Abstract: This article is dedicated to the once-prominent, but nearly forgotten these days, Soviet graphic artist Konstantin Ivanovich Finogenov. His works of the 1940’s are viewed as a vivid example of coexistence of the two main strategies used by the Soviet authors in referring to the theme of the Great Patriotic War. One suggested visualization of the events, facts and characters seen by the artist firsthand on the front line. The other – represented an ideological construct not based on the personal visual impressions. Usually, the second strategy was aimed at creation of the image of leader: Stalin-chieftain and strategist surrounded by the closest comrades. The author underlines not only the thematic, but also the conceptual difference in these two strategies. The shift from depicting soldiers towards depicting the leaders entailed the genre, temporal, compositions, and intonation transformations of the image of war. The Soviet artists of the 1940’s depicted soldiers “in the present”, implying that their descendants would make a place form them in history, for whom the artist created the necessary documentary testimonies. The leader has already existed in history. The artist captured the fact of recognition by the contemporaries of his historical status.

Keywords: personal testimony, visualization, graphics, Great Patriotic War, front, artist, leader, stalin, ideology, soldier

Abstract: The aim of this research is to analyze peculiarities of Igor Savinov's compositions for orchestra band. Shumilov has chosen to study Igor Savinov's works because this composer has made a great contribution to the development of Russian music and instrumentation for brass band. His compositions cover a lot of genres of brass music, march, ordre, fantasy, rhapsody, overture, poem, ballad, concert and others. Savinov composed works of each genre and accumulated all the best features of brass music scores. Savinov's works have been popular with the audience and concert performers. The method of studying orchestra writing is based on the experience of analysing particularities of orchestra texture, expressive and shape-generating role of timbre and interpretation of orchestra means. The main research goals were to give aesthetical evaluation of Savinov's compositions for brass band, to describe genres and styles of his themes, peculiarities of his tembre and quality changes in the timbre texture, to discover typical features of Savinov's orchestra writing in interpretation of instrumental means of brass orchestra, to understand succession and the use of orchestration principles in Russian and Soviet classical music. For the first time in the academic literature Shumilov analyzes the problems of modern instrumentation for brass band in terms of Igor Savinov's individual style and overall evolution of orchestra music since the 1980s. This allowed to define individual features of the composer's orchestra writing. 

Keywords: style, composer's creativity, orchestral performance, brass band, brass music, orchestration, orchestral writing, orchestral texture, timbre, coloring

Abstract: The subject of this research is the main fugitive pigments used in easel oil painting at the various stages of its evolution (cinnabar, ultramarine blue, white lead, verdigris, orpiment, yellow chrome). Depending of its chemical composition, the degradation of pigments may vary based on the three main mechanisms described in the article. Grouping of fugitive pigments in accordance with degradation mechanism allow to more accurately rectify the methods of preventative conservation of paintings for obstructing the process of changing of coloristic characteristics of the paint layer. The author’s main contribution consists in demarcation of degenerative processes into passive and active, which results in precise structuring of problematic of the change of color of the paintings carried out in oil technique. It is determined all options of degenerative mechanisms occur throughout the entire history of easel oil painting. The article also provides general recommendation on storage, exhibition and restoration of paintings prone to degeneration of color characteristics due to the physical-chemical properties of the paint layer.

Keywords: pigments in paintings, unstable pigments, color degradation, material degradation, Western European oil painting, easel painting, oil painting, paintings degradation, conservation, painting’s color change

Abstract: The subject of this research is the factors of consistent success of concert tours of the Russian cabaret theatre “The Blue Bird” in Vienna. The author presents a brief review of the various aspects related to the work of Russian theatres abroad. Special attention is paid to the cultural-historical context of Vienna of the 1920’s, in which there was demand for performances of the Russian cabaret theatre. The article describes the Austrian cabaret and its traditions, as well as provides information on the Russian component in the theatrical life of Vienna over the period under consideration. Examination of the memoire and scientific sources allowed obtaining the historical and culturological records. The main conclusion consists in the thesis that in the 1920’s the Russian cabaret theatre had sensational success among the indulged Viennese audience due to the unique qualities unlike anything made in Austria or Germany – theatricality, aesthetism, delicacy, impressive performance, and unique style of conferencier Jascha Juschny. The presented materials may be valuable for further research in the theatrical-aesthetic distinctness of the Russian cabaret theatres in Western Europe, particularly avant-garde in scenography of the Russian artists.   

Keywords: miniature cabaret, entertainer, German cabaret, Viennese cabaret, theater of Russian emigration, Russian emigration, Russian cabaret, Russian identity, theatrical aesthetics, Vienna public

Abstract: The subject of this research is the philosophical theory of affect developed by Gilles Deleuze that found its reflection in the works of modern philosophers and theoreticians of culture. The article covers the genesis of Deleuzian interpretation of the affect emerged on the basis of Baruch Spinoza’s concept, as well examines the specificity of affect as a collective preindividual emotion, dynamic intensity representing the ability to influence and be influenced. Nonpsychological and nonvisual nature are determined as the key characteristics of affective event. The research combines the historical-philosophical approach in interpretation of the texts of G. Deleuze, B. Massumi, T.Brennan, and other philosopher and theoreticians of culture engages in this problematic, as well as Deleuzian immanentistic approach to aesthetics and philosophy of art and culture. It is proven that Deleuzian problematic of affect, which is insufficiently studied within Russian literature, requires unfolding on the materials of art; this is substantiated by the fact that namely the situation of the encounter with art allows not only conceptualizing affect as the influence and enduring influence, but also trace its dynamics (as an inseparable aspects of existence and functioning of the affect). Diversified, resonant and tangible nature of the affect, in turn, suggests the tools for comprehending the changeability, fluctuation and dynamicity of the modern sociocultural processes.

Keywords: sign, art, intensity, sensation, resonance, Massumi, Spinoza, affect, Deleuze, virtual

Abstract: The subject of this research is the gender regime in Hajj – pilgrimage to Mecca, the fifth and last pillars of Islam comprising the basis of religion and foundation of Muslim community, prescribed to complete at least once in a lifetime (depending on financial and physical capabilities of the believer). Islam establishes special rules for women completing Hajj. On the examples of female religiosity in the large Islamic areal in Russia – Southern Ural, the author examines the gender peculiarities of Islamic pilgrimage. Interviews conducted with the pilgrims allowed analyzing the role of Hajj in the modern Muslim community, assess the impact of pilgrimage upon religiosity, behavior and status of women in Islam. Rituals and daily life of the believers are strictly regulated; Islam is characterized by the strong gender division that are vividly reflected in Hajj. As a matter of fact, Hajj enhances the gender differences; women, most often, return as devout Muslims, opt for meticulousness of carrying out the religious rituals, wearing veil and traditional clothes, obedience and humbleness with regards to men.

Keywords: South Urals, Muslims, gender regime, Hajj, women, gender, Islam, Mecca, Medina, pilgrimage

Abstract: The subject of this research is the aesthetic stance of M. F. Gnessin viewed in comparison of the aesthetic perspectives of his contemporaries. The object of this research is the scientific-critical texts of M. F. Gnessin, L. L. Sabaneev, V. G. Karatygin, V. I. Ivanov, H. A. Laroche, A. Schoenberg, B. V. Asafyev and others, which reflect the key aspects of their aesthetic position. Emphasis is made on the questions of the essence of musical art, peculiarities of music creation process, and problem of synthesis of arts. The main method became the analysis of manuscript and printed texts of M. F. Gnessin, as well as the comparative analysis of aesthetic concepts of M. F. Gnessin, L. L. Sabaneev, V. G. Karatygin, V. I. Ivanov, A. Schoenberg, and others. The conclusion is drawn that M. F. Gnessin in one of the most progressive thinkers of his time, who studied the relevant problems of musical aesthetics: the nature of music, interrelation of arts, role of “emotions” and “reason” in the process of composing, The author detect parallels in the views of Gnessin and the ideas of A. N. Skryabin, V. E. Meyerhold. W. W. Kandinsky, A. Schoenberg (in the field of synthesis of arts), L. L. Sabaneed. A. Schoenberg (in the area of musical-vocal communications); as well as certain differences, such as introduction of the original definitions of “primary” and “limit” elements of art, “consubstantiality” of the sound, color, timbre, etc. The novelty consists in the attempt of comprehensive comparative analysis of aesthetic views of Gnessin with the analogous concepts of the contemporary to him artists and thinkers.

Keywords: psychology of music, phenomenology of creativity, synthesis of arts, essence of music, musical aesthetics, Gnesin, Schönberg, Sabaneev, Kandinsky, musical reading

Abstract: This article examines the question of absence of fundamental representation of the theme of live performance within the studies of visual culture. The authors explore the phenomenon of live performance, determines its specific value, and outline differences between the interactive performance and pseudo-interaction. Particular attention is given to the factors of “visual hunger” in modern culture and review a broad range of phenomena that serve as the means for fulfilling the need in live performance. The authors apply the methods of theoretical analysis of scientific literature on the topic in question, as well as conduct cultural monitoring of modern society in its performance aspectization. The following characteristics of live performance are described: uniqueness, eventness, reality, genuine interactivity, sensuality, cultural activeness, and figurativeness. In conclusion, the authors determine the key elements of research program aimed at understanding of performance in modern culture: 1) cultural meanings in synchronic and diachronic aspects; 2) actionable structure of performance space/time and its imagery content; 3) dynamics and connotation of corporeal and symbolic; 4) specificity of eventness; 5) peculiarities of distance and engagement into performance; 6) correlation between creativity and recreation; 6) political, historical and relevant aspects of live performance; 7) live performance in the context of development of visual literacy.

Keywords: digital literacy, festival, event, spectacle, visibility, modern culture, spectacular culture, culture archaization, visual culture, traditional culture

Abstract: Chinese calligraphy is viewed as the key to a more in-depth understanding of the Chinese cultural code; therefore, the goal of this research consists in determination of cultural meanings underlying the spatial structure and visual image of hieroglyph. In the course of this study, the authors advance the idea of the national Sinologist V. V. Malyavin, which implies that artistic realm of the works of Chinese calligraphy represents a “median” space for interaction of the two diverging planes of existence – revealed and concealed (“earlier Heavenly” and “later Heaven”). The study applies the culturological method for interpretation of artistic space of hieroglyph within the context of the traditional for Chinese culture spatial models. The formation of “median” space though the description of hieroglyph testifies to the competence of a calligraphist to find balance in the “flow of changes”. Hieroglyph represents a visual metaphor of the moving human body that is in the state of inner peace (which is reflected in the precision of internal connections of the symbol, its relation to the physical center, and sense of the “firmness” of emptiness.

Keywords: Earlier Heaven, the Five Movements, yang, solid void, yin, median space, space of the Chinese character, art of calligraphy, Chinese calligraphy, Later Heaven

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the peculiarities of arrangement of altar space in the Franciscan Churches of Umbria during the XIII-XVI centuries. The authors underline the typological and liturgical dependence of the initial layout of Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi on the structure of apsidal-papal basilicas in Rome (namely St. Peter’s Basilica and Basilica of St John Lateran). The design of the Franciscans’ main basilica affected virtually all churches of the order in Umbria (Perugia, Città di Castello, Todi, Borgo Santo Sepolcro, and other). The choir in these churches was situated in the chancel space of the apse. It is demonstrated that this pattern hinged upon the location of the Pope’s throne along the arc of apse (in St. Peter’s Basilica and Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi). The preserved original altars of the XIII-XIV centuries in Franciscan churches allow positioning these sites into a single stylistic-typological row, and place into a separate category the mensae altars: wide stone throne surrounded by the ogival arch. The analysis of altar décor allows concluding on the similarity of Franciscan altars with the early-Christian sarcophagi of a colonne type. The authors examine the case of using sarcophagi as a tomb of Saint Giles in the Church of San Francesco al Prato, Perugia. It is highlighted that the structure of altar space and presence of monumental chancel screen tramezzo defined the absence of altar ciborium in the Franciscan churches.

Keywords: choir, architecture of the Franciscan Order, Franciscans, ciborium, altar space, altar, Umbria, Paleochristian sarcophagi, tramezzo, Assisi