Style evolution of Sting’s creativity

The purpose of this article is to outline the evolutionary vector of the style evolution of G. M. T. Sumner’s (Sting) creativity. The methodology. The study is based on the comprehensive use of systematic, historical and cultural approaches, as well as methods of periodization and genre-style analysis. The results. The article analyzes the work of one of the recognized masters of world popular music — English musician G. M. T. Sumner, better known by the stage name Sting. The topicality of the chosen topic is due to the artistic and socio-cultural significance and genre and stylistic diversity of Sting’s creative work, which in the research space of modern musicology still remain poorly understood. The article considers the preconditions for the formation of Sting’s authorial style, reveals the key stylistic trends that shaped his individual authorial style, and highlights the personal and professional-artistic criteria of his creative activity. Embodying in one person the guise of a composer, poet, singer, guitarist and actor, G. M. T. Sumner (Sting) is a shining example of a modern universal artist. He illustrates by his own example typical genre-style metamorphoses of mass music of the late XX — early XXI century, revealing new paradigms of modern world music art. The stylistic evolution of Sting’s creativity is substantiated in accordance with the proposed concept of periodization of his creative activity. The main periods of the artist’s creative activity are outlined: 1) early (1977–1990); 2) mature (1991–2012) and 3) late (since 2013). The stylistic priorities inherent in each of these periods are described. The uniqueness and originality of Sting’s authorial artistic style lies in the peculiarity of his artistic thinking, which to some extent is based on the concept of stylistic pluralism. The stylistic evolution of Sting’s works represents his appeal to various stylistic models of modern mass music (rock, jazz, pop, reggae). At the same time, the artist’s stylistic search goes far beyond popular music, extending to the spheres of academic and ethnic musical traditions. The scientific novelty of this article is that this study for the first time reveals the stylistic evolution of Sting’s works, its periodization and identifies the main stages, identifies the leading genre and style features of the artist’s works and the characteristics of his artistic thinking. The practical significance of the article lies in the possibility of using its materials and conclusions in further research on this issue, in performing and pedagogical practice (in the courses “Music of the XX century”, “History and theory of modern music”, “History of rock music”, etc.).

The graphic heritage by Ferdinand Hodler in Swiss collections

Данная статья посвящена изучению графического наследия Фердинанда Ходлера. Эта часть творчества швейцарского художника малознакома отечественным исследователям и практически не изучалась. Впервые в отечественной искусствоведческой науке автор предпринимает попытку заполнить эту лакуну в изучении наследия знаменитого европейского мастера. Целью данной работы является намерение высветить и кратко охарактеризовать основные собрания, систематизировать рисунки и наброски по тематическому и функциональному признаку и проанализировать их с точки зрения стилистической эволюции, художественной направленности и техники исполнения. В швейцарских музейных и частных собраниях в Цюрихе, Берне, Женеве, Базеле, Веве и других местах сохранено несколько тысяч рисунков и набросков Ходлера. Они высвечивают эволюцию художественного языка мастера от натурного наблюдения и научного изучения формы к созданию идеализированных образов, образов-символов, актуальных для вызовов искусства рубежа XIX–XX веков. Как показывают швейцарские собрания, рисунки художника преимущественно являлись композиционной и исследовательской частью работы над символистскими холстами, монументальными работами, портретами и пейзажами. С точки зрения типологии им применялись быстрые наброски и штудии, многочисленные композиционные и комбинаторские варианты одной темы, которые складывались в серии и циклы. Главным выразительным элементом графики Ходлера являлась экспрессивная и мощная линия. Новизна его художественного мышления состояла в применении теории параллелизма. Художник организовывал формы в своеобразные субъективные орнаментальные коды. В рисунках Ходлер проявил себя одновременно как классик в смысле отношения к форме и как модернист в плане художественно-аналитического подхода к работе над композицией. Швейцарские собрания графического наследия позволяют осмыслить творческий метод художника, так же как и эволюцию его творчества в целом. Философский, композиционный и технический опыт Фердинанда Ходлера, сконцентрированный в его графическом наследии, по-прежнему актуален для теоретиков и практиков изобразительного искусства. This article explores the graphic heritage of Ferdinand Hodler. This part of the work of the Swiss artist is insufficiently known to the domestic researchers and has practically not been studied. For the first time in the domestic art science, the author tries to fill this gap in the studies of the heritage of the famous European master. The purpose of this work is to highlight and briefly describe the main collections, systematize drawings and sketches according to thematic and functional characteristics and analyze them from the point of view of the stylistic evolution, the artistic direction and the execution technique. Several thousands of Hodler's drawings and sketches have been preserved in Swiss museums and private collections in Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Basel, Vevey and other places. They highlight the evolution of the artistic language of the master from natural observation and the scientific study of form to the creation of idealized images, images-symbols that are relevant to the challenges of art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. As shown in the Swiss collections, the drawings of the artist were mainly an integral compositional and exploratory part of the work on the Symbolist canvases, monumental works, portraits, and landscapes. From the point of view of typology, he used the quick sketches and studies, numerous compositional and combinatorial versions of the same theme, which took shape in series and cycles. The main expressive element of Hodler's graphics is the expressive and powerful line. The novelty of his artistic thinking was in application of the theory of parallelism. The artist organized forms into peculiar subjective ornamental codes. In his drawings, Hodler showed himself both as a classic in terms of his attitude to the form and as a modernist in terms of his artistic and analytical approach to work on composition. The Swiss collections of Hodler's graphic heritage allow us to comprehend the artistic method of the artist, as well as the evolution of his work in general. The philosophical, compositional, technical experience of Ferdinand Hodler, concentrated in his graphic heritage, is still relevant for theorists and practitioners of the visual arts.

yachting rule of art

Art and architecture have been unbreakably linked together for centuries, and the question that spontaneously arises is why it cannot be the same for art and yacht design. The field in which the research is carried out is placed at the crossroads between art and architecture, of which yacht design can be considered a category. There is a lack of references to the artistic field in the yachting sector in literature, so the parallelism between architecture and “floating” architecture is performed: the ships are the emblem of closure, and the stylistic evolution has begun bearing fruit in recent years. The paper aims to outline the current state of the art of the relationship between art and yachting. The first part analyses the relationship between art and architecture, while the second part discusses art concerning naval design: here, the case studies analysis highlights how art onboard is still considered an accessory rather than a backbone of the project.

Imaging the Buddha in South Asia

The image of the Buddha appeared in the north of the South Asian subcontinent around the 1st century ce, following a period when no actual representation had been produced. Detailed considerations on how to represent this human being who had reached the highest spiritual plane are clearly illustrated in the highly elaborate portrayal in the literary sources and led to the visual formulation of an image based on strict iconographic rules, texts and art being both sides of the same issue. The texts include lengthy lists of either thirty-two or eighty marks that characterize the body of the Buddha, some being actually seen in the visual depiction, such as the tuft of hair between the eyebrows, the protuberance on the head, and the webbed hands, all of which contribute to the manifestation of a metamorphosed body that can become a powerful source of magic. This image does not stand on its own but is 1ed in a set of motifs—the throne, the nimbus, the aura, the lotusseat—that bring out the supramundane nature of the Buddha; further additions were to be the crown and the necklace, transforming the simple monk into a king. The various gestures that the Buddha displays reflect different aspects of his personality, as protector, as paradigm of generosity, as the ultimate teacher. Elements such as the monachal robe or hair style showed up in various forms in the early phase; however, the stylistic evolution progressively led to a uniformized figure that appeared in the 4th–5th century and became standardized in South Asia before finding its way to faraway regions. This figure was also used to represent the Buddhas of the past or the Tathāgathas and became the visual element unifying all Buddhist schools.

Tomb Sculpture

Among the many genres of medieval sculpture that are still extant, tombs have long received particularly close attention because of their direct association with the bodies of specific historical individuals, which are very often (though not exclusively) those of the most prestigious members of medieval society. The most ubiquitous format in much of Europe was the effigy, which usually appeared as a recumbent figure set on a slab that also sometimes functioned as the lid of a tomb chest. The first known examples of the effigy date to the years around 1100 and seem to emerge in Germany; the format was quickly adopted in France, England, and elsewhere before becoming a dominant fixture of Gothic churches across Europe in the 13th through 15th centuries. Elaborate tombs with decorative programs were comparatively scarce in the earlier Middle Ages, with the important exception of the richly carved sarcophagi found in the Roman Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries, which appropriated a popular late antique format and replaced its Bacchic image cycles with new Christian iconographies. This tradition seems to have faded with the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West and the rise of new kingdoms across Europe, many of which produced little monumental sculpture (or at least, little that survives) before the 12th century. Thus, the emphasis placed in this article on the effigy and the period 1100–1500 reflects not only scholarly interest but also the patterns of production that can be observed elsewhere in the chronology of medieval European architecture and sculpture. While much of the formative scholarship on medieval tomb sculpture had been primarily driven either by biographical interests in the individuals they commemorated or by a teleological interest in tracing the stylistic evolution of forms from late medieval reliefs to free-standing Renaissance statues, more recent studies have turned to the political, theological, and social meanings of these powerful monuments. This discourse has largely centered on two entwined themes: first, the use of tomb sculpture to promote and ensure salvation for the dead, and, second, its role in shaping the ideals and ambitions of the living. Though these broad trends are shared across the field, the idiosyncratic nature of the material and the apparently bespoke nature of most monuments has led to a field defined by case studies, with relatively few attempts to synthesize pictures of the greater whole that move beyond highly localized geographic limits.

"The House of Goldsmith Michael Lutsch. New Data on the History of a Pre-Modern Town House in Cluj"

"This study is dedicated to a building in downtown Cluj, located on the south side of today’s Memorandumului Street. Although the edifice features many aspects of the stylistic evolution of the architecture of Cluj (it was built in Gothic style, with considerable changes that pertained to the Renaissance and then the Baroque styles), the history of the edifice is almost unknown in the literature of local history. Our study aims to provide a detailed description of the building, to outline the various stages of its construction, and to identify the people who animated its spaces and contributed to the history of the building."

Jewelers who were commissioned by the tsar in Russia during the time of Peter the Great: biography, work organization, and stylistics

The goal of this research consists in comprehensive examination of all groups of gold, silver and diamond jewelers who were commissioned by the tsar in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in the late XVII – early XVIII centuries (their biographies, work organization, and artworks), as well as in analysis of stylistic evolution in the artistic image of items made of precious metals of that period. The research is based on the combination of art and historical-cultural approaches. The object this work the jewelry art of the time of Peter the Great. For achieving the set goal, the author refers to the unpublished archival documents and monument of decorative and applied art from the collections of Russian museums. Summary and analysis are conducted on the published material dedicated to the work of jewelers of that time; new records on the jewelers are introduced into the scientific discourse. The research demonstrates that that in the early XVIII century, tsar’s order was carried out by several teams of jewelers from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, who were simultaneously public servants and “free” artisans. The analysis of archival documents allowed specifying the nationality of foreign specialists, as well as the time of their arrival to Russia. The author suggests correlation between attitude of the monarch-commissioner towards court culture and the stylistics of works of decorative and applied art.

Sorrowful processions Peter the Great: principles of decoration and their evolution in the imperial funeral ceremonies of the XVIII century

This research reveals the basic principles of the mourning decorations created for the burial of Peter the Great, and traces their fate in the Russian imperial sorrowful processions throughout the XVIII century. Decorative arrangement of state ceremonies is viewed in the context of the panegyric culture of that time. Ceremonial decoration was of temporary (occasional) nature and have been scarcely preserved; other than certain artifacts. The research is based on examination of a wide variety of written and graphic sources that allow reconstructing the image of funeral processions of that time. It is demonstrated that that in preparation for the funerals of Peter the Great, were developed certain patterns of mourning decoration preserved throughout the entire XVIII century. The principles of decorative arrangement of Russian imperial sorrowful processions were based on the European examples, and in many ways by inviting the foreign inventors and masters. The system of creation of mourning ensembles (as well as festive) obeyed the general laws inherent to the court ceremonial culture of Modern Age. The artistic solution of memorial halls and hearses corresponded to the stylistic evolution of art. The author introduces new materials and previously unknown facts into the scientific discourse, as well as clarifies the questions of terminology.

Small crowns of Russian empresses in the XVIII – early XIX centuries: creation, presence, artistic attributes

The object of this research is the small crowns of Russian empresses of the XVIII – early XIX century. The goal of this work consists in specification of circumstances of the creation and presence of small imperial crowns in Russia of that time, description of their artistic attributes, and analysis of these regalia as the works of jewelry art, considering stylistic evolution. For achieving the designated goal, the author applied comprehensive method of research based on the combination of art criticism and historical-cultural approach, referring to a range of sources: from unpublished archival documents and memoirs of contemporaries to visual material. The article clarifies the term “small” crown. Based on the archival documents, the author introduces into the scientific discourse the records on a number previously unknown small crowns, as well as specifies the circumstances of their creation along with names of the craftsmen. The artistic image of small Imperial crowns was analyzed for the first time. The conducted research demonstrates that in the XVIII century this image transformed under the influence of stylistic preferences in Russian artistic culture and due to the change of court jewelers who belonged to different schools of jewelry art. In the XIX century, influenced by the national ideas and according to the already established state ceremonial, which tends to traditionalism, the exterior of small crowns was fully oriented towards the small crown of 1797.