CC BY
34
8. Balandina N. Raisa Kyrychenko yak znakova postat ukrainskoi kultury. (Raisa Kyrychenko as a landmark figure of Ukrainian culture)//Tvorchist Raisy Kyrychenko v kulturnomu prostori Ukrainy na pokor-donni XX-XXI (Creativity Raisa Kirichenko in the cultural space of Ukraine at the range of XX-XXI centuries): Coll. Science. pr./ed.: G. Kudryashov; Poltava. nat. ped. University of them. V. G. Korolenko. Poltava, - 2013, - P. 17-24 (in Ukrainian).
9. Kagarlyksky M. F. Naodyntsi z sovistiu: Obrazy diiachiv ukrainskoi kultury. (Alone with the conscience: Images figures of Ukrainian culture), Kyiv: Radyans'kyy pys'mennyk, - 1988, - 487 p. (in Ukrainian).
10. Betsenko T. Pryroda movno-poetychnoyi universal'nosti narodnopisennoyi tvorchosti (The nature of language and poetic creativity universality folk-song)/T. Betsenko [Electronic resource]. Access: URL: http://dspace.uabs.edu.ua/jspui/bitstream/123456789/11156/2/Betsenko.pdf (in Ukrainian).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/EJA-17-1-52-55
Popova Raisa Nikolaevna, Ekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art, Assistant of Department of actual cultural practices E-mail: raissa.popova@gmail.com
Mythological codes in the art of Post-Impressionism: new aspects of visualization
Abstract: The article examines a specific character of myth in the historical context, as well as the structure of myth and symbol as a medium for transmission of artistic messages. In particular, the author shows how mythological codes become apparent in the art of Post-Impressionism. Also, the article analyzes connections between the contemporary concept of myth and symbol, and the art on the border of XIX and XX centuries.
Keywords: Post-Impressionism, myth, symbol, semiotics of art, mythological codes, visualization.
Often myth, as well as symbol, becomes a me- relating to myths, for example, the works ofJoseph
diator between perceptible "eye" and the world of Ideas, and, in this sense, myth sometimes remains unnoticed. Nevertheless, myth is perceived (and is comprehended in many works of contemporary researchers) as a prototype, cultural DNA, as a seed of an artistic idea or an artistic origin. The significance of the myth becomes prominent when we begin to investigate something greater then is concealed in the painting. The research on myth assists to uncover deep layers of the message the artist embodied in his work.
The research on myth and symbol as a method of reality structuring again becomes prominent in the XX century. We find such ideas in the works on semiotics by the following researchers, as Yuri Lotman, Eleasar Meletinsky, Umberto Eco. It is also important to mention the philosophical works
Campbell. However, myth as a structure has not examined enough in connection with the fine art. Thus, it remains very important to investigate the development of myth in art not from the position of mythic stories in the figurative art, but the position of mythological perception in the works of Post-Impressionism, in particular, the research on mythological codes in this artistic field.
Myth that hides behind a variety of layers and contexts and is indicated by Claude Levi-Strauss with the absence of any "real limits of analysis" [1, 15], is a language that wonderfully combines visual and textual. The attraction of the myth consists not only in its mystery, but also in the unique ability to tell a story as long as eternity, using one single symbol, to hide the amazing depth of the ocean of unconscious, and to expand a story ad infinitum.
Mythological codes in the art of Post-Impressionism:new aspects of visualization
This ability creates the structure of art, dynamic, but at the same time organized. The capability of myth to transform visual images to the text and, vice versa, creates special communicative possibilities of art: it facilitates the launch of the spectator's endless sensual dialogue with himself. This capability was used by the Post-Impressionists, the Divisionists and the Symbolists, as it gives a key to the world of Spirit, but never explains anything completely. On the background of the great artistic, historical and social changes that occurred between the end of the XIX and early XX century, the ability of myth to transform reality and use all the possibilities to translate the artistic message becomes especially significant. Since the end of the XIX century and up to the modern experiments in the art of Postmodernism, the communicative function of art becomes one of the leading, and the "message" of the artist, perhaps, becomes the most exciting element in the perception of art. According to the modern conceptions, art is not only a form of visual pleasure, but also a special process of aesthetic knowledge. The perception and comprehension of art lead to the evolvement of the fundamental function of the humans — the ability to think creatively, realize and develop their own images and ideas.
Mythological code is presented as one of the types of cultural codes that transfer the information about world, social life, laws and rules peculiar to one or another society, of one or another age. Mythological code prevailed in the age of prehistory, particular in the pre-written language cultures, but is not limited to this period. A lot of the modern research on myth and "mythological thought" [2] shows that it doesn't pass into history. The force of myth still makes itself felt when we perceive the reality. Often mythological codes are easy to "read" and comprehend, even if the human being doesn't understand where it has come from.
The concept of mythological code is related to semiotics, especially to that of art, indicating that the human being is always placed in the structured system of cultural signs and communicates through the recognizable system of signs and symbols. Art, in fact, becomes one of the ways of comprehension of the world, emotional experience and perception
of reality through the certain artistic text. According to Y. Lotman, "the language of an artistic text in its essence is an artistic model of the world, and in this sense, with all its structure, belonging to "content" — it carries information" [3, 49].
Semiotics helps understand, through the use of a particular artistic language, how the aesthetic subject unfolds and how this Ariadne's thread leads through the labyrinth of spiritual and aesthetic experiences. In the context of semiotics, image becomes a language that mediates between the world of our inner emotions and the external world. To analyze the perception of the Post-Impressionist visual images it's necessary to show the structural features of the artistic text of the period, to study the mythological visual codes of Post-Impressionism and analyze how the artist chooses his own artistic sign system.
In the context of semiotics, the concept of symbol has a particular importance for the study of myth and mythological codes. The specific term has many meanings, so it is frequently used in the everyday sense, but still plays an important role in the formation of a mythological worldview. In the mythogen-esis, symbol denotes a number of functions.
Appearing in the artistic text, symbol organically fits in the artistic structure, and normally it's quite easy to distinguish. This is one of the features of symbol: it never completely belongs to one cultural period. "It always pierces the history vertically, coming from the past and going to the future. Memory of the symbol is always much more ancient than the memory of its non-symbolic environment" [4, 159]. Symbol also functions as cultural memory. Preserving a cultural information, symbol carries its structural model throughout the time. Due to this effect, symbol remains recognizable. Besides, symbols not only save the memory of the culture, but also unite it, connecting and collecting cultural heritage into the historical chain.
Speaking about myth in the context of semiotics, it is important to mention that in its substance myth is the first attempt to structure the world. The life is a structure, whether we speak about physics, biology, or art. "The structural order is a conductor, a carrier, by virtue ofwhich life manifests itself in all its grandeur, majesty and clarity" [5, 149] In myths the
man forms his sacred order, the transformation from chaos to organization of space, the system of internal and external relations through the symbols and rituals. For another thing, myth is usually organized on the strict binary and bisexual structure, and often we can observe a distinct balance of opposites.
Post-Impressionism is a true watershed period for the history of art, when the perception of art began changing and, therefore, the visual language has been also changing. The complicated and heterogeneous history of Post-Impressionism, which John Rewald aptly named "puzzle", became the precursor for large and conceptual changes in the contemporary art. Twenty years, that are too short for the full development of the style, from the last exhibition of the Impressionists in 1886 and up to 1906, when "officially" the art of Avant-garde was born, have marked the final abandonment of the classical realistic art. Twenty years have resulted into the beginning of the end, the milestone that has changed the whole course of the twentieth-century art. With the advent of Post-Impressionism, we have faced the situation, when there is a need to reconsider the apparent reality or rather, when the visible is no longer what it was even ten years ago.
So, a heterogeneous style, having no distinct frames, allowed the Post-Impressionists not to rely on the mainstream ideas and concepts, but resort to their own style: trying, improvising, making mistakes or definitely insisting. In the Post-Impressionism context, it usually refers to the French giants like Van Gogh, Seurat, Signac, and rarely are considered artists of any other country. Often this period is conceived in many other countries only as a time of decadence, the residual echo of impressionism, previous to the powerful and uncompromising movement of avant-garde. Nevertheless, during this period something important took place, and not just in the technical and "visible" aspects, but in the psychology of perception and the reproduction of visual arts. Perhaps one of the most precise definitions of the Post-Impressionist ideas can be found in Henri Matisse's words, "There are two ways to depict an object. One is just to show it, and the other is to admire it ..." [6, 3] This sensuous experience of
any object, whether it could be an apple or Madonna, is the essence of Post-Impressionism. Self-awareness of art and self-awareness of artist are the two poles of attraction of Post-Impressionism.
In the context of mythology, Post-Impressionism revives myth not in a canonical representation of the Renaissance, but in its wild authentic perception of spirituality, not as a form, but as an experience. In the broadest sense, the art of Post-Impressionism consists not in the external forming, but in the searching of Idea, an attempt to understand and emotionally reproduce everything that happened in the unstable world between XIX and XX centuries. In this sense, the artist on the turn of the centuries is similar to a primitive man. The earth is quaking and the lightning is flashing, the air smells of storm, something is yet to happen. Now all happens in a figurative sense, but it makes a little difference, and the artist meets no obstacles to conceive his wildness and vulnerability in the mythological categories. This situation contributes to the development of a special interest to symbolism, mythology, and mythogenesis. When doing research on the visual perception, it is important to understand how the mythological codes fulfil themselves in the Post-Impressionist works.
Besides, myth is a springboard into imagination. Myth does not only manifests its wonderful ability to structure and shape our lives, embodies the creative and aesthetic function in the natural events, but also transforms our lives by the instrumentality of the imagination. Mythological thought can be active for any period in the history of art. Mythological and archetypal codes in one way or another can be followed up in any artistic work and, consequently, the iconographic and symbolic structure of an artistic text can be defined. But myth is something very special for the art of Post-Impressionism, not as a superficial expression of stories, but as a deep comprehension of spiritual perception. Post-Impressionism has become a watershed in the history, when the art moves from formal to psychological, from the expression of reality to the interpretation of experience. In the artworks of Post-Impressionism we see how visual things begin their transformation, sometimes disintegrate in order to become fully absorbed by the abstract art after a couple of decades.
Tradition and innovation in Ukrainian music and drama theatre in the late XIX - early XX century
References:
1. Claude Levi-Strauss. Mythologiques. - Vol. 1. FreeFly. - Moscow. - 2006.
2. Ernst Cassirer The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms: Mythical thought. Yale University Press, - 1955.
3. Lotman Yuri. The structure of the artistic text. Art. SPb, - 1998.
4. Lotman Yuri. Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. - 1996.
5. Joseph Campbell. Myths to live by, Sophia, - 2002.
6. Herbert Read. A Concise History of Modern Painting, Art - XXI century, - 2009.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/EJA-17-1-55-59
Yan Irina Mykolaivna, Ph.D in Arts, associate professor, doctorant of the National Academy of Managerial Staff of Culture and Arts, Ukraine E-mail: iniko2004@ukr.net
Tradition and innovation in Ukrainian music and drama theatre in the late XIX - early XX century
Abstract: The article examines the traditions and innovations in Ukrainian music and drama theatre in the context of socio-cultural processes of late XIX — early XX centuries. Creative activity of outstanding Ukrainian theatre personalities formed the repertoire basis of the Ukrainian music and drama theatre, contributed to preserving cultural identity, national self-assertion, promoted the ethnographic foundations and traditions of the Ukrainian nation and proved creative affinity Ukrainian theatrical culture with European culture.
Keywords: Ukrainian theatrical culture, socio-cultural processes, Ukrainian music and drama theatre, traditions, innovations, repertoire.
In the process of building an independent Ukrainian state updated the questions of studying and preservation of the national cultural heritage in its retrospective diversity. Historical and cultural understanding of formation and development process Ukrainian music and drama theatre, which is an important component of historical memory and vivid manifestation of national identity, enables playback of common cultural and historical background, to identify the relationship of tradition and innovation to explore the cultural and artistic achievements of the leading theatre personalities of the time.
Social and cultural preconditions of Ukrainian theatre are revealed in the in historical-cultural, of art works of D. Antonovych, A. Krasylnykova, B. Romanytskyi and oth. The study features the director's interpretation are devoted ofYe. Horovych,
D. Dmytriev, I. Yershov, V. Moskalenko, A. Popov and oth. However, despite the significance of the scientists' achievements, historical and cultural aspects formation of Ukrainian music and drama theatre and development in terms of national cultural traditions and in the projection of European artistic trends still requires historical and art analysis. This caused the choice of the theme proposed article, which aims to highlight and analyze the traditions and innovations in Ukrainian music and drama theatre in the context of socio-cultural processes of late XIX — early XX centuries.
In the late nineteenth century development of Ukrainian culture and its artistic component — Ukrainian theatrical culture — was accompanied by significant spiritual elevation, caused by spread of the national liberation movement.
