Galina V. Denisova

The Charitable Activity of Leonid Sobinov in the Help of Low-Income Students of the Imperial Moscow University

Theory and History of Art 2024. № 1/2. p. 12–23

Denisova G.V., Stefanenko E.A.

60

The present paper means to highlight the charitable activitiy of an outstanding Russian singer of the early 19th–20th centuries activity of Leonida Sobinov, an outstanding Russian singerin the help of students of Imperial Moscow University. The article is based on archival documents from Foundation No. 864 of The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. Indeed, for many years the outstanding Russian singer give regular concerts to donate the money to low-income students, however this Sobinov's activity remains without due attention. The author is based on the methodology of historical analysis as well as on the methodology of art criticism analysis of the archival documents related to the charitable activity of Sobinov.

Keywords: Sobinov, Imperial Moscow University, charity, charity concerts, support, students in need, Sobinov's archive fund, Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, concert programs

Outstanding Graduates of Moscow State University in Italy: Intercultural Dialogue

Theory and History of Art 2024. № 3/4. p. 122–142

Denisova G.V.

52

The article seeks to analyse the contribution made by Moscow State University graduates to the "Italian text" as part of Russian culture. Concerning the concept of toponymic texts, the author argues that the "Italian text" in Russian culture is represented by a variety of connotative meanings that are perceived as a well-formed complex.

Several graduates of Moscow State University (S.P. Shevyrev, F.I. Buslaev, S.V. Flyorov, V.V. Rozanov) have visited Italy at different times and described their impressions in letters, essays, and books, which contributed greatly to the development of the "Italian text". The present study focuses on the experience of B.K. Zaitsev, a graduate from the Faculty of Law, Moscow State, a writer, translator, and public figure, to whom P.P. Muratov dedicated his famous book "Images of Italy".

The author exploits the method of cultural analysis to study the stylistic and creative value of the "texts" added by the Moscow State graduates to the "Italian text". The results of the investigation show that the Florentine essays by B.K. Zaitsev, along with the "Florentine images" by P.P. Muratov, appear to be the best sample of Russian literature devoted to Florence.

Keywords: Moscow State University, Moscow State University graduates, "Italian text", images in the "Italian text", intercultural dialogue, Italian art, "Roman text", "Russian Venetia", "Florentine text", Russian community in Italy, Studio Italiano founded by P.P. Muratov, "Russian text" in Italian culture, E. Lo Gatto Eastern Europe Institute in Rome

A Work of Art as an Object for Interpretation in the View of Umberto Eco’s Theory

Theory and History of Art 2025. № 3. p. 39-51

Denisova G.V.

95

The article outlines the characteristics of interpretating artworks. The author proceeds from Umberto Eco’s theory of “openness”, according to which the process of perceiving an artwork is centered on the recipient, who inevitably adds their “existential situation” to the information received. The author aims to demonstrate the way Eco’s theory promotes awareness of the limits of interpretation, determined by such factors as historicity, context and integrity of the text, while the society acts as its guarantor. The author brings out that a work of art is always “broader” than its author; otherwise stated, it has the potential to generate new cultural meanings. Additionally, the author highlights that the interpreter relies on the so-called “zero-degree values” to explore the text’s every potential (including meanings beyond the author’s original intention), which are shaped by the historical and socio-cultural context. This theoretical review provides every fact to conclude that, despite the range of approaches to analysing artworks is supposed to expand under new information and communication technologies, Eco’s methodological system of studying the prerequisites and constraints of interpretation should be considered universally applicable and could be exploited to investigate new forms of communication.

Keywords: culture, work of art, artistic image, interpretation, cultural meaning, author, recipient, limits of interpretation, historicity, contextuality, integrity

Semantics of the Cultural Landscape of Naples in Russian and Italian Fiction

Theory and History of Art 2026. № 1. p. 80–93

Denisova G.V., Kalanki Andrea

81

The article studies the image of Naples within the humanities paradigm of exploring geographical spaces, following after S. Averintsev, N. Arutyunova, A. Gabrichevsky, S. Gardzonio, G. Kaganov, M. Kagan, S. Neklyudov, N. Tolstaya, V. Toporov, A. Flier, P. Florensky, T. Tsivyan. These scholars approached the question from a historical-cultural perspective and concluded toponymic image to be an element of discourse. Advancing the research in the field, the authors ponder on the concept of "toponymic texts". They claim that in Russian culture the "Italian text" — including the "Neapolitan text" — has generated diverse connotative meanings, and is now being viewed through the prism of the set of all these meanings, thus becoming part of an integral entity. Not infrequently, though, the resultant "text" may come into contradiction with the meanings generated within contemporary Italian culture. The authors exploit cultural analysis to approach stylistic and ideological tendencies observed in modern Italian "Neapolitan texts" (E. Ferrante, R. Saviano, etc.) as compared to the images of the city created by J. W. von Goethe and F. Stendhal, on the one hand, and those of Kingdom of Naples as seen by Russian travelers in the 19th century, primarily based on the correspondence of the Bulgakov brothers, on the other. The image of Naples created in the "Russian Neapolitana" is compared with the works of R. Saviano and E. Ferrante; in this contrastive analysis the image of Naples is viewed as a "myth", considered as a narrative including a plot unfolding in under specific spatio-temporal conditions, which determine the way worldview-shaping mythologemes emerge.

Keywords: images of Italy, cultural landscape, perception, Russian culture, Italian culture, "Italian text", "Neapolitan text", toponymic narrative, toponymic text, narrative semantics, myth, mythologem