Articles

This study examines a collection of stone retouched sculptures from the archaeological cultures of the Sea of Japan basin from the Final Paleolithic (17 000 BP) to the Late Neolithic (2 500 BP). Special attention is paid to the problems of distinguishing this type of artifacts into the category of primitive art, related both to the specifics of the material itself and the existing stereotypes in scientific practice. The methodological principles that make it possible to work with the controversial category of art are considered in detail, including theoretical developments of practical iconics (D.A. Sevostyanov), theories of the history of things (G.Kubler) and primitive syncretism (V.R.Kabo). For the most objective assessment of the “figured stones” and the subsequent interpretation of the products, an up-to-date list of criteria has been developed within the framework of this study, and tested on the materials of the stone sculpture collection of the Sea of Japan basin. The analysis of the reviewed collection, which includes more than 64 items, allowed us to identify three groups of artifacts, according to the number of parameters corresponding to the criteria: sculptures, conventional images, and unlikely candidates.

The article examines the composition of healing idols and amulets of the Nivkhs, one of the peoples of the Amur and Sakhalin regions. The main source is the collection of the Russian Museum of Ethnography. To analyze the composition and semantics of the sculptural images, the author draws on the mythology and beliefs of the Nivkhs and uses a semiotic approach. The composition of the Nivkhs healing amulets was shown to often include the characters, acting as mediators between people and other spheres of the universe, such as the mountain taiga and the water element. These may include twins, the mother of twins, and others (in their zoomorphic forms, such as bears, toads, seals, and birds). The design of the amulets often includes connections like chain links, which represent a temporal connection between the mental and the physical, specifically between a mythological character and a human body. The original feature of the composition of the Nivkhs amulets is the dual mediation: along with the mediation between the spheres of the universe, it is also mediates between the body of the mythological character and the body of the sick person.

This article examines one of the ritual utensils from the Nivkhi «bear festival» — the «bear» ladle n’khyr. Russian ethnographers, art historians, and museologists have considered this item as just one of many ritual objects. The researchers have unanimously noted its uniqueness and distinctiveness among ritual utensils. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has examined this item comprehensively: its design features, the techniques used to apply ornamental and sculptural compositions with their profound sacred meaning, and its role as a unique example of decorative art. This article is an attempt to fill this gap. Another reason for examining this topic was the appearance of the n’khyr on the souvenir market. Since the mid-20th century, the «bear festival» has disappeared from the Nivkhi ritual practices, and the «bear» ladle has not been carved, but in the 21st century, attempts are being made to revive the production of this item. Despite the high level of skill of the carvers, the sacred meaning of the n’khyr is being lost, and ornamental compositions are being constructed arbitrarily, without regard for their symbolic significance. In this situation, there is a risk of the «bear» ladle becoming a utilitarian object. Therefore, it seems relevant to address the topic outlined in the title, providing a detailed description of the purpose of this object and the nuances of the ritual depicted on «bear» vessels. The author studied the «bear» ladles n’khyr from five museum collections across the country and analyzed their ornamental compositions. The study allowed the author to add a third type of imagery on the ladle to the two existing. It also highlights its significance as a sacred symbol of the ritual and as a unique example of decorative and applied art, which serves as a historical source for understanding religious rites practiced in the recent past.

The article focuses on the second series of porcelain sculptures “Peoples of Russia”, released by the F. Gardner factory near Moscow in the 1870s and 1890s, which relates to one of the main directions of Russian porcelain plastic. Its graphic basis was a fundamental publication prepared by T. Pauli mainly based on materials from the Russian Geographical Society (1862).

The methodological basis of the study was cultural and historical analysis, primary visual research, and the artistic and stylistic method.

The study shows that the Gardner series of porcelain sculptures “Peoples of Russia” is an outstanding phenomenon in Russian cultural history. It has not only artistic, but educational significance, since it played an important role in maintaining the traditional identity of Russia as a multi-people state. The material of this article actualizes the importance of this visual source, which occupies a worthy place in the cultural and historical memory of Russians. The author also indicates the task of searching for the social range of the existence of porcelain plastics from the series “Peoples of Russia”, produced by the former F. Gardner factory during the “Kuznetsov” period of its existence.

The article examines the role of art in shaping an image of the people, using the Bretons of France as an example. The interest of professional artists who chose Brittany in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century led to the creation of hundreds of images depicting this French region. Many creative innovations were also realized here (the school of P. Gauguin and his circle).

The methodological basis of the study was a cultural-historical analysis — the study of paintings in the context of their time and the characteristics of the cultural environment, as well as the public resonance they generated; an iconographic method for analyzing the main themes, subjects, and motifs, as well as the nature of the images chosen by the artists to reflect Breton culture.

The author concludes that the interested and sympathetic view of the masters of painting on the natural and historical uniqueness of Brittany and the distinctive culture of the Bretons greatly contributed to the formation of an attractive image of this region and its inhabitants in art during a difficult historical period for the Bretons. This also contributed to attracting public attention to Brittany and became an important stage in the development of the identity of the Bretons, the affirmation of the intrinsic value of Breton culture, and the development of new directions in the art of Brittany.

This article proposes an approach to identifying the artistic quality of traditional cultural artifacts, characteristic of ethnographic museology. Artistry is considered an additional characteristic of a folk culture object. The presence of artistry is determined by the task of conveying ethnographic information through symbolism incorporated into the design of the object, and by the desire, characteristic of the archaic world, to integrate the object into the expanded context of ritual and symbolic interactions. Ethnology’s attention to the entire spectrum of ethnic art reflects the main theme of this discipline: identifying the role of the archaic in various categories and states of culture. As a result, the primary goal of studying and processing the complex of artistic features in folk culture objects is the transformation of the artistic image into a semantic image. Deciphering the meanings of a semantic image allows for a deeper understanding of folk culture. The article concludes with examples of descriptions of artistic ethnographic artifacts, representing reconstructions of semantic images of the object environment of ethnic groups.

The significance of this research lies in the need to develop a new approach to the study of French furniture within the broader framework of the social history of art. Such an approach is particularly relevant in light of the distinctive socio-political conditions that shaped attitudes toward the material and spatial environment in France during the age of absolute monarchy. In this context, the creation of interior settings and furnishings was closely linked to the interests of the state and, above all, to those of the sovereign, whose patronage played a decisive role in artistic production.

Against this background, the present study examines the conceptual and visual dimensions of artistic practice in French furniture-making. Particular attention is given to the functional principles underlying form, ornament, and artistic design in the masterpieces of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French furniture. A key analytical framework is the role of individual agency in history, explored through the relationship between the sovereign as patron and the craftsman as creator.

Eighteenth-century French furniture exerted a profound influence on the development of furniture design across Europe, establishing stylistic models that shaped the evolution of the decorative arts well beyond the borders of France.

The article examines the formation and development of the iconographic image “Christ in Prison” (Midnight Saviour) within Western European and Russian provincial traditions of sacred sculpture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Drawing on a corpus of wooden sculptures from the collections of the Radishchev Museum and the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore, it analyses the specific modes of reception and visual interpretation of this motif in the parish churches of the Saratov Volga Region. Particular attention is paid to the transformation of the Western types “Ecce Homo” and “Homo Dolorum” as they are adapted to the Orthodox theological perspective, and to the role of provincial workshops in shaping stable yet highly variable models of the Midnight Saviour. The article investigates the sculptural language, the treatment of the body and gesture, the symbolism of nakedness and vesture, and the practice of “dressing” the statues in actual liturgical textiles, documented in F. Kitavin’s watercolours. It is argued that the Saratov material reveals a complex dialogue between East and West, traces the mechanisms by which Baroque iconography was reinterpreted within Orthodox visual culture, and illuminates specific features of popular religiosity in the Russian provinces of the modern period.

In this issue of the journal “Theory and History of Art”, within the anthropology of art section the emphasis is placed on the theory of the issue and interdisciplinary approaches to research methodology. This direction was preceded by the testing of ideas within the framework of the scientific seminar “Anthropology of Art”, which was established in 2020, as well as the XVI and XVII Congresses of Anthropologists and Ethnologists of Russia in 2023 and 2025. It was based on the interests of three institutions in this field, as the context of physical and social anthropology interested the founders of the “Anthropology of Art” direction: at the N. N. Miklouho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; at the Faculty of Arts of Lomonosov Moscow State University; at the S. G. Stroganov Russian State University of Art and Industry.

The article is devoted to the influence of the traditions of the Moscow Art Theater on the literary and critical-journalistic creativity of I.L. Andronikov.

The oral stories in which Andronikov creates images of prominent figures of Russian stage art — A.A. Ostuzhev, V.I. Kachalov, F.I. Chaliapin, — using the skill of getting used to the character of thought, plasticity of the hero, reproducing the syntax of his speech, the timbre of his voice, gestures, creating a portrait that can be recognized not only by those who knew the prototype personally, but also by those who recognize him only in the narrator's transmission.

In this regard, some aspects of the author's conception and embodiment of oral stories are highlighted in the light of the provisions of the Stanislavsky System, such as "the truth of experiences", "the film of the role", "the method of physical actions", perceived by Andronikov through direct observation of the art of the founders of the Moscow Art Theater in its heyday. The phenomenon of the synthesis of musical arts in the creation of artistic images is outlined.

E.V. Denisov entered the history of music as a bold innovator, generator of new ideas, theorist and researcher of art. The author of the article analyzes the piano miniatures written by E. Denisov in the 1960s–1980s in the context of the composer's innovative concept in the field of musical genre, style and compositional technique of the 20th century. Piano miniatures were for E.V. Denisov the deepest way to express the soul, thoughts and emotions, as well as a source of inspiration in his new creative searches.

The works of different years contain detailed, emotionally filled melodies and a special rhythmic system: asymmetric combinations, timed and non-timed rhythmic forms, rhythmic harmonic sequence, as well as "seriality". They have a combination of rich texture, a new sense of sonic geometry and a unique musical organizational space.

The article summarizes the considered features of E. Denisov's piano miniatures, which are full of contrasts, including the combination of traditional spiritual foundations with new techniques of composer's writing, allowing to embody new ideas for which traditions have become a source of inspiration and motivation.

The article is dedicated to the musical and poetic creativity of the talented Russian songwriter of the late XIX — early XX century M.I. Ozhegov. It is emphasized that, being a native of the peasants of the village of Mikhino in the Nolinsk district of the Vyatka province, Ozhegov knew the life of a poor peasant well and spoke about it with great sympathy in his beautiful poems and songs. M.I. Ozhegov did not have the opportunity to receive a systematic general and musical education and received all knowledge mainly through self-education.

The self-taught poet wrote more than a hundred "songs in the spirit of the people of his region", some of which, having high artistic merits, became popular songs and romances and were included in the repertoire of such outstanding Russian singers of the past as F.I. Chaliapin, S.Y. Lemeshev, N.A. Obukhova, A.V. Nezhdanova. They are still heard today in the concert programs of modern "romantics of romance".

The article discusses the most important milestones in the biography of Ozhegov, who went through a difficult life path from a peasant from the Vyatka hinterland to a famous Moscow poet-songwriter, author of several poetry books, compiler of popular collections of songs published in thousands of copies, an active participant in the Surikov literary and musical circle. The article highlights the history of the creation and song existence of the best works of Ozhegov's musical and poetic heritage, which received a second life as songs and romances, became almost folk. It is noted that the merits of M.I. Ozhegov in the field of poetic creativity was evaluated by the "Literaturnaya Gazeta" 1930, calling him "an original and probably the only song writer in Russian literature".

The article presents the main trends in the development of modern Russian opera remake, a concept and term introduced into musicological practice by the author of this study. The definition of an opera remake has been clarified. The author considers the philosophical concept of «possible worlds» to be the basic reason for the emergence of this type of opera.

Literary and film criticism works devoted to the remake are analyzed. Their study made it possible to extrapolate some positions of the theory of a literary remake into the field of musical stage genres, in particular, into opera. The conditions for the extensive development of the opera remake at the beginning of the 21st century are revealed. The analysis of the works of G. Korchmar («NIGENO YIENEGVE»), V. Kobekin («Hamlet»), I. Yusupova («Don Juan's List of Don Juan»), S. Levkovskaya («Carmen-perezagruzka») belonging to this genre is presented.

The typology of opera remakes of the named composers is given. The narrative, genre and plot transformations underlying the typology of the works under consideration are described. As a result of the analysis of modern Russian opera remakes of the early XX century. the author comes to the conclusion that they represent all types: pseudo-remake (remake-reinterpretation) and postmodern remake (remake-deconstruction and destructive remake).

The article is devoted to topical issues related to teaching Chinese students of fine arts. Due attention in the work is devoted to the general didactic principles of teaching students.

From year to year, there is a growing need for methods that contribute to the intensification of the educational process of preparation in the context of expanding intercultural communication. Russian-Chinese cooperation is of particular importance in this regard.

The development of a conceptual framework for arts education should be carried out taking into account the details of each of the three areas: academic, traditional and innovative. Because these differences are of a qualitative nature and cannot be carried out on a single philosophical, didactic and technical basis.

The purpose of this article is to reveal the world of Chinese nephrite miniature, to give an insight into the art of carving on semi-precious stone as one of the oldest artistic practices of benevolent culture in China.

Traditional themes, types, carriers of well-wishes and specificity of approaches to their interpretation in the lower segment of sculpture size range are shown, taking into account the unique pictorial and textural possibilities of each piece of nephrite. The work of the symbolic sense-making mechanisms in the construction of subjects, the benevolent symbolism plot synthesis logic with the help of the configurations of speech expression is traced. The specific forms of spatial implementation question of this synthesis is considered.

On the example of the collection created by the masters of modern jade crafts in the Xuyan region, the whole variety tythe whole arietypology of jade miniatures as single and complex plastic metaphors is established. In turn, with the help of cultural-historical, semiotic, formal-compositional analysis the types of complex metaphors as compositional solutions of greater or lesser spatial development, static or dynamic character, with the participation of one or more dominants are identified.