The aching spirit heals the chant
E. Baratynsky

Art therapy, if we understand it as the purposeful use of certain psychological and medical effects of artistic creativity and perception, seems to be a very recent phenomenon from a historical point of view.

But we can hardly be mistaken when we say that she is not in name, but in fact is the same age as art itself. And that means a person. After all, what we now call art is the original sign and indisputable evidence of human existence in the world. No matter how far in the past cognition extends, we see that a being, confidently and without reservations called a man, has always created certain spatial or temporal forms that contain and express something more than themselves. And by virtue of this, they preserve in the person himself an unaccountable, and sometimes a conscious feeling of belonging to another, larger, lasting, to some deep, invisible dimension of the world and himself. Looking ahead, I will say: such an experience is vital and healing in the most generalized, undifferentiated sense of the word.

An indirect confirmation of the fact that art therapy is rooted in immemorial antiquity can be the practices of the so-called traditional, or "primitive" societies, psychologically and physically influencing people with the rhythmic-intonation, motor-plastic, color-symbolic aspects of rituals.

Arts in a more modern sense of the word, which emerged from the primary ritual-magical syncretism, have also shown therapeutic potential since ancient times. In particular, the legends about Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans testify that the purposeful use of one or another musical mode changed the inner state, intentions and actions of people. Plato clearly saw the educational and therapeutic potential of the arts. True, he also saw that, under certain conditions, their effect can become destructive - but about what healing remedy cannot be said the same? No matter how mysterious the full meaning of Aristotelian catharsis may remain, there is no doubt that it means some kind of renewal and purification of the soul under the influence of a stage performance, etc.

Let's return to the art of our days, which is becoming more and more noticeable, even a fashionable component of psychological practice. It branches, gives rise to all new directions: music therapy, animation, bibliotherapy, choreo-, puppet-, color-, fairy-tale therapy, therapeutic modeling, therapeutic theater ... sleep, pressure, speech, sensorimotor sphere, communication skills, problems of correction, rehabilitation, support of people with disabilities ... The actions of the art therapist are "targeted", sometimes even prescription in nature. Thus, lists of musical works are created, listening to which is shown in a particular case; pieces are specially composed, the collisions of which should help performers to resolve similar traumatic situations in their home or studio life.

Note: this approach to art, although justified by a good purpose and efficiency, is of a utilitarian-applied nature: the therapist uses separate, essentially peripheral features of the types of art and specific works, correlating them with the equally specific circumstances of the client's life. The general essence of art, the artistic transformation of being, what, in the words of M. Prishvin, prompts the writer "to seriously translate his life into a word", remains in the background. Below I will consider the possibility of a different approach, which I almost "let slip" at the very beginning of the article.

A wonderful teacher-animator and art therapist Y. Krasny called one of his books “Art is always therapy” (3). The book is about seriously ill children and about extremely specific methods of working with them in an animation studio, but the title speaks volumes about the fact that immersion in the sphere of artistic development of the world is healing and beneficial in itself. And not only for a person recognized as sick.

This is confirmed by both science and teaching practice. Thus, domestic and foreign studies in the field of musical psychology reveal the beneficial effects of music on the personal and intellectual levels ((4); (5)), speak of its integral positive impact on the child, starting from the prenatal period (6). Reinforced classes in the visual arts not only intensify the general mental development of adolescents, but also correct the distortions of the value sphere (7), increase the mental activity and overall performance of schoolchildren (8). It is well known that in those educational institutions where at least some kind of artistic creativity is given worthy attention, the emotional tone of children rises, they begin to relate better to learning and to the school itself, suffer less from the notorious overloads and school neuroses, get sick less often and learn better.

So it's just right to talk not only about art therapy for those who already need it, but also about general “art prevention” - and prevention, as you know, is better than treatment in all respects. In anticipation of the times when something like this will become possible in the domestic general education, we will try to figure out how the experience of artistic creation, communication with art can have a healing effect on the human personality.

You will have to start from afar. But first, let's make some important caveats.

The first of these is necessary to forestall one all too obvious objection. Many phenomena of modern art, especially of our days (I am talking about art of a serious professional level), to put it mildly, are not carriers and "generators" of mental health; As for the inner state and fate of some talented people of art, you cannot wish this to your children and students. What are the grounds for asserting that mental health is so closely related to artistic creation? I will say right away: the shadow sides of modern culture, including artistic culture, are quite real, but their discussion should be started, literally and figuratively, “from Adam”. We cannot undertake anything like this within the framework of this work, and therefore, keeping in mind this side of the matter, we will talk about the absolutely positive aspects of human artistic creativity, which undoubtedly prevail on the scale of cultural history. In addition, the above objection refers exclusively to the professional artistic environment of a certain historical period. We are now talking about art in general education, and here its positive role is beyond doubt and is confirmed by the above examples. As for the very differences between "universal" and professional artistic experience, this topic also requires a special deep discussion. For now, let's restrict ourselves to a brief hint: in modern secularized and extremely specialized culture, these two areas differ almost in the same way as physical education useful for everyone - and high-performance sports, fraught with psychological and physical trauma.

And the second caveat. The considerations set out below do not pretend to be evidence in the traditional, "strictly scientific" sense of the word. Like everyone else in the “other-scientific”, humanitarian sphere of knowledge, they strive not for “accuracy of knowledge”, but for “depth of penetration” (9), and are directed to the integral, not fully verbalized experience of the reader as a partner in dialogue.

So, first of all: what are the most general, deep-seated and non-situational reasons for our psychological distress and potential mental illness? Figuratively speaking, one of them lies in the “horizontal”, the other - in the “vertical” dimension of being, while the person himself, with his perceived and unconscious difficulties and contradictions, is constantly at the point of their intersection.

Disadvantage "horizontally" is rooted in the fact that our conscious "I", standing out at the beginning of life from the primary undivided integrity, inevitably opposes itself to the surrounding world as some kind of "not me" and, in the conditions of modern rationalized culture, "hardens" in this natural, but one-sided opposition; "Fencing" its territory, as if enclosing itself in a transparent, but impenetrable psychological shell of alienation from the world, as if initially external and alien to it. It itself excommunicates itself from participation in the all-inclusive existence.

Both intellectually and emotionally, a person forms the image of a beginningless and endless world that lives according to its own, purely objective natural and social laws and is indifferent to its fleeting existence. The world of impersonal, human-determining cause-and-effect relationships, to which it is possible to adapt only temporarily. In this regard, theorists reflect on the "ultimate atomization of the consciousness of the modern individual" or (as, for example, the psychologist S. L. Rubinstein) say that in such a world there is no place for man as such; the poets give birth to the image of the "desert of the world", which creativity helps to pass (we will remember it for later!).

Of course, not every person, let alone a child, will indulge in such reflection. But when a person's unconscious memory of his own integrity and universal nature, of the initial ontological unity with the world, his need to make sure that “in the desert of the world I am not alone” (O. Mandelstam) do not receive a response and confirmation, this creates a permanent common basis for psychological distress , irreducible to specific everyday problems and situations.

The remarkable ethnographer W. Turner described an archaic, but effective form of overcoming, or rather, prevention of this ailment as a cyclical regulated change of two ways of existence of a traditional society, which he defined as "structure" and "communitas" (i.e. community, involvement (10) For most of his life, each member of a strictly hierarchized and structured society stays in his own age, gender, “professional” cell and acts in strict accordance with the system of social expectations. short time is abolished, and each ritually immerses himself in a direct experience of total unity, embracing other people, and nature, and the world as a whole. By touching a single fundamental principle of being, people can return to their daily functioning in their dismembered social structure without threat to mental health.

Obviously, in other historical and cultural conditions, the phenomenon of communitas in this form is not reproducible, but it has many analogs: from the culture of the carnival to the traditions of choral singing, from the ancient mysteries to participation in religious sacraments (however, in this case, the “vertical »Measurement of the discussed problem, which will be discussed later). But now it is important to emphasize something else: a person, without realizing it, seeks attachment to something "greater than himself." And the absence of such experience - positive, socially approved - turns into absurd, sometimes destructive and pathological breakthroughs of the blocked need of the “atomized individual” to break free of the “flags” of his separateness and join a certain “we”. (Let's remember the impact on the listeners of some directions contemporary music, about the behavior of football fans and about many much darker manifestations of crowd psychology, and on the other hand, about depression and suicide based on psychological loneliness.)

What therapeutic or, better to say, prophylactic value can the experience of artistic creation have in this matter?

The fact is that its very capabilities are based not on individual sensory or any other abilities associated with the implementation of activities in this or that form of art, but on a special holistic human attitude to the world and to oneself in the world, which is highly developed among artists. , but is potentially characteristic of every person and is especially successfully actualized in childhood. The psychological content of this aesthetic attitude has been repeatedly described by representatives of different types of art, different eras and peoples. And its main feature is precisely in the fact that the invisible barrier that isolates the self-closed self from the rest of the world disappears in aesthetic experience, and a person directly and consciously experiences his ontological unity with the object of aesthetic relationship and even with the world as a whole. Then, in a special way, the unique sensual appearance of things is revealed to him: their “ external form»Turns out to be a transparent bearer of the soul, a direct expression of inner life, akin and understandable to man. That is why he himself feels, at least for a short time, a part of the existence of the whole world and its eternity.

“I strove,” says V. Goethe in his autobiographical work, to look with love at what is happening outside and to expose myself to the influence of all beings, each in his own way, starting with a human being and then - along a descending line - to the extent that in which they were comprehensible to me. Hence, a wonderful relationship with certain natural phenomena, internal consonance with it, participation in the chorus of the all-embracing whole arose ”(11, p. 456)

“And only because we are related to the whole world,” says our great writer and thinker M.M. Prishvin, by the power of kindred attention we restore a common bond and open our own personal in people of a different way of life, even in animals, even plants, even in things ”(12, p. 7). Art creators who lived at different times and often did not know anything about each other testify that only on the basis of such experience a truly artistic work can arise.

So the aesthetic experience, which - we emphasize! - in the appropriate pedagogical conditions every child can acquire it, helps to heal an ontological crack and restore the unity of a person with the world "horizontally". In any case, to give a person experience the opportunity, the reality of this unity. And such an experience, even if it is rare, not fully reflected, not kept in consciousness, will certainly remain on the unconscious, or rather, on the superconscious level, and will constantly support a person in his arbitrarily complex relationship with the world around him.

Note: we needed to mention the superconsciousness, and this means that we have come to the line beyond which our thoughts move into the "vertical" plan of the issue under discussion.

The famous line of F.I. Tyutcheva: "Everything is in me, and I am in everything! .." Here, a different level of self-awareness and self-awareness of a person is guessed, the presence of a different, larger “I”, proportional to “everything”, capable of containing “everything”, and thanks to this, the reason for our inner trouble lies in the “vertical” dimension of being.

In religious and philosophical literature, in the works of many psychologists, in the spiritual and practical experience of people of different times and peoples, as well as in the experience of self-observation of numerous creatively gifted people, we find evidence that, along with the empirical “I” of our everyday self-consciousness, something else really exists, "Higher" I ", which carries in itself all the fullness of possibilities, which we partially actualize in the space-time of earthly life and in a limited socio-cultural environment. Not being able to discuss this topic in detail within the framework of this article, I will only note that without such an assumption it is impossible to speak seriously about creativity, such phenomena as self-education, self-improvement, etc. become inexplicable.

This supreme "instance" of individual human existence is called differently: the higher "I" - in contrast to the everyday, "true" - in contrast to the illusory and changeable, "eternal" - in contrast to the mortal, transitory, "free" - in distinction from a set of biosocial or any other "objective" factors, "spiritual" "I" (13), "creative" I "(14), etc.

Contacting this “I” of superconsciousness on the paths of spiritual self-improvement, or in the process of creativity in a particular area, or receiving it as if “for free” in the stream of everyday life, a person feels himself / herself with a previously unknown clarity, intensity, certainty and completeness ... Of course, such peaks, like the experiences of unity with the world, which we talked about earlier, cannot become our permanent state, but the absence or deep oblivion of such an experience - this, figuratively speaking, a "vertical gap" - becomes the cause of deep inner disorder a person who cannot be eliminated by any changes in his external life or by private recommendations of a consultant psychologist that do not touch upon the essence of the matter.

The philosopher will define this gap as "the discrepancy between the essence and existence of man"; a humanist psychologist - as a lack of self-actualization, as “deprivation of higher needs” (A. Maslow); the psychotherapist can reasonably see in him the cause of the loss of the meaning of life - the root of all diseases (V. Frankl). In any case, we are talking about the fact that not only are we not actually “ourselves”, which, perhaps, is not achievable in its entirety - we live on the distant periphery of ourselves, not trying to restore the lost connection with our own true “I” ", Approach him. We live not only in an alien world, but in essence aliens and to ourselves.

And again the same question arises: how can an early (or even not only early) experience of artistic creation help a person in this situation?

Let's go back a little. In an aesthetic experience, a person, sometimes - unexpectedly for himself, crosses the usual boundaries of his "ego", lives common life with a big world, and this creates a fertile ground for a kind of revelation about oneself, for "meeting" with a big self, commensurate with this world. A man, in the words of the poet Walt Whitman, suddenly discovers with joy that he is bigger and better than he thought, that he does not fit "between the shoes and the hat" ...

Many masters of arts experience and record this kind of "meeting" in their memories. Then they have ideas that clearly go beyond their usual capabilities, and, nevertheless, are embodied. In the process of creating or performing a work, a person feels like an “instrument” in the hand of “someone” much more powerful and perspicacious, and sometimes perceives the result detachedly, as something to which he has no direct relationship. Such self-reports are usually characterized by a credible sobriety, lack of affectation. The level of awareness of this experience is different - from experiencing emotional and energetic upsurge, creative daring, transcending one's own boundaries to conscious, almost at the level of methodology, attracting the "creative self" to cooperation - as, for example, in the practice of the great Russian actor M. Chekhov (15) ... I will not try to interpret in any way these psychological phenomena, the very existence of which is beyond doubt. What is important for us now is something else: artistic and creative experience (and, probably, any truly creative experience) is, to a certain extent, the experience of “being oneself”. It allows you to overcome, at least temporarily, the "vertical gap": to experience the moment of unity of the everyday - and the higher, creative self; at least - to remember and experience the very fact of its existence.

Let me note: speaking of creativity, I do not mean "creating something new", this is only a consequence, an external evidence of the process of creativity, moreover, the evidence is not always intelligible and indisputable. By creativity, I mean, first of all, the manifestation of the “inner activity of the soul” (16), which is realized as a free (not determined from the outside) generation and embodiment of one's own intention in a particular area of ​​life and culture.

There is a lot of evidence, from theological to experimental and pedagogical, confirming that every person is a creator by nature; the need to create in the most general sense of the word, "to live from the inside out" (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh) characterizes the very essence of man in the most intimate way. And the realization of this need is a necessary condition for mental health, and its blocking, which is so characteristic, in particular, for modern general education, is a source of an implicit, but serious danger to the human psyche. As the modern researcher V. Bazarny says, a person is either creative or sick.

Returning to the figurative-symbolic coordinates of our presentation, we can say that true creativity is born precisely in the crosshairs of the horizontal and vertical axes - the restored relationship of a person with himself and the world. When a person sees a kindred world around him through the eyes of a higher, creative self and realizes the possibilities of the creative self in the images, language, materiality of the surrounding world. This harmony is embodied in any truly artistic work (no matter how complex or tragic its specific content may be) and directly affects the viewer, reader or listener, awakening in him a memory, albeit unclear, about the initial unity with the world and about the big “inner man "In himself.

Here the question naturally arises. It is obvious that creativity and artistic creation are by no means synonymous, that creative self-realization is possible in all areas of human activity and in all his relationships with the world; why do we so emphasize the importance of art and artistic creation for the mental health of a person, and a growing person - especially?

This is, first of all, about the age priority of art. It is in this area that practically all children of preschool, primary school, junior adolescence can, in favorable pedagogical conditions, acquire an emotionally positive and successful experience of creativity as such, the generation and embodiment of their own ideas.

Further. Is there another area of ​​culture in which children 9, 7, 4 years old can create something that society and the highest professional elite recognize as valuable? Valuable not because the child did it, but valuable as an independent fact of culture? And in art, this is exactly the case: outstanding masters of all types of art have seen children as their younger colleagues who are capable of creating aesthetic values ​​for more than a hundred years, and are not even averse to learning something from them. One more thing. A young (but still not 4 or 7 years old!) Physicist or mathematician does in principle the same thing as an adult scientist, only many years earlier: there is no “child science”. And children's art exists: being artistically valuable, a child's work at the same time bears a pronounced age mark, easily recognizable and inseparable from the artistic value of the work. This speaks, from my point of view, of the deep "conformity to nature" of artistic creativity: the child acquires a full-fledged creative experience in the most appropriate age forms for him.

There are, however, difficult-to-explain phenomena when a child creates a text or a drawing that does not bear any age mark neither in an emotionally meaningful sense, nor even from the point of view of the perfection of the embodiment of the idea, and could belong to an adult artist. I am not ready to discuss in detail and explain this amazing phenomenon - I will only remind you that an adult artist in his work is “more than himself”. And it is better to say - it happens "by itself."

A. Melik-Pashaev

Literature

1. Ideas of aesthetic education. Anthology in 2 volumes. Vol.1, M .: "Art", 1973
2. Aristotle. Poetics. (On the art of poetry.) M .: State Publishing House fiction, 1957
3. Yu.E. Krasny ART is always therapy. M.: Publishing house LLC Interregional Center for Management and Political Consulting, 2006
4. A.V. Toropova The development of the integrity of the personality through the sensory filling of the musical consciousness of the child. / Methodology of pedagogy of music education (scientific school of E.B. Abdullin). - M., Moscow State Pedagogical University, 2007.S. 167-180.
5. Kirnarskaya D.K. Musical ability. M .: Talents-XXI century, 2004
6. Lazarev M. New paradigm of education. Art at school, # 3, 2011
7. Sitnova E.N. The influence of art and aesthetic education on personality development in adolescence and adolescence. Abstract of thesis. Candidate of dissertation, M., 2005
8. Kashekova I. Figures and only figures. Art at school, no. 4, 2007
9. Bakhtin M.M. Aesthetics of Verbal Creativity), Moscow: Art, 1979.
10. Turner, W. Symbol and ritual (Moscow: Nauka, 1983)
11. Goethe, V. Poetry and Truth, Collected Works, vol. 3, Fiction Publishing, 1976.
12. Prishvin M.M. By the power of kindred attention. M .: Art at school, M., 1996
13. Florenskaya T.A. Dialogue in practical psychology. M .:, 1991
14. Melik-Pashaev A.A. The world of the artist. M .: Progress-tradition, 2000
15. Chekhov M.A. Literary heritage in 2 volumes. M .: Art, 1995
16. Zenkovsky V.V. The problem of mental causation. Kiev, 1914

, A. T. Matveev, P. V. Miturich, V. I. Mukhina, I. I. Nivinsky, N. I. Niss-Gol'dman, P. Ya. Pavlinov, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, A. I Savinov, M. S. Saryan, N. A. Tyrsa, N. P. Ulyanov, P. S. Utkin, V. A. Favorsky, I. M. Chaikov.

Members and exhibitors: I. P. Akimov, M. M. Axelrod, M. A. Arinin, M. S. Askinazi, V. G. Bekhteev, G. S. Vereisky, A. D. Goncharov, M. E. Gorshman, L. D. Gudiashvili, E. G. Davidovich, E. V. Egorov, I. D. Ermakov, I. V. Zholtovsky, L. K. Ivanovsky, V. I. Kashkin, I. V. Klyun, M. V . Kuznetsov, N. N. Kupreyanov, S. I. Lobanov, K. S. Malevich, Z. Ya. Mostova (Matveeva-Mostova), V. M. Midler, V. A. Milashevsky, B. V. Milovidov, A. P. Mogilevsky, P. I. Neradovsky, A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, N. I. Padalitsyn, I. A. Puni, V. F. Reidemeister, M. S. Rodionov, N. B. Rosenfeld, S. M. Romanovich, V. F. Ryndin, N. Ya. Simonovich-Efimova, N. I. Simon, M. M. Sinyakova-Urechina, A. A. Soloveichik, A. I. Stolpnikova, A. I. Tamanyan, N. P. Tarasov, M. M. Tarkhanov, V. P. Fedorenko, N. P. Feofilaktov, A. V. Fonvizin, V. F. Franchetti, R. V. Frenkel-Manyusson, I. I. Chekmazov, N. M. Chernyshev, V. D. Shitikov, S. M. Shor, I. A. Shpinel, V. A. Shchuko, A. V. Shchusev, V. M. Yustitsky, B. A. Yakovlev other.

Exhibitions: 1st - 1925 (Moscow) - 3rd - 1929 (Moscow); 1928 (Leningrad)

Founded on the initiative of the former members of the associations "Blue Rose" and "World of Art". The artists proclaimed the priority of high professional skill and emotional content of the work. The task of the Society was to study the issues of the specifics and interaction of various types of art, as well as the development of urban planning principles, monumental propaganda, and the design of the interiors of public buildings.

At the organizational meeting, P.V.Kuznetsov was elected the chairman of the society, V.A.Favorsky as his deputy, and K.N. Istomin as secretary. In 1928, a charter was adopted, which stated: “With the aim of actively participating in socialist construction and the development of revolutionary culture, the Society of the Four Arts unites within the RSFSR artists working in the field of painting, sculpture, architecture and graphics, aiming to contribute to the growth artistic skill and the culture of the visual arts through the research and practical work of its members and the dissemination of artistic and technical knowledge. "

The society did not have its own premises; the meetings were held in turn in the workshops of its members. In addition to solving current issues, meetings were held with writers and poets, literary readings and musical evenings were organized. A stamp (based on a sketch by A.I.Kravchenko) and a banner of the Society (based on a sketch by E.M. Bebutova) were developed. An exhibition jury has been formed.

The first exhibition was opened in April 1925 at the State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow with the support of GAKhN. 28 artists presented 215 works (catalog published); People's Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky spoke at the opening. At the opening and on Sundays, the exhibition featured performances by musical ensembles.

The second exhibition was organized with the support of the Art Department of the Main Science in November 1926 in the halls of the State Historical Museum; 72 artists presented 423 works (a catalog was published). The exhibition received generally favorable press coverage. The critic I. Khvoinik wrote: “ Specific gravity a group in a formally artistic sense is determined by the presence in it of a fair number of great masters who form the core of this association. The participation of these masters, who were quite established and noticeable even before the revolution, is perhaps the main interest of the group. The graphic “sector” of society is especially strong in this sense ”. He, after celebrating the best masters of the exhibition (P. V. Kuznetsov, V. A. Favorsky, A. I. Kravchenko, L. A. Bruni, P. I. Lvov, P. V. Miturich, P. Ya. Pavlinov , I. M. Chaikov), summed up: “Thematically, the entire exhibition creates the impression of an overly“ Parnassian ”attitude of the whole group to life. Out of almost 400 works, the overwhelming majority testifies to immersion in the landscape, admiration for nature and great sympathy for still life ... With very few exceptions, the entire exhibition is thematically connected with our time by very weak hints, devoid of the sharpness and brightness of a densely scooped life "(" Soviet Art, 1926, No. 10. P. 28–32). F. Roginskaya gave a similar description: “If we approach the“ 4 arts ”as an artistic association, it can be characterized as a grouping, although it possesses a rather high degree of artistic culture, but standing somewhere apart from modernity, outside of it. This is determined not only by the plot feature, that is, by the lack of connection in the plots with the current life, and not only by the main mood, ... but even by formal signs that do not contain any visible elements capable of creatively ascending and moving the association "(" Pravda ", 1926, November 6).

In response, the “4 Arts” Society published a declaration in which it defended its own principles: “The artist shows the viewer, first of all, the artistic quality of his work. Only in this capacity is the artist's attitude to the world around him expressed ... In the conditions of the Russian tradition, we consider the most appropriate artistic culture of our time, painterly realism. The content of our works is not characterized by plots. Therefore, we do not name our paintings in any way. The choice of the plot characterizes the artistic tasks that the artist occupies. In this sense, the plot is only a pretext for the creative transformation of material into an art form ... ”(Yearbook of Literature and Art for 1929).

After the second exhibition, it was decided to show the best works from the first two exhibitions in Leningrad, supplementing the exposition with works of Leningrad artists. After negotiations with the director of the State Russian Museum P.I.Neradovsky, the lower halls of the Museum were provided to the Society. The exhibition opened on March 3, 1928; 51 artists participated, 284 works were exhibited (a catalog was published). Leningrad artists (A. E. Karev, V. V. Lebedev, P. I. Lvov, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, N. A. Tyrsa) also represented the Society at the exhibition Contemporary Leningrad Art Groups (1928 / 1929).

The third (last) Moscow exhibition "4 Arts" was held in May 1929 in the halls of Moscow State University on Mokhovaya Street; 49 artists participated, 304 works were exhibited (a catalog was published). She got a row dramatically critical assessments in press. So, the magazine AHR "Art to the masses" (1929, №№3-4. P. 52) wrote: "Society" 4 arts "is one of those that, more and more isolating themselves from social influence, become narrowly guild , with features of aristocratic isolation by organization ... a characteristic feature of the last exhibition “4 arts” is a significant strengthening of the mystical and non-objective wing of society ... What is the result of this exhibition? Firstly, this exhibition confirms that artists who do not draw their strength from effective social motives will inevitably fade ... The “4 Arts” Society, setting as its motto the struggle for quality and a new style, within the narrow guild and complete disregard for social the political attitude of the country of the Soviets, speculates on this, presenting his achievements as a universal quality and method. "

Despite the criticism, the Society took part in large group exhibitions “The life and everyday life of children Soviet Union"(August 1929), two traveling exhibitions organized by the Glavischestvo of the People's Commissariat for Education (1929, Moscow; 1930, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Sverdlovsk, Perm, Ufa, Samara, Saratov, Penza). However, the criticism intensified. In April 1930, the magazine "Art to the masses" came out with the article "Artistic smuggling, or who and how are served by" 4 arts "(1930, No. 4. P. 10-12), in which the members of the Society were accused of being" bourgeois ", "Social passivity", "idealistic formalism", addiction to "decadent and regressing forms of Western European art."

The resolution of the arts sector of the People's Commissariat for Education on the report of the Moscow art societies, adopted in the late 1930s, called for a "radical restructuring" of the Society and a "purge of its ranks." Under the influence of harsh criticism, the Society self-destructed. At the beginning of 1931 a group of its former members (K. N. Istomin, V. M. Midler, M. S. Rodionov, V. F. Ryndin, A. V. Fonvizin, N. M. Chernyshev and others) applied for membership in the AHR.

Sources of :

1. The Struggle for Realism in the Fine Arts of the 1920s: Materials, Documents, Memoirs. M., 1962. S. 230-235.
2. Exhibitions of Soviet fine arts. Directory. T. 1. 1917-1932. M., 1965. S. 153-154, 179-180, 261, 294-295.
3. T. Kotovich... Encyclopedia of the Russian avant-garde. Minsk, 2003. S. 389–390.
4. Omega I... Artistic smuggling or who and how the “4 arts” serve // ​​Art to the masses. 1930, no. 4 (April). S. 10-12.
5. Severyukhin D. Ya., Leikind O. L... The Golden Age of Artistic Associations in Russia and the USSR. Directory. SPb., 1992. S. 341–343.
6. Khvoinik I. E... "Four Arts" and Their Exhibition // Soviet Art, 1926, No. 10. P. 28–32.

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The variety of arts is unlimited. What do you prefer: cinema, theater, painting, music? Why?

Art is defined in encyclopedias as the process and result of making material works, which reflect beauty or reality. The "creative arts" denote a number of disciplines whose purpose is to create material things which reflect a message, mood, and symbols for the viewer to interpret.

Art includes various forms such as prose writing, poetry, dance, acting, sculpture, painting, music, etc. The term "arts" often means "fine arts" - painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving. Installation art, furniture, industrial design, graphic design and others are included in applied arts. There are a variety of arts, including visual arts and design, decorative arts, plastic arts, and the performing arts. Artistic expression may take many forms: painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, music and architecture. New forms include photography, film, video art, conceptual art, performance art, land art, fashion, comics, computer art. Within each form, a wide range of genres may exist.

Of all the forms of art, I prefer painting and music. I am really interested in painting for several reasons. Firstly, it is one of the oldest forms of art. Humans have been painting for about 6 times as long as they have been writing. The oldest painting found is over 32,000 years old. Painting is a form of art which is believed by many to express feelings and ideas in the visual form. Using visual images - colors, light and shade, forms and shape, a painter makes us understand his concept of life, share his feelings and enjoy the beauty of the world. Secondly, painting offers you a wide choice of styles, it allows us to be as specific or abstract as we please. From the wide range of various art schools and styles (realism, impressionism, cubism, fauvism, surrealism, modernism, pop art, etc.) you can choose one to your liking. The art schools I prefer are realism and impressionism, as I think they depict form and mood in the most distinct and vivid way.

The second form of art I am really keen on is music. The term "music" is difficult to define. It can be explained, for example, as the art of making pleasing combinations of sounds in rhythm, harmony and counterpoint. The music that composers make can be heard through several media; the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence of performers. Live music can also be broadcast over the radio, television or the internet. Firstly, music helps me relax and relieve stress. When I listen to music, classical, jazz, rap or any other type of music I enjoy, I forget about the troubles of everyday life; music provides an escape from everyday problems. Stress melts away as I am taken in by the beauty of the music. It can help me feel calm and deeply relaxed. Secondly, music affects my emotions. Each type of music sets distinct mood and changes mine. In doing so, it appeals both to my mind and to the subconscious. Whether I am feeling sad, frustrated or confused, I listen to merry or tender music, and my mood shifts.

There are many divisions and groupings of music. Among the larger genres are classical music, popular music or commercial music, country music and folk music. Classical music is sophisticated and refined, but it is a universal form of communication, it historically was the music of the upper strata of society. Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public; it is mostly distributed commercially. It is sometimes abbreviated to pop music, although pop music is more often used for a narrower branch of popular music. Pop music is usually memorable, with voices, lyrics, instruments creating catchy tunes. Pop music attracts listeners through easy sound images.

Translate the following sentences into English.
1. Of all the limitless variety of art forms, I prefer painting and music.
2. Art is popular with many people because it reflects the beauty of the world.
3. Visual arts include painting, drawing, engraving, sculpture and a number of applied arts such as installation, industrial design, graphic design, etc.
4. Artistic expression takes on traditional forms such as painting, sculpture, music and architecture, as well as a number of new forms such as photography, video art, concept art, landscaping, etc.
5. Visual images that the artist uses, such as color, light, shadow, shape, express his vision of life.
6. The most important elements of music are sounds, rhythm, harmony and counterpoint.
7. Music includes many genres (varieties) such as popular or commercial music, country music, classical music.
8. Classical music used to be the music of the upper strata of society, popular music is available to a wide audience.

1. Of the unlimited variety of arts, I prefer painting and music.
2. Art is popular with many people because it reflects beauty or reality.
3. Fine arts include painting, drawing, engraving, sculpture, and a number of applied arts like installation art, industrial design, graphic design, and so on.
4. Artistic expression takes traditional forms like painting, sculpture, music and architecture, and a number of new forms, such as photography, video art, conceptual art, land art and so on.
5. Visual images used by the painter, such as colors, light, shade, shape express his concept of life.
6. The most important elements of music are sounds, rhythm, harmony and counterpoint.
7. Music includes many genres, such as popular music, or commercial music, country music, classical music.
8. Classical music used to be the music of the upper strata of society, popular music is accessible to general public.

From the manual "Unified State Exam. English. Oral Topics" Zanina E.L. (2010, 272s.) - Part one. English examination topics. Forms 9/11.

Die kunst

In der Kunst widerspiegelt sich die Welt. Sie hilft dem Menschen sein schöpferisches Können zeigen. Die Kunst bereichert und formt den Menschen, erzieht die besten Eigenschaften an, appelliert an menschliche Gefühle, lässt ihn miterleben, mitdenken.

Es gibt verschiedene Kunstarten: Kino, Theater, Malerei, Skulptur, Literatur, Architektur, Tanz und Musik. Die Kunst nimmt im Leben der Menschen einen wichtigen Platz. Dank ihr wird das Leben schöner. Durch die Kunst lernen die Menschen die Natur und die anderen Menschen besser kennen und verstehen ihre Gedanken.

Viele Menschen interessieren sich für Kunst. Ich bin auch keine Ausnahme. Malerei bereitet mir besonderes Vergnügen. Mir gefallen solche Maler wie Schischkin, Aiwasowski, Serow.

Die Bilder von Schischkin "Der Roggen", "Waldische Weite" nageln die Schönheit des russischen Waldes fest. Diese Bilder, wie sein ganzes Schaffen, sind der Bestätigung der Größe und der Anmut der russischen Natur gewidmet.

Bei Aiwasowski ist das Bild "Das Schwarze Meer" bekannt. Das ist sein bestes Bild in 70-80 Jahren. Das Meer war sein Lieblingsthema. Er stellte das Meer in seinen verschiedenen Zuständen, in verschiedener Beleuchtung dar.

Serow schuff sein erstes Meisterwerk "Das Mädchen mit Pfirsichen", als er 22 Jahre alt war. Dieses Mädchen hat am Bild einen ernsten, fast erwachsenen Augenblick. In diesem Augenblick erraten sich hohe Ideale. Er war ein berühmter Porträtmaler. Außer Porträte arbeitete er auch an den Landschaften, in denen manchmal die Bauern dargestellt wurden.

Art

The world is reflected in art. It helps a person to show their creative skills. Art enriches and shapes a person, brings up the best qualities, appeals to human feelings, allows you to experience, think.

There are different types of art: cinema, theater, painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, dance and music. Art occupies an important place in human life. Thanks to him, life becomes more beautiful. Through art, people learn to get to know nature and other people better, as well as understand their thoughts.

Many people are interested in art. And I am also no exception. Painting gives me special pleasure. I like artists such as Shishkin, Aivazovsky, Serov.

Shishkin's paintings "Rye", "Forest Distances" emphasize the beauty of the Russian forest. These paintings, like all his work, are dedicated to confirming the greatness and grace of Russian nature.

Aivazovsky's painting "The Black Sea" is well known. This is his best painting in the 70s and 80s. The sea was his favorite topic. He portrayed the sea in its different states, different lighting.

Serov created his first masterpiece "Girl with Peaches" when he was 22 years old. This girl in the picture has a serious, almost adult look. High ideals are guessed in this view. He was a famous portrait painter. In addition to portraits, he also worked on landscapes, in which peasants were sometimes depicted.

"Art for art", "pure art" is developed in France in the 19th century conditional name a number of aesthetic preferences and concepts, a common outward sign which is the assertion of the intrinsic value of artistic creativity, the independence of art from politics, social requirements, educational tasks. In essence, under different conditions, the concepts of "Art for Art" are different both in social and ideological origins, and in their objective meaning. Often the concepts of “Art for Art” are a reaction to the increased “utilitarianism” of certain schools and trends, to attempts to subordinate art to political power or social doctrine. In such cases, the defense turns out to be a self-defense of art from forces hostile to it, upholding its spiritual specificity, its independence in a number of other forms of consciousness and activity. The desire to create a world of beauty in spite of ugly reality comes from an exaggerated idea of ​​art's own power in transforming life and often leads to aesthetics. However, in real artistic practice, the proclamation of an artistic fact as "pure art" turns out, as a rule, a deliberate or involuntary hoax, often a cover for a conservative and otherwise unpopular one. this moment tendencies (for example, in Russia during the period of liberal activity in the 1860s, when the supporters of "Art for Art" defended their public conservatism, resorting to the authority of A.S. Pushkin).

The desire to defend "pure art" is observed in the views of the Ancient East, in Greco-Roman antiquity (in "Alexandrian" poetry, in Roman literature of the last centuries of the empire), during the late Renaissance - in mannerism, gongorism. For the first time the concept of "Art for Art" was formulated in the book by G.E. Lessing "Laocoon" (1766). Ideas are shaped into a definite theory in the 19th century, much as a reaction to the extremes of the utilitarianism of the Enlightenment. I. Kant's doctrine of the practical disinterest of "judgment of taste" (aesthetic experiences), individual formulas of F. Schiller about art as a "game" and aesthetic "appearance" (Schiller F. Articles on aesthetics) served for romantics not only as a reinforcement of thoughts about freedom of inspiration, but, absolutized, they became the theoretical source of the concept of "Art for Art". The Iron Age (EA Baratynsky) caused both the flourishing of social analysis of realism and the response of the protective forces of art as such. Their one-sidedness dominates the aesthetic thought of the followers of romanticism. A characteristic phenomenon is the school of "Parnassians" in France and its master T. Gautier (preface to the novel "Mademoiselle de Maupin", 1835-36); their penchant for perfect form, striving for expressive plastics of the verbal image lead to an artistic effect; but this is achieved at the cost of an emphasized disregard for the public and sociality. According to Gauthier, C. Baudelaire's strength lies in the fact that he "stood for the unconditional freedom of art, he did not allow poetry to have any other goal than poetry" (Baudelaire C. Flowers of Evil). A characteristic contradiction: the defense of the absolute independence of art turns into an actual lack of freedom in the choice of topics, a ban on civil problems. O. Wilde was a staunch advocate of Art for Art theory.

A kind of "Art for Art" is, in essence, and modern naturalistic products. The social acuity, inherent, in particular, in the best works of the Goncourt brothers or G. Flaubert, dissolves among the epigones in the self-directed copying of phenomena, and art is sometimes directly declared an exclusive means of pleasure (in the novels of J.C. Huysmans). Various forms of “academicism” in the visual arts also become a stronghold of “Art for Art” in the negative sense of this concept; defending the eternal norms of beauty, they often actively oppose the reproduction of modern reality as "rough" (the struggle of "academism" with "itinerant movement" in Russia). Formalistic tendencies that were encountered among some representatives of early symbolism (S. Mallarmé) grow into programs and schools, such as futurism and numerous subsequent forms of aesthetic extremism. Thus, the once progressive concept of self-defense of art degenerates into practical propaganda of its self-destruction. Becoming more and more unpopular art for art ideas in an era close to us, only part of into aesthetic constructs that oppose the extremes of sociologism. The idea of ​​"Art for Art" unexpectedly reveals itself under the cover of the struggle against the "intuitionism" of traditional art history. Thus, the formalists in a poetic work saw only a "text" to be decomposed into devices.

"Art for Art" in Russia

In Russian art, the slogans "Art for Art" became truly militant from the 40s to the 50s of the 19th century, when they were polemically opposed to the natural school or the “Gogol trend”. Belinsky in his article "Poems of M. Lermontov" (1841) assured: "Poetry has no goal outside itself, but itself has a goal." Later in the article “A Look at Russian Literature 1847” under the influence of the liberal environment, he changed his view: “We nevertheless think that the thought of some pure, detached art living in its own sphere ... is an abstract, dreamy thought. Such art has never been seen anywhere. " From the second half of the 19th century, the most acute subject of controversy was Pushkin's judgments about the freedom of the artist, expressed in the poems "The Poet" (1827), "The Poet and the Crowd" (1828), "The Poet" (1830) and others. Opponents of the "Gogol trend" ( A.V.Druzhinin, S.S.Dudyshkin, P.V.Annenkov, partly "young" Slavophiles) absolutized certain lyrical formulas of the poet ("Not for everyday excitement ...", etc.), passing them off as the main motive of Pushkin's aesthetics and bypassing their specific historical meaning. Resolutely rejecting "Art for Art", N.G. Chernyshevsky and N.A. Dobrolyubov, due to their well-known limitations, metaphysics and polemical bias, did not refute the interpretation of Pushkin's works by supporters of the theory of "artistry" and turned their criticism against the poet himself, recognizing him only great master of form. D.I. Pisarev completed the overthrow of Pushkin and consolidated the misunderstanding: identification of the "Art for Art" program itself, the aesthetics of its essence with the requirement of freedom of inspiration, the inner independence of the artist, and only this was defended by Pushkin. A number of poets were customarily attributed to the school of "pure art" in Russian poetry of the 19th century (A.A. Fet, A.N. Maikov, partly by N.F. Shcherbin in "anthological" and civic issues. The tendencies of this school at the time of public reaction in the 1880s were reflected in the poetry of A.N. Apukhtin, A.A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, K.M. Fofanov. But, unlike the previous era, such poetry did not so much avoid civicism as it expressed disappointment in the illusions of "universal bliss" (in the words of A.K. Tolstoy) inherent in the mentality of certain strata of the liberal intelligentsia; obviously, it does not fit into the framework of Art for Art. In literary schools that arose after symbolism (ego-futurism, imagism, partly acmeism), the idea of ​​"Art for art" essentially exhausted itself on Russian soil. V.Ya.Bryusov, A. Bely and, especially, A.A. Blok over time more and more insistently asserted the connection between poetry and the life of society, although they put art above any spiritual activity.