Theme is an artistic image. Definition of literary image

literary image- a verbal image, designed in a word, that peculiar form of reflection of life, which is inherent in art.

So, imagery is the central concept of the theory of literature, it answers its most basic question: what is the essence of literary creativity?

Image - a generalized reflection of reality in the form of a single, individual - such a common definition of this concept. The most basic features are emphasized in this definition - generalization and individualization. Indeed, both of these features are essential and important. They are present in every literary work.

For example, in the image of Pechorin, common features the younger generation of the time in which M.Yu. Lermontov, and at the same time it is obvious that Pechorin is an individual depicted by Lermontov with the utmost concreteness of life. And not only this. To understand the image, it is necessary, first of all, to find out: what is the artist really interested in, what does he focus on among life phenomena?

"The artistic image, - according to Gorky, - is almost always wider and deeper than the idea, it takes a person with all his diversity of his spiritual life, with all the contradictions of his feelings and thoughts."

So the image is a picture human life. To reflect life with the help of images means to paint pictures of the human life of people, i.e. actions and experiences of people characteristic of a given area of ​​life, allowing to judge it.

Speaking about the fact that the image is a picture of human life, we mean precisely that it is reflected in it synthetically, holistically, i.e. "personally", and not any one of its sides.

A work of art is valuable only when it makes the reader or viewer believe in itself as a phenomenon of human life, either external or spiritual.

Without a concrete picture of life, there is no art. But concreteness itself is not the end in itself of artistic representation. It necessarily follows from its very subject, from the task that art faces: the depiction of human life in its entirety.

So, let's complete the definition of the image.

Image - concrete picture human life, i.e. her personalized image.

Let's consider further. The writer studies reality on the basis of a certain worldview; in the process of his life experience, he accumulates observations, conclusions; he comes to certain generalizations reflecting reality and at the same time expressing his views. He shows these generalizations to the reader in living, concrete facts, in the destinies and experiences of people. Thus, in the definition of "image" we supplement: An image is a specific and at the same time a generalized picture of human life.

But even now our definition is not yet complete.

Fiction plays a very important role in the image. Without the creative imagination of the artist, there would be no unity of the individual and the generalized, without which there would be no image. Based on his knowledge and understanding of life, the artist imagines such life facts by which one could better judge the life he depicts. This is the meaning fiction. At the same time, the artist's fiction is not arbitrary, it is suggested to him by his life experience. Only under this condition will the artist be able to find real colors for depicting the world into which he wants to introduce the reader. Fiction is a means of selection by the writer of the most characteristic of life, i.e. is a generalization of the life material collected by the writer. It should be noted that fiction does not oppose reality, but is a special form of reflection of life, a peculiar form of its generalization. Now we must again complete our definition.

So, the image is a concrete and at the same time a generalized picture of human life, created with the help of fiction. But that's not all.

A work of art evokes in us a feeling of immediate excitement, sympathy for the characters, or resentment. We treat it as something that personally affects us, directly relating to us.

So. This is an aesthetic feeling. The purpose of art is to aesthetically comprehend reality, in order to evoke an aesthetic feeling in a person. Aesthetic sense is associated with the idea of ​​the ideal. It is this perception of the ideal embodied in life, the perception of the beautiful that causes us aesthetic feelings: excitement, joy, pleasure. This means that the meaning of art lies in the fact that it should evoke in a person aesthetic attitude to life. Thus, we have come to the conclusion that the essential side of the image is its aesthetic value.

Now we can give a definition of the image, which has absorbed the features that we talked about.

So, summing up what has been said, we get:

IMAGE - A SPECIFIC AND AT THE SAME TIME GENERALIZED PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE, CREATED WITH THE HELP OF FICTION AND HAVING AESTHETIC SIGNIFICANCE.

Artistic image

Artistic image - any phenomenon creatively recreated by the author in a work of art. It is the result of the artist's understanding of a phenomenon or process. At the same time, the artistic image not only reflects, but, above all, generalizes reality, reveals the eternal in the individual, transient. The specificity of the artistic image is determined not only by the fact that it comprehends reality, but also by the fact that it creates a new, fictional world. The artist strives to select such phenomena and depict them in such a way as to express his idea of ​​life, his understanding of its tendencies and patterns.

So, "an artistic image is a concrete and at the same time a generalized picture of human life, created with the help of fiction and having aesthetic value" (L. I. Timofeev).

An image is often understood as an element or part of an artistic whole, as a rule, a fragment that seems to have independent life and content (for example, character in literature, symbolic images, like M. Yu. Lermontov’s “sail”).

An artistic image becomes artistic not because it is written off from nature and looks like a real object or phenomenon, but because it transforms reality with the help of the author's imagination. The artistic image not only and not so much copies reality, but tends to convey the most important and essential. Thus, one of the heroes of Dostoevsky's novel "The Teenager" said that photographs very rarely can give a correct picture of a person, because not always human face expresses the main character traits. Therefore, for example, Napoleon, photographed at a certain moment, might seem stupid. The artist, on the other hand, must find in the face the main thing, the characteristic. In Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina", the amateur Vronsky and the artist Mikhailov painted a portrait of Anna. It seems that Vronsky knows Anna better, understands her more and more deeply. But Mikhailov's portrait was distinguished not only by similarity, but also by that special beauty that only Mikhailov could detect and that Vronsky did not notice. “You should have known and loved her, as I loved, in order to find this sweetest expression of her soul,” thought Vronsky, although he only recognized from this portrait “this is her sweetest spiritual expression.”

On the different stages development of mankind, the artistic image takes various forms.

This happens for two reasons:

the subject of the image changes - a person,

the forms of its reflection in art also change.

There are some peculiarities in the reflection of the world (and hence in the creation of artistic images) by realist artists, sentimentalists, romantics, modernists, etc. As art develops, the ratio of reality and fiction, reality and ideal, general and individual, rational and emotional etc.

In the images of classic literature, for example, the struggle between feeling and duty comes to the fore, and goodies invariably make a choice in favor of the latter, sacrificing personal happiness in the name of state interests. And romantic artists, on the contrary, exalt the hero-rebel, a loner who rejected society or was rejected by it. Realists strove for a rational knowledge of the world, the identification of causal relationships between objects and phenomena. And the modernists announced that it is possible to know the world and man only with the help of irrational means (intuition, insight, inspiration, etc.). At the center of realistic works is a person and his relationship with the outside world, while romantics, and then modernists, are primarily interested in inner world their heroes.

Although the creators of artistic images are artists (poets, writers, painters, sculptors, architects, etc.), in a sense, those who perceive these images, that is, readers, viewers, listeners, etc., also turn out to be their co-creators. So, the ideal reader not only passively perceives the artistic image, but also fills it with his own thoughts, feelings and emotions. Different people and different eras reveal different aspects of it. In this sense, the artistic image is inexhaustible, like life itself.

Artistic means of creating images

The speech characteristic of the hero :

- dialog- a conversation between two, sometimes more persons;

- monologue- the speech of one person;

- internal monologue- statements of one person, taking the form of inner speech.

Subtext - unspoken directly, but guessed by the attitude of the author to the depicted, implicit, hidden meaning.

Portrait - the image of the hero's appearance as a means of characterizing him.

Detail -expressive detail in the work, carrying a significant semantic and emotional load.

Symbol - an image expressing the meaning of a phenomenon in objective form .

Interior -indoor environment, human environment.

ARTISTIC IMAGE - one of the most important terms of aesthetics and art history, which serves to indicate the connection between reality and art and most concentratedly expresses the specifics of art as a whole. An artistic image is usually defined as a form or means of reflecting reality in art, a feature of which is the expression of an abstract idea in a specific sensual form. Such a definition makes it possible to single out the specifics of artistic and figurative thinking in comparison with other main forms of mental activity.

Genuine artwork is always different great depth thought, the significance of the problems posed. In artistic form, essential tool reflections of reality, the criteria for the truthfulness and realism of art are concentrated. Connecting real world and the world of art artistic image, on the one hand, gives us the reproduction of real thoughts, feelings, experiences, and on the other hand, it does this with the help of conventional means. Truthfulness and conventionality exist together in the image. Therefore, not only the works of great realist artists are distinguished by vivid artistic imagery, but also those that are entirely built on fiction ( folk tale, fantasy story, etc.). Imagery collapses and disappears when the artist slavishly copies the facts of reality, or when he completely evades the depiction of facts and thereby breaks the connection with reality, concentrating on the reproduction of his various subjective states.

Thus, as a result of the reflection of reality in art, the artistic image is a product of the artist's thought, but the thought or idea contained in the image always has a concrete sensory expression. Images are called both separate expressive devices, metaphors, comparisons, and integral structures (characters, characters, the work as a whole, etc.). But beyond this, there is also a figurative system of directions, styles, manners, etc. (images of medieval art, the Renaissance, the Baroque). An artistic image can be part of a work of art, but it can also be equal to it and even surpass it.

It is especially important to establish the relationship between the artistic image and the work of art. Sometimes they are considered in terms of cause-and-effect relationships. In this case, the artistic image appears as something derived from artwork. If a work of art is a unity of material, form, content, i.e., everything that an artist works with to achieve an artistic effect, then the artistic image is understood only as a passive result, a fixed result. creative activity. Meanwhile, the activity aspect is equally inherent in both a work of art and an artistic image. Working on an artistic image, the artist often overcomes the limitations of the original idea and sometimes the material, that is, the practice of the creative process makes its own corrections to the very core of the artistic image. The art of the master here is organically merged with the worldview, the aesthetic ideal, which are the basis of the artistic image.

The main stages, or levels, of the formation of an artistic image are:

Image-intention

Piece of art

Image-perception.

Each of them testifies to a certain qualitative state in the development of artistic thought. So, the further course of the creative process largely depends on the idea. It is here that the artist’s “illumination” occurs, when the future work “suddenly” appears to him in its main features. Of course, this is a diagram, but the diagram is visual and figurative. It has been established that the image-design plays an equally important and necessary role in the creative process of both the artist and the scientist.

The next stage is connected with the concretization of the image-concept in the material. Conventionally, it is called an image-work. This is as important a level of the creative process as the idea. Here the regularities associated with the nature of the material begin to operate, and only here the work receives a real existence.

The last stage at which their own laws operate is the stage of perception of a work of art. Here imagery is nothing but the ability to recreate, to see in the material (in color, sound, word) the ideological content of a work of art. This ability to see and experience requires effort and preparation. To a certain extent, perception is co-creation, the result of which is an artistic image that can deeply excite and shock a person, at the same time have a huge educational impact on him.

Created by a talented artist, leaves a "deep mark" in the heart and mind of the viewer or reader. What has such a strong impact, makes you deeply worry and empathize with what you see, read or hear? This is an artistic image in literature and art, created by the skill and personality of the creator, who was able to miraculously rethink and transform reality, make it consonant and close to our own personal feelings.

Artistic image

In literature and art, this is any phenomenon that is generalized and creatively recreated by an artist, composer or writer in an art object. It is visual and sensual; understandable and open to perception, and capable of evoking deep emotional experiences. These features are inherent in the image because the artist does not just copy life phenomena, but fills them with a special meaning, colors them with the help of individual techniques, makes them more capacious, solid and voluminous. Naturally, unlike scientific creativity, artistic creativity is very subjective, and it attracts to itself primarily by the personality of the author, the degree of his imagination, fantasy, erudition and sense of humor. Bright image in literature and art, it is also created due to the complete freedom of creativity, when the creator opens up the boundless expanses of artistic fiction and limitless ways of expressing it, with the help of which he creates his work.

The originality of the artistic image

The artistic image in art and literature is remarkable for its amazing integrity, in contrast to scientific creation. He does not divide the phenomenon into its component parts, but considers everything in the indivisible integrity of internal and external, personal and public. originality and depth artistic world manifest themselves in the fact that the images in works of art are not only people, but also nature, inanimate objects, cities and countries, individual character traits and personality traits, which are often given the appearance of fantastic creatures or, on the contrary, very mundane, ordinary objects. Landscapes and still lifes depicted in the paintings of artists are also images of their work. Aivazovsky, painting the sea in different time year and day, created a very capacious artistic image, which, in the smallest nuances of color and light, conveyed not only beauty seascape, the artist's attitude, but also awakened the viewer's imagination, causing purely personal sensations in him.

The image as a reflection of reality

The artistic image in literature and art can be very sensual and rational, very subjective and personal or factographic. But anyway it's a reflection real life(even in fantastic works), since the creator and the viewer tend to think in images and perceive the world as a chain of images.

Any artist is a creator. He not only reflects reality and tries to answer existential questions, but also creates new meanings that are important for him and for the time in which he lives. Therefore, the artistic image in literature and art is very capacious and reflects not only the problems of the objective world, but also the subjective experiences and reflections of the author who created it.

Art and literature, as a reflection of the objective world, grow and develop along with it. Times and epochs are changing, new directions and currents are emerging. Cross-cutting artistic images pass through time, transforming and changing, but at the same time new ones arise in response to the demands of the time, historical changes and personal changes, because art and literature are, first of all, a reflection of reality through a system of images that is constantly changing and commensurate with time.

In the generally accepted understanding, an artistic image is a sensual expression of a term that defines reality, the reflection of which is in the form of a specific life phenomenon. An artistic image is born in the imagination of a person who engages in art. The sensual expression of any idea is the fruit of hard work, creative fantasies and thinking based only on their life experience. The artist creates a certain image, which is an imprint in his mind of a real object, and embodies everything in Paintings, books or films reflect his own vision of the idea by its creator.

An artistic image can be born only when the author is able to operate with his own impressions, which will form the basis of his work.

The psychological process of sensual expression of an idea consists in the imagination of the final result of labor even before the start of the creative process. Operating with fictitious images helps, even in the absence of the necessary completeness of knowledge, to realize your dream in the created work.

Artistic image created creative person, characterized by sincerity and reality. characteristic feature art is skill. It is it that allows you to say something new, and this is possible only through experiences. Creation must pass through the feelings of the author and be suffered by him.

The artistic image in each area of ​​art has its own structure. It is determined by the criteria of the spiritual principle expressed in the work, as well as by the specifics of the material used to create the work. Thus, the artistic image in music is intonational, in architecture it is static, in painting it is pictorial, and in literary genre- dynamic. In one, it is embodied in the image of a person, in another - nature, in the third - an object, in the fourth it acts as a combination of combinations of people's actions and their environment.

The artistic representation of reality lies in the unity of the rational and emotional sides. The ancient Indians believed that art owes its birth to those feelings that a person could not keep in himself. However, not every image can be attributed to the artistic category. Sensual expressions must carry special aesthetic purposes. They reflect the beauty surrounding nature and the animal world, capture the perfection of man and his being. The artistic image should testify to the beautiful and affirm the harmony of the world.

The sensual incarnations are a symbol of creativity. Artistic images act as a universal category for understanding life, and also contribute to its comprehension. They have properties that are unique to them. These include:

Typicality that arises in connection with a close relationship with life;

Liveliness or organicity;

holistic orientation;

Understatement.

The building materials of the image are the following: the personality of the artist himself and the realities of the surrounding world. Sensual expression of reality combines subjective and objective principles. It consists of reality, which is reworked by the creative thought of the artist, reflecting his attitude to what is depicted.