The truth about the nature of the origin of art is hidden in ancient times. Many scientists have been looking for answers to the question of the origin of art for centuries, but so far not too much is known about the artistic activity of mankind in the early stages of development. Those works that have survived to this day (rock paintings, sculptural images of stone and bone) appeared much earlier than the conscious idea of ​​\u200b\u200bman about artistic creativity was formed. The origins of art can be considered primitive society, when the first attempts to depict the world around us appeared. Such a transfer of one's ideas contributed to the emergence of a new form of communication between people, as well as the first rudiments of learning, because. provided an opportunity to preserve and transfer knowledge and skills.

Currently, there are many theories of the origin of art, based on archaeological facts (this is the discovery of the first rock paintings in the Altamira cave in Spain at the end of the 19th century), ethnographic research and research in linguistics (the discovery of archaic layers of artistic culture in traditional folk art). We list just a few of them:

1. Biological theory of the origin of art, based on the theory of Ch. Darwin. The theory claims that the ability for art, for artistic creativity is an innate ability of a person, received by him from nature. However, the "laws of beauty" evolved over many thousands of years. After all, a person, communicating with nature, in the process of labor activity began to feel beauty, then embody it in his works and, finally, understand the laws of beauty. In this process of artistic creation, the aesthetic sense of man arose and developed.

2. Theory of the erotic origin of art arose under the influence of the teachings of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Proponents of the theory believe that a work of art contains images that are born of a person’s fantasy and are a kind of “waking dreams”, and artistic creativity is an expression of a refracted erotic desire and brings indirect satisfaction. According to researchers, many plots of primitive creativity touch upon such important topics for a person as motherhood and death, and they find subconscious eroticism in the rhythmic patterns of primitiveness (ornaments).

3. Game theory of the origin of art. The founders of this theory - F. Schiller, G. Spencer, G. Allen, K. Gross and K. Lange - see the main reason for the emergence of art as the need to expend energy, which remained unspent in labor activity. Therefore, they define play as an activity associated with an excess of human power, which is not directed to specific goals, but is expressed freely. According to the authors, the game is always imitation.

To some extent, this theory is a theory of freedom, free creativity. F. Schiller considered the game as the entry of a person from the sphere of necessity into the sphere of creativity. As soon as a person had free time, his strength began to manifest itself in creativity aesthetically. Indeed, until now, in order to create, these conditions are necessary - free time and unused forces. This theory is imbued with the pathos of free creativity and the exit of a person from the sphere of everyday life into a sphere more characteristic and pleasant for him - free creation. The earliest examples of creativity - fingerprints, free zigzag lines contain spontaneous and playful character.

4. The magical theory of the origin of art was developed by S. Reynack . According to this theory, the roots of art lie in numerous primitive magical rites and, above all, rites associated with a successful hunt. For these rituals, people created images of animals pierced by arrows, which served a magical purpose - bringing good luck, attracting prey, protecting the hunter himself. Indeed, such images create a very natural and powerful feeling and carry a lot of information for the magician. In addition to images of animals, we see the frequent image of the magicians themselves performing the ritual of shamans. According to this theory, it was shamans who were the first artists and musicians, and works of art bore the imprint of a much more important action - the magical rite itself.

5.Theory of pragmatism, whose adherents believe that the creation of the first works of art pursued clear social goals. Communication, community unification, knowledge of the world, the transfer of information about the world from adults to children. That is, all these works were created for the specific social goals of this tribe.

Theories of the origin of the arts

1. Biological theory of the origin of art.
This theory originates from the ideas of Charles Darwin. Supporters of this concept see the beginning of art in decorating oneself to satisfy the need to attract the attention of a living being of the opposite sex.
The theory is based on the opinion that the ability for art, for artistic creativity is an innate ability of a person, that he receives it from nature. However, the "laws of beauty" evolved historically, gradually. They began to emerge from the time when, in labor, in communion with nature, a person began to feel beauty, then embody it in his works and, finally, understand the laws of beauty. In this process of artistic creation, the aesthetic sense of man arose and developed.
2. Psychoanalytic theory of the origin of art.
Z. Freud is considered the founder of this theory. In his opinion, art arises from affective conflicts of the psyche, art is a form of repression and sublimation of human drives (the use of the energy of elementary drives for higher goals).
3. Game theory of the origin of art.
The founders of this theory can be considered G. Spencer, G. Allen, K. Gross and K. Lange. These scientists see the main reason for the emergence of art as the need to expend energy, which remained unspent in labor activity. And also, the reason for the emergence of art is the need for "training" for the assimilation of social roles.

Classification.

Art classification:
- according to the form of existence
*space (painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative arts, architecture)
* temporary (music, word art)
* spatio-temporal (theatre, cinema, dance).
- in relation to space:
There are three kinds of spatial arts:
* easel (2,3-dimensional paintings) (easel painting, easel graphics, etc.),
* monumental (monumental sculpture, wall painting, etc.)
* applied (typical mass architecture, small plastic arts, miniature painting, industrial graphics, posters, etc.).
- according to the message of the artistic image to the audience and listeners:
* fine (painting, graphics, sculpture, etc.)
* expressive (music, dance, architecture, etc.)
* verbal (literature)
* mixed, synthetic (theatre, cinema, etc.)
- by genre (types of works based on common features):
Thematic principle of the selection of genres (based on the area of ​​reality reflected in the work):
*domestic*love*battle*still life*adventurous*historical* landscape
In contemporary art, there is a tendency to deny the genre as a stable form of artistic creativity (postmodernism).
There are arts and pseudo-arts. Types of "pseudo-arts":
art as: 1. Entertainment2. "magic" 3. "mystery" 4. "instruction" 5. "sermon". .

Easel and monumental art

easel art

a term that refers to works of painting, sculpture and graphics that have an independent character and are not intended directly for any building, publication, etc. The ideological and artistic expressiveness of the works of S. and. does not change depending on where they are. The term "S. and." descended from the “machine” on which the works of S. and .; in painting, for example, it is an easel. Wide development of S. and. received from the Renaissance and especially in the 19th century.

monumental art

kind of plastic arts. covers a wide range of works created for a specific architectural environment and corresponding to it with their ideological qualities .. include Monuments and Monuments, sculptural, pictorial, mosaic decoration of buildings, stained-glass windows, urban and park sculpture, fountains, etc. Monumental art includes works of large forms, acting in synthesis with architecture, designed for mass perception. These are wall paintings, mosaics, stained-glass windows, monuments, memorial structures, park sculpture. Synthesis with architecture, participation in the design of urban space leaves an imprint on the forms of monumental art, it determines the size, shape, character of proportions,

Types of arts.

Architecture, painting, Sculpture, graphics, arts and crafts, theatrical and decorative art.

Sculpture as a kind of art

Sculpture is sculpture, the plastic works of which have a three-dimensional three-dimensional shape and are made of solid or plastic materials.
Sculpture is a spatial and visual art that explores the world in plastic images, which are imprinted in materials that can convey the life image of phenomena.
Sculpture shows a certain closeness to architecture: it also deals with space and volume, obeys the laws of tectonics and is material in nature. But unlike architecture, it is not functional, but pictorial. The main specific features of sculpture are physicality, materiality, laconicism and universality.
The materiality of the sculpture is due to the ability of a person to feel the volume. Types of sculpture:
- small plastic [ancient glyptics - carving on semi-precious minerals; bone carving; figurines from different materials, amulets and talismans; medals, etc.];
- sculpture of small forms [figurines up to half a meter];
- easel sculpture [a statue intended for circular viewing];
- monumental and decorative sculpture [reliefs, friezes on the walls, statues on the pediments, atlantes and caryatids, fountain decorations, etc.];
- monumental [gravestones, monuments, monuments]. The main aesthetic means of sculpture are volume, silhouette, proportions, chiaroscuro, i.e. building a three-dimensional form, plastic modeling, silhouette development, texture, material, sometimes color.

6 primitive and traditional art.this a modern, long-rooted name for various types of fine art that arose in the Stone Age and lasted about 500 thousand years. In the Paleolithic - the ancient Stone Age, it was represented by primitive music, dances, songs and rituals, as well as geoglyphs - images on the surface of the earth, dendrographs - images on the bark of trees and images on animal skins, various body decorations using colored pigments and all kinds of natural items, such as beads, are still popular today. But all of the above is not able to withstand the onslaught of destructive time. Therefore, only abstract signs were preserved and gradually discovered, artificially carved on superhard rock surfaces, as well as animalistic cave painting, anthropomorphic sculpture of small forms made of bone and stone, engravings and bas-reliefs on bone, stone tiles and a horn from the time of the Upper Paleolithic (35.000 - 30,000 thousand years). Starting from classical antiquity, artists strive to express their individual style and originality in their works. In folk art, individuality is also present, but gives way to tradition in the first place. And tradition preserves for centuries and even millennia not only the manner of images, but also their compositional features. This is the main similarity between traditional and primitive art. Traditional art is closely connected with the ritual-mythological collective consciousness, which, along with beliefs and cults, the forerunners of developed religions, accumulated a system of positive knowledge specific to each ethnic group. Art, in fact, is a means of transmitting this generic knowledge. In traditional art, the aesthetic quality of a work is not an end in itself. Works of traditional art testify to the fact that traditional art, very diverse in its national, tribal and regional manifestations, has deep local roots, connected by the laws of historical continuity with the art of previous eras. A synonym for the concept of "traditional art" can be considered "folk art (art)". Folk art is understood as something primordial, autochthonous, originally inherent in a given ethnic group, tribe or nationality.

Fine art genres.

Based on the subject of the picture:

1Landscape, 2 Still life , 3 Portrait, Animal - depiction of animals 5 Household - depiction of people's lives , Battle - the image of hostilities , Fabulous epic

4Historical nature of the image (caricature, caricature).

8Synthesis problem claim:

Synthesis of arts.

Synthesis of arts, an organic combination of different arts or types of art into an artistic whole, which aesthetically organizes the material and spiritual environment of human existence. Architecture and monumental art constantly tend to unite, creating an architectural and artistic synthesis in which painting and sculpture, while performing their own tasks, also expand and interpret the architectural image. This spatial-plastic synthesis usually involves arts and crafts (by means of which an objective environment surrounding a person is created), as well as often works of easel art.

A combination of different types of art that has a multilateral aesthetic impact. The unity of the components of the synthesis of the arts is determined by the unity of the ideological and artistic design. The architectural and artistic synthesis of the arts is formed by architecture, fine and decorative arts (architectural ensemble, building, interior). Performance, film - a synthesis of directing, acting, literature, music, visual arts, etc.

Megalithic buildings.

prehistoric structures made of large stone blocks, connected without the use of cement or lime mortar. A separate group are megalithic structures, that is, objects largely consisting of megaliths. They are distributed throughout the world. In Europe, for example, these are Stonehenge, buildings of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture or Egypt. Their common characteristic feature is stone blocks weighing sometimes more than a hundred tons, often delivered from quarries located tens of kilometers away, sometimes with a large elevation difference relative to the construction site. As a rule, megalithic structures did not serve as housing, and from the period of construction to the present day, no records have come down about the technologies and purpose of construction. The most complex type of megalithic monuments in terms of planning is cromlechs. These are concentric rows of pillars-menhirs connected by stone blocks-beams. In cromlechs, including the largest, located in Stonehenge (England) and belonging to the Bronze Age, there is a strictly thought-out system for the arrangement of stone blocks. Dolmens are widespread (from the Breton "tol" - a table, representing a completely finished type of architectural structure, since in addition to the external volume, there is also an internal one in them. Remains of other types of megalithic structures have come down to us, including sites for performing magical rites, due to the peculiarities of the existence of people of that time.

Art of the Middle Kingdom

The literature of the Middle Kingdom brought to us reflections on the problems of being, doubts about the possibility of an afterlife, as evidenced by the written monuments of that time: "Lament of Ipuwer" and "Prophecy of Neferti

The pharaoh is still deified, but he no longer reigns so absolutely. Large pyramid tombs were replaced during the Middle Kingdom by tombs carved into the rocks or small pyramids made of raw brick, which was not so ruinous for the country, but they turned out to be very fragile. The entrance to the rock tombs was decorated with porticos, in which one can see the prototype of the Greek Doric order.

Murals are becoming very popular in the decoration of tombs. The walls of the tombs of the nomarchs were decorated mostly with murals, and not with multicolored reliefs. Gradually, changes are taking place in the canons of relief construction, artists strive to depict a person as he is.

Strict, calm friezes give way to more freely grouped scenes, the colors become softer and more transparent.

developed a new type of cursive writing: business hieratic writing. It differed from the old Egyptian handwriting and hieroglyphic writing.

Synthesis of isk in ancient Egypt

The synthesis of arts is an organic combination of various types of fine and decorative arts with architecture, with the aim of creating a holistic architectural and artistic work. The synthesis of arts in ancient Egypt could be observed on the example of: Statues of cave temples (arch + sculpture) Writings on the walls (arch + calligraphy) Decorated columns (arch + painting)

An outstanding example of the synthesis of the Egyptian can be considered the catacombs of Kom-esh-Shuqaf in Alexandria, which depict complex images of Greco-Egyptian deities. The synthetic fusion of Greco-Roman and Egyptian cultures led to new forms in art and religion, but Egypt was never Romanized and leveled to the extent that the western provinces of the Roman Empire were Romanized and Latinized. The synthesis of ancient and ancient Egyptian traditions in the visual arts gave rise to a new type of Greco-Egyptian art.m

Stained glass in Gothic art

STAINED GLASS - an ornamental or plot decorative composition (in a window, door, in the form of an independent panel) made of glass or other material that transmits light. Colored stained-glass windows in windows (eg in Gothic cathedrals) create a play of colored light in the interior. Fresco replaced stained glass window. Stained-glass windows placed in the window openings filled the interior of the cathedral with light, painted in soft and sonorous colors, which created an extraordinary artistic effect.

Almost until the middle of the 12th century, the windows in the temples remained relatively small, so they could only fit small stained-glass windows depicting several scenes or one large figure. But after 1150, the process of gradual "dissolution" of the wall began: the size of the windows steadily increased. In the end, there were so few smooth wall surfaces left that the architecture was essentially reduced to window frames. The first peak in the development of this trend was the cathedrals built at the end of the 12th century in Soissons, Bourges and Chartres (France) and in Canterbury (England). The huge windows of these buildings were decorated with plates of colored glass, forming narrative cycles, the numerous episodes of which created a single geometric structure. True, the stained-glass windows in the windows of the upper tier of the central nave still contained only one or two scenes or one figure. In the first half of the 13th century, in the German-speaking regions, a special pictorial style was formed and, along with variants of the early French Gothic, came into use, largely based on the traditions of Byzantine art. The works sustained in this style are replete with sharp lines and sharp corners, which is why the style itself was called "angular". In the second half of the 13th century, the "angular" style gradually approached in character the mature Gothic that developed in France. There is an opinion that the highest pictorial work created in Western Europe before Giotto, that is, before the initial formation of the great Italian Renaissance painting, should be recognized not as a fresco, painting or book miniature, but

43. Periodization of Byzantine art. Major works Byzantine Empire - The Roman Empire in the Middle Ages with its capital in Constantinople - New Rome. 1 Period of Constantine the Great and Justinian. (5-8 centuries) 2Macedonian period. (9th-11th centuries) 3rd Komnin period. (11-13) 4 Paleologian period. (13-15)

The most remarkable Ravenna building of the 6th century. is the Church of San Vitale, founded in 526. and consecrated in 547. This is a centric domed temple. From the outside, the building is of little interest: the main octagonal volume is dissected by simple vertical and horizontal rods; a faceted drum, dry in shape, rises above them. Mosaic of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Byzantium inherited the art of mosaic from Ancient Rome. The mosaic was made up of many pieces of smalt - an alloy of glass with mineral paints. Byzantine mosaic masters used the full range of colorful palette.

44. Symbols of the temple Temple space and its decorative design..

The altar, the most important part of the temple, is always located on the east side of the temple. The altar is the main shrine of the temple, consecrating the entire building, symbolically depicts the "village of God."

The middle part of the temple, the “ship”, represents the entire earthly space where the universal Church of Christ is located. The middle part of the temple symbolizes the created world, but already deified, sanctified, justified.

Iconostasis - consists of several rows of icons arranged in a certain order.

The western side of the temple symbolizes the "country of the dead" and hell. The vaults, the dome - crowning the dome with the image of Christ, is a symbol of Christ - the Head of the Universal Church.

Pillars. - On the four pillars supporting the dome, those who preached the word of God are depicted: apostles, bishops, ascetics, martyrs.

In 9th-10th centuries murals of temples brought into a coherent system. The walls and vaults of churches are covered with mosaics and frescoes, arranged in a strict hierarchical order and subordinate to the composition of the temple. The interior creates an artistic environment imbued with a single content, which includes the icons placed on the iconostasis

45. Byzantine art of the 11th-12th centuries. General characteristics. Major works . Byzantine art was the product of a combination of Greco-Roman and Oriental elements.

Architecture continued to develop the existing types of buildings, giving them a new interpretation. In church architecture, there is a definite by the middle of the 11th century. tendency towards vertical proportions of buildings. Painting is imbued with the spirit of rigor and spirituality. The mosaics of this period are graphic, they cultivate the line and the closed contour. Forms become more decorative, ornamental, they are subtly and masterfully drawn, but they do not have earthly plasticity. The artist sought to convey only abstract spiritual energy, the emotional expressiveness of the image.

In the second half of the 11th c. a large cycle of mosaics was created in the church of the monastery of Daphne near Athens. The plots are distributed in a strict hierarchical sequence. The type of cross-domed church with a dome on a high light drum continued to develop. In the second half of the 11th century spread jewelry careful manner of execution of small drawings, woven into the text, decorating. - crucifixion. Mosaics of the Daphni monastery church. This mosaic stands out for its special decorative elegance. The figures of Christ, Mary and John, outlined by smooth lines, are balanced and harmonious. Even a trickle of blood is depicted with a smooth line.

46. Synthesis of arts in Byzantine temple architecture. Having borrowed forms from ancient architecture, Byzantine architecture gradually modified them and during the 5th century developed, mainly for temple building, a type of structure that, according to the plan and the entire constructive system, was significantly different from the type of ancient Christian basilicas. Its main feature is the use of a dome to cover the middle part of the building. The decision of the Byzantine architects was to cut the corners of the parallelepiped in such a way that the upper parts of its walls took on an arcuate shape. Inside the Byzantine temples around the middle dome space, with the exception of the altar side, there was a gallery like a choir. The capitals of the columns in Byzantine architecture lost their abacus and took the form of a truncated tetrahedral pyramid, with the smaller base facing down and covered with not particularly convex ornamentation, the motifs of which are acanthus leaves and other forms of the vegetable kingdom. The interior of the building was not distinguished by the richness and complexity of architectural details, but its walls were faced from the bottom with expensive varieties of marble, and at the top, just like the vaults, they were richly decorated with gilding, mosaic images on a gold background or fresco painting. In connection with the spread of Orthodoxy around the world, a huge variety of temple architecture became possible. Basically connected with the traditions of Byzantine architecture, it is a synthesis of ancient building and decorative techniques and canons with stylistic features characteristic of the architecture of a particular region. Thus, within the framework of one Christian denomination, original and unique temple structures have been embodied, reflecting not only the essence of Christian teaching, but also the worldview of an individual people.

Creativity of Theophanes the Greek.

Theophan the Greek (circa 1340 - around 1410) - the great Russian and Byzantine icon painter, miniaturist and master of monumental fresco paintings.
Feofan thinks a figure three-dimensionally, plastically. He clearly imagines how the body is located in space, therefore, despite the conventional background, his figures seem to be surrounded by space, living in it. Fn attached great importance to the transfer of volume in painting. His method of modeling is effective, although at first glance it seems sketchy and even careless. A miracle is always invisibly present in F-n's art. Theophanes the Greek was one of the Byzantine masters. Before arriving in Novgorod, the artist painted over 40 stone churches. He worked in Constantinople, Chalcedon, Galata, Caffa. Possessing a great pictorial talent, Feofan painted figures with broad strokes. Over the original padding, he applied rich white, bluish-gray and red highlights.
Theophan the Greek made his first works in Russia in Novgorod. These are the frescoes of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, among which is the bust of the Savior Almighty in the central dome. The main thing in the painting is the exaltation of the ascetic feat, the expectation of the apocalypse. The Greek later worked in Nizhny Novgorod, participating in the creation of iconostases and frescoes in the Spassky Cathedral, which have not survived to our time. Theophanes the Greek was first mentioned in Moscow in 1395. The production of the double-sided icon "Our Lady of the Don" is associated with the workshop of Feofan, on the reverse side of which is depicted the "Assumption of the Virgin".
The “Assumption” depicts what is usually depicted in icons on this plot. At the burial bed of Mary are the apostles, not like strict Greek men. They huddled around the bed in no particular order. Not joint enlightened sorrow, but the personal feeling of each - confusion, surprise, despair, sorrowful reflection on death - is read on their simple faces. Many seem to be unable to look at the dead Mary. Above the bed of Mary, above the figures of the apostles and saints, Christ, shining with gold, rises with the soul of the Mother of God in his hands. The apostles do not see Christ, his mandorla is already a sphere of the miraculous, inaccessible to the human eye. The sharp sound of the colors of the Assumption, as it were, reveals the extreme degree of spiritual tension in which the apostles reside. There is a detail in Theophan's "Assumption" that seems to concentrate the drama of the scene taking place. This candle burning at the bed of the Mother of God. Placed in the very center, on the same axis as the figure of Christ and the cherub, the candle in the icon of Theophan seems to be full of special meaning. According to apocryphal tradition, Mary lit it before she learned from an angel of her death. The candle burns out, which means that the time of earthly farewell to Mary is ending. In a few moments, the radiant Christ will disappear, his mandorla, fastened like a keystone, a fiery cherub. There are few works in world art that with such force would make you feel the movement, the transience of time, indifferent to what it counts, inexorably leading everything to an end.
In the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Feofan painted the Church of the Archangel Michael in 1399, and in 1405, the Cathedral of the Annunciation together with Andrei Rublev. The iconostasis of the Annunciation is the oldest of the Russian iconostases that have survived to this day.

56 Creativity of Andrey Rublev.
The formation of Rublev's worldview was greatly influenced by the atmosphere of the national upsurge of the 2nd half of the 14th - early 15th centuries. In his works, he embodied a new, sublime understanding of the spiritual beauty and moral strength of man. Example: the icons of the Zvenigorod rank (“Savior”, “Apostle Paul”, “Archangel Michael”), which are characterized by laconic smooth contours, a wide manner of painting are close to the techniques of monumental painting.
In 1405, Rublev, together with Theophan the Greek and Prokhor from Gorodets, painted the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (the frescoes have not survived), and in 1408 Rublev, together with Daniil Cherny and other masters, painted the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir (the painting was partially preserved) and created icons for its monumental three-tiered iconostasis, which became an important stage in the formation of the high Russian iconostasis system. Of the frescoes in the Assumption Cathedral, the most significant composition is The Last Judgment, where the traditionally formidable scene turned into a bright celebration of the triumph of justice, affirming the spiritual value of man.
In 1425-27, Rublev, together with Daniil Cherny and other masters, painted the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and created the icons of its iconostasis. they are made in different manners and are unequal in artistic quality. In a number of later works, he managed to create impressive images, they feel dramatic notes that were not previously characteristic of him (“The Apostle Paul”). The coloring of the icons is more gloomy compared to early works; in some icons, the decorative beginning is enhanced.
A number of works are also attributed to him, the belonging of which to Rublev’s brush has not been definitely proven: the frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral on the “Gorodok” in Zvenigorod, icons - “Vladimir Mother of God”, “Savior in the Force”, part of the icons of the festive rank (“Christmas”, “Baptism” , "The Resurrection of Lazarus", "Transfiguration", "Entrance to Jerusalem"), part of the miniatures of the Gospel of Khitrovo
Almost all the characters are immersed in a state of silent contemplation, which can be called "God-thinking" or "divine speculation"; they do not have any internal influences.
The classical sense of composition, rhythms, any individual form, embodied in clarity, harmony, plastic perfection, Andrei Rublev is as flawless as the Greek masters of the first third of the 15th century.
Rublev's work is one of the peaks of Russian and world culture. Already during the life of Andrei, his icons were highly valued and revered as miraculous.

57 "Trinity" by Andrey Rublev . around 1412 he created his masterpiece - the icon "The Life-Giving Trinity". Rublev filled the traditional biblical story with deep theological content. The biblical story formed the basis of the iconography of the Trinity. The one who said that the first person to see God was the righteous elder Abraham. God appeared to him in the form of three angels. Abraham guessed that under the guise of three strangers he was accepting the three faces of the Trinity. Filled with joy, he seated them under the canopy of the Mamre oak, ordered his wife Sarah to bake unleavened bread from the best flour, and the young servant to slaughter a tender calf. Moving away from traditional iconography, Andre Rublev placed a single bowl in the center of the composition, and repeated its outlines in contours side angels. The clothes of the middle angel (red tunic, blue himation, sewn stripe - clave) clearly refer us to the iconography of Jesus Christ. Two of those sitting at the table with their head and movement of the camp are turned to the angel, written on the left, in the guise of which paternal authority is read. His head is not bowed, his camp is not inclined, and his gaze is turned to other angels. The light purple color of the clothes testifies to royal dignity. All this is an indication of the first person of the Holy Trinity. Finally, the angel on the right side is depicted in a smoky green outer garment. This is the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit, behind which the mountain rises. There are several more symbols on the icon: a tree and a house. The tree - the Mamvrian oak - turned at Rublev into the tree of life and became an indication of the life-giving power of the Trinity. The house embodies God's dispensation. The house is depicted behind the back of an angel with the features of the Father (Creator, Head of House-building), the Tree is behind the back of the middle angel (Son of God), the Mountain is a symbol of the admiration of the spirit, that is, spiritual ascent, behind the back of the third angel (Holy Spirit). The central angel is highlighted expressive contrast of spots of dark cherry and blue colors, as well as an exquisite combination of golden ocher with a delicate "stuffed cabbage" and greenery. And the outer contours form a 5-gon, symbolizing the star of Bethlehem. "Trinity" is designed for distant and near points of view, each of which reveals the richness of shades, the virtuoso work of the brush in a different way. The harmony of all elements of the form is an artistic expression of the main idea of ​​the "Trinity" - self-sacrifice as the highest state of the spirit, creating the harmony of the world and life.

58 works of Dionysius
DIONISY (c. 1440 - after 1502), icon painter and painter, one of the greatest artists of Holy Russia.

Dionysius painted the Nativity Cathedral of the Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery (1467-76); painted icons for the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin; icons and frescoes of the cathedral church of the Joseph-Volokolamsky Monastery (after 1485). In the icons and frescoes of Dionysius, in comparison with the art of the era of Andrei Rublev, uniformity of techniques, features of festivity and decorativeness are manifested, before which the psychological expressiveness of the images somewhat recedes. The icons of Dionysius, with their delicate drawing and exquisite coloring, with strongly elongated graceful figures, are characterized by elegance and solemnity (“Odegetria the Mother of God”, 1482; “The Savior in Strength”, “Crucifixion”, both 1500; icons for the Ferapontov Monastery, 1500-02, jointly with his sons Vladimir and Theodosius Many works are attributed to the icon painter on the basis of stylistic analysis.Despite the vulnerability of this situation, we must still agree with individual examples that have established themselves in art history.The paintings created by Dionysius and his sons in the cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery near the city of Kirillov (1500-02 ) are among the most perfect examples of Russian medieval monumental art, where ideological, figurative and decorative tasks are organically solved in a harmonious and integral system of murals. cold color range, the predominance of light shades. The fact that Dionysius felt the need to comprehend the Holy Scriptures in a new way, comprehend the dogmatic texts, and expressed his understanding by the methods of painting, creating completely new, vivid images, suggests that communication with Moscow heretics (the circle of deacon Fyodor Kuritsyn) did not pass for artist without a trace.

A characteristic feature of his art were narrow, elegant figures, delicate, confident drawing and often light, transparent colors. He painted frescoes in the Pafnutiev Monastery, the Assumption Cathedral, where he worked together with the icon painters Timothy, Horse and Yarez. He worked in the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery, and with his sons painted frescoes and icons in the Ferapontov Monastery. Created the famous icon "Baptism".

59 Italian art of the pre-Renaissance period. General characteristics. Main works., In Italian culture of the XIII-XIV centuries. against the backdrop of still strong Byzantine and Gothic traditions, features of a new art began to appear - the future art of the Renaissance. Therefore, this period of its history was called the Proto-Renaissance. In Italian culture of the XIII-XIV centuries. against the backdrop of still strong Byzantine and Gothic traditions, features of a new art began to appear - the future art of the Renaissance. Therefore, this period of its history was called the Proto-Renaissance. The art of the Proto-Renaissance is characterized by a tendency towards a visual reflection of reality, a secular beginning and an interest in the ancient heritage. From the first decades of the 14th century. the leading role in art begins to gradually move to painting.

Italian painters were closely associated with the Byzantine style of painting and therefore they were delayed in the transition to proto-Renaissance art. But when by the end of the 13th century. there was a breakthrough, then the strong foundation of the Byzantine tradition served as a reliable support and Italian artists made a real revolution in pictorial thinking.

After all, with all the schematism of Byzantine painting, it retained a connection with the Hellenistic heritage. In the abstract, static canons, the ancient techniques of chiaroscuro modeling and foreshortening were conserved. What was needed was a brilliant artist capable of overcoming the spell of Byzantine stiffness in order to enter a new artistic space.

Italian art found such a genius in the face of Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone. In the largest cycle of frescoes of the Chapel del Arena in Padua, one can see a departure from the medieval tradition: instead of a limited number of canonical gospel full, each of which took on a symbolic meaning, Giotto created a coherent historical narrative, including a wide range of subjects. The frescoes are arranged in even rows and enclosed in rectangles. Among the most famous frescoes is the "Death of St. Francis"

The Last Supper by Leonardo

The LAST SUPPER is the last supper, in Christian ideas, the last joint meal (dinner) of Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles on the eve of the day (Good Friday) of the death of Christ on the cross. During the Last Supper, Christ predicts that Judas Iscariot will betray him, and establishes the sacrament of the Eucharist (communion), giving the disciples to eat bread and drink from a cup of wine.

In the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo creates the painting "The Last Supper" (1495-97; due to the risky experiment that the master went for, using oil mixed with tempera for the fresco, the work has come down to us in a very damaged form). The high religious and ethical content of the image, which presents the stormy, contradictory reaction of Christ's disciples to his words about the coming betrayal, is expressed in clear mathematical patterns of composition, imperiously subjugating not only the painted, but also the real architectural space. The clear stage logic of facial expressions and gestures, as well as the excitingly paradoxical, as always with Leonardo, combination of strict rationality with an inexplicable mystery made The Last Supper one of the most significant works in the history of world art. The restoration took 21 years. On May 28, 1999, the painting was opened for viewing.

Theories of the origin of art. ORIGIN OF ART THEORY - 1) according to the religious theory of the origin of art, beauty is one of the names of God, and art is a concrete-sensual expression of the divine idea; 2) game theory (G. Spencer, K. Bucher, W. Fritsche, F. Schiller) interprets art as a game in itself, devoid of any content. Since play is older than labor, art as a natural phenomenon is older than the production of useful objects. Its main purpose is pleasure, enjoyment; 3) erotic theory (N. Nardau, K. Lange, 3. Freudi, etc.) tries to justify the emergence of art by the need to attract the attention of representatives of the opposite sex (decoration, inviting musical sounds, etc.); 4) the theory of imitation (Democritus, Aristotle, etc.) seeks to connect the cause of the emergence of art with the social purpose of man. Aristotle considered the reasons for the birth of art to be the natural inclinations of man to imitate, imitate nature; 5) Marxism puts forward socio-historical practice, the productive activity of people, to the fore.

Art classification.

According to the dynamics of art can be divided into spatial and temporary. According to the utility of art, they are divided into applied and graceful(clean).

By materials art can

Easel and monumental art.

easel art- a kind of fine arts, the works of which are of an independent nature and do not have a direct decorative or utilitarian purpose (unlike, for example, works of monumental art or book illustrations). In painting, these are pictures; in sculpture - statues, busts, groups, easel reliefs; in graphics - prints, easel drawings.

monumental art(lat. monumentum, from moneo - remind) - one of the plastic spatial fine and non-fine arts; this kind of them includes works of large format, created in accordance with the architectural or natural environment, compositional unity and interaction with which they themselves acquire ideological and figurative completeness, and communicate the same to the environment. Works of monumental art are created by masters of different creative professions and in different techniques. Monumental art includes monuments and memorial sculptural compositions, paintings and mosaic panels, decorative decoration of buildings, stained-glass windows, as well as works made in other techniques, including many new technological formations (some researchers also refer works of architecture to monumental art).

Types of arts.

Literature, architecture, music, fine arts (it includes painting, graphics, sculpture). Synthetic arts: cinema, theater, etc.). arts and crafts (often referred to as fine arts). In addition, they also share spatial, temporal, spatio-temporal arts

1. Sculpture as an art form

.

Sculpture(lat. sculptura, from sculpture- cut, carve) in the broadest sense of the word, the art of creating from clay, wax, stone, metal, wood, bone and other materials the image of a person, animals and other objects of nature in their tactile, bodily forms.

An artist who has devoted himself to the art of sculpture is called a sculptor or sculptor. His main task is to convey the human figure in a real or idealized form, animals play a secondary role in his work, and other objects are only in the meaning of subordinate clauses or are processed exclusively for ornamental purposes.

Primitive and traditional art. http://teologia.ru/www/biblioteka/esthetika/trad.iscusstvo.htm

Fine art genres. SELF-PORTRAIT - a portrait painted from oneself.

ALLEGORY - the image of abstract concepts through associative close specific images, creatures and objects, usually endowed with attributes explaining their content.

ANIMALISTIC - associated with the depiction of animals in painting, sculpture and graphics; combines natural science and artistic principles.

BATTLE - dedicated to depicting war and military life.

HOUSEHOLD - associated with the image of the everyday private and public life of a person.

GALLANT - a kind of household.

HISTORICAL - one of the main genres of fine art, dedicated to historical events of the past and present, socially significant phenomena in the history of peoples.

CARICATURE - a genre of fine art that uses the means of satire and humor, grotesque, caricature, artistic hyperbole; image in which the comic effect is created by exaggeration and sharpening of characteristic features.

MYTHOLOGICAL - dedicated to the events and heroes that myths tell about.

STILL LIFE - a genre of fine art showing inanimate objects placed in a real household environment and organized into a specific group; a picture depicting household items, flowers, fruits, broken game, caught fish.

Nude - a genre of fine art dedicated to the naked body, its artistic interpretation.

PASTORAL - an image of the idyllic peaceful life of shepherds and shepherdesses in the bosom of nature.

LANDSCAPE - an image of any area, pictures of nature: rivers, mountains, fields, forests, rural or urban landscape; according to the subject of the image, they distinguish the architectural, industrial landscape, veduta, marina (depicts the sea), historical and fantastic (futurological) landscape.

PORTRAIT - a genre of fine art dedicated to the image of a person or a group of people; varieties - self-portrait, group portrait, ceremonial, chamber, costume portrait, portrait miniature, parsuna.

SUBJECT AND THEMATIC PICTURE - the definition of a kind of crossing of traditional genres of painting, which contributed to the creation of large-scale works on socially significant topics with a clearly defined plot, plot action, and a multi-figure composition.

CARTOON - a kind of caricature, a humorous or satirical image in which the characteristic features of a person are changed and emphasized.

The problem of art synthesis. synthesis of arts

a combination of different types of art, which has a multilateral aesthetic impact. The unity of the components of the synthesis of the arts is determined by the unity of the ideological and artistic design. The architectural and artistic synthesis of the arts is formed by architecture, fine and decorative arts (architectural ensemble, building, interior). A performance, a film is a synthesis of directing, acting, literature, music, fine arts, etc.

2. The main stages in the development of primitive art (paleolithic, mesolithic, neolithic). Location of the main monuments.

   Rock paintings and paintings in caves. Lasko fr, altamira isp

Megalithic buildings.Megaliths(from the Greek μέγας - large, λίθος - stone) - Structures made of huge stone blocks (appeared in 9-1 thousand BC) (temples of the island of Malta, menhirs, cromlechs, dolmens)

Periodization of Egyptian culture. Formation of the characteristic features of the Egyptian style. The peoples of Ancient Egypt created an original, interesting and rich culture, many of whose values ​​entered the treasury of world culture, became its organic part.

Already in the applied art of primitive communities, in the painting of clay vessels, in elegant bone and horn figurines, one can feel the characteristic features of Egyptian art - the desire for a frontal deployment of depicted scenes, realistic attention to detail, a tendency to develop canons. With the emergence of a class society, art becomes a powerful means of ideological influence, directed primarily to exalting the power of the pharaoh, to asserting the inviolability of the existing system. There are canons of images of kings, a kind of official portraits with an emphasis on superhuman powerful bodies, domineering stern faces. Monumental architecture served the same purposes in many respects. Already in the period of the Old Kingdom, that grandiose monumentality, which becomes a hallmark of Egyptian architecture, receives a distinct expression. Such are the huge royal tombs - pyramids, the initial form of which was bench-shaped tombs (mastabas).

The oldest form of pyramid is the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Sakara. Thanks to the filling of empty spaces between the ledges, a classic type of monumental pyramid was obtained, most clearly expressed in the grandiose pyramids built by the pharaohs of the IV dynasty - Khufu, Khafre and Menekuar. Mortuary temples of the pharaohs were built near the pyramids. The walls of these temples were decorated with reliefs depicting the life and deeds of the deified king. In the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Sakhur and in the temple of the Sun, erected near Abusir, the most ancient columns have been preserved, schematically reproducing the shape of a papyrus stem or a palm tree. The architecture of the Middle Kingdom is the link between the architecture of the Old and New Kingdoms. The center of the monumental temple of Mentuhotep (XI dynasty) is a pyramid standing on an elevated terrace. The extensive use of colonnaded galleries, as well as the semi-cave character of the temple, testify to new architectural forms that only fully developed during the New Kingdom, as can be seen in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. The grandiose ruins of the temples of the New Kingdom, in particular the time of the XVIII-XIX dynasties, give a vivid idea of ​​the heyday of temple architecture. One of the greatest architectural complexes of this time was the grand temple of Amun in Thebes, the ruins of which are quite well preserved in Karnak. The colossal pillared hall of this temple, built under Seti I and Ramesses II, consists of 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. The 12 central columns of the large hall are 21 meters high. The area of ​​the hall is 5000 square meters. m.

The distinctive features of Egyptian sculpture - frontality and almost geometrized static - first appear in the sculptural works of the time of the Old Kingdom. Depicting a god, a deified king or nobleman, the artist tried to give an idealized image of a beautiful and superpowerful person in a pose of solemn and calm grandeur. Such are the expressive statues of Pharaoh Khafre and the nobleman Rahotep. At the same time, in relief and in drawing, in particular in the images of servants, slaves and ordinary people in general, quite clear tendencies towards realism and movement appear. Egyptian masters gradually freed themselves from the old rules of stylization, trying to depict the human body in dynamics. Sometimes these attempts were manifested even in the images of priests, officials and noble people. Such are the statues of Kaaper (the so-called village headman) or the seated scribe. The same features appear in the reliefs and drawings that adorn the walls of tombs and temples. The plots of the reliefs and drawings reveal the whole life of the Egyptians. Here are depicted fighting, farmers, shepherds and fishermen, mourners following the funeral procession. Such are the remarkable reliefs from the tombs at Saqqara and at Giza. The desire for realism, especially in sculptural portraiture, intensifies during the Middle Kingdom. The artist is trying to convey the inner experiences of a person, for example, in the colossal head of Senuset III or in the head of Mentuhotep. The magnificent architecture of the New Kingdom was matched by mature sculpture, which provided examples of highly artistic realism and, at the same time, refined stylization. The art of illustration reached a high development in this era, for example, magnificent drawings on papyri from the collection of religious texts “The Book of the Dead”. The art of the 18th Dynasty culminated in the turbulent Amarna era, when a bold attempt was made to break the old traditions, not only in the field of religion, but also in art. The artists who worked in the new capital of Akhetaten, following the new trends, tried to combine the old realism with a sharper expressiveness. In art, a new artistic style has emerged, based on a peculiar depiction of the human body. Emphasizing the sharply individual features of a person, the artist reached the caricature and grotesque, even in the images of the pharaoh and his family members. Elements of stylization were also preserved, the development of which inevitably led to new forms, art arose on the basis of the previous development of Egyptian culture and had its influence on its further development. Its influence can be traced in the smooth fluidity of the lines of the works of the early XIX dynasty, in the reliefs of the Abydos temple and the temple in Medinet-Abu, saturated with internal movement, in the elegantly stylized relief depicting mourners, stored in the State Museum of Fine Arts. A. S. Pushkin in Moscow.

Art

1. Egyptian painting, ca. 1400 BC e.

   For more than 3,500 years, artists have adhered to the forms and canons that were developed back in the days of the Old Kingdom, following a strict set of principles that persisted even during periods of foreign influence and internal changes. These artistic standards were expressed in simple lines, shapes, characteristic flat projection of figures, without indicating spatial depth, which created a sense of order and balance in the composition. Images and text were closely intertwined on tombs and temple walls, tombs, steles and statues. Paints were obtained from minerals such as iron ore (red and yellow ocher), copper ores (blue and green), soot or charcoal (black), and limestone (white). They could be mixed with gum arabic for viscosity and cut into pieces that could be wetted with water if necessary.

   Although the canons of ancient Egyptian art have been preserved for thousands of years, the artistic style of some periods reflected the changing cultural and political attitudes. Thus, frescoes in the Minoan style were found in Avaris, which appeared after the invasion of the Hyksos, and during the reign of Akhenaten"Amarna art" was developed, which is characterized by a realistic depiction of the surrounding worldref.

   The art of Ancient Egypt was rediscovered by scientists during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. As a result of the expedition, a huge number of historical monuments were collected and taken to Europe.

   Architecture[edit | edit source]

   Main article:Architecture of Ancient Egypt , see also:Egyptian pyramids, List of Egyptian pyramids

   The architecture of Ancient Egypt is known for the construction of the tombs - the pyramids of Giza, temple and palace complexes - the Luxor Temple, the palaces of Amarna: 281.

   The outer and inner walls of the buildings, as well as the columns, were covered with hieroglyphs and frescoes and were painted in bright colors. The motifs of many Egyptian ornaments, such as images of the scarab or sacred beetle, the sun disk and the gyrfalcon, are symbolic. Other common motifs include palm leaves, the papyrus plant, and lotus buds and flowers. Hieroglyphs were applied for decorative purposes, as well as to record historical events or spells. The layout of many religious buildings correlated with the phenomena of the solstice and equinox.

   

2. Pyramids at Giza

   The Egyptian pyramids are the greatest architectural monuments of Ancient Egypt, among which one of the "seven wonders of the world" is the pyramid of Cheops. Pyramids are huge pyramidal stone structures. Some of them were used as tombs for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The word "pyramid" is Greek. According to some researchers, a large pile of wheat became the prototype of the pyramid. According to other scientists, this word comes from the name of the funeral cake of a pyramidal shape. A total of 118 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt. According to the generally accepted version, the first Egyptian pyramid was built by the order of the pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty Djoser - the Step Pyramid in Saqqara, the architect of which, according to the ancient Egyptian tradition, is the highest dignitary (chati) of Djoser Imhotep. According to Egyptologists, this pyramid is the development of mastaba - the traditional tomb of the nobility in ancient Egypt during the periods of the Early and Old Kingdoms. The most famous pyramids are the Great Pyramids on the Giza Plateau (the pyramids of Cheops, Khafre and Mykerin).

Art of the Old Kingdom. Realistic features in portrait art.

http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enc_pictures/3971/%D0%94%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE '

In the burials of the era of the Old Kingdom there were no images of gods, the sun and the moon. The world imprinted on the walls was not a mirror image of earthly existence; it was an artificially created environment providing all the needs of the owner of the tomb. Reliefs and paintings are divided into strips and "read" like text; they convey the daily life of the Egyptians so accurately and in detail that they serve as a reliable source for studying it. However, in comparison with reality, certain changes were made to the image of the afterlife "twin world". There were no scenes of public service, indicating a subordinate position. Wall paintings are distinguished by flatness, brightness of colors. Egyptian masters worked with glue paints, usually without mixing them; semitones appeared only in the late period. The expressiveness of painting was based on the clarity of silhouettes, the contours of which were filled with bright colors. The person was depicted not as seen, but in such a way as to give the most complete picture of him: the shoulders, torso and eye on the face of a person were depicted from the front, the face and legs - in profile. ‘

Art of the Middle Kingdom.

The most famous works of this time include images of fishing and hunting scenes in the Nile thickets (the tomb of the nomarch Khnumhotep, late 20th century BC). Fish are caught with a spear, birds are hunted with a boomerang and a net. A wild cat hides on a stalk of flowering papyrus that sags under its weight, an elegant flock of bright birds hides in the openwork foliage of acacia, among them a handsome hoopoe, orange, with black and white wings. Many wooden figurines were found in the tombs, sometimes forming whole groups - servants, plowmen, laundresses, shepherds, warriors, boatmen. Like children's toys, they are naive and attractive. From the middle of the era of the Middle Kingdom, statues of pharaohs, intended for public viewing, began to be erected in temples. This required more attention to the reconstruction of characteristic portrait features, including age-related changes. On the images of Senusret III and Amsnemkhet III (19th century BC), sharp large features, folds on the cheeks give them a stern, almost mournful expression. Under Senusret III, the art of court jewelry flourished. Its magnificent examples were found in the burial of the pharaoh's daughter, Sithator. In a rectangular ebony jewelery box, inlaid with ivory and pink carnelian, were a bronze mirror adorned with gold, incense vessels of obsidian and gold, and a silver saucer. The headdress of the princess in the form of a golden hoop with the image of a sacred cobra (uraeus), her belt of golden shells is only a small part of the jewelry created in that era. Pectorals are among the most exquisite. They often contain images of a scarab beetle (a symbol of the sun and resurrection from the dead) and various deities. The pectoral of Senusret III, carved from sheet gold and decorated with turquoise, lapis lazuli and carnelian, is the most harmonious among many similar works of art of Ancient Egypt that have survived to this day.\

Synthesis of arts in ancient Egypt.

The true synthesis of the arts is the highest form of artistic development, since it implies not only the aesthetic perfection of its individual components (works of a particular type of art), but also the aesthetic quality that arises as a result of the artistic interaction of these works.

The synthesis of arts allows, on the basis of a combination of specific means of expression and figurative possibilities of various types of art, to achieve the most complete embodiment and disclosure of the ideological and artistic content of the ensemble and its active influence on a person. Therefore, the basis of genuine S.I. there has always been and remains the integrity of the ideological design. S. i. can be an ensemble, which organically includes components (architecture, sculpture, painting) created in different eras and not possessing uniform stylistic qualities.

The development of monumental sculpture in ancient Egypt.

Sculpture of Ancient Egypt- one of the most original and strictly canonically developed areas of art of Ancient Egypt. Sculpture was created and developed to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, pharaohs, kings and queens in physical form. There were also many images of ka in the graves of ordinary Egyptians, mostly made of wood, some of which have survived. Statues of gods and pharaohs were put on public display, as a rule, in open spaces and outside temples. The Great Sphinx in Giza has never been repeated in full size anywhere else, but the alleys of reduced copies of the Sphinx and other animals have become an indispensable attribute of many temple complexes. The most sacred image of the god was in the temple, in the altar part, as a rule, in a boat or a barque, usually made of precious metals, however, not a single such image has survived. A huge number of carved figurines have been preserved - from figures of gods to toys and dishes. Such figurines were made not only from wood, but also from alabaster, a more expensive material. Wooden images of slaves, animals and property were placed in tombs to accompany the dead in the afterlife.

Statues, as a rule, retain the original shape of a block of stone or a piece of wood from which it is carved. In traditional statues of seated scribes, similarities with the shape of a pyramid (cubic statue) are just as often found.

There was a very strict canon for the creation of ancient Egyptian sculpture: the color of the body of a man had to be darker than the color of the body of a woman, the hands of a seated person had to be exclusively on his knees. There were certain rules for depicting the Egyptian gods: for example, the god Horus should have been depicted with the head of a falcon, the god of the dead Anubis with the head of a jackal. All sculptures were created according to this canon and the following was so strict that for almost three thousand years of the existence of Ancient Egypt it has not changed.

Art of the New Kingdom. The scale of monumental construction.

OK. 1700 BC e. Egypt survived the invasion of Asian tribes - the Hyksos (Egyptian foreign rulers). The time of their 150-year reign was a period of decline. The expulsion of the Hyksos from the country in the beginning. 16th century BC e. marked the beginning of the era of the New Kingdom, during which Egypt reached unprecedented power. The architecture of this period is characterized by grandiose scope, luxury decoration and imperial splendor. In the 16th century BC e. was developed, which later became a classic type of ground temple ( Karnak and Luxor in Thebes). The mortuary rock temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri (beginning of the 15th century BC, architect Senmut), dedicated to the goddess Hathor, was erected at the foot of sheer cliffs. It consists of three terraces connected by ramps, inside of which there are halls carved into the thickness of the rock. Strict, geometrically correct lines of cornices and columns with capitals in the form of the head of Hathor are shaded by the winding lines of rocky spurs. During the reign of Ramesses II, a grandiose temple complex was erected in Abu Simbele(first half of the 13th century BC).

Sculpture and painting are distinguished by sophistication and attention to detail. Silhouettes in reliefs and statues become more refined and smooth. There are attempts to convey swift movements - racing chariots, running animals (relief depicting the military campaigns of Pharaoh Seti I, 13th century BC), strong feelings (relief depicting mourners, late 14th - early 13th century BC . e.); figures sometimes obscure each other. Images of the other world and gods appear in the wall paintings, scenes of feasts and hunting become favorite subjects (the tombs of the nobles Nakht, 15th century BC, and Sennedzhem, 13th century BC; both - in Thebes). Through the transparent clothes of women, the body shines through. Naked servants, contrary to the canon, are depicted in full front or profile, from the back; poses are distinguished by natural ease. Papyrus scrolls with texts (" book of the dead", etc.) began to draw in color drawings. The arts and crafts reached a special flourishing. The golden mask, throne, vessels, caskets and other utensils from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen (14th century BC) are made with fine taste and elegance. As a result of the reform of Pharaoh Akhenaten, a single cult of the god of the solar disk Aten was established (relief "Adoration of the Aten", 14th century BC). A new capital, Akhetaten ("Horizon of the Aten"), was erected. The art of this time is distinguished by liveliness and freedom, a special lyricism. Rigid canons softened: the king appeared for the first time in the circle of his family, hugging his wife and caressing his daughters (the relief of the home altar depicting Akhenaten's family, the first half of the 14th century BC). True masterpieces are the portrait busts of Queen Nefertiti and Akhenaten (c. 1340 BC, sculptor Thutmes). In 332 BC. e. Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great, who founded the city of Alexandria in the Nile Delta. In the context of culture Hellenism Egyptian traditions were intricately intertwined with Greco-Roman. The most interesting monuments of the late period are tombstones. Fayum portraits, which influenced the formation of Roman, and later - Eastern Christian art.

The art of Akhetaten's time.

The erected city with temples, gardens, palaces, rich quarters of nobles, parks and ponds was declared "the land of the god Aton." In this city, even the type of ancient Egyptian temple became completely different. All former temples led from the light into the darkness of the cult chapel, which was illuminated only by lamps at the altars. The gloomy state of the soul was demanded by the very nature of the ancient gods, designed for a frightening reverence.

The cult of the god Aton had a completely different character. The main ritual rite was accompanied by the rising of the sun, at which the banks of the Nile came to life, blue and white lotuses blossomed, flocks of birds rose from the papyrus thickets, announcing the awakening world with their cries. At that moment, in the temple, which was a huge courtyard open to the sun, the inhabitants of Akhetaten brought their gifts to the sun: flowers, vegetables and fruits. The temple was festively decorated with pylons, pharaoh statues and paintings. Standing on the upper platform of the main altar, Akhenaten waved a censer with incense, and the musicians who accompanied on harps and lutes, courtiers, priests and all the worshipers sang the words of the hymn:

Beautiful is your rising on the horizon, O living Aton, originator of life. People get up, wash their bodies, raise their hands, rejoicing at the birth of a new day! .. You give life to distant countries, fertilizing their lands with rain. How numerous and beautiful are your creations: people, animals, flowers, herbs - everything that is on earth, in water and in the air!

The new ideas of the pharaoh-reformer also appeared in poetry and painting, architecture, sculpture, and even in everyday life. Akhenaten did not wage war, so he is nowhere depicted as conquering land or punishing enemies. Therefore, reliefs, pictorial and sculptural portraits represent him as a man immersed in philosophical reflections, with a rich inner world: in the images of the pharaoh, some contemplation, a heightened, almost sensual feeling of the fullness of being with all its joys and sorrows, is guessed.

Akhenaten died early, when he was not yet 35 years old, and left neither sons nor worthy companions. Some researchers even suggest that he was poisoned, since one of the paintings depicts an attempt on his life.

The new pharaohs did everything to erase from history the memory of their predecessor and his new god. They erased, trampled and destroyed everything that was created by Akhenaten. The military leader Heremheb, who reigned on the Egyptian throne, allegedly by the “will of the god Amun”, tried especially hard. Having no legal rights to the throne, he pursued the memory of Pharaoh Akhenaten with particular zeal. By order of Heremheb, the destruction of Akhetaten began, by that time already completely abandoned. The beautiful city was smashed with hatred: magnificent temples and palaces, statues and reliefs were smashed and destroyed. Then the ruins of Akhetaten were gradually covered with sand, and the desert covered them for several millennia. In the place where they once sparkled

embankments were white, until 1880 a narrow strip of crops stretched in the realm of sun and silence, and three small villages nestled in the shade of dense palm groves.

A typical rich house in Akhetaton is usually a whole estate, which occupied an area of ​​68x55 meters. In the center of it was a residential building, around which there was a garden, a chapel and other buildings. The whole estate was surrounded by a wall with two entrances: from the main entrance the path led to a small courtyard, from where, having climbed several steps, they got into the covered entrance of the house. A small room adjoined the entrance, through which they passed into a large oblong room with 4 round columns: it was a kind of reception for guests and at the same time a room where the owners rested.

The priests of the solar god Aten were located in a vast area with luxurious portals and streets for processions, with chapels decorated with columns, with sculptures and reliefs. According to Akhenaten's plan, all rooms were sometimes designed in the form of the Nile bank: thin columns resembled papyrus stalks, flowers and lotus buds, as well as birds fluttering in the thickets, were repeated in the wall and floor paintings. These motifs have been encountered in Egyptian art before, but never before have they had such a wealth of plots and colors, such freedom and grace of execution, such a passion for the beauty of lines and colors ...

The same naturalness, which replaced the canonized stylization of postures and gestures, manifested itself in the depiction of people. For example, Akhenaten is often depicted in the family circle - with his wife Nefertiti and daughters. Among the monuments found in el-Amarna, there are few where the pharaoh is depicted without Nefertiti. Founding the new capital of Akhetaten, Pharaoh Akhenaten promised the queen to erect her own place in it to honor the sun - "canopy of Re". Nefertiti had her own large and magnificent ship, rocking at the palace pier next to the pharaoh's boat. Unfortunately, now only ruins remain of Nefertiti's palace, but it is known that at the northeastern end of the garden there was a long building stretching along the northern wall of the palace. Inside this hall, the pillars supporting the ceiling stood in a single row, each on a tiny island between intermittent pools. These reservoirs were made in the form of huge letters "T": in the top row they were turned with a vertical end down, and in the bottom - up. Wedged in row by row with their vertical ends, the letters "T" formed a strict pattern. The railing and floor around the reservoirs, as well as the sloping walls of the railing, were entirely painted with floral ornaments and images of flowers. Such was this “magnificent estate of the Sun”, decorated with small temples, full of water activities and immersed in greenery and flowers. After Nefertiti, these possessions passed to her daughter Miyot.

Art of the Two Rivers. General characteristics. Main works.

The art of Mesopotamia at the end of the 4th - 3rd millennium BC (states of Sumer and Akkad)

Sumerian cultural tribe mosaic

In the second half of the 4th millennium BC. in the fertile plains of the Southern Mesopotamia, the first city-states arose. Chief among them were the cities of Sumer. The first monuments of monumental architecture grew in them, the art forms associated with them flourished - sculpture, relief, mosaic, various kinds of decorative crafts. Cultural communication between different tribes was actively promoted by the invention of writing by the Sumerians, first pictographic, and then cuneiform. They wrote with sharp sticks on wet clay tablets, which were then burned on fire.

Each city honored its own gods. Each of the deities was dedicated to its own temple, which became the center of the city-state. The first powerful buildings of Sumer at the end of 4 thousand BC. there were the so-called "White Temple" and "Red Building" in Uruk. Rectangular in plan, devoid of windows, with walls dissected in the White Temple by vertical narrow niches, and in the Red Building - by powerful semi-columns, simple in their cubic volumes, these structures clearly loomed on the top of an artificial mountain. They had an open courtyard, a sanctuary, in the depths of which a statue of a revered deity was placed. The White Temple got its name from the whitewashing of the walls. The red building was decorated with a variety of geometric ornaments of baked clay cone-shaped zigatti carnations, the hats of which were painted in red, white and black. From a distance, this ornament, merging, acquired a single soft reddish hue.

A special role was played by mosaics, inlaid with gems, mother-of-pearl and shells, which were widely used in decorating walls, columns, and statues. The decoration of columns with sheet copper, the inclusion of relief compositions, also came into use. The temple of the goddess - the "mother of all gods" and the "goddess of the wooded mountains" Ninhursag, erected near the city of Ur in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, is marked by a number of such innovations. Above the rectangular entrance to the temple there was a canopy resting on thin wooden pillars, upholstered in copper and decorated with inlays of mother-of-pearl, gems, and asphalt. The walls of the temple, in addition to vertical niches, were also divided horizontally by ribbons of mosaic friezes. The cornice of the temple was decorated with a pattern of ceramic carnations, the caps of which were made in the form of flowers with red and white petals. The upper frieze also included mosaic images of white doves, made on a slate background, the lower frieze consisted of copper figures of gobies. The entrance was framed by two wooden figures of guardian lions. They were covered with copper sheets, and the eyes and tongues were inlaid with colored stones. Above the entrance door there is a rectangular copper plate depicting the relief figures of the lion-headed eagle Imdugud, firmly holding two deer with its paws - a kind of symbol of the deity's power over all the inhabitants of the wooded mountains and valleys. Likened to a mountain peak, it rose on a platform and a terrace, the lower of which, in terms of area, totaled 32x25 meters.

In the 3rd millennium BC. Ziggurats arose in Sumer. They consisted of small trapezoidal huge platforms descending upwards. The upper platform was crowned with a small sanctuary. From ancient times, only a few ancient towers have come down to us in ruins. The best preserved ziggurats of Elam (in Choga Zambil) and Borsippa (near Babylon). Now one of the oldest ziggurats in Ur at the end of the 3rd millennium BC has been partially restored. Now only one of its lower terraces is visible. The area of ​​a huge truncated trapezoid is 65x43 meters, and the height of the base of the tower is 20 meters. Initially, the ziggurat, which consisted of three truncated pyramids, as if placed on top of each other, descending upward, reached a height of 60 meters. Three steep, straight staircases flanked its façade and converged at the edge of the top of the first platform, clearly revealing the structure of the entire soaring structure.

Narrative relief originated very early in the art of Mesopotamia. Themes of the reliefs of the second half of the 4th-early 3rd millennium BC resurrect before us the circle of the main concerns of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, connected with the harvest. These are mostly rituals of worship of the goddess of fertility Inanna. The procession of donors, walking with gifts to the goddess Inanna, is depicted in reliefs filling the surface of a monumental alabaster vessel from Uruk in the early 3000 BC. The form of a high ritual stone goblet dedicated to the cult of this goddess is divided into a number of belts. In the lower frieze, motifs of a river rural landscape, trees growing near the water are indicated. The next one shows a line of rams moving measuredly along the river bank. Above is an equally measured procession of people carrying dishes of food and fruit. The upper one is dedicated to the ceremony of worshiping the goddess and offering gifts to her.

The sculptural figures of “protectors” placed in the temples of both the Northern and Southern Mesopotamia show that in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. in the sculpture of Sumer there was a significant figurative division. Stone small (only 34-40 centimeters in height), and sometimes one and a half meters, statues made of alabaster, limestone, sandstone, basalt had elongated proportions, elongated faces. The figurines of the Southern Mesopotamia were large-headed and squat. At the same time, both of them seem to be related to each other. Everything in them: the posture, the eyes raised to the sky, the palms folded at the chest, are aimed at revealing the internal state of enlightenment. These are the basalt figure of the head of the granaries of the city of Uruk Kurlil, the alabaster statue of the dignitary Ebih-Il (from the city of Mari) and the stone statue of the god Ab-U from the city of Eshnun.

Numerous statues of the ruler of the city of Lagash Gudea (22nd century BC) are marked by genuine monumentality, despite their relatively small (about 1.5 meters) size. The statues conveyed both the age signs of the ruler and the characteristic features of his face. In a block of stone, the craftsmen managed to reveal the living plasticity of the human body, to feel the tension of the muscles.

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Architecture and art.

The wealth of the ruling class was reflected in the powerful and widespread building activity of the kings. Intensive construction, which covered the country with temples and palaces, was possible due to the presence of numerous slave prisoners of war, as well as the use of the labor of the free population. However, in Mesopotamia, unlike Egypt, due to local natural conditions, stone construction did not exist, and all buildings were built from raw brick.

Unlike Egypt, the funeral cult did not develop here to such an extent and nothing like the stone masses of the pyramids or the burial structures of the Egyptian nobility was built. But, having huge funds at their disposal, the architects of Sumer and Akkad erected grandiose stepped temple-towers (ziggurats). In the architecture of Mesopotamia, columns have been found since ancient times, which, however, did not play a big role, as well as vaults. Quite early, the technique of dismembering walls by ledges and niches, as well as ornamenting walls with friezes made in mosaic technique, appears.

Sumerian sculptors created statues of gods and representatives of the nobility, as well as reliefs (for example, the “Kite Stele”). However, if even during the period of the Jemdet-Nasr culture, Sumerian artists managed to achieve certain successes in conveying the image of a person, then during the existence of the early city-states, rough schematization dominates - a person is depicted either unnaturally squat, or in unnaturally elongated proportions, with exaggerated eyes, nose etc. Also in the art of stone-cutting, the image is subject to geometric patterns. The sculptors of the Akkadian dynasty far surpassed the early Sumerian sculptors, being able, in particular, to depict living beings in motion. The reliefs of the time of Sargon and especially the time of his grandson Naramsin amaze with their artistic skill. One of the most remarkable artistic monuments is the Naramsin stele, dedicated to the victory over the mountain tribes. The relief depicts the drama of the battle in the mountainous terrain where this battle took place.

The applied art of Akkad also stood at a high altitude. Particularly noteworthy are the artistically executed images of plots from myths and epics, carved on cylinder seals from colored stone. Obviously, the artists of this period did not lose touch with the folk art of Mesopotamia.

The art of Lagash during the time of Gudea (as, for example, in the portrait statues of Gudea himself made of hard stone - diorite) and the time of the III dynasty of Ur, undoubtedly used the best examples of Akkadian art. However, since the III Dynasty of Ur, dead, canonical schemes of images have been established in art, monotonous religious plots have prevailed.

The peoples of Mesopotamia created a number of instruments - a pipe, a flute, a tambourine, a harp, etc. According to the monuments that have come down to us, these instruments were used in the temple cult. They were played by special priests who also acted as singers.

Cretan-Mycenaean art. General characteristics. Main works.

conventional name for the art of Ancient Greece of the Bronze Age (about 2800-1100 BC); the broader name is Aegean art.

(Source: "Popular Art Encyclopedia." Edited by Polevoy V.M.; M.: Publishing House "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986.)

Cretan-Mycenaean art

(Aegean art), art that developed on the islands of the Aegean Sea and in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula (3rd - 2nd millennium BC). Art about. Crete and the islands of the Cyclades archipelago - Paros, Naxos, Syros, Thera (3rd - middle of the 2nd millennium BC) are usually called Minoan by the name of the mythical king Minos, the son of the god Zeus and the princess of Europe. The culture that developed on the Balkan Peninsula (1600-1100 BC), where the Greek-speaking tribes of the Achaeans lived and where the “gold-rich Mycenae”, the city of the legendary king Agamemnon, occupied the dominant position, is called Mycenaean.

labyrinth columns, tapering downwards, which likened them to stalactites hanging from the vaults of caves. Later, ruins of palaces and smaller complexes (the so-called villas) were also found in Phaistos and other places on Crete. All the palaces had spectacular venues - courtyards paved with slabs, framed by stone stairs. Sacred games with a bull took place here, more dangerous than the Spanish bullfight, since the young men and girls participating in them were unarmed (the fresco "Playing with the Bull", 17-16 centuries BC). The bull was considered a sacred animal of the Great Goddess, in whose image the Cretans revered nature. Images of sacred horns and double-edged axes labris, with the help of which sacrifices were made - one of the favorite motifs of the Minoan masters. However, the art of the Cretans seems to “do not know” evil and death: in vase painting labris "sprout" with lily petals; rhytons (shaped vessels) in the form of a bull's head, on the forehead of which, in the place where the ax is pierced, a flower blooms, amaze with perfection. Fresco friezes with landscapes and scenes of festivities encircle the rooms. The silhouettes of figures and objects are outlined with flexible, “running” lines (“The Saffron Collector”, 17th century BC). Charmingly charming so-called. "Parisian" (15th century BC), the image of one of the girls in the scene of the festival in the olive grove. The Cretan masters were familiar with the Egyptian canons of the depiction of the human figure (“King-Priest”, 15th century BC), however, in general, Minoan art was not bound by strict rules: it embodied an enthusiastic admiration for nature, with which man is organically merged . The images of the natural world were also embodied in the plastic, elastic forms and paintings of Cretan vessels (see Art. vase painting). No large statues have been discovered in Crete; the sculpture is represented by small ceramic figurines of goddesses (or priestesses) with snakes in their hands, with a wasp waist, in puffy skirts with frills and corsages, revealing a magnificent chest.
Bull Games. Fresco in the Palace of Knossos. 17th–16th centuries BC e. Crete "Boxing Boys". Fresco. 15th c. BC e. National Archaeological Museum. Athens. Lion Gate at Mycenae. 14th c. BC e. The decline of the Minoan culture is associated with a volcanic eruption on about. Fera (now Santorini), which occurred c. ser. 2nd millennium BC e., which caused earthquakes and a tsunami wave that hit Crete. Taking advantage of the weakening of Knossos, the Achaeans captured the island, while experiencing the strong influence of the Minoan culture. According to other versions, the Achaean rulers, who married the Cretan princesses, gradually took possession of the island during the period of aggravation of internal strife there. From the 15th century BC e. Minoan art lost its lively spontaneity, became drier and harder. The new features that appeared in it reflected the tastes of the Achaean rulers, who were probably employed by many Cretan masters at that time. The heyday of the Mycenaean culture falls on the 14th-13th centuries. BC e. The cities of the Achaeans - Mycenae, Tiryns, Athens, Pylos, etc. - were harsh fortresses built on the slopes of the rocks. Their center was acropolis with the palace of the ruler (megaron). Powerful fortress walls were built of huge untreated stones without a bonding solution (the so-called "cyclopean masonry": according to legend, one-eyed giants-cyclops lifted heavy blocks). The walls of Tiryns reached a thickness of 17 m; inside them there were passages where water tanks, weapons and food depots were placed. The entrance to the citadel of Mycenae was the Lion Gate, decorated with a plate depicting two formidable lionesses. In 1876, the German archaeologist G. Schliemann discovered inside the fortress shaft (carved in the rock) tombs of the rulers of Mycenae, whom he mistook for Agamemnon and his associates. Subsequently, it was found that the burials are much older (16th century BC). The breasts of the dead were covered with golden armor, golden masks lay on their faces. The faces engraved on a thin gold sheet laconic and convincingly conveyed the appearance of stern warrior leaders (the so-called "Agamemnon's mask"). The custom of covering the faces of the dead with masks existed in ancient Egypt, but so far there is no evidence of borrowing this custom by the Achaeans from there. In the 15th century BC e. shaft graves were replaced by majestic stone tombs - tholos. To so-called. “Tomb of Atreus” (14th century BC) leads a corridor-dromos lined with stone slabs 36 m long. The burial is blocked by a hemispherical false vault formed by rows of stones protruding one above the other. In ancient times, the ceiling was decorated with gilded rosettes (flower-shaped decorations), personifying the starry sky. Of the Mycenaean palaces, the palace in Pylos, discovered by archaeologists in the 1950s, is the best preserved. Strict thoughtfulness, symmetry of the plan of spacious rectangular rooms is a distinctive feature of Mycenaean architecture. In monumental painting and vase painting, the festive jubilation of Minoan art was replaced by the glorification of the triumph of physical strength, heroic spirit and severe courage. Picturesque images are distinguished by strict symmetry and rigidity of forms. In the fine and decorative arts, battles and hunting prevail (a dagger with a lion-hunting scene, a gold ring with a battle scene; both - 16th century BC; a crater - a vessel for wine - with the wires of warriors, 12th century BC n. e.). The Trojan War (13th century BC) marked the beginning of the decline of Mycenaean culture. OK. 1200, its development was interrupted by the invasion of the Dorians. It is also possible that the Dorians came to the lands already devastated by internecine wars. The "dark ages" came, after which art experienced a new flowering in ancient Greece.

Knossos palace.

Minoan culture experienced a bright flowering in the first half. 2nd millennium BC e. Her monuments were opened only in the beginning. 20th century The English archaeologist A. Evans unearthed the ruins of the palace at Knossos on about. Crete, which he called "the palace of Minos". The center of the huge complex, with an area of ​​over 8,000 m 2 , was a vast rectangular yard; around it, at the level of several floors, there were ceremonial halls, sanctuaries, warehouses, connected by long winding corridors and stairs. The lower rooms were cut down in the thickness of the rock, the upper towered above the hill. The eastern part of the palace opened into the surrounding landscape with columned galleries. In the western part, where, apparently, there was a main entrance, the premises were protected by powerful walls. The complex layout of the palace, the abundance of intricate passages, sudden descents and turns later reminded the Greeks of the one built by the mythical architect and sculptor Daedalus labyrinth, in the dungeon of which the Minotaur lived. There were no windows. The corridors were pitch dark. Only sometimes around the corner in the places of the so-called. light wells shone with a dazzling pillar of light pouring down from above; for this, square openings were made in flat roofs, which corresponded to the same openings in the underlying floors. Stairs wound around the open opening, adorned with bright red-coated wooden columns, tapering downwards, which likened them to stalactites hanging from the vaults of caves.

archaic art. Creation of an order system.

The development of the Greek temple went from simple to complex forms, from wood to stone. Gradually, a peripter surrounded by columns appeared. The entrance was usually from the east. The main room - naos, or cella - was located behind the threshold - pronaos. Behind the cella - in the adyton or opisthodom - gifts were kept.

In the 7th century BC e. architectural orders arose, in which not only the technical qualities of the building were expressed, but also the artistic ones. In a building built in the order system, there are two opposing

Greek architects were aware that the ratio of the sizes of columns, beams, architrave and frieze play not only a constructive role. By changing their proportions, the craftsmen varied the interaction of the bearing and carried forces, rendering the architecture of the building one or another artistic impression on a person.

during the archaic era, the main material for builders is stone - first limestone, then marble. Buildings not only become more durable than wooden ones, but also look grander. It is noteworthy that, despite the widespread change of material, the appearance of the order - columns and entablature - remains the same, as in wooden architecture. Sometimes elements that were constructive (frieze) turn into decorative ones. Masters love to decorate the roofs of temples with acroteria and antefixes. This is the time of especially wide production of first pictorial and then relief metopes, multi-figure compositions on friezes, complex plot groups on pediments. For this, terracotta, limestone, marble are used.

The statues of the Doric temple of Artemis on the island of Corfu have stood the test of time better than others. Its reliefs show several themes. In the center is the Gorgon Medusa defeated by Perseus ( ill. fifteen). On the right - the battle of the Olympians with the giants, on the left - an episode from the Trojan War. Scenes of different plots are united by the idea of ​​a struggle that has engulfed all spheres of the world.

Round sculpture and tombstones

The main theme in the art of the Greeks is, first of all, a man, represented in the form of a god, a hero, an athlete. Already at the beginning of the archaic, there is a short-term outbreak of gigantism in the depiction of a person at the end of the 7th century BC. e. on Phazos, Naxos, Delos. In the monuments of sculpture of the archaic, plasticity is growing, replacing the schematism inherent in the images of geometry. This feature appears in the bronze figurine of Apollo from Thebes, where the roundness of the shoulders, hips, and restrained ornamentation of the hair are noticeable. After the dryness and rigidity of the forms of geometric figures in the early archaic monuments, the freshness of the perception of the image is growing, although sometimes the masters are naive in solving the details ( ill. 20). Peculiar monuments of the 7th century BC. e. there were so-called xoanons - images of deities performed in a tree, the rarest copies of which were recently found in the Greek cities of Sicily ( ill. 21).

Painting and vase painting

Artists of the 7th-6th centuries BC. e. used different materials. They created their compositions on clay metopes ( ill. 35), wooden boards (sacrifice scene from Sicyon) ( ill. 36), small clay tablets dedicated to the gods pinakah (Athens) ( ill. 34), on the walls of painted clay sarcophagi (Klazomenae), on limestone and marble tombstones (the Lysia stele, the Sounion stele). But there are not many such monuments, where the painting was applied on a flat surface, and the drawings on the spherical surfaces of the vases, which were fired, which contributed to the durability of the paint, survived better.

At the end of the 8th century BC. e. in Greek society, new tastes and interests were formed. Simplified, conditional geometric images ceased to satisfy; in drawings on vases, artists of the 7th century BC. e. began to abundantly introduce plant motifs and plot scenes. The proximity of the Asia Minor East was expressed in the decorativeness and brilliance of the compositions, which made us call the style of vase painting of the 7th century BC. e. orientalizing, or carpet. Artfully perfect vessels were made in Crete, the islands of Delos, Melos, Rhodes and in the cities of Asia Minor, in particular Miletus. A major center for the production of vases in the 7th and early 6th centuries was the city of Corinth, and in the 6th century - Athens.

In the 7th century, the forms of vases become more diverse, but there is a noticeable tendency towards rounded contours. A similar increase in the richness of volumes occurred in sculpture and architecture. Thin wooden supports gave way to plump stone columns with entasis. The technique of drawing drawings on vases of the 7th century became more complicated, the artist's palette became richer. In addition to black lacquer, white paint, purple of different tones, and scratching were used to indicate details.

Apollo with the Muses and Artemis depicted on the Melian vessel are not shown as schematically as in geometric compositions. In the paintings of this time, the admiration of the masters for the bright colors of the world is noticeable. The drawings are so decorative and saturated with ornaments, like the Homeric hymns of that time with expressive epithets. There is less masculinity in them than in geometric scenes, but the lyrical principle is stronger. The nature of the compositions on the vases of this time is consonant with the poetry of Sappho.

In the elegance of the patterns of palmettes, circles, squares, meanders, spiral tendrils, the aroma of stylized nature emerges, passing through the feeling of the decorator - the vase painter. Ornamentation, which is a distinctive feature of the drawings of this period, permeates the figured images and absorbs them, dissolves them in the melodious rhythms of their motives. The contours of people and animals are ornamental, the gaps between figures and objects are painstakingly filled with patterns.

The painting on the island vessels lies like a motley carpet. The surface of a juicy and puffy Rhodes jug - oinohoe is divided into friezes - stripes with animals regularly protruding on them ( ill. 37). On Rhodes vases, animals, birds, grazing or calmly walking one after another, sometimes real, but often fantastic - sphinxes, sirens with beautiful dynamic lines of elastic contours, are especially often depicted.

There is much in common in the nature of such murals with the luxury of clothes loved at that time, an abundance of jewelry, references to which are found in the poems of poets of the 7th century:

"Hector with a crowd of friends across the salty sea

Rare monuments of pictorial art of the end of the 7th century are clay metopes of the temple of Apollo in Ferma. On one of them, the artist interpreted the flight of Perseus as a fast run, avoiding stiffness, but here, too, he used a lot of ornaments, framing the borders of the metope with rosettes and decorating the hero's tunic with them.

Black-figure and red-figure vase painting. Plots and features of the composition.

Black-figure vase painting

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Depiction of a rooster on a Corinthian black-figure amphora ca. 575-550 AD BC e. Louvre

Black-figure vase painting- one of the most significant styles of vase painting along with red-figure vase painting. The heyday of ancient Greek black-figure vase painting falls on the 7th-4th centuries. BC e.

origins[edit | edit source]

Amphora. Potter Andokid. The vase painter Andokides. Warriors, on the sides of Hermes and Athena. OK. 530 BC e. Louvre. Paris

The first vases in the red-figure style appeared around 530 BC. e. It is believed that this technique was invented by the vase painter Andokid. Initially, Andocides and other adherents of the new style (for example, Psiax) painted vases in two styles at the same time: on one side of the vase, the image was made with black figures, and on the other, with red ones. Such vessels (for example, in the exposition of the State Antique Collection in Munich) are called bilingual. Compared to the black-figure style, this was already a big step forward, but the figures on them looked rather constrained, and the plots rarely combined with each other. On these vases, one can still trace techniques borrowed from the old style, such as notching the contours of images or covering significant areas with red paint.

Greek sculpture of the classical period. Polykleitos Diadumenus The Wounded Amazon

Miron Discobolus Scopas maenad

Phidias Athena-warriors, Athens-Promachos, Praxiteles APHRODITE KINSKAYAHermes with baby Dionysus Lysippus

Athens from the 6th century BC e. became a symbol of the highest achievements of Greek culture. Artists, poets, sculptors aspired here. Poet Pindar , who came from Boeotia and was always hostile to Athens, wrote: “Brilliant, crowned with violets, glorified glorious Athens, the support of Hellas, the divine city.”

And one of the sharp-tongued contemporaries stated: “If you have not seen Athens, then you are a stump, if you saw and were not admired, then you are a donkey, and if you left them at will, then you are a camel.” Camel was one of the most offensive nicknames in antiquity.

The art of high classics is quite fully characterized by the words of Pericles, a strategist who was at the head of Athens for fifteen years: "We love beauty without whimsicality and wisdom without effeminacy." The wise Solon put it even shorter: "Nothing superfluous."

http://obsaatetradantichnost.blogspot.com/p/5-4.html

Art of Greece, 5th–4th centuries BC e. Creating a classic art style.

painting on pottery sculpture

Periodization of ancient Greek art[edit | edit source]

previous period - Aegean art (Cretan-Mycenaean art)- XXX century. BC. - XII century. BC.

Achaean-Minoan art

geometric period("Homeric Greece") - c.1050 BC-VIII century. BC.

1. Protogeometrics(Submycenaean period) - c.1050 BC - c. 900 BC

   geometry(flourishing) - c.900 BC - c. 750 BC

   Late Geometric Period(Depylon) - c.750 BC - early. 7th century BC.

archaic period- VII century. BC - early. 5th century BC.

1. Early archaic- early 7th century BC. - 570s BC.

   mature archaic- 570s BC. - 525s BC.

   late archaic- 525s BC. - 490s BC.

classical period- V c. BC - ser. 4th century BC.

1. early classic("Strict style") - 1st floor. 5th century BC.

   high classic- 2nd floor. 5th century BC.

   late classic- IV century. BC.

Hellenistic period- ser. 4th century BC. - I century. BC.

Buildings of the Acropolis and their sculptural decoration. Synthesis of sculpture and architecture. PHIDIAS PARFERON

Inside the Parthenon was a huge statue of Athena Parthenos (maiden),

Phidias also created a huge seated statue of Zeus for the temple of Zeus at Olympia using the same chryso-elephantine technique, which was later included in the list of seven wonders of the world.

Two directions in the development of sculpture of the classical period of ancient Greece (Scopas. Praxiteles).

Scopas. Battle of the Greeks with the Amazons. Fragment of the frieze of the Halicarnassus Mausoleum, maenad (accompanied by Dionysus)

Praxiteles Aphrodite of Cnidus

Individualization of the image, psychologism (Lysippus), and idealization of the image (Leohar).

LISSIP: Resting Hermes

a cycle of sculptures dedicated to the exploits of Hercules

sculpture of Kairos (god of auspicious occasion)

Hercules and Telephos

Colossus of Zeus at Tarentum

A crater on Mercury is named after Lysippos.

LEOHAR: Apollo Belvedere- Roman marble copy of a bronze original by the ancient Greek sculptor Leochar (the court sculptor of Alexander the Great, c. 330-320 BC)

The Art of Hellenism - the end of the 4th -1st centuries. BC e. General characteristics. Major works

ALEXANDER THE MACEDONIAN ROME

The era of Hellenism was characterized by the desire for monumentality. Huge statues are created, a typical example is the Colossus of Rhodes, the figure of the god Helios 32 meters high. MADE BY SHERRY by Lissip's apprentice

Pergamon school. Courage is embodied in the sculptural groups "The Dying Gaul", "The Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife". Outstanding sculpture of Hellenism - Aphrodite de Milo work Agesandra - half naked, strict and sublimely calm.

Small figures of people from terracotta

Etruscan art.

The architecture of the Etruscans was quite developed. The best preserved walls that surrounded the Etruscan cities and tombs.

The masterpieces of human genius are reflections of deep tendencies occurring within society. Actually, the authors of imperishable works, as people of a special spiritual constitution, sensitive natures, cannot indifferently observe the internal processes taking place in society - and throw out an emotional echo in their creations. Art is only an unbiased mirror of reality, reflecting all the details and phenomena with amazing sharpness. The history of the development of art reflects the history of the development of mankind.

The development of world art, as well as individual countries and nationalities, is, as you know, not only in a spiral, but also sinusoidally.

New trends in art, its recessions or falls become a kind of indicator of universal human progress or regression in a given specific period of time.

In this paper, the problems of the emergence of art are considered, the main theories and approaches to the origin of art are analyzed, and the main features of primitive art are investigated.

primitive art- the art of the era of the primitive communal system. It arose in the Late Paleolithic (c. 30 thousand BC) and reflected the lifestyle and views of primitive hunters (primitive dwellings, cave images of animals full of life and movement, female figurines). Neolithic and Eneolithic farmers and pastoralists had communal settlements, megaliths, piled buildings, images began to convey abstract concepts, and the art of ornamentation developed. In the era of the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze Age, the tribes of Egypt, India, Western, Central and Minor Asia, China, South and South-Eastern Europe developed an art associated with agricultural mythology, ornamented ceramics, sculpture). Northern forest hunters and fishermen used to have rock carvings and realistic figurines of animals. The pastoral steppe tribes of Eastern Europe and Asia at the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages created the animal style.

The later stages of the origin of art are associated with the decomposition of the primitive system. A feature of primitive culture is, first of all, that it, figuratively speaking, is tailored to the measure of the person himself. At the origins of material culture, things were commanded by man, and not vice versa. Of course, the range of things was limited, a person could directly observe and feel them, they served as a continuation of his own organs, in a certain sense they were their material copies. But at the center of this circle stood a man - their creator. Primitive history, like culture, had another feature - primitive collectivism.

There is no generally accepted explanation for the origin of art. In Marxist teaching, the origin of art is explained by labor activity. G.V. Plekhanov wrote on this occasion that art is the child of labor, not play.

According to other views, art is connected with religion. The magic of hunting and the magic of fertility were reflected in the activities of primitive artists, where the meaning of a spell, rather than pleasure, was attached to the images of art. This point of view is largely based on the fact that primitive artists made images in the hidden places of caves, in dark chambers and corridors, at a considerable distance from the entrance, where even two people could not disperse. This is explained by the desire to create an atmosphere of mystery around the wall images, natural for magical actions.

There is also a tradition to link the origin of art with play activities. It has long been noticed that primitive images gradually became less realistic, more conventional. But for a game, it is precisely the creation by a person in a conditional space and time of an order that is determined by him. A playing person expresses himself in a conditionally independent, free state, in a state of disinterest in relation to everything that is not connected with the game. The absence of an external, extraneous goal, when the activity itself becomes the goal, makes art and play related.

In the book "Morning of Art" Academician A.P. Okladnikov wrote that primitive artists had only a need for a materialized expression of inner experiences, feelings and ideas, creative imagination.
It is possible that the primitive artists, who penetrated the hidden places of the caves, did this not for magic, but to avoid witnesses to their work, which could seem from the outside empty, incomprehensible, and because of this, perhaps, a harmful occupation. Some scientists associate not only art, but also the entire primitive culture with the game, they see the game in its origins. This approach is typical for philosophical hermeneutics. G. Gadamer considered history and culture as a kind of game in the element of language.

Even more revealing in this respect are the views of the Dutch cultural historian I. Heusinga (sometimes spelled Huizinga). In his book, The Playing Man. An attempt to define the game element in culture" (1938), he universalized the concept of the game, to which he reduced all the diversity of human activity and considered it as the main source and highest manifestation of human culture. The closer a culture is to archetypes, i.e. the more primitive it is, the more playful it is; but moving away from its origins, just as a person moves away from his childhood, culture loses its playful principle.
Of course, any theory in which the origin of art, as well as culture, is reduced to work or play activity, to magic, is not indisputable. Naturally, the creation of any cultural value is labor. But isn't play work? What could be more serious for a child than a game? But the work of a completely adult person, when it in itself gives him joy and satisfaction, is not much different from the game. Finally, don't culture and art have a magical effect, inspiring us with thoughts and feelings or awakening desires that we simply would not have had without them?

In the question of the origin of art, it is important to understand not so much the reason as the goals that the primitive artist pursued when creating images. It is clear that they could be different, that the images themselves were later used for different purposes. But if the artist, as A.P. Okladnikov, satisfied his need for a materialized expression of inner experiences that were ideal for him, the image of the ideal served as the goal of his work. If culture as a whole is characterized by a constant discrepancy between goals and ideals, then at the initial stage of culture this coincidence nevertheless occurred due to the syncretic nature of primitive cultural activity.

2. THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF ART

No one can now accurately determine the time of the emergence of art. But a lot of evidence indicates that art was born in the era of the appearance of Homo sapiens. The problem of the emergence of art is inextricably linked with the problem of man. As there are several theories of the origin of man, so there are several theories of the origin of art.

The great esthetician and art historian Micheles Panaotis writes about the connection between art and the divine. “Between man and the deity is nature, the Universe, which gives man the simplest images on which he thinks - the sun, stars, wild animals and trees - and stimulates the simplest, but strong emotions - fear, confusion, peace. Images and impressions from the external world are at first an integral part of the religious experience. Man, the microcosm, not only opposes the macrocosm, but is connected with it through the divine. Moreover, human impressions are not devoid of an aesthetic character, and the images of nature, feeding the religious imagination, provide the master with models and inspire the artist to express himself through these models. With the help of art and craft (which at first were not separated), primitive man not only imitates and symbolizes the elements, but also conquers them, because he already designs and creates. He not only dominates the spirit of a wild animal, depicting him on the walls of the cave; he builds sheltered dwellings, stores water in vessels, reinvents the wheel. The microcosm, enriched by art and craft, spiritual and technical conquests, boldly faces the macrocosm.”

The second theory of the emergence of art - aesthetic, is partially reflected in the previous arguments of M. Panaotis. Rock and cave paintings date from 40-20 thousand years BC. The first images include life-size profile images of animals. Later, images of people appear. At the time of the emergence of tribal associations, songs and hymns were created: songs of landowners, performed in the fields during agricultural work and on holidays after the harvest, battle hymns of warriors - peans, sung before the start of the battle, wedding hymns - hymenes, funeral lamentations - orens. At the same time, legends were created about gods and goddesses, their interventions in the affairs of both individuals and entire tribes. Real historical facts were overgrown with legendary details. Originating in one tribe, these stories and legends spread among others, passing from generation to generation.

Thus, with the help of art, collective experience was accumulated and transmitted. Primitive art was unified, not divided into separate types and had a collective character. In a slave-owning society, with the advent of an excess product of labor activity, which made it possible for people to engage only in art. There is also a division of art into types.

Along with the above theories of the emergence of art, there is a psychophysiological theory. From the point of view of this version, art was necessary for humanity in order to preserve itself and survive (from the point of view of psychology) in this complex world. Philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm writes about the human need for creativity. “In contrast to the passive adaptation inherent in the animal, people seek to transform the world. And this is impossible without gravitation towards the beyond, without the search for the ideal. Without this inner readiness for the sublime, for the romantic impulse, the individual cannot rise above the everyday prose of life. This need is dictated by the presence of creative forces in each individual, among which a special place is occupied by imagination, emotionality. In the act of creativity, a person unites himself with the world, breaks the boundaries of the passivity of his existence, enters the realm of freedom.

Art acquired its main features in antiquity, but there it did not immediately begin to be thought of as a special kind of activity. Until Plato, "art" was called the ability to build houses, and navigation skills, and healing, and government, and poetry, and philosophy, and rhetoric. First, this process of isolation of aesthetic activity proper, that is, art in our understanding, began in specific crafts, and then was transferred to the field of spiritual activity, where the aesthetic was also not first isolated from the utilitarian, ethical and cognitive.

3. PRIMARY ART: GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Primitive or otherwise called primitive art geographically covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, still preserved among some peoples living in remote corners of the planet.

The conversion of primitive man to a new type of activity for him - art - is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind. Primitive art reflected the first ideas of people about the surrounding world, contributed to the preservation and transfer of knowledge and skills, and served as a means of communication. For primitive man, art became the same universal tool of spiritual culture as a sharpened stone was in his labor activity.

What prompted a person to think about the image of certain objects? How do you know if body painting was the first step towards creating images, or if a person guessed the familiar silhouette of an animal in a random outline of a stone and, having cut it, gave it a greater resemblance? Or maybe the shadow of an animal or a person served as the basis for the drawing, and the imprint of a hand or foot precedes the sculpture? There is no definite answer to these questions. Ancient people could come up with the idea of ​​depicting objects not in one, but in many ways.

Until recently, scientists had two opposing views on the history of primitive art. Some considered cave naturalistic painting and sculpture to be the most ancient, while others considered schematic signs and geometric figures. Now most researchers are of the opinion that both forms appeared at about the same time. For example, among the most ancient images on the walls of Paleolithic caves are imprints of a human hand, and random interweaving of wavy lines, pressed into wet clay with the fingers of the same hand.

The first works of primitive art were created about thirty thousand years ago, at the end of the Paleolithic era or the ancient Stone Age. The Stone Age is the oldest period in the history of mankind (began over 2 million years ago, continued until the 6th millennium BC), when tools and weapons were made of stone; divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.

The most ancient sculptural images today are the so-called "Paleolithic Venuses" - primitive female figures. They are still very far from a real resemblance to the human body. All of them have some common features: enlarged hips, abdomen and chest, lack of feet. Primitive sculptors were not even interested in facial features. Their task was not to reproduce a specific nature, but to create a certain generalized image of a woman-mother, a symbol of fertility and the keeper of the hearth. Male images in the Paleolithic era are very rare. In addition to women, animals were depicted: horses, goats, reindeer, etc. Almost all Paleolithic sculpture was made of stone and bone.

In the history of cave painting of the Paleolithic era, experts distinguish several periods. In ancient times (approximately from the 20th millennium BC), primitive artists filled the surface inside the outline of the drawing with black or red paint.

Later (approximately from the 18th to the 15th millennium BC), primitive masters began to pay more attention to details: they depicted wool with oblique parallel strokes, learned to use additional colors (various shades of yellow and red paint) to paint spots on the skins of bulls, horses , bison. The contour line also changed: it became either brighter or darker, marking the light and shadow parts of the figure, skin folds and masses of wool (for example, horse manes, massive buffalo nape), thus conveying volume. In some cases, the contours or the most expressive details were emphasized by ancient artists with a carved line.

In the XII millennium BC. e. cave art reached its peak. Painting of that time conveyed volume, perspective, color and proportions of figures, movement. At the same time, huge picturesque "canvases" were created that covered the vaults of deep caves.

In 1868, in Spain, in the province of Santander, the Altamira cave was discovered, the entrance to which had previously been covered with a landslide. Almost ten years later, the Spanish archaeologist Marcelino Sautuola, who was excavating in this cave, discovered primitive images on its walls and ceiling. Altamira was the first of many dozens of similar caves later found in France and Spain: La Moute, La Madeleine, Trois Frere, Font de Gome, and others. Now, thanks to targeted searches, about a hundred caves with images of primitive time are known in France alone.

An outstanding discovery was made quite by accident in September 1940. The Lascaux Cave in France, which became even more famous than Altamira, was discovered by four boys who, playing, climbed into a hole that opened under the roots of a tree that had fallen after a storm. The painting of the Lascaux cave - images of bulls, wild horses, reindeer, bison, rams, bears, etc. - is the most perfect work of art from what was created by man in the Paleolithic era. The images of horses are most spectacular, for example, small dark undersized steppe horses resembling ponies. Also of interest is the clear three-dimensional figure of a cow located above them, preparing to jump over a fence or a pit-trap. This cave has now been turned into a first-class museum.

Subsequently, the images as a whole lost their liveliness, volume; stylization (generalization and schematization of objects) intensified. In the last period, realistic images are completely absent. Paleolithic painting, as it were, returned to where it began: on the walls of the caves, chaotic interweaving of lines, rows of dots, unclear schematic signs appeared.

In the era of the Mesolithic, or the Middle Stone Age (XII-VIII millennium BC), the climatic conditions on the planet changed. Some of the hunted animals have disappeared; they were replaced by others. Fisheries began to develop. People created new types of tools, weapons (bows and arrows), tamed the dog. All these changes, of course, had an impact on the consciousness of primitive man, which was reflected in art.

This is evidenced, for example, by rock paintings in the coastal mountainous regions of Eastern Spain, between the cities of Barcelona and Valencia. Previously, the focus of the ancient artist was the animals he hunted, now - the figures of people depicted in rapid movement. If Paleolithic cave paintings represented separate, unrelated figures, then Mesolithic rock art began to be dominated by multi-figure compositions and scenes that vividly reproduce various episodes from the life of hunters of that time. In addition to various shades of red paint, black and occasionally white were used, and such persistent compounds as egg white, blood, and possibly honey served as a binder.

Central to the rock art were hunting scenes, in which hunters and animals are linked in a vigorously unfolding action. Hunters follow the trail or chase the prey, throwing arrows at it on the run, deal the final death blow or run away from an angry wounded animal. At the same time, images of dramatic episodes of military clashes between tribes appeared. In some cases, apparently, we are even talking about execution: in the foreground is the figure of a lying man pierced by arrows, in the second is a close row of archers who raised their bows. Images of women are rare: they are usually static and lifeless. Large paintings were replaced by small ones. But the scale of the compositions and the number of characters are striking: sometimes there are hundreds of images of humans and animals. Human figures are very conditional, they are rather symbols that serve only to depict mass scenes. The artist freed the figures from everything, from his point of view, of secondary importance, which would interfere with the transfer and perception of complex poses, movement, the very essence of what is happening. Man for him is an embodied action.

The melting of glaciers in the Neolithic or New Stone Age (5000-3000 BC) set in motion peoples who began to populate new spaces. Intensified intertribal struggle for the possession of the most favorable hunting grounds, for the seizure of new lands. In the Neolithic era, man was threatened by the worst of dangers - another man! New settlements arose on the islands in the bends of the rivers, on small hills, i.e. in places protected from sudden attack.

Rock art in the Neolithic era becomes more and more schematic and conditional: images only slightly resemble a person or animal. This phenomenon is typical for different regions of the globe. These are, for example, rock paintings of deer, bears, whales, seals found in Norway, reaching eight meters in length. In addition to schematism, they are distinguished by careless execution. Along with stylized figures, there are various geometric figures (circles, rectangles, rhombuses, spirals, etc.), images of weapons (axes, daggers) and vehicles (boats, ships). Reproduction of wildlife fades into the background.

Primitive art played an important role in the history and culture of ancient mankind. Having learned how to create images (sculptural, graphic, pictorial), a person has acquired some power over time. He, as it were, laid the foundation for a new form of being - an art form - the development of which can be traced in the history of art.

If we are moving from religion to art, it is by no means because both of these areas of spiritual culture were directly connected in their origin or content. In the science of the past, however, there is a very widespread "theory" that derives the emergence of art from religious forms, in particular from magic and totemism.

The question of the origins of art in its various forms, as well as the essence of its first manifestations, is not without complexity. However, the "theory" mentioned earlier should be resolutely discarded. Suffice it to recall that, as we know from archaeological research, both religion and art, in particular the fine arts, appear at the same time in the Aurignac-Solutrean period, or at the stage. Rejecting art from religion means assuming the pre-existence of the latter, therefore, reckoning religion among the earliest stages of human existence, and in such a well-developed form that it is capable of causing a new complex manifestation of itself at the next stage. It is not necessary to voice that religion is capable of influencing art, but this is only because, in general, all forms of ideology are in close contact and influence each other, and religion to a greater extent, having extreme activity, seeks expression for itself and exerts influence as on other forms. ideology, penetrating into language, thinking, science, etc., and into social relations.

Drawing on the stone. Aurignacian culture.

Another theory, and it is worth mentioning, derives art from a sense of beauty and aestheticism, as it were, organically inherent in man. In fact, in a person, a sense of aesthetics develops throughout his spiritual development, on the basis of the perception of perfection, harmony and beauty inherent in nature only at the moment when a person begins to reproduce such natural qualities in the works of his own labor and in all kinds of forms of personal expression. feelings and one's own thoughts, that is, in various forms of art that has already arisen. Therefore, aestheticism cannot be a source of art, and art, like nature, develops an aesthetic sense in a person independently.

In general, it is by no means necessary to deduce art from any other ideological phenomenon, to make it a superstructure on a superstructure. Art has a common source with all ideological phenomena.

Such a common source of primitive art in all its manifestations is labor and all the labor activity of a person of antiquity. With the development of man and the human community, with the complication of ideology, this initial source of art naturally becomes more and more mediated by newly emerging activities and human relations. In essence and content, primitive art in all its various forms is nothing but a form of expression that comes into contact with the activity of human labor, his feelings, perceptions, moods and thoughts. This art is by no means an end in itself, art for art's sake, but arises in society from a person's need for communication, the desire to convey their thoughts and feelings.

The original content of art, its plots and motives, in turn, are entirely determined by the work of a person in a team. With social development and its relations, they join here in all their diversity and in all the complexity of perceptions, feelings, thoughts, etc., associated with personal experiences and social relations of a person.

For obvious reasons, archeological monuments directly preserved imprints of exclusively fine arts from different types of art.

Monuments of the early Paleolithic (Chelle, Ashel, Mouster) do not reveal any signs of the presence of fine art. But at the same time, along with the rise in the development of primitive society, which is represented by the Aurignac-Solutrean stage, here all types of fine art appear at once. We have here a drawing that contains a contour image of a very primitive level, by carving or carving on a stone, horn or bone. The same primitiveness in painting, limited similarly to a contour rock image, in black or red paint, applied, in all likelihood, with a finger. Some kind of animal - a horse, a deer, a rhinoceros, a lion - mainly acts as a plot. Usually only the head is given, rarely the whole figure. Strictly realistic style, which in particular applies to the drawing.

Drawing on the cave wall. Aurignac-Solutrean culture.

Conditional images of the Aurignac-Solutrean era represent a series of dots or lines. The sculpture of a round shape is mostly represented by female figurines carved from soft rock, limestone, marl, less often from mammoth bone. Rarely come across male figurines and single figurines of animals. Female figurines are made in the manner of realism, however, sometimes the torso is elongated and sexual characteristics are significantly emphasized. The face is missing, and the hands are conditional. Occasionally the figurine is given in a sitting pose. Usually the height of these sculptures is five to ten centimeters, sometimes more than fifteen. A fine example of such figurines, found in Willendorf, Austria, was nicknamed the "Venus of Willendorf". Large relief images of a woman on the rocks have a similar character.

"Willendorf Venus"

Following these first, however, already quite confident steps, the Madeleine culture presents a picture of a beautiful flowering in the visual arts. True, sculpture is much less common here, and female figures almost completely disappear; only images of the head of an animal come across. But the drawing reaches a truly remarkable perfection for its time. Of course, there are also less successful things. And here, in most cases, large animals become the plot - the main object of hunting of that time: a bison, a horse, a deer, occasionally - a mammoth, a rhinoceros, predators, even less often. And here the images of animals are single, the compositions are very few, sometimes a group of animals is given by repeating one detail, for example, a herd of deer is depicted as a series of branching horns. There are images of fish, salmon, pike, carp, chub, etc., occasionally - birds. Images of a person are quite rare, and these drawings are always less realistic and less successful. Images of plants are equally rare. A special place in the Madeleine drawing is behind images representing half-humans, half-animals.

Significantly higher in comparison with the Aurignac-Solutrean art is the painting of Madeleine. This is usually a contour carved right on the rock, painted with paints, white, red, yellow and black, with red present in a larger volume. These paints, as studies have shown, are mineral, mixed with fat or bone marrow. At the Madeleine sites, paints, obviously prepared for future use, are often found in crushed and mixed form, even a bone bottle was found in which red ocher powder was preserved. The subject of Madeleine painting is almost exclusively large herbivores, especially bison and deer, rarely predators. The dimensions of the images are usually very large, reaching up to 2.5 m. Judging by the fact that the Madeleine images are located mainly in deep caves, one must think that the work was carried out under artificial lighting with those fat lamps that are found at the sites of this culture. There are caves, which are entire collections of Paleolithic paintings. Madeleine's painting and drawing stand out for their great realism, they often reveal a remarkable knowledge of nature. Remaining for the most part contour and only occasionally covered with hatching, the Madeleine drawing is perfectly expressive. In contrast to the immobility of the Aurignac-Solutrean images, the nature in the Madeleine drawing is filled with movement, various poses are perfectly conveyed, especially successfully - the turn of the head.

Relief on a stone slab. Aurignacian culture.

The Madeleine drawing is not devoid of perspective. Painting conveys volume well, while plasticity is achieved by the distribution of light and dark tones; sometimes a colorful background is given. In place of the incomplete depiction of nature in the previous shift at the Madeleine, both drawing and painting give the animal more often a full figure. Finally, the conditional drawing stands much higher in the Madeleine. We meet here either a stylized image of an animal, or a free ornamental motif applied to some tool. On a number of samples of the drawing of this pore, a transition from an image with signs of realism to a stylization with an ornament can be traced.

Drawing on the stone. Madeleine.

One should not, of course, exaggerate the artistic merits of Paleolithic art. Its cultural and historical significance lies, in any case, in the fact that we have before us the first examples of human creativity in the pictorial direction.

Works of Aurignac-Solutrean and Madeleine fine art can be found wherever we find monuments of these cultures. Outstanding monuments of Paleolithic painting are caves: Font-de-Gaume in France and Altamira in Spain. Fine examples of sculpture were given by monuments found on the territory of Russia: Gagarino, Kostenki, Malta, etc.

A special place in the plot and manner behind the drawing, the so-called Capsian culture (from the name of the oasis and the city of Gafsa - Roman Capsa - in Tunisia). This culture, which has correspondences with European cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Early Neolithic, is common in southeastern Spain, partly in Italy, in North Africa, Asia Minor, and partly in the Caucasus. The images here are mainly silhouetted - from black and red colors - drawing on the rocks, but not in caves, but in open places. The size is usually small.

Drawings on the walls of the cave. Madeleine.

The biggest achievement of Capsian art is the transition to composition, sometimes quite complex, in addition to images of single figures. These are everyday paintings, hunting scenes, episodes of wars. Capsian drawing is extremely expressive, the image is basically realistic, but the desire to convey movement leads to extreme conventionality.

Bison with arrows. Drawing on the rock. Madeleine.

On the other hand, the fine arts of the early Neolithic in Europe are very poor. It must be admitted that after the wonderful, truly brilliant rise of the fine arts in the late Paleolithic, there is a clear decline. As a result, almost the only examples of Azil's art are painted pebbles, on which conditional drawings or signs are applied with red ocher, which cannot be interpreted in an acceptable way.

The fine arts of the next stages of the Neolithic are developing in a new direction. There are wonderful examples of round sculpture made of wood, bone and stone. Some petroglyphs (rock carvings) give images of animals and people, realistic or conditional. In general, Neolithic art follows the decorative line, giving here, on the other hand, an abundance of various forms. In this era, the desire to decorate all the things surrounding a person that serve him, up to the most ordinary and unpretentious items used every day, in particular clay dishes, is widely manifested in this era. Such an ornament forms an ornament (Latin ornamentum - “decoration”), from its simplest forms - pitted, comb or primitive geometric, to very complex and highly artistic, with various motifs and plots, various coloring. Clothing, utensils, and weapons are also covered with various, sometimes very rich ornaments. Sculpture and relief have a decorative character in the Neolithic era. Menhirs, taking the form of human images, give the beginnings of a statue. A special form of menhirs are "stone statues" - massive, usually up to 2 m high and more, statues with a primitively sculpted face and an even more primitively outlined torso. These statues were widely distributed on the territory of the former USSR, on a large area of ​​its European and Asian parts, especially in the southern part of Europe.

If we turn now to ethnographic material, then here we will meet for the most part with a decorative direction, which gives quite a lot of different forms and often reaches a significant artistic height. As for drawing and painting, although not a few peoples show remarkable abilities in this direction, with one exception, we still find nothing equal or even similar to the art of Madeleine and Capsa. The exception to this is the wonderful outline drawings and paintings of the Bushmen. We see here rock and cave paintings, the plot of which is animals, birds, people, both alone and in groups. Nature is given in profile, mostly in motion. Compositions are not uncommon - hunting scenes, religious ceremonies, military episodes. Both in the Madeleine and here there are human images with the head of an animal.

Hunting scenes. Drawings on the rock. Capsian culture. Eastern Spain.

Bushman painting differs from Madeleine in that in it the outline is often arbitrarily painted on the surface, in two or three colors, red, black, yellow or white. Bushmen used brushes and a stone palette for coloring. Images are distinguished by remarkable realism, accuracy, excellent proportions, and expression. Of course, here, too, not all things are the same on an artistic level.

Sculpture, round and in relief, is widespread among the mass of tribes and nationalities. For the most part, it has close ties with religion and cult, mostly rather primitive. But even here we meet with works - both realistic and purely stylized or fantastic - for all their originality, for all their "exoticism", distinctive in taste and artistic perfection. Such is especially the round wooden sculpture of the Negroes of West Africa and the Melanesians, and the decorative relief of the Polynesians and Indians of the northwest of North America, the Hydes, the Tlingit, and others.

Masks become a special area of ​​manifestation of fine art. The origin of the masks, apparently, belongs to a very archaic past: they are already known to very backward tribes. At the same time, the mask has different origins: both disguise as an animal as a method of hunting and one of the forms of totemic procedures, and a way to intimidate the enemy. The masks of many tribes and nationalities are often wonderful works of sculpture and painting, and with the grotesqueness present, they are without exaggeration outstanding examples of fine art.

Archaeological and ethnographic material, covering the early manifestations of fine art, leaves many gaps, raising a number of serious questions. It must be said frankly that both the incompleteness of the material and the lack of knowledge of such questions force many of them to be left open. We will only once again return to the question of the connection between primitive art and religion. We already know that religion is also penetrating the realm of art. Therefore, there is nothing unexpected in the fact that some primitive works of art bear the stamp of religion, and sometimes are completely conditioned by it. Religious influence manifests itself especially in the later stages in the developing primitive art, and more precisely in sculpture and ornament. It is impossible, however, to find this conditioning of art by religion everywhere. By the way, in Paleolithic painting there are, very rarely, images of an animal with arrows stuck in it. These images are a favorite and stereotyped argument of the religious theory of art. They say that we have a magical device here: by means of such an image, the artist had in mind the provision of his own successful hunting. But it is hardly possible to dispute another interpretation of this drawing, namely, as a rather realistic image of an animal with arrows that fell into it. Another proof is just as often given. Images of half-animals, half-humans, found in Paleolithic monuments and in the painting of the Bushmen, are interpreted as images of sorcerers. But even here one can see quite realistic images of a special hunting technique disguised as an animal, a technique widely practiced by many tribes, including the same Bushmen.