Философските основи на концепцията за изкуството и изкуствознанието на Николай Райнов

Abstract

The present study is the first attempt to reconstruct the philosophical foundations of Nikolay Raynov's art history conception, developed in particular in the 12 volumes of his History of the Plastic Arts. Although his philosophical views can hardly be separated from the theosophical ones, the author makes a cautious distinction that allows to clarify Nikolay Raynov's selective reception of some of the most important philosophical views on art and art history. The proposed reconstruction aims to show, firstly, that Raynov draws inspiration from major philosophers such as Plato and the Neoplatonists, Bergson, Croce, and Solovyov, and, secondly, that their views stand in the foreground while theosophical ones form rather the general interpretative framework that is always present but not always explicitly stated. The methods of comparative hermeneutics and immanent-critical philosophical analysis are used to clarify Nikolay Raynov's ambivalent attitude toward philosophy, the nature and role of his metaphysical idealism, his interpretation of the multiple forms of realism, his conception of the seven cultural circles, and the basic philosophical components of his synthetic science of plastic arts.