2015 Artistic Culture and Cult

The Avant-garde is now appreciated as an artistic school which belongs to the classical cultural heritage; this is an inherent part of the contemporary art. Though initially the avant-garde contradicted traditional values, nowadays it is no longer considered to be destructive to the classics. It naturally developed the idea of creativity, which is intrinsic to the art and was originally infused by the Creator in his “image and likeness” — human. The avant-garde glorified the artist, the beauty of colo­urs, shapes, figures, rhythm and the diversity of patterns and textures.
One of the honourable representatives of the Russian avant-garde is Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, who created his works in a very authentic and distinctive manner. Petrov-Vodkin is not just an artist, whose art is based on religious and moral traditions, he is a philosopher. He sought to understand and to put into his art the idea of an individual, a thing and the universe in all their complexity, thus comprehending the laws of the objective reality.
“Bathing of a Red Horse” by K. Petrov-Vodkin is “a sign of the time”. The painting represents a small universe where we can see the riot of the red colour, which symbolizes pagan Rus’ and its antinomies: the symbol of sacrifice, love, the Holy Fire, passion, power, conscience and blood. This masterpiece of the artist expresses his reflection on the fate of the country, “its eternal battle”.
Feeling “moral poverty” of the world of hate and evil (revolutions, the First World War and the civil war in Russia), the artist creates a special theme of motherhood, a series of his Madonnas: “Mother”, “Tenderness of Evil Hearts”, “1918 in Petrograd”.
The painting “Mother” (1915) is characterized by a distinct clarity of composition and transparency of colours. Petrov-Vodkin took the iconic image for the easel painting in his religious-theme work (“The Mother of God of Tenderness of Evil Hearts”). The artist embodies an earthly feeling, which becomes sublime in its purity and strength. These paintings-hymns to family life, joy and holiness of motherly love are appreciated as significant for the world art.
The art and the religion are morally related in their mission to protect people and their memory. They enable us to understand the tragic background of the nation, embodied in the culture. The artist appeals to our love, mercy and sympathy, and reminds of the eternal values — the moral purity and beauty.

 PDF

In Moscow contemporary art of the 2000s religious subjects (connected with Christian tradition), both separate works and exhibition projects, take a noticeable place. The period of the 2000s can be defined as independent from the point of view of religious subjects’ evolution in Russian art of the 20th–21st centuries. The period from 1917 to the end of the 1980s, characterized by a ban on public exhibition of religious art, is replaced with the 1990s, when artists of different artistic directions including even the actual one, turn to religious subjects. At that time religious subjects were more often a reason for the art provocation; similar approach is characteristic for the 2010s. In this context interpretation of religious subjects in Moscow contemporary art of the 2000s differs from the previous period as there are attempts to start dialogue between actual art and the church as a public institute. A number of exhibition projects were made, such as “Deisis/Predstoyaniye”, 2004; “I Trust!”, “The evangelical project” by D. Vrubel and V. Timofeeva, 2008; “Dvoyesloviye / Dialogue”, 2010 and others. Of considerable interest are various interpretations of “images of the sacred” by the representatives of contemporary art: from manipulations with the iconographic images and symbols taken out of a semantic context of Christian tradition to experience of immersion in depths of personal experience and comprehension of a sacral image. Religious subjects in contemporary art of the 2000s are the experience of the appeal to the two-thousand-year cultural tradition capable of updating the modern art both on semantic and the formal level.

 PDF

Based on a student design bureau of the Aviation Institute and directed by professor Bulat Mach­mudovich Galeyev, the Institute for experimental aesthetics “Prometheus” in Kazan was probably the only center in the USSR and post-soviet Russia that was simultaneously engaged into theory, history and practice of “visual music”.
The center developed and created some new “light-musical” devices, arranged scientific work on studying a phenomenon of synesthesia and “color hearing”, and collected all available information on history and new achievements from all over the world. Unique scientific seminars, conferences and festivals “Light and Music” were held here. Kazan events gathered researchers from many countries. An interdisciplinary direction of the scientific problematics united specialists in many different fields. One of the main research activities of Kazan school was the study of synaesthetic experiments of followers of Scriabin’s light-music ideas in Russian art of the 20th century.

 PDF

Western European architecture occupied an important place in graphic works of G. K. Lukomski (1884–1952) both of the pre-revolutionary period and of the period of emigration.
The artist often traveled to Europe capturing in his drawings and watercolors ancient monuments of Kiev, Warsaw, Prague, Krakow, Cologne, Paris, Rome, Venice, etc. His interest in architectural antiquities combined the study of architectural forms with a relentless desire to render them in his pictures.
From February 1934 to July 1935 in London and Paris a series of exhibitions of G. Lukomsky was arranged. Being an impressive array of depictions of ancient European synagogues it was surprising in its novelty. Exhibitions were held in a number of galleries: Leicester Gallery, The Royal Institute of British Architects, The Wildenstein Gallery, The Batsford Callery University Colledge (under the auspices of the Jewish historical society).
The exhibition was a huge success and was widely discussed in the press. The artist’s interest in architecture of synagogues was rooted in his childhood spent in the Ukraine. Then he was struck with originality of an old Jewish synagogue which he often recalled. Later, at the exhibition of “The World of Art” in St. Petersburg (1917) he represented 8 drawings depicting Ukrainian synagogues. Obsessed with the search for ancient architectural forms, Lukomski decided to go “in a thick Eastern European, Polish-Russian Jewry”.
Going into poor parts of Volhynia, Galicia, Polissia, the artist examined 144 synagogues and was delighted with their originality. In his opinion, the charm of this art lies in its “directness, naive archaism”.
Strikingly, the frescoes of the old Polish-Russian synagogues, examined and sketched by G. K. Lukomski, the nature and type of utensil, murals and scenery were a genuine response to frescoes and decorations of the third-century Jewish synagogue.
The success of his London exhibition was a serious and well-deserved award. The collection of his works was purchased by a group of major Jewish philanthropists with the further intention to give it to the Palestinian Museum.

 PDF

A personal diary of an architect and restorer N. D. Vinogradov (1885–1980) appears very actual today. He carefully kept a daily diary starting from the revolution of 1905. Vinogradov witnessed most important events being in contact with major cultural actors of the epoch — architects, artists, culture managers and bureaucrats. Now his diary is especially precious as a precise historical document of the first Soviet initiatives in Moscow, such as Lenin’s Plan of Monumental Propaganda (curated by Vinogradov), activities of Heritage Preservation agencies, major restoration projects and demolitions.
The most interesting subject is an opposition between professionals and bureaucrats, which resulted in the “renewal” of the city through demolition of significant historical buildings, such as Kitay-­Gorod Wall, Krasnye and Triumphalnye Gates, Sukharev Tower, numerous chambers and churches according to engineer Shestakov’s masterplan. Vinogradov’s diary reflected controversial process of Moscow reconstruction and showed a gradual rejection of participatory decisions in favour of autocratic and unprofessional.

 PDF

Our time, the beginning of the 21st century, is characterized by an increased interest of society in questions of spirituality, religion. There are plentiful books on personal growth and psychology, countless “spiritual centers” and “centers for personal development” and popularization of “spiritual” practices. All this clearly demonstrates the desire of a modern man for self-knowledge. The eternal questions of being, truth and the meaning of life take on a new relevance in the context of modernity.
The history of Christian religion and Orthodox art deserves special attention. People turn to icons, frescoes, trying to understand the deep meanings implied by artists of the past. Church community is increasing every day. There is a rapid revival of religious art.
Construction of Orthodox churches and creation of their painted decoration is a complex, labor-intensive and time-consuming process, requiring participation of specialists from various fields, including those in the field of monumental painting. Evgeny Nikolaevich Maksimov is a recognized authority on modern religious art. He was one of the first artists involved in revival of centuries-old traditions of frescoes, mosaics and other classical techniques of monumental art in the 1990s.
In his work E. N. Maksimov is rethinking the legacy of Byzantine and old Russian school, most often referring to the 16th century. How powerful the impact of Byzantine culture on modern culture is can be seen from several works by Maksimov, namely murals of the Church of St. George in Cyprus, murals of the dome space of the Kazan Cathedral of Svyato-Vvedenskaya Optina Poustinia, as well as the murals in the Church of St. Modest of Jerusalem on Athos, Greece. They allow us to analyze the development of the painter’s career from its origins to the present.
Maximov is also a teacher, professor, who has won numerous awards, such as the Moscow Prize in the arts (2002), Russian Federation Government Prize in the field of culture and art (2012), the golden medal of the Russian Academy of Arts (2002) as well as medals and diplomas of the ROC. He is a Knight of the Order of St. Anne of the Russian Imperial House of the 3d degree (2014), Knight of the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh of the 3d degree (2000), Knight of the Order of St. Andrei Rublev of the 3d degree (2004) and the Order of St. Innocent of Moscow of the 3d degree (2008).

 PDF

The exhibition project “БЛАГОВЕСТNOW” lasted from 22 August 2014 to 22 October 2014. For the first time Pereslavl Museum-reserve has presented a large-scale art project in the format of synthesis of the museum’s permanent exhibition and a conceptual authorial exhibition system.
The exhibition was not just an abbreviated retrospective of the work of a famous Moscow sculptor Alexei Blagovestnov, but also contemplation on the role of art as a spiritual source for the modern man.
Alexey Blagovestnov is a rare, perhaps the only nonconformist artist in his generation. He was born in Moscow in 1974 to a family of sculptors. As early as in his early years at art school and later at the Institute, he was determined and completely indifferent to public recognition. Nonetheless, Alexey Blagovestnov is an author of many monuments located in public space (a monument to the graduates of VGIK, a monument to Vyacheslav Tikhonov on the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow and to Alexander Abdulov in Khanty-Mansiysk). Coexistance of these two facetes of his creative personality seems paradoxical, but it is perfectly natural for the artist. The exhibition in Pereslavl Museum-reserve was unusual both for the artist and the museum: almost all exhibition grounds of the museum became a place of experiment, thus eliciting logical, though unexpected comparisons. Exhibition “Blagovestnov” became a binder, general plot and route of most of the displays, inviting a viewer to inspect all parts of the museum — from the Department of nature, located in the Gate Church of St. Nicolas and ending with the Assumption Cathedral.
In the process of devising and installation of exhibition “БЛАГОВЕСТNOW” of special interest was fitting modern sculptures by Alexei Blagovestnov complex in their shape, composition and fabulas in active cultic space of the architectural ensemble of the Dormition Goritsky monastery, which now houses the Pereslavl Museum reserve. The sculptures were placed in exhibition spaces and each space had its own concept revealed in accompanying texts written by a renowned art historian N. V. Tolstaya and exhibition curator from Pereslavl Museum A. Y. Andreewa.

 PDF

The article examines major milestones of formation of iconography of The Last Supper (from early Christian catacombs to the 20th century) and defines its main types.
At the same time, the work provides analysis of texts of the same era which reveal the attitude towards the God-man and man, man’s place in the world. (The Oration on the Dignity of Man by Pico della Mirandola with its attention to the anthropocentrism of the Renaissance, The Pensées by Blaise Pascal, and others.)
Major ideas of different cultural movements of that specific epoch are revealed by means of comparison of words and images. The article discusses how ideas from the texts of that time manifested themselves in painting on the major subject for the European tradition of that time.
The early depictions of The Last Supper (paintings of early Christian catacombs, The Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna) illustrate the statement of the Apostle Paul — “The Church is the Body of Christ”.
In Byzantine mosaics, such as Communion of the Apostles, and in the ancient Russian icon — “The Last Supper” the perfection of forms is intended to indicate the imperishable beauty of hereafter.
Special attention is paid to artists of the Renaissance from Ghirlandaio to Tintoretto, and their connection with the idea of the Renaissance individualism and anthropocentrism.
Dali’s work The Last Supper is an attempt (alas, it is too human) to look over the edge of the Resur­rection and the Hereafter.
Thus, the most fruitful period for the development of the iconography of the Last Supper is the period of the 11th–15th centuries in the regions of Byzantium and Ancient Rus. (In this epoch paintings remain in line with content of Christian ontology and anthropology).

 PDF

In 1950 Mejdunarodniy Prospect in Leningrad was renamed in honor of Joseph Stalin, which triggered its massive reconstruction. The best architects were involved in this work. The project of reconstruction of the prospect was a certain “watershed” as it completed “the symbolic era of the Middle Ages — Stalinism” and opened “the pragmatics of the Modern History — the era N. Khrushchev”.
Soviet architects managed to achieve in a five-year period (1950–1955) what people of the Italian Renaissance attained in two centuries. This report considers cultural parallels between such geographi­cally and chronologically remote phenomena as Renaissance and Soviet mentality on the example of the works on the Prospect of Joseph Stalin (the apotheosis of Stalinist culture) and culture of the Renaissance of the 14th–16th centuries. It offers an attempt to to identify similar features (the convergence of art and ideology; the combination of the real and the ideal, the individual and the typical; heroic spirit; the relationship of art and science, etc.). Despite the fact that after the death of Stalin renovation project (as originally planned) was ceased, it remained a monument to the creative surge comparable in importance with the projects of the Renaissance. The report will be accompanied with a presentation of pictures from St. Petersburg archives.

 PDF

In the current socio-political situation it is getting more and more urgent to establish the ideals of national identity, based on the age-old cultural patterns constituting a national tradition. Further progress is impossible without awareness of the importance of spiritual values resting on the ideals of citizenship and patriotism.
To identify the degree of importance of traditional culture in the context of contemporary social and economic reforms — means to solve the important social and educational task, serving the spiritual improvement of the nation, moral-ethical and cultural renewal of society. The goals of the research are current state of preservation and the prospects for the revival and development of the family, cultural, recreational, social, humanitarian traditions.
Activities aimed at socio-pedagogical regulation of the preservation and development of traditional forms of Russian national culture in the context of socio-pedagogical perspective, against the background of modern social and economic reform are complicated and important.
Introducing productive cultural practice which strengthens high moral ideals we solve important problems of formation of civil identity, a holistic relationship of man to the social and natural world, a positive perception of the world as a whole, balannce between individual and social interests of the citizens.
National identity of the Russians is one of the most complicated questions of philosophical and cultural debates. Despite the historically established religious tolerance, revealed in various aspects, religious and moral foundations of Russia were formed in considerable controversy. Regardless of the distance separating pre-Christian Rus’, Kiev Rus’, pre-Petrine and Russia of the Age of Enlightment, there is some specificity of folklore in cultural of these historical periods, pagan in its nature, which contradicts basic components of official orthodox ideology.
Spiritual struggles of old and new, high and low in the minds of Orthodox Rus’ were called by V. Kliuchevsky the diversity of religious consciousness and household assimilation of Christianity. Folklore, as well as the Orthodoxy, formed the foundation of Russian cultural identity, composing the basis of the Russian spirit and national character.

 PDF