Trends in the study of the image of a modern man in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century

Chzhan Mai Postgraduate student, Department of Art History and Pedagogy of Art, A.I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University 191186, Russia, Saint Petersburg, nab. Sinks, 48, room 6, room 34 zhangmai@rambler.ru

The focus of this research is on the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century, which is considered through a review and systematization of Russian scientific literature on the chosen topic. Of course, in the light of the ongoing processes in the space of artistic culture, it is important to clarify what is meant by "art" here. First of all, we are talking about the field of classical fine art, within the framework of which artistic and visual concepts of man have been born and transformed over the centuries. There is no doubt that this figurative system has continued its development in the field of painting, graphics and sculpture, but has been supplemented with new content, means, forms, materials and techniques of execution, interaction with other aspects of modern society, in particular technology and science. Innovations and the consequences of their influence arouse quite natural and necessary interest on the part of researchers, the main directions of which are studied in this article on individual representative examples and systematization of the artistic material presented in them.

At the beginning of the XXI century, the idea of art was already significantly different from what it was before, including with regard to the main theme – man. In many ways, the change was caused by a transformation in the understanding of what an artistic image is, including under the influence of newly appeared means of expression, such as video art, television, media art, installations, performance, etc. The result of these processes was the so-called "visual turn" in the study of art, which included the achievements and categorical apparatus of psychoanalysis, semiotics, feminism, cultural studies and poststructuralism. This made it possible to draw connecting threads between creativity and ideology, socio-cultural, economic and political factors, the perception of the world and the worldview of people of a particular era. Thus, N. Brisen, K. Moxey, M. E. Holyi and others were engaged in the reconstruction of the "history of images" and the specifics of their representation. G. Pollock, F. Jamieson, D. Wolfe proposed to consider images through the prism of the sociology of visual culture. The concept of "freedom of creativity" and the phenomenon of autonomy of the creative process were questioned by V. Benjamin, J. Baudrillard, R. Barth, J. Derrida, M. Foucault, J. Lacan, etc. There are also ideas that artists, through images, seemed to reproduce the reality that they would like to see, in many ways programming the perception of reality in their viewer, as, for example, in F. Jamison and Z. Bauman. Russian science has also changed the attitude towards the image, including of a person, as more and more studies appear that consider it as a reflection of the worldview of people of another era. Hence the great attention to the context, which is expressed through artistic and expressive means. Thus, F. K. Ragozin in his dissertation study "Semasiological aspects of portrait description in Russian art" considered the linguistic and philosophical experience of studying and describing the Russian portrait of the XVIII century, showing that the latter is perceived as an artistic idea and philosophical category, as well as as a phenomenon of everyday life ^[1]. Everything in the compartment, from the researcher's point of view, generates a variety of species modifications, including from the point of view of lexical semantics.

Materials on the theory and practice of modern fine art have now appeared in Russian science. Since the inception of portrait art, its main problem has been the relationship between the model and the artistic image ^[2]. At the beginning of the last century, the conceptual foundations of such images were studied by P. A. Florensky, V. V. Kandinsky, B. R. Wipper, and others. As noted by I. E. Danilova in Russia in the XX century, this line of creative searches for artists continued as follows: "... people depicted on canvas, we [artists, art historians, viewers] try to understand their connections and relationships, penetrate into their characters, guess the everyday destinies revealed in the appearance of the characters, in a united their collisions" ^{[3, p. 4]}. At the beginning of the last century, A. G. Gabrichevsky noted that the image of a contemporary "does not depend at all on the degree of idealization or naturalism (this is a matter of style), because it arises not from the comparison of the depicted and depicted personality, but from ... the "personal" qualities of the portrait-painting" ^{[4, pp. 63-64]}. Meanwhile, at the dawn of the XXI century, the image of a contemporary, fixed both in the portrait and in the story picture, changed, as not only the visual arts and the epoch changed, but also the very understanding of the personality and its collective image.

Contemporary art researcher V. A. Lagutenkova writes about the ongoing "convergence" of genres using the example of portrait and still life in relation to the representation of the human image. She talks about the birth of a special kind – "still life portrait" (presentation of the image through objects) and the portrait "face-off" ("without a face") as phenomena of urban culture of our century and manifestations of the "man of the crowd" ^[5]. As examples for the first variety, the author cites works by such artists as Ivan Lubennikov, Andrey Pashkevich, Vladimir Lyubarov, etc. In their work, still life performs a "personifying function", as it reveals socially significant themes through allegories and metaphors, which is important in an era of instability. S. M. Gracheva examines works of the portrait genre based on the material of the annual Spring exhibition of academic artists, teachers of the I. E. Repin Institute in 2013. The researcher points out that the porter genre is most interested in such artists, especially the images of historical characters and figures of art and culture of the past ^[6].

The attention of researchers is also attracted to issues related to individual image systems. For example, A. S. Lukinova devoted the publication to the embodiment of the image of a doctor, including from modern Russian painting based on the work of artists of Transbaikalia ^[7]. Several works are related to the work of representatives of the Crimean school of painting (V. Shevchuk, N. Perov, O. Grigorieva-Klimova, etc.), in particular articles by V. B. Golynsky, N. A. Perov and E. N. Alekseev. The artists of this region are characterized by a variety of artistic forms and styles of figurative solutions ^[8]. Certain features of this art school are also becoming the focus of research. Thus, E. N. Alekseev considers costume as a key element of the composition of a modern "Crimean" portrait, a psychological component and a role in decorative design, presentation of national traditions ^{[9, p. 15]}. S. A. Dobretsova continues the tradition of researching the work of provincial artists: from Nikolai Mylnikov to Mikhail Vladykin, as well as the modern author Elena Mukhina. Such a retrospective allows us to show how approaches to such images have changed in the understanding of Yaroslavl artists connected by a common artistic tradition and culture. The author is interested in showing how cultural features, a measure of documentary and artistic are transmitted through the image ^[10]. She considers the synthesis of the latter to be a feature of Yaroslavl painting and its interpretation by representatives of the human image. T. Y. Serikova notes that in the post-Soviet period there were changes in value attitudes and vectors of cultural development, which led to the disappearance of the hierarchy of genres, strict normativity of canons and stylistic unity. She also says that the synthesis of different types of art will become "one of the main ways to create works of art" in relation to the fine arts of Siberia of the XXI century ^[11].

Russian researchers are also studying individual varieties of embodying the image of a contemporary in the same portrait art. For example, O. V. Syamin considers a family portrait based on the material of the scientific and practical complex project "The Revival of family and ancestral traditions in modern Russia: a family portrait" ^[12]. She tries to determine the specifics of such a portrait, its role in the functioning of historical memory and understanding of the idea of the Motherland. K. A. Nikolaeva devotes her works to the study of family portraiture and family pictorial portrait in the aspect of the transformation of fine art and the influence of modern trends. She turns to a group or double portrait, the characters of which are united by the idea of family continuity, trying to understand the influence of the era on the artistic language of the family portrait ^[13].

The image of a modern child and the presentation of the theme of childhood in painting, including modern, is interesting to the researcher D. A. Abdullina. The author analyzes the specifics of the child's image in the pictorial portrait of the beginning of the XXI century, based on those works that should be considered examples of the manifestation of the classical interpretation of the genre. She identifies two lines in the development of this figurative system: the "transfer" of ideas about childhood of the past to modern children and the creation of "reduced copies of adults". She sees the reason for this in the fact that people's attitude to the phenomenon of childhood is changing, that is, they again talk about the influence of people's worldview and worldview on the image of a contemporary ^[14].

When talking about the art of the 21st century, it is certainly impossible to ignore the influence of digital space and media art. Thus, S. V. Anchukov compiled a comparative analysis of portrait painting in Russia and China in the light of changes in the compositional structure of such images ^[15]. The researcher does not give specific examples of the integration of modern technologies into the visual space of a portrait, limiting himself to describing indirect signs of transformation of the approach to the methods of representation of models.

With regard to the study of the accumulated experience of studying figurative systems in contemporary Russian art, the dissertation of the Chinese scientist Yu Wei "Images of women in painting in China and Russia" is interesting: iconography of social, emotional and gender representations of the second half of the XX - beginning of the XXI century. Visual and artistic means of expression" ^[16]. In it, the author, based on a comparative analysis of paintings by Chinese and Russian artists of the second half of the XX – early XXI century, embodying the most characteristic types of female images, identifies a range of relevant artistic, expressive and meaningful features. According to the researcher, they were formed under the influence of the cultural and socio-historical environment of their countries. With regard to female images in art, the author writes about the closeness in their interpretation by artists from Russia and China at the present stage, pointing to their common "lack of any rigid framework in creative concepts", "a polyphony of unique and expressive creative approaches based on experiment, rethinking tradition, subjective experience of the artist, deep reflections on the topic of modernity" ^{[16, pp. 19-20]}. She also notes that "quotations, compositional and stylistic repetitions, stylization and other methods of creative processing of the world artistic heritage of painting allow modern artists to try on the ideals of beauty of the past to a woman of our time" ^{[16, p. 20]}. Gender differences in the figurative systems of modern art are also considered by N. M. Libakova in the study "Modification of gender images in Russian culture of the late XIX – early XXI centuries" ^[17]. The author studies them on the basis of the cultural monuments of Krasnoyarsk, in particular the monuments of Russian fine art of the late XIX – early XX centuries. In addition to the methodological possibilities of this approach, the author pays considerable attention to the analysis of the specifics of the visualization of the female gender in the visual arts of modern Krasnoyarsk artists, pointing to the presence of a dialectical relationship between the concepts of "carnal" and "spiritual" in their representation.

A separate area of research, which raises the question of the representation of the human image, is related to research that examines the peculiarities of the relationship between art and anthropological themes in the system of spiritual values of the post-industrial and digital world. This line began since the time of V. Benjamin, who outlined the changes that were caused by the replication and reproduction of art and, as a result, led to the loss of his former "aura", originality, sublimity of the material, as well as its content. He compared modern art to the "verbal salad" of the Dadaists. At the same time, the visual practices of modernity have greatly changed the sphere of art, since now it is focused on recognition, psychological effect, mentality, internationality, collective nature of creativity, entertainment, mythologization of reality, multiplication of values, secular nature of culture, visualization possibilities, gigantomania, accessibility, simulation of classical plots ^[18]. And here we see another problem. It lies in the fact that the art process is significantly ahead of the human consciousness, which is not ready to accept innovative images from modern culture. Thus, V. O. Petrov in his article examines such images using the example of twentieth-century art, which arose as a result of the desire for originality through outrage. He highlights the image of "Nothing", for example, in the form of monochrome canvases in painting, hyperbolization of everyday objects, expressiveness, spontaneity, etc., which are used to translate a certain context ^[19]. At the same time, J. Baudrillard saw the disintegration of art into eclectic forms as "a source of new paradoxical artistic forms based on the historical experience of the development of art, the creative freedom of the artist and a new rethinking of classical aesthetic values" ^[20].

The representation of the human image in art as the embodiment of the value system of modern culture is considered by N. M. Goncharenko through the prism of the idea of a superman, which was born in the context of Nietzscheanism and developed under the influence of scientific and technological progress. From the researcher's point of view, such transhumanism resulted in "science art" and cyberpunk ^[21]. This analysis is echoed by the work of L. V. Baeva, who offers an overview of research related to the study of socio-humanitarian aspects of the process of cyborgization of society, including in the field of mass culture from cinema to computer games. She points out the danger that threatens in terms of gender transformation, demographic transition, immortalism, etc., which leads to a shift in "the ontological boundaries of human existence, the formulation of new existential problems of postpersonal identity" ^[22].

Contemporary art is also distinguished by its virtuality, mythological nature and the cult of fantasy. At the same time, it loses its content and normativity, since only the material, recognizable, close to physiology and machine reproduction is put at the forefront ^[23]. As a result, it loses the function of forming the ideals of society that would determine the future of the latter. Moreover, artistic images are replaced by a concept, that is, an idea that leads nowhere and exists by itself, being recreated not by means of fine art, but thanks to technological effects ^{[24; 25]}. Many researchers point to such a danger, especially in the context of the digitalization of culture ^{[26; 27]}.

The conducted research summarizes the existing experience of research on the embodiment of the human image in modern Russian art and shows the dynamics of the process of forming a theoretical and methodological basis for further scientific research. The appearance of such research is an indicator of the ongoing turn away from the thing that prevailed in the XX century, back to the anthropological theme, but in a completely new way. Human images in modern art are considered in Russian science not only by art historians, but even more so by cultural scientists and anthropologists. They look at the phenomenon under study as a reflection of the changes that are taking place in people's lives and their understanding of themselves, especially in the light of globalization and informatization. Art and even more art criticism lags behind these processes somewhat, being unable to quickly comprehend and interpret, translate what is happening into the language of artistic and expressive means. However, it is already possible to outline certain vectors of thought development, in particular, consideration of the specifics of human representation in a cultural context, analysis of forms of artistic expression, including those created with the help of new materials and tools, for example, media technologies. More and more researchers declare the need to return the educational function to figurative art, allowing it to position the patterns and ideals of its time, participating in the formation of new generations of people of the future. As a result of the research, it became obvious that the image of a contemporary in works of art in science is now considered as the result of a systemic process of changing the artistic component, structure in works under the influence of the information age and cultural transformations.

As a generalizing conclusion about the degree of coverage of the subject field by Russian science, we note that with regard to the image of a person in the visual arts of modern Russia, a number of areas can be identified that are studied unevenly: some are quite systematically, while others are only being developed by scientists or are waiting for this, representing a kind of lacuna. Thus, the existing body of research related to the embodiment of the human image in modern art indicates that Russian researchers are mainly focused on the approach according to which the image of a person is thought of as a reflection of the worldview and worldview of the epoch, which is associated with a "visual turn". Scientists are not even considering his artistic image, but a visual one, including one expressed by specific artistic and visual means. However, modern culture and art, in particular, have a much more extensive arsenal of materials, means, forms and formats of representation, for example, new media, media art and directions of the art process that have arisen in the context of globalization and digitalization. This fact brings research out of the boundaries of art history research into the wide field of cultural studies and other disciplines. It is also important to note that, as such, no analysis of the features of depicting the image of contemporaries has been undertaken in modern art. Researchers are mainly focused on a rather narrow material, which is quite justified, since so far most of the works are limited in scope and content of the article material. Thus, interest is aroused in the work of representatives of the artistic world of certain regions, in which, for example, the portrait genre or the subject picture prevails. Now these are Crimea, Krasnoyarsk, Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg - long–standing centers of artistic life in Russia, which have their own traditions, including academic ones, which most likely determines the emphasis on realistic figurative art. Moreover, scientists do not consider them comprehensively, but through a certain angle, for example, a costume, a specific exhibition project and its subject, etc. A special place is occupied by works related to the analysis of the means of depicting representatives of one of the genders, especially women, as well as age categories, in particular the image of a child and the theme of childhood. At the same time, the issue of the specifics of the representation of the image of a modern person by means of media art and other trends of contemporary visual art has been little studied. Meanwhile, the absence of such works seems quite natural, since they do not imply the positioning of the "I" of another person, being more focused on things as objects of creative interest and the social and even political contexts behind them. If, after all, the "artist of modern art" turns to the image of a person, then through the prism of his own self-identification with a certain amount of irony and cynicism.

As a result of studying the sources and systematization of the research interests of Russian scientists on the topic chosen by the author, it should be noted that the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century is oriented towards expanding and complementing the aspects already studied. This is a completely logical evolutionary process of cumulative accumulation of knowledge, which ultimately requires generalizations at a certain stage. However, the amount of accumulated knowledge is still small for a comprehensive study, since there are entire unexplored areas of contemporary art and the places of anthropological subjects in them.