artistic illustrated magazine, an organ of the association of the World of Art and (until 1903) symbolist writers. Published in 1898/99 1904 in St. Petersburg. Publishers M. K. Tenisheva and S. I. Mamontov (in 1899), then S. P. Diaghilev (chief ... ... Art Encyclopedia
- "WORLD OF ART", Russian art association (1898 1924), created in St. Petersburg by A. N. Benois (see BENOIS Alexander Nikolaevich) and S. P. Diaghilev (see DIAGILEV Sergei Pavlovich). Putting forward the slogans of "pure" art and "transformation" ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
The Russian Art Association (1898 1924), founded in St. Petersburg by A. N. Benois and S. P. Diaghilev. Putting forward the slogans of pure art and the transformation of life through art, representatives of the World of Art rejected both academicism and ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- "WORLD OF ART" an art illustrated magazine published in St. Petersburg from 1899 to 1904. In 1899, the publishers of the magazine were Prince. M. K. Tenisheva and S. I. Mamontov, editor S. P. Diaghilev. The latter, starting from 1900, becomes the only one ... ... Literary Encyclopedia
Books
- World of Art. 1898-1927, G. B. Romanov, This publication is dedicated to the 30-year period in the history of the association "World of Art". The publication contains portraits, biographies and works of artists. In preparing this encyclopedia for… Category: History of Russian art Publisher:
