Elite Art Research Articles

Comparison of the Selection Systems for Elite Art Talents in China and the UK: A Case Study on Art Entrance Examinations

Abstract: This paper compares the selection systems for elite art talents in China and the UK, using art entrance examinations as a case study. The study explores the differences, underlying reasons, problems, and reflections on the two countries selection systems, and proposes relatively detailed reform plans. The research concludes that while Chinas unified examination system is rigorous, it is overly rigid and fails to fully consider students professional interests, potentially leading to the loss of promising talents. On the other hand, the UKs selection criteria, though flexible, are highly subjective and tend to overlook the training of basic skills, potentially favoring innovation at the expense of technical ability. It is suggested that both countries should learn from each others strengths to further reform their systems. China could adopt the UKs A-Level system, gradually reform the unified examination into an elective system, and establish a national-level art recommendation letter system with endorsements from artists as core evaluators. Meanwhile, the UK could learn from Chinas nine-year compulsory education system by popularizing art education and emphasizing the cultivation of technical skills, with the reform of one technical skill subject into a compulsory examination subject.

Indo-Persian Identities in Medieval Muslim Deccan

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, the Deccan Plateau region saw the emergence of Muslim sultanates (Bahmani, Ahmednagar, Bidar, Golconda, Bijapur, Berar, Bijapur) whose political, religious, intellectual, and artistic elites are deeply imbued with the Persian language and culture. They thus continue a long tradition of the dynasties that appeared in the east of the Muslim world, since the 9th century (Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khwarazmshahs, Ilkhanids, Timurids), as well as the Muslim political power ruling northern India, between the 13th and the 16th centuries (Delhi Sultanate). In all of this, regardless of the origin of the political-military elites who were in power (Turks, Afghans, Caucasians, Iranians, Indians converted to Islam), Persian becomes both the political-administrative language and the language of culture. Our study aims to provide an insight into the ways in which this Persian reference was disseminated, developed, assumed in the Bahmani Sultanate, and then in the other five sultanates that emerged after its dissolution (1527). For over three centuries, the dynasties in power patronized a very rich cultural life, where traditional Persian elements, brought here by scholars, religious people, Sufis, poets, artists coming from the Middle East and Central Asia, were shaped and adapted to the realities of the Indian environment. These symbioses were especially visible in art (primarily in miniatures) and in the development of new artistic expressions within what is called Indo-Islamic architecture.

NFTs and the financialization of art

ABSTRACT The explosion of the NFT market has resulted in the unprecedented financialization of the art world. While some view NFTs as another move toward the complete financialization of social and cultural life, others argue that NFTs circulate in a decentralized marketplace outside the confines of traditional art world gatekeepers, providing opportunities for people previously excluded from an elite art world. This study finds that gatekeeping structures and market centralization are prominent features of NFT trading. Trading is dominated by a small, oligopolistic group of wealthy traders and a variety of gatekeepers who can manipulate prices. On the other hand, the practice of paying artists royalties on secondary sales of their work is a major step forward that could affect the non-blockchain art world as well. Whether this becomes an established art world convention will depend on the ability of blockchain artists to defend this practice from current trends toward its erosion.

Shards of memory. Stanisław Olexiński, collector from Lviv

This article is devoted to Stanisław Olexiński (1865–1941), a person almost completely unknown, but – as it seems – rather important for the history of art and collecting in Lviv (now Ukraine). Olexiński was the administrative secretary of the Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (Ossoliński National Institute) since 1919, as well as a well-known collector. His collection was focused mainly on publications on the theory and history of art, and he also gathered a sizeable portion of prints and drawings by Polish artists. Partially preserved correspondence and documents related to Olexiński reveal his passion for collecting and his commercial activities in the artistic community. Letters from well-known artists confirm his commitment and testify to his sturdy activity in acquiring works of art, both by purchasing them directly from the artists. Olexiński exchanged works from his collection with, among others, the Ossoliński Institute, also donated some objects to the City Gallery or the Historical Museum in Lviv. Unfortunately, the fate of the collection remains unknown. After Olexiński’s death in 1941, shortly after the German army entered Lviv, his collection may have been dispersed, sold or destroyed. The last piece of information relating to Olexiński is a letter from Andrzej Lubomirski, curator of the Ossoliński Institute, dated August 1941, indicating that the collector was still popular; nevertheless, it is uncertain whether letter reached him or his wife. The paper presented herein is an attempt to restore the memory of someone who played a relatively substantial role in the cultural life of Lviv’s intellectual and artistic elite.

Giants of the Sands: The Giraffe and its Place in Symbolic Vocabulary in the Kingdom of Kush, Sudan

Abstract The image of a giraffe was added to both wheelmade and handmade pottery, faience plaques, temple walls and rock art in the Meroitic period of the Kingdom of Kush (c.570 BC–AD550), located in modern-day Sudan. However, giraffes do not appear in contemporary royal and elite art and architecture. This article explores the giraffe motif in Kush and compares this to its use earlier in Sudanese history as well as in neighbouring Egypt. The use of this motif on specific media suggests it was important in the symbolic language shared in the Middle Nile Region, but not in the elite canon, meaning it may be a window into understanding oral traditional practices of this time, that perhaps evolved and circulated over a long time period.

Thematic Spectrum of the Music and Cultural Publications in the Chronicle "Way to Victory" (1954–1974)

The article concerns an analytical review of music and cultural publications of prominent figures who represented the Ukrainian diaspora on the pages of the Munich chronicle "The Way to Victory". The printed edition of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the day-book "The Way to Victory", were and still are an effective means of transmitting ethnic information and asserting national identity. On its pages, Ukrainians abroad were introduced to various artistic events and the life works of the founders of Ukrainian culture. These musical and cultural articles were an important communication tool that cultivated national artistic values, and they also became a valuable chronicle of socio-political, public-cultural, artistic, and educational progress. The cultural and artistic press publications that appeared on the pages of the "The Way to Victory" in the second half of the twentieth century represent a valuable source material. As of today, they have not been studied, so it is important to analyze the thematic spectrum of these publications. The main results of the study include an analysis of musical and cultural publications of prominent figures of the Ukrainian diaspora. The published works of authors who are prominent representatives of the Ukrainian artistic elite abroad are characterized. The thematic spectrum of newspaper publications that appeared on the pages of the is studied. The content of concert reviews is analyzed, and anniversary biographical and memorial articles are reviewed. Based on our analysis, the author concluded that the sociopolitical chronicle "The Way to Victory" was one of the most important Ukrainian-language publications in Munich in the period 1954–1974. Musical and cultural publications on the pages of this newspaper are numerous and broadly thematic. The achievements of Ukrainian music and educational figures in the multicultural space demonstrated a high professional level of cultural selfpresentation in a foreign language. Prospects for further research lie in the cultural understanding of artistic press materials of other foreign diaspora Ukrainian-language publications, which will not only deepen the art historical research field of Ukraine, but will also contribute to the further preservation of our cultural heritage of the environment of another nation and ensure rapid integration into the global public space. An evaluation of the artistic press prints, which became an annals of the cultural and educational life of Ukrainians both in Germany and in the world cultural sphere, and which conveyed the high professional level of Ukrainian music to the world community

THE HISTORY OF THE ECOLOGICAL POSTER MUSEUM CREATION AT THE KHARKIV STATE ACADEMY OF DESIGN AND ARTS

The article attempts to analyze in a chronological dimension (1991–2021) the history of creation and functioning of the International Triennial of Ecological Poster “4th Block”, the largest artistic and environmental action in Ukraine, aimed at drawing attention to environmental problems in the world and the spiritual and moral foundations of life. The features of each triennial are consistently reflected, the changes in time of the pictorial component of the modern poster as they move away from Chernobyl tragedy are traced, its artistic and communicative features and innovations used by designers to promote important universal human aspirations are identified. The basis of the study was the materials of albums-catalogs of eleven triennials held, the collection of graphics and posters itself, the book of memoirs of the founder of the triennial. Attention is focused on the natural process of transforming the collection of posters and graphics into a museum that can become the center of modern design culture. A special role of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in the organization and support of the “4th Block – Museum, Archive, Laboratory” was noted. An institution of higher education with a powerful creative and scientific potential, its own traditions and original teaching methods, KSADА constantly organizes the educational process in such a way as to acquaint students with history and new trends in contemporary art, including graphic design. This approach attracts new generations of the artistic elite of Ukraine to participate in a dialogue between representatives of different cultural regions and broadcast their own artistic experience to the world space in order to spread the best ideas of mankind. The article presents the conclusions from this study and the prospects for further research in this direction.

How online discourse networks fields of practice: The discursive negotiation of autonomy on art organisation about pages

This article examines how the online discourse of art organisations forges relationships between the artworld and the fields of politics and economy. Combining elements of Pierre Bourdieu’s field analysis and Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, the article analyses an elite art magazine, e-flux, and an elite art museum, IMMA, and the activities of discourses, genres, and utterances on their about pages. Its results suggest that the about pages of these organisations forge links between the artworld and the fields of politics and economy by mobilising discourse in these fields and by incorporating discourse practices from these fields. The ideological tension resulting from this interdiscursivity was found to be managed in different ways. The article thereby contributes to furthering our understanding of how discourse networks fields of practice.

Practical Utopia: The Many Lives of Dartington Hall by Anna Neima

It would be hard to imagine a more interdisciplinary enterprise than this study of Dartington Hall, particularly considering this study’s wide range of sources. Founded in 1926, Dartington was a spiritual center, a school, and a center for the arts. Its fascinating story has broader implications for religious thought, education, and many artistic activities, particularly the interplay between private and public ones. It still exists as the Dartington Trust but in a truncated form. In a sense, the rest of the world, England in this particular case, has caught up with it.The great country house in Devon, famous for its Hall, was acquired by Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst. She was an extremely wealthy American and he the son of a Yorkshire parson, deeply influenced by Rabindranath Tagore after having spent time in India. Her money made everything possible. Devon was a conservative county, but now the closest town, Totnes, is well known for being a center for the counterculture. Dartington and its culture faded in the 1980s. Yet in many ways, it accomplished its mission.The original impetus seems to have an effort to attain a higher level of spirituality. Neima in her excessive use of footnotes provides a running bibliography with extensive references to her academic sources. This study is extremely rich in context but not as rich in content. The Elmhirsts were religious questers, but Neima offers comparatively little information about their quest and the extent to which it was successful. In their attempt to live better lives in some sort of religious context, they established what became a well-known progressive boarding school, to a degree notorious for its nude bathing and, probably largely unjustly, for underage sexual activity.Dartington Hall had a raft of distinguished alumni, including Michael Young, subsequently Lord Young of Dartington, who wrote a biography of the Elmhirsts, founded the consumer publication Which?, and drafted the Labour Party manifesto that played a crucial role in winning Labour the 1945 election. More detail would have been welcome about the school’s curriculum, its difference from more traditional education, and its graduates. It certainly offered a more rural experience than did most other boarding schools.Neima tells us much more about the arts at Dartington Hall. The Hall played a crucial role in advancing the performing arts—theater, music, and dance. It had an important progressive influence on the course of the arts on the national level and was surprisingly successful in erasing the barriers between popular and elite art. In the theater, the dominant figure was Michael Chekhov. It was also highly influential in other areas, ranging from architecture—with connections to such exiled figures as Walter Gropius—to pottery, boasting Bernard Leach, perhaps the best known potter of the time.To its credit, particularly during World War II and immediately afterward, Dartington Hall’s artistic activities provided an important model of what the state should do on a much wider scale in subsidizing the arts, as it did regarding the establishment of the Arts Council right after the war. It also supported greater coordination between national and local interests. In effect, the private philanthropy of the Elmhirsts, sometimes seen as paternalistic, was eventually replaced by local and national authorities. Given that a few of Dartington’s enterprises were businesses, it faced continual pressure not to lose money.The school, to some observers the best-known aspect of the enterprise, closed in 1987. The Dartington Trust, however, still undertakes creative activities in Devon. Neima might have supplied more detail about how Dartington Hall’s myriad operations actually functioned in its heyday. Nevertheless, she has provided an important and illuminating study of an institution founded almost a century ago that has had a significant and highly commendable impact on English life.

Corporate and Personal Relations among the Literary Intelligentsia in the 1920s

The article examines the important issue of corporate and personal relations among the literary intelligentsia in the 1920s, which influenced significantly the development of not only the literary and artistic process but the course of the ideologization of cultural life in Soviet Ukraine as well. By examining the formation and confrontation of literary groups, the author investigates the consequences of the struggle in the intelligentsia’s environment. Besides, highlighting interpersonal relations, the author shows its influence on the results of the writers’ activity in the conditions of Ukrainization and pressure from the totalitarian state. The turbulent literary process in the 1920s was largely defined by the presence of various movements and groups in the USSR (Ukrainian Socialistic Soviet Republic) among literary figures. They waged a fierce, often destructive ideological struggle. The Bolshevik regime was able to give this struggle the character of an ideological confrontation and, consequently, to transfer it to the political area. Thus, in the conditions of totalitarian communist discourse the Soviet authorities got the opportunity to use this circumstance as a ground for political and physical destruction. At the same time, it was very difficult for the Bolshevik authorities to control horizontal corporate, and especially personal, ties. That is why the process of constant surveillance of literary and artistic figures was launched. The examples of H. Kosynka, M. Khvylovyi, and other writers show that this process was aimed not only at total control, but also at influencing the environment of cultural figures. This influence had an impact on the formation of an atmosphere of general fear and widespread distrust in the society of the cultural and artistic elite. And, as a consequence, the severance of horizontal ties, atomization and institutional weakening of the literary and artistic intelligentsia. It is determined that the Ukrainian literary and artistic intelligentsia in the paradigm of its own vision of the goals and objectives of Ukrainization, which were different from those of the governing Party, actually became a counter-elite for the Bolshevik party. This was the fundamental reason for the confrontation between the regime and the writers of the 1920s. Having used corporate and personal confrontation among writers, the Communist Party soon began to destroy intellectuals in Soviet Ukraine.

Jesuit Art by Mia M. Mochizuki

Reviewed by: Jesuit Art by Mia M. Mochizuki Thomas Worcester S.J. Jesuit Art. By Mia M. Mochizuki. (Leiden: Brill. 2022. Pp. 219. $168.00. ISBN 9789004462519). A volume in the series Brill Research Perspectives in Jesuit Studies, edited by Robert Maryks, this book offers a review and overview of recent work on the history of Jesuit art and to some extent more broadly on Jesuit topics, especially Jesuit culture, from papal approval of the Society of Jesus in 1540 to its suppression in 1773. The author does a good job of showing how even if scholars continue to associate Jesuit art with the Baroque period, they also agree more and more that there is no single Jesuit style: in artistic production as in many other areas, Jesuits responded to varied circumstances and needs. There was no typical kind of Jesuit art. Jesuit art did appeal very frequently to the emotions and to the five senses. Jesuit-produced and/or Jesuit-commissioned works were intended to instruct viewers or hearers in the Catholic faith, and to move them to repent for sin and to embrace a life of virtue, a life nourished by the Church’s sacraments, and by heart-felt imitation of Jesus and the saints. Already in the first decades of the Society of Jesus, Jesuits were spreading out across the globe, and Mochizuki devotes much of her fine discussion and extensive [End Page 201] bibliographies to the global reach of Jesuit art, how it brought European art to the rest of the world, and how Jesuits engaged with and collaborated with the art of other continents though hybridization. If they returned to Europe, Jesuits often brought non-European art back with them, thus fertilizing and broadening the European artistic imagination. A book like this is enhanced by judicious use of images, reproduced clearly and when appropriate and possible in color. The author and the publisher merit praise for a large number of high-quality images. A stunning color photograph of the Church of the Gesù, in Rome (p. 41), is but one example. Another is a detailed photograph (p. 137) of a seventeenth-century Portuguese reliquary that includes a copy of the anonymous Salus Populi Romani, a painting of the Madonna and child, much appreciated by St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, a painting long housed in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica. Though painting, and to a lesser extent architecture, dominate this book, prints and images in printed books do also share in the author’s attention. Many scholars have studied Jerónimo Nadal’s Evangeliae historiae imagines, published in 1593 in Antwerp, a work focused on the life Jesus, and intended as an aid for Jesuits and others in doing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. With 153 folio images, the multi-volume work connected biblical texts with images in a way designed to help a kind of prayer in which imagination (“composition”) of place was central, indeed foundational (pp. 78–99). The one disappointment in this book is that it offers almost nothing beyond the late eighteenth century, except for a 2013 image of Pope Francis (p. 14) in prayer before the Salus Populi Romani. Pius VII had restored the Jesuits in 1814, and since the 2014 bicentennial of that seminal event, significant numbers of scholars of Jesuit history have been turning more and more to the period 1814 to the present. What about art history? Mochizuki states that in recent times art historians have moved beyond a singular focus on masterpieces of elite art to a more inclusive study of material and visual cultures (p. 29). Does not such an approach deal with the modern era of the Society of Jesus? If not, why not? Thomas Worcester S.J. Fordham University Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press ...

Borys Liatoshynskyi and the artists of Lviv: epistolary notes to the biography of the artist

The article looks into the cultural and artistic relations of the artists of Kyiv and Lviv based on the letters of Borys Lyatoshynskyi. The role of Borys Liatoshinsky in preserving the cultural significance of these artists despite Soviet cultural narratives is studied. The situation in arts was especially tragic after the 1948 decree “On the opera “Great Friendship” by Vano Muradeli”. The characters of Ukrainian artists of the Galytska school of composers — Vasyl Barvinskyi, Adam Soltys, Roman Simovych, Jozef Koffler, and Tadeusz Siegfried Kassern — have been reconstructed based on the correspondence. The epistolary legacy of B. Liatoshynsky testifies that Lviv runs through his creative path as a red thread, bringing into the orbit of our attention both personal relationships with the city (his visits, social life of artistic elite), and some collisions (often dramatic), which relate to the works of the artist. No city in Ukraine attracted the artist as much as Lviv: there he presented his works to a thoughtful listener and communicated with kindred spirits. The tragic pages of rejection and persecution of B. Liatoshynskyi’s largest works — the Second and Third symphonies — have been described and introduced into scientific circulation. The fate of the former appears to be the most tragic one in the history of Ukrainian musical culture during the Soviet times. Having considered the correspondence of the B. Liatoshinsky, we conclude that Lviv musicians always supported the artist in difficult years, appreciating his extraordinary talent. The feeling was mutual — B. Liatoshinsky felt sincere, tender love for Lviv, its profound intellectual atmosphere, its people, and the ability to maintain the true friendship of spiritually kindred hearts.

Monodial stylistics in the liturgical works of Galician composers of the end of the XIX – first half of the XX centuries

The article draws attention to the historical and social processes that influenced the peculiarities of the development of Ukrainian culture, in particular, formed the specifics of church-educational life and liturgical-choral practice of Galicia in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. The close cooperation of the spiritual and artistic elite was emphasized, which resulted in the improvement of the level of art education, intensification of the activities of numerous choral societies and composers. Based on the analysis of the liturgical works of P. Bazhansky, V. Matyuk, J. Kishakevych, S. Liudkevych, the prerogatives of the author’s composition in the use of monody style were revealed.

Illuminating the Vita Nuova: Phoebe Anna Traquair, Evelyn Paul, and Medievalist Practices of Visual Mediation

ABSTRACT The article carries out a close, comparative reading of two modern illuminated editions of the Vita nova by an Arts and Crafts artist, namely Phoebe Anna Traquair (1902) and a London-based art professional, Evelyn Paul (1916). After a short reconstruction of the historical and social context fostering the revival of illumination in mid-to-late Victorian Britain, the article unpacks the inner mechanism of pictorial, decorative, and typographical mediation that the two illuminators designed to translate the verbal sign and convey a distinctive visual interpretation of the libello. It considers how their editions introduced the ‘elite arts of poetry’ and manuscript illumination within the intellectual and economic reach of the middle-class mass public seeking cultural cultivation. It ponders how these popular artefacts mediated Dante’s book of poetry for a whole new reading public.

БАРДОВСКАЯ ПЕСНЯ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ИСТОРИЧЕСКОГО ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ РУССКОЙ ПОЭЗИИ И МУЗЫКИ

In the article, in a wide historical range, the prerequisites for the emergence and existence of the bard song as a significant phenomenon in the life of Russian society in the second half of the 20 th century, based on the synthesis of poetry and music, the relationship between elite art and mass culture, are considered. For many decades, poets have striven for melodiousness of the word, and musicians for singing poetry, which was embodied in bardic creativity, reflecting the essence of the Russian national character.

Європейські курорти у ХІХ столітті: візії мандрівників з Наддніпрянської України

The article analyzes travel notes, diaries, memoirs, correspondence of a number of travelers from Dnieper Ukraine, who in the XIX century, were traveling to different European countries for treatment and recreation. In the 30's and 40's of the XIX century European resorts were visited by M. Gogol, G. Galagan, M. Rigelman. In the second half of the XIX century O. Kistyakivsky, M. Kostomarov, the Luchytsky family and others went for treatment. In the process of research, in order to reconstruct tourist practices and establish a list of European resorts that were popular with Ukrainians, the following scientific methods were used: internal criticism, historical-genetic, historical-comparative, culturological, descriptive, theoretical generalization. In the process of scientific research it was established that the XIX century became a period of intensification of trips to Europe by representatives of the aristocratic and artistic elite of Dnieper Ukraine. For treatment and rest, they chose mainly German, Czech balneological, Belgian and French climatic resorts. The most popular were Bad Ems, Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Carlsbad, Marienbad, Nice, Ostend. Visiting resorts took place both in summer and in winter. Travelers from Dnieper Ukraine described their stay outside their homeland in detail in travelogues, diaries and memoirs. These sources of personal origin give an idea of the natural conditions and climate of different regions of Europe, tourist routes and architectural monuments; fix the principles of functioning of balneological and climatic medical institutions; partially describe medical practices; determine the place of resorts in the socio-cultural space.

ГЕНЕЗИС МЕЖДУНАРОДНОЙ ВЫСТАВКИ СОВРЕМЕННОГО ИСКУССТВА DOCUMENTA КАК ДИАЛОГОВОЙ ПЛОЩАДКИ ЭЛИТАРНОГО ИСКУССТВА И МАССОВОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

The article examines the genesis of the documenta exhibition as the largest forum in the world of contemporary art, based on the dialogical character of elite art and mass culture. On the example of 14 exhibitions held from 1955 to 2017 documenta traced the long path of development from a single art event as part of the Federal Exhibition of Gardens to a regular global event, studied the role of its artistic directors - curators.

Резьба по кости и рогу как декоративное искусство Древней Руси IX - первой половины XI в.

The aim of the work is general characteristics of bone carving art of Kievan Rus. The source is the archaeological material of South and North Rus. The methodology includes iconographic and stylistic analysis; use of the results of archaeological dating. In the course of the study, the author characterized iconography, stylistics, symbolism, aesthetics of objects; arranged objects from different regions in a single chronological row according to the dates of archaeological sites and analogies; characterized bone carving in the context of the art of the period in accordance with the kinds of ornament. As a result, conclusions are drawn. The role of the kinds of ornament in the formation of artistic appearance of bone objects and in the formation of style is determined. Complication of geometric ornament in the 9th and 10th centuries destroys the harmony of products, but the rhythmic organization in the 10th and 11th centuries returns harmony. Abstract curvilinear ornament regularly and harmoniously fills the zones and effectively accentuates the shape of the object with grotesque motifs. Curvilinear irregular braided ornament tends to Scandinavian styles; the regular one creates the basis for their adaptation and formation of local styles. Examples of plant ornament demonstrate the development in Rus of Eurasian decorative elite style. Zoomorphic ornament complements the elongated household items with volumetric ends, accentuating their form and function. Some of zoomorphic ends on the horn tips of the 10th and early 11th centuries has Scandinavian style, others original geometrized forms. A number of works reflect a stylistic symbiosis: European and Byzantine traditions; Scandinavian and plant ornaments. The pagan semantics is noted: the crest from Pskov with a mythological plot, idol-like image of human face; other symbolic schemes. The semantics reduces the aesthetic level; accents contradict the rhythm and create disharmony. Some of the works correspond to the level of the folk art: household items and amulets with geometric and abstract curvilinear ornaments, simplified transfer of zoomorphic motifs. The other part corresponds to advanced elite art of the Viking Age: spread and use of Scandinavian, Byzantine, and Eurasian tendencies, the formation of mixed stylistic variants. Display in a simplified manner of Scandinavian ornamental patterns of the 10th-11th centuries indicates its mastering. The art of bone carving demonstrates the same laboratory of choice as other forms of decorative art in Rus. it is related with woodcarving in the active use of geometric and braided ornaments, generalized zoomorphic and idol-like images. Plant ornament is not as widespread as in embroidery, filigree, woodcarving, which emphasizes the stage of its formation. The traditions of folk art were combined with the Scandinavian, Byzantine, and Eurasian ones; the developed versions formed the basis for future styles of Kievan Rus.

Formation and development of Ukrainian tapestry in the environment design

The purpose of the article is to highlight the provisions and track the historical evolution of a special Ukrainian art craft, known as the art of tapestry in environmental design. The research methods are based on art history analysis, the principles of historicism, scientific consistency, and objectivity in the study of Ukrainian tapestry. Scientific novelty. The historical origins of tapestry art are revealed, the issue of introducing innovative techniques for making tapestry is raised, which influenced the modern design of the environment of the XXI century. Based on the results of the study, we can conclude that the art of tapestry follows the traditions of folk carpet weaving. In modern conditions, the tapestry is able to actively fill the ethnocultural environment, in rare cases, it is a monumental decorative art. From aristocratic and elite art, it becomes more democratic, decorating the interiors of the premises of the XXI century.
 Keywords: tapestry, carpet weaving, tradition, innovation, environmental design.

Rare Objects and the Rhapsodic World of Yoruba Elite Art Collectors: Preliminary Notes

This paper is a preliminary note on the data collected during my research on archives in Nigeria in the summer of 2013. While I examined both public and private archives, I found the private archives particularly those in the cities in southwestern Nigeria to be surprisingly rich in objects that are rare, new, and sometimes with unusual subject matter. The archives belong to notable elite collectors who are the de facto shapers of the art industry in Nigeria today. Their archives are worth art-historlcal study in terms of the richness of the col­lectlon, and because the sites are the contemporary repositories of not only an­clent art but also traditional, modern and contemporary works of art. From the range and volume of the collections, the archives seem to have taken over from the government-owned museums. The shift is very interesting to study as one traces the trajectory of art acquisition and accumulation from pre-modern to modern institutions. The preliminary submission here is that Nigerian elite art collectors are lnterveners and game changers. Their intervention could be seen in two ways: First, as rescuers of disappearing cultures and by the same plat­form they are pivotal to reclamation of cultural patrimony. Secondly, as game changers and transformative agencies the elite collectors become culture bro­kers who work assiduously to stem 'culture flight' and 'heritage drain'. The plat­forms they offer grant them boasting rights as art connoisseurs and promotes the affirmation of elite power within the matrix of a post-colonial nation state.