scholarly journals Iconology and Methods of Studying Artistic Processes of the Modernism Era. Commentary on Mikhail Sokolov’s Article «Iconology and the Study of Soviet Art. On the Problem of Hidden Symbolism»

Author(s):  
Tatiana Malinina

The proposed article develops the summarized report presented by the author at the conference of the Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Arts “Image and Plot in Visual Arts. Poetics from Antiquity to Modern Times” (X.2018) dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Nikolaevich Sokolov who was a consistent and talented successor of the interpretation strategies of Erwin Panofsky’s iconological method. The author refers to a little-known article by a remarkable scientist published in one of the reprint collections of the Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Arts (1991). Sokolov’s reflections on the problems of methodology, the use of iconological analysis connected to the study of the art of modern and contemporary times, in particular, the art of social modernism, bring into focus the content of his article. Special tools are needed to answer the question on what the spiritual world of a man of the twentieth century was, how the tragic events of the century were reflected in it. The tools the researcher used relatively recently to study the artist’s relations with society, the social order, the political system, the dictate of power and its order cannot contribute to solving new issues arising today. Therefore, the need to find (to develop) a method of extracting the desired knowledge in the spiritual life of the artist of the modernist era is the prerogative. The published article is a reflection and a kind of commentary on the methodological strategies proposed by Sokolov. The correlation of his own experience of many years of work on the study of the artistic creativity of the modernist era serves as an additional argument in favour of the applicability and effectiveness of the iconological method. There is a three-part article structure. The first part deals with the aspects of Sokolov’s article. The second and third parts of the article are devoted to the iconological analysis of the works of two painters (St. Petersburg-Leningrad): the landscapes by Nikolai Protopopov (1876-1960) and the still lifes of his wife Elizabeth Uvodskaya (1875-1943). The iconological analysis of N. Protopopov’s works shows the presence of semantic subtexts, symbolic content, indicating a clear difference between the artist’s values and the stilted rhetoric of the semiofficial narrative in relation to the events. The creative work of his wife, artist Elizabeth Vladimirovna Uvodskaya, appears to be completely unresearched due to particular life circumstances: the works were lost in the flow of events of the First World War and the revolution, absorbed by the spontaneous market of the the New Economic Policy (NEP) period and lost in the post-war years. The documents, letters, diaries were used for the kindling the stove in besieged Leningrad. Elizaveta Vladimirovna died during the blockade in 1943. The artist’s analyzed still lifes are being published for the first time. The iconological method of understanding the cultural meanings and deciphering symbols helps to reveal the affirmation of another reality in the structure of the works of both artists, in their style, semantics and symbolism.

Author(s):  
Tatiana Malinina

The article, brought to the attention of readers, develops the outlined sections of the author’s report “The Theme of Death and Immortality in the Fine Arts of the Modern and Contemporary Times” presented at the conference of the Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Arts (November 21-22, 2019). The initiators of the conference explained their choice of one of the global and eternal themes of world art related to the very essence of the existence of humankind and each person by the fact that if ethnologists and culturologists have systematically studied certain aspects of thanatology, the existing extensive art material has yet to be brought together. Of the priority areas proposed by the conference program compilers, the author of this article chooses to say: “There is no death!”: the theme of immortality, resurrection, eternal and repetitive life in art”. The theme of memory, which occupied an important place in the art of the Great Patriotic War, is the subject of research of the published article. It is most fully expressed in such a field of creative and scientific thought of the war years as memorial architecture. Widely held contests for the projects of monuments became a noticeable phenomenon of the artistic life of those years, and the graphic works were included in the valuable fund of Russian cultural heritage. Observing the birth of a new monument, the author of the article notes that memory and remembrance concepts underwent significant changes during the war years. The attitude to memory became an essential measurement of the very concept of memoriality, its worldview, semantic and symbolic content. Identifying the ways of interaction of the perceiving, experiencing, and interpreting consciousness, during which the mythologeme of "return" begins to be realized, a kind of regeneration of damaged cultural tissues takes place, is the purpose of this small study. The review of the archetypal concepts of “Life, Death, Immortality”, these main subjects in the works of literature, fine art, and wartime architecture, allows us to see what significant qualitative changes occurred in the spiritual world of an individual and led to profound changes in the artistic and cultural process in general.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Lok Hang Hui

PurposeThis paper explores the sensory experiences and cultural meanings of light in Japan in relation to Japanese changing lighting practices. It demonstrates that these sensory experiences and cultural meanings form an integral part of social life in Japan.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a blended approach that combines historical research and ethnographic data in the research on the meanings of light. The findings are presented in three parts. Two of them describe the social history of light, and the third draws on ethnographic data collected in suburban Japan.FindingsThe findings suggest that light in Japan has maintained a close symbolic connection with certain positive values despite the changing lighting practices. For example, light is related to cleanliness in early historical records on candle-making. In post-war Japan, new light metaphors such as “bright family” were invented to accommodate new aspirations for modernity and progress. In the latest development, the moral dimension of light is emphasised. This is evident in the concerns on being seen as a “bright person”, a person with a cheerful personality. Light in this way is related to the sensory experience of feeling a “social weight”, the pressure for one to act according to social norms.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to our anthropological understandings of light. It also provides a local case study of Japan, supported by original ethnographic research conducted by the author.


2020 ◽  
pp. 095269512092426
Author(s):  
Katie Joice

This article examines the use of cinematic microanalysis to capture, decompose, and interpret mother–infant interaction in the decades following the Second World War. Focusing on the films and writings of Margaret Mead, Ray Birdwhistell, René Spitz, and Sylvia Brody, it examines the intellectual culture, and visual methodologies, that transformed ‘pathogenic’ mothering into an observable process. In turn, it argues that the significance assigned to the ‘small behaviours’ of mothers provided an epistemological foundation for the nascent discipline of infant psychiatry. This research draws attention to two new areas of enquiry within the history of emotions and the history of psychiatry in the post-war period: preoccupation with emotional absence and affectlessness, and their personal and cultural meanings; and the empirical search for the origin point, and early chronology, of mental illness.


1965 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Lyman

The purpose of this paper is to set forth, somewhat arbitrarily, a composite view of the British Labour Party's history between the Wars, to be labelled the orthodox Labour interpretation, and then to set against it a contrasting view which has been expressed by several left-wing writers within the Labour Party. This examination of conflicting opinions can scarcely be dignified with the title historiographical inquiry. In the first place, there are other more or less coherent interpretations of Labour Party history in this period besides the two sketched herein, most notably a Communist view, expressed in such works as Allen Hutt's The Post-War History of the British Working Class. Secondly, as Stephen Graubard has recently said in relation to the Fabian Society, much of the Labour Party history in this period is in fact autobiography. Finally, as will soon become distressingly apparent, the interpretations that most writers have given of Labour between the Wars have been influenced by, connected with, even in some cases identical to the same authors' views on Labour today. History used to be called “past politics”; in this case it cannot entirely escape becoming “present politics.”According to the orthodox view, the Labour Party was emerging from its infancy in the 1920s, having established its claim to be considered a major contestant for power as recently as 1918. As Francis Williams puts it:With the acceptance of the new constitution and the endorsement of the international policy contained in the Memorandum on War Aims and the domestic programme contained in Labour and the New Social Order, the Labour Party finally established itself. The formative years were ended. Now at last it was an adult party certain of its own purpose; aware also at last of what it must do to impress that purpose upon the nation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-13
Author(s):  
N.I. Troitskiy ◽  

The history of the creation and development of the head institute of the Ministry of Defense In-dustry of the USSR for engines - the Research Institute of Engines (nowadays JSC “NIID”) is con-sidered. Institute participated in the development and improvement of almost all post-war engines for armored vehicles: the 5TD (6TD), V2, 2V, UTD, GTD-1000T families and its modifications. Research and development of the institute ensured the provision of comprehensive technical assis-tance to the factories of the industry and the creation of an advanced scientific and technical re-serve.


2021 ◽  
pp. 386-405
Author(s):  
A.S. Aynutdinov ◽  

The topic of interaction between artists and the armed forces of the USSR before the Great Patriotic War and after it is a subject of study for historians, cultural scientists, philologists, theater critics, film critics, art historians. Nevertheless, the visual art of Sverdlovsk in the aspect of analysis and description of cultural and patronage relations of artists with the Red Army has never been the object of special study. The proposed article is, in fact, one of the first, if not the only scientific work to date, based on the introduction to the practice of domestic art studies, the history of Soviet art, information and data on the emergence and development of contacts between artists of Sverdlovsk and military personnel in the framework of patronage of the creative intelligentsia of the Red Army in 1946–1952. The period of the 1920–1930s is considered also on the basis of archival documents, making outlines of the more accurate data on patronage ties between RABIS, the Organizing Committee of the Union of Artists Sverdlovsk branch and the Soviet military personnel in the Ural military district.


Author(s):  
O.P. Malkova

The article examines the features of artistic perception and representation of the geographical and cultural space of Stalingrad-Volgograd in evolutionary development in 1940–2020; interaction between architectural and artistic texts of the city, the specifics of the Volgograd Union of Artists; the issues of changes in the artistic life of the city that took place in the post-Soviet period. The architecture, history and daily life of post-war Stalingrad are now of great scientific interest. In this article, for the first time, the artistic reflection of the life of the city of this and subsequent periods becomes the subject of independent research. The active work of Stalingrad and Volgograd artists was reflected in numerous publications: newspaper and magazine articles, exhibition catalogues, and monographic publications. A number of publications are devoted to the history of the Volgograd Union of artists. At the same time, relations between artistic creativity and location were not specifically considered. Until now, the issues of transformations of artistic life and art in Volgograd have also remained without proper attention. The work has been done mainly on the basis of the collection of the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts named after I.I. Mashkov with a review of works from artist's studios. This group of works attracts interest not only from an art criticism point of view, but also from a cultural, sociological, and historical point of view. City views in painting and graphics are considered in chronological order and in accordance with the thematic principle. The methods of comparative analysis have been applied when comparing works of the Soviet period with modern ones. Materials of the imaginative and stylistic of paintings and graphics are compared with the memories of old residents of the city and interviews with contemporary artists. Works of painting and graphics by Stalingrad and Volgograd artists of the second half of the XX – early XXI centuries are introduced into the scientific circulation. The author focuses on native Stalingrad painters and graphic artists who took an active part in the formation of the local branch of the Union of Artists: N. Chernikov, A. Chervonenko, F. Sukhanov, A. Legenchenko, G. Pechennikov and A. Pechennikov, N. Pirogov, B. Osikov, P. Grechkin, V. Strigin, etc. Their works are compared with the works of contemporary artists: N. Zotov, Yu. Sorokin, etc. В статье рассматриваются в эволюционном развитии особенности художественного восприятия и репрезентации географического и культурного пространства Сталинграда-Волгограда в 1940–2020 годы. Затрагиваются вопросы взаимодействия архитектурного и художественного текстов города, специфики Волгоградского союза художников, перемен художественной жизни города, которые произошли в постсоветский период. Архитектура, история и повседневность послевоенного Сталинграда сейчас вызывают большой научный интерес. В настоящей статье впервые становится предметом самостоятельного исследования художественное отражение жизни города этого и последующих периодов. Деятельность сталинградских и волгоградских художников нашла отражение в многочисленных публикациях: газетных и журнальных статьях, каталогах выставок, монографических изданиях. Ряд публикаций посвящен истории Волгоградского союза художников. При этом вопросы связей художественного творчества и территории специально не рассматривались. До сих пор оставались без внимания и вопросы трансформаций художественной жизни и искусства Волгограда. Работа проделана в основном на материале собрания Волгоградского музея изобразительных искусств им. И.И. Машкова с привлечением произведений из мастерских художников. Данный пласт работ представляет интерес не только с искусствоведческой, но и культурологической, социологической, исторической точек зрения. В научный оборот вводятся произведения живописи и графики сталинградских и волгоградских художников второй половины XX – начала XXI веков. Живописные и графические пейзажи, запечатлевшие город, рассмотрены в хронологической последовательности и в соответствии с тематическим принципом. Методы сравнительного анализа были применены при сопоставлении произведений советского периода и работ о городе, созданных сегодня. Материалы образно-стилистического анализа произведений живописи и графики сопоставлены с воспоминаниями старожилов города и интервью с современными художниками.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
V. N VOSTRIKOV

This article discusses issues related to architecture and semantics as its Crandalls part. One of the most important aspects of the work of architectural Art Nouveau decor, who was the conductor of cultural meanings and, more than any other art form. Samara modern architectural decoration not only analyzes the phenomenon of architecture and fine arts, but also as a specific cultural text - in all its ambiguity and the associative capacity, contradictory and multidimensional cultural and historical context of the era. Russian Samara Art Nouveau architecture in this work is understood not only as a part of the history of architecture, but also as a form of art that is open to dialogue with others of its species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-130
Author(s):  
Ling-Ting Chiu

Abstract In the early twentieth century, Chinese literati painting was embroiled in arguments on the relationship between ancient and modern or east and west. Therefore, the artistic practices of Wu Changshuo, Chen Shizeng, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong and so on, were in response to this development. However, with the occurrence of World War ii and changes in the post-war situation, literati painting underwent further, new changes in different regions. This article intends to discuss the overseas Chinese painters Chen Wen Hsi and Chung Chen Sun as examples in exploring the new development of literati painting in Singapore and Malaysia in the second half of the twentieth century. Chen Wen Hsi was born in Jieyang County, Guangdong Province in 1906. He studied at Shanghai Fine Arts College and Xinhua Art College. He went to Singapore and held an exhibition in 1948. In 1950, he taught at The Chinese High School, and the following year also began teaching Chinese ink painting at Nanyang Fine Arts College. Chung Chen Sun, a native of Mei County, Guangdong Province, was born in 1935 in Malacca, Malaysia. In 1953, he entered the Department of Art Education of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, which was founded by Lim Hak Tai. Chung was inspired by predecessors such as Cheong Soo-pien, Chen Wen Hsi and Chen Chong-swee who had pursued the Nanyang style. In 1967, Chung founded the Malaysian Academy of Art. Their styles of painting not only incorporate the Eastern aesthetics and Western theory but also include diverse elements. Their paintings wrote a new page in the history of literati painting during the Cold War era.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Locrin Stewart

Using the photography collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) as a primary source, this thesis explores the use of photographic rebate as found in the work of seven major twentieth century photographic artists working between 1920 and 1980. Investigating the use of rebate as both a manifestation of technology, and as an expressive tool employed by post-war photographers, this paper looks at the physical character of rebate in silver-gelatin prints and its role in augmenting the photographic image. This research elucidates the collection at MFAH, the history of photographic printing in the 20th century and provides a guide to future researchers about how rebate can be used to glean technical data and artistic intent.


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