Abstract: The object of the research is Mitrofan Rukavishnikov's artwork created during the period since 1920 till 1930s. The subject of the research is the artist's creative life in terms of Russian artistic culture of the aforesaid period. Special attention is paid to critical responses to Mitrofan Rukavishnikov's easel artwork as well as his participation in various (including momentous) exhibitions and topics and themes his artwork of that period was devoted to. In her article Sedova does not only view Mitrofan Rukavishnikov's artwork as part of the artistic environment of that time but also defines his popularity as a sculptor during the period since 1920 till 1930s along with famous artists of that period. The main research methods included historiographic methods used to study archive documents, analysis of responses to Mitrofan Rukavishnikov's easel graphics of that period, exhibition catalogues, reference books, and historical-cultural method allowing to analyze and define the place of Mitrofan Rukavishnikov in the artistic culture of the epoch. The result of the research is the conclusion that Mitrofan Rukavishnikov managed to show himself as a brilliant sculptor of easel plastic arts and his artwork was highly approved by artistic societies. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that analyzing numerous facts from Mitrofan Rukavishnikov's personal and creative life and appealing to rich archive data never published before, the author of the article reveals and completes our views on that epoch and gives us a better insight into the artistic process of that period. 

Keywords: thinking monumentality, works, portrait, easel, sculpture, Mitrofan Rukavishnikov, Vsekohudozhnik, dynasty, plastic, culture

Abstract: The object of the research is an artwork by Wassily Kandinsky painted in 1903 (oil on cardboard 55,0 x 65,0 sm. Zurich, private collection). The subject of the research is the formula and color composition of the painting that illustrates the theory of color movement in space offered by Wassily Kandinsky. The author of the article gives an insight into such aspects of the theory as the relation between the compositin of picture elements and their color. Based on the analysis of The Blue Rider Kocherova demonstrates how the composition of color forms on the picture plane affects the way the picture is being perceived. Kocherova gives a relevant reference to graphic and pictural techniques described by Kandinsky in his theory. The purpose of this research is to define how undeveloped theoretical provisions of the color theory were already expressed in early paintings of the artist. The methodology of the research is mostly based on the philosophical and cultural analysis. This research is the only analysis of Wassily Kandinsky's The Blue Rider published in Russian. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author bases her analysis on the concept offered by the artist himself including his views on the role of color, dot, line, basic forms and plane in painting. The author pays a great attention to the role of color and what it symbolizes in painting. She defines the style of early Kandinsky's painting as 'color lyricism'. The research has allowed to discover that at the early stage of developing his creative style Kandinsky used the same forms, lines and colors that he would later describe in his theoretical research. For example, The Blue Rider has a so-called 'cold calm' composition because of prevailing horizontal axes and the combination of opposite colors, blue and yellow in the image of the main character. The plot is depicted as an illustration of a creative process. The artist's idea is to show the mission of an artist as a prophet who can foresee future changes and create new aesthetic values. To sum it up, the author of the article refers to The Blue Rider as the must-to-know painting that played an important role in Wasilly Kandinsky's creative life because it proved the main theoretical provisions of Kandinsky's theory and illustrated his personal attitude to the world and artist's mission. 

Keywords: Kandinsky, The Blue Rider, meaning of colors, color theory, artistic composition, philosophical and cultural analysis, semiotic-hermeneutic method, mission of an artist, Russian art

Abstract: The subject of the research is stereotypic decisions in a musical script, in particular, the way these decisions appear in a script, for example, melodic and texture formulas, external distinctive features, high degree of typification and low variability, repeatability in a set of works, steady position in the collective memory. The purpose of the research is to analyze general mechanisms that form the basis of stereotypes formation and perceptions. Research tasks include to develop fundamental principles of such decisions and to identify a general typology of situations connected with their concrete manifestations as well as correlations between them and the historical context of their functioning. The research is based on traditional methods of theoretical and historical musicology and also phenomenological, morphological and historical approaches. The researcher establishes that all situations related to manifestation of stereotypes in musical art can be divided into the following groups: structural (at the levels of grammar and vocabulary) and semantic. The general mechanism of perceiving stereotypic/not-stereotypic decisions is based on the principle of the model inertia following/violation in work formed in the collective memory. The author also shows historical variability of interpreting stereotypes at different periods and their relation to fundamental principles that make the cornerstone of a musical script. 

Keywords: script, semantics, structure, mechanisms, perception, language, sample, formula, music, stereotype

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the philosophy of existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus) in the poetic world of the 'man of the sixties', Oleg Chukhontsev. According to the poetry of neoacmeism, Søren Kierkegaard and Russian existential philosophers (Soloviev, Berdyaev and Shestov), time and space, being and existence, conciousness and individuality, world model and 'intellectual intuition', everyday life and oneurosphere (the sphere of poetic dreams) form an integral synthesis. This synthesis corresponds to the idea of existentials in terms of a poet's mystic world view and becomes a metahistorical or apocalyptical event which contributes, in the first place, to the organic unity of the two artistic systems, structural elements of neoacmeism and surrealism of the Russian type (B. Poplavsky's creative work is an example of such synthesis). The author of the article carries out a detailed analysis of Oleg Chukhontsev's system of genres. The methodological basis of the research includes elements of the biographical and comparative approaches, structural semiotic analysis of existentialists' philosophical research and Oleg Chukontsev's works which, in its turn, involves implicit data of a metapoetic commentary. Finally, the author also uses the method of generalization and the procedure of moving around the hermeneutical circle in order to complete the aforesaid approaches. The author concludes that Oleg Chukhontsev's creative work is a priori existential, it is the 'tragedy of a metaphysical insight', 'mystery of the unconciousness' and opposed to the creative work of another 'man of the sixties' A. Kuchner who was oriented at the philosophical teaching of stoics much more. The virtual, latent dialogue between existential philosophres and neoacmeist poet of the 20th century through time and space represents their cultural, in-depth and ontological interation as one of a very important and necessary moments in interpreting a poetic text. 

Keywords: persona, Christian gnostic world view, twin, time and space, oneurosphere, surrealism, neoacmeism, Oleg Chukhontsev, existentialism philosophy, man of the sixties

Abstract: In her article Petrova brings forth current issues related to interpreting space and time under the influence of modern media. According to the author, TV and the Internet contribute to the diffusion of various cultures in the urban environment of modern Russia. This is the point where the traditional and the new, the urban and the rural, the hierarchical and the network collide. Mass media cause drastic changes in the temporality and spatiality of the modern rural life. Reconstruction of the space-time system and new perception of these most important basic categories play a principal role in transformation processes of the modern Russia's rural cultural life. The article is based on the empirical research conducted in rural territories of Russia (Rostov and Kostroma Regions). Data was collected using the methods of the in-depth interview (based on the guide) and observation (the author filled in the so-called observer's diary and included photos there). The author of the article notes that mass media create public spaces in private spheres. This leads to the alienation of the perception of rural territories and households. In her article Petrova also offers her own term to describe the media time. Taking into account peculiarities of the virtual time that brings in a special meaning into media practices, the author describes this time as 'reversible', i.e. the time that might change its direction. Media practices used by respondents tend to evolve around a single core which can be seen both in the material world and articulated meanings. In her article Petrova attempts to understand this phenomenon from the point of view of the sacral.

Keywords: media, everyday life, urban culture, TV broadcast, Internet, media consumption, space, temporality, network culture, hierarchic culture

Abstract: The object of the research is the problem of director's interpretation of classical opera works as an important topic for the modern music theatre. The subject of the research is the performances staged at Yekaterinburg Theatre of Opera and Ballet in 2013 - 2015 that demonstrated different approaches of modern directors to conveying a composer's message. The author of the article also analyzes creative success and mistakes of directors in their interpretations of opera masterpieces such as Wagner's 'The Flying Dutchman', Chaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin' and Verdi's 'Rigoletto'. The author notes an interesting solution of the director who staged Wagner's opera, according to the author, it conveyed the composer's message quite well. The author also notes a rather debatable and unsuccessful interpretation of the opera 'Eugene Onegin' and quite credible interpretation of Verdi's message in the opera 'Rigolleto'. The methodological  basis of the research mostly includes the cultural approach, historical comparative analysis, cultural and art historical interpretation of musical and theatrical scripts. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author raises the aforesaid problems in terms of modern Russian culture and analyzes the most recent performances staged at one of the most famous Russian theatre groups. The main conclusion made by the author is that directors should be very sensitive and attentive to composers' messages and take into account both peculiarities of their style and general cultural traditions of the time and place of action as well as correspondence of conceptual meanings of classical works to the realities of our days. 

Keywords: composer, theatre, performance, music, concept, interpretation, opera, culture, classical works, director

Abstract: This paper contains a generalization of the author's reflections on the products of modern Yakut film-makers and the actual process of creation of film forms in the socio-cultural environment of the North-Eastern region of Russia. Being the factory of dreams and society introspection tool cinematograph fit in very well for organic self-reflection and self-identification of ethnic culture at the turn of the centuries. Complementarity of the cinema and ethnic culture is also dictated by the mechanism of mythologem translation which was and still remains a vivid cultural tool that still preserves the features of folklore, rituals and rites of the traditional epoch. The object of this article is a film production in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) over the last five years. The subject of this article is specific features of film forms combining synthesis of symbolic constructs of universal and local ethnic culture issues and consequently resulting features of the influence of this form on the ethnic culture. In the course of his research Pudov has carried out analysis of particular films regarding whether there are symbols of different nature and philosophical generalization of cultural processes in the region on the whole. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author provides a philosophical evaluation of a totally new stage of  the development of Yakutian cinematograph that had declared itself at both Russian and international levels. The author has made conclusions about causes of the ontological regional boom in filmmaking, its potentials in relation to self-identification and culture, and peculiarities of developing a new sociocode of regional culture. 

Keywords: cinematograph, ethnic culture, ethnocultural modernization, symbolic ontologization, transmigration of symbols, being of ehtnicity, cinema, art, Yakutia, sociocultural transformation

Abstract: The subject of the research is the personality of Ivan the Terrible. The author of the article pays special attention to the conceptual grounds of interpreting personal qualities of this contradictory character. Tokmachev suggests that most researchers have used 'external' or 'technical' approaches to analyzing Ivan's personality. Particular sets of conditions such as historical, geographical, psychological and even algebraical are usually projected and the tzar is understood as a 'shuttlecock' that was influenced by external conditions. As a result, Ivan the Terrible is shown as an 'uneducated eastern despot', 'hysterical person', 'bonding of different personalities' or, on the contrary, 'educated ruler' and 'uniter of Russian lands' who was even less 'bloodthirsty' than European monarches of those times. The author defends his thesis that a human being or any other living creature as the matter of fact is governed by his or her internal program, text or word like a personal computer rather than an external set of circumstances. The author of the article tries to find such an internal program for Ivan the Terrible, too. The author bases his research on the novel 'Chronology from John' and Pavel Lungin's movie 'The Tzar' (based on Aleksey Ivanov's script). The author concludes that such an internal program that created the basis for Ivan's actions could have been the perception of the surrounding world as the day of The Last Judgement and The End of the World (as we know, Europe and Russia anticipated The End of the World at the turn of the XVth - XVIth centuries). Noteworthy that Ivan the Terrible perceived himself as Jesus Christ of the Second Coming and the Messiah who had come to 'judge the alive and dead'. In this sense, the oprichnina acted as the army of angels and cruel executions performed by oprichnics were taken as the punishment of the Justice. 

Keywords: architecture, iconic space, oprichnina, tzar, messiah, Last Judgement, End of the World, program, Mental World, Ivan the Terrible

Abstract: The subject of the research is acting techniques used in visual solutions of a documentary film made by using 3D technologies. The author analyzes documentary films that have been launched by the Russian film lending service using 3D technologies and defines peculiarities of using 3D in documentary films. 3D technologies were tested in Russian documentary film lending service as a type of films with a high level of financial risk. The author of the article also defines and classifies techniques and methods used by film directors when creating a composition and image in documentary films using 3D technologies. In this research Trusevich has used the comparative method and systems approach. The author has calculated the number of documentary 3D films that have been launched by the Russian film lending service since 2009 till 2015. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author analyzes creative opportunities of 3D technologies, in particular, director's work on the image composition and using details. The author of the article also analyzes Sergei Eisenstein's thesis about the 'soaring effect' in the image composition and applies this term to the mise en scene of a 3D image.   

Keywords: detail, landscape in cinema, photogenia, film image composition, soaring effect, film lending service in Russia, documentary film, environmental film, visual perception, 3D

Abstract: In his article Rozin examines the first great work by Lev Vygotsky in which the founder of Soviet psychology stated that it is possible to reach to aesthetic (artistic) experience only indirectly, in particular, through the analysis of the art form. Rozin analyzes the methodological approaches which he used in his research (naturalistic and structuralistic) and interprets an art form as some kind of a trap that catches a reader or audience trying to overcome contradictions of building an art form. The author compares Lev Vygotsky's concept of 'art as the machine for developing psyche' with Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of 'life in art'. In his research Rozin has used the methodology of comparative analysis, raises a number of questions and offers a new reconstruction of 'Psychology of Art' as well as discusses peculiarities of psychological research and science. As a result, the author demonstrates that Vygotsky's concept of art was in many ways conditioned by Marxist and structuralistic methodologies as well as the task to develop a new human using artistic means. Being focused on the problem of human development, Vygotsky interpreted art as the machine for developing the mental world and ignored the importance of art as a life style.     

Keywords: psychology, science, methodology, understanding, interpretation, reconstruction, life, art, form, conflict

Abstract: The subject of the research is the painting 'The Call of Girondins' by a French academist Francois Flameng. Being the first and the brightest painting in his series of paintings devoted to the French Revolution, The Call of Girondins demonstrates a scope of Flameng's artistic interests at the early stage of his creative work and proves the fact that as a result of his devotion to the aforesaid theme, Francois Flameng happened to be on the frontline of the historical genre in painting which in many ways predetermined his future success. Despite the fact that Flameng created that painting in his younger days, the painting already shows his skills and sets a direction for Flameng's future creative development as well as marks out the main artistic directions of the artist's creative life. In this reserch Chernik conducts his analysis from particulars to generals and tries to define not only the main trends of Flameng's future creative work and outline a scope of masters who influenced the development of Flameng as an artistic but also to analyze the painting from the point of view of the general cultural and historical environment of those times, thus underlying the contradictory nature of artistic processes of the second half of the XIXth century. The author of the article pays special attention to the problems of iconography of the painting and the influence of new artistic trends on Flameng's painting style. For this purpose the author has used historiographical, iconographical and comparative analysis. As a result of analyzing the painting 'The Call of Girondins', the author comes to the conclusion that despite the common opinion of modern researchers that Francois Flameng followed strict academic rules and ideals of salon painting, the artist was also open for brave iconographic solutions and new artistic trends. 

Keywords: impressionism, naturalism, realism, history painting, academic painting, Girondin trial, French Revolution, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Édouard Manet, François Flameng

Abstract: The subject of the research is the nature of interaction between differently structured composite photo images combined with artwork elements for the common purpose of creating a single image of an advertising design project. The object of the research is a composite photo image as an element of an advertising design project aimed at creating an effective advertising image. The author of the article examines such features of photo images as an objective reflection of the reality and extended personal vision as well as analyzes the advertising layout in terms of different messages being conveyed. The author pays special attention to the correspondence of iconic and symbolic elements of a composite photo image. In this research the author has used such methods as the systems approach when analyzing peculiarities of interaction between photo images of different nature combined with graphic artwork elements for the purpose of creating a single image of an advertising design project as well as the comparative method to classify features of photocollage structures. The main conclusion of the research is the following: there is a certain paradox attributable to the photographic nature of images used in an advertising layout. This is an undervalued role of the iconic element of a message compared to the symbolic element thereof and at the same time a high level of documentary accuracy typical for photography which allows to use a composite photo image instead of a traditional one sacrificing some documentary accuracy but retaining the symbolic element of the iconic message. The special contribution to the topic is the author's classification of composite photo images depending on the principle of their form making. 

Keywords: abstract photography, form making, symbolic message, iconic message, design project, photocollage, photographics, advertising design graphics, graphic design, photo image

Abstract: The object of the research is the acting technique. The subject of the research is behavior spontaneity and internal freedom in the process of acting. The researchers touch upon the phenomenon of stereotypic reactions, standard models of action, behavior patterns as adaptive structures and possible effects of extending behavior patterns including flexible spontaneous forms of activity. The author also describes spontaneity-reservedness and internal freedom-restraint mechanisms and relations. The authors offer the best combination of acting and psychotechnic for encouraging spontaneity and internal freedom. In their research the authors have used the theoretical reconstruction methods, comparison, mental experiment, observation over drama students, expert reports of drama teachers, and control over summary and conclusion accuracy. The main conclusions of the research are the provisions relevant to the research topic, in particular, the statement is that acting and drama allow to go beyond the borders of the theatre and make a diverse influence on one's personality. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author describes particular innovative aspects of acting such accumulation of motional physical experience in acting, extension of behavior patterns and domination of visual images over real images. Thus, acting becomes a behavior regulator providing one's personality with new tools to develop his or her own positions and views. 

Keywords: communication skills, urban studies, psychophysical training, shyness, motional experience, psychotechnics, internal freedom, spontaneity, stage education, acting