Златкова Юлия Иванова
Институт Балканских исследований; Центр Фракологии, Болгарская академия наук, Болгария
The paper examines the art of Classical Antiquity and Christian art from philosophical perspective.
It focuses on religious and spiritual foundations of art and creativity. Art is an expression of spirit, not an expression of reality. There is a great contrast between Christian and Pagan art despite the apparent continuation, influence, and revival of the classical artistic tradition. Pagan art is classical, canonical, and immanent. Christian art is romantic, symbolic, and transcendent. Perfection and completeness of the classical art became impossible in the Christian age. There never has been a “renaissance” even of a single form of art. The secret of the Renaissance is that it did not succeed. Pagan renaissance was not possible in the Christian world and will never be possible.
Classical art was focused on the physical body and its perfect forms, while Christian art was focused on the absolute and tried to extend beyond the limits of the material world. The ideal of beauty and perfection was always an earthly ideal in classical art. In Christian art it was always a heavenly ideal, which could not be achieved within the limits of this world. In Christian art the beauty was always symbolic, not physical. By several examples from different historical ages, I try to demonstrate the opposition between the two artistic types.
Another focus of the presentation is contemporary crisis of art and its religious, spiritual, and historical significance.