Higher Art Schools Research Articles

Proletarian Culture and Leftist Trends in Russia at the Beginning of the 20th Century

The low level of development of this topic in Russian historiography can be explained by the fact that, most often, this problematics is considered through the prism of general issues of culture of the Soviet period, party and state cultural policy, aspects of intelligentsia studies.This study aims at identifying the artistic concept of the leftist direction in the visual arts of the early 20th century, considering its variability, showing its origins, relations with the Soviet government and within the artistic environment, analyzing the reasons for its prohibition and exodus for many decades.The article pays special attention to the genesis of the very concept of “leftist art”, which was applied both in relation to new radical trends and in relation to the work of artists who considered themselves among the proletarian culture. The article attempts to separate the concepts of “avant-garde”, “modernism”, “futurism”. The authors focus on the art of the avant-garde, whose representatives, at the time of the Bolsheviks’ coming to power, took all the key positions and began to actively promote their creativity. The article pays attention to the reform of art education, as a result of which the Academy of Arts and the Higher Art School were abolished, and the Petrograd Art Training Workshops were created instead, where previous teaching methods were cancelled, talented masters were dismissed, and disciplines based on the principles of the avant-garde were introduced into education in the majority. The authors outline the changes in the traditions of museology, when, by the decision of the avant-gardists, museums began to be headed not by art historians, but by artists themselves, who became responsible for opening exhibitions and acquiring new works of art — at public expense and mainly of an avant-garde orientation.Based on archival materials and periodicals of the 1920s, the article analyzes the tasks of Soviet cultural policy, the art views of Soviet political leaders and art historians who were on the new government’s side. The authors consider the political views of representatives of proletarian culture (Proletkult) and the reasons for their disagreements with party leaders. The article substantiates the conclusion about the discrepancy in the understanding of the role of fine art among the government, avant-garde artists, and Proletkult representatives.

Variety turn as the basis of an eductional concert

The purpose of the article is to analyze the creative process of the specifics of creating a variety of turns of different genres in an educational concert. The methodology consists of the use of the following methods: historical (art history), comparative, logical, and generalization, which allowed us to consider the issue of creative approaches as a basis for professional performance on stage. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in a qualitatively new approach to the issue of creating variety turns in educational concerts in the context of the formation of a modern specialist of variety art. Conclusions. Firstly, the analysis proved that for a variety of artists, namely in the genre of the compere’s comments, the proposed circumstances are the real circumstances of the concert. Secondly, a specific feature of communication between objects is the principle of interaction through the auditorium. Thirdly, the development of professional skills of improvisation on the stage is the most important condition for the training of future artists in higher art school. Fourthly, the main principle of work in an educational concert is to master a complex form of external and internal attention, which requires a constant «switching» of the way of existence of a variety of artists. Fifthly, when choosing, searching, and working on a variety of image-mask, the basic elements of the various artist's psychotechnics are crucial. Sixthly, various forms of educational concerts are the most important stage in the formation of professional skills of the future variety artist.

Dark Times: Art and Artists of Vilnius in 1939–1941


 
 
 The aim of this paper is to discuss and reconstruct in general features the reality of the Vilnius artistic community from late autumn 1939 to June 1941. This period of less than two years significantly changed the configuration of the artistic community of the city, the system of institutions shaping the art scene as well as the artistic goals. It also brought forth new names and inspired new images. These changes were above all determined by political circumstances: the war that broke out in Poland on 1 September 1939; the ceding of Vilnius and the Vilnius region to Lithuania; two Soviet occupations: in the autumn of 1939 and June 1940, and the subsequent Nazi occupation a year later. The influence of politics on the art scene and the life of artists has been explored in institutional and other aspects by both Lithuanian and Polish art historians, but the big picture is not yet complete, and the general narrative is still under construction. A further aim of this paper is to highlight some elements that have not received sufficient attention in historiography and that are necessary for the reconstruction of the whole. Some facts of cooperation or its absence among artists of various ethnicities are presented, and the question is raised on the extent to which these different groups were affected by Sovietisation, and what impact this fragmentation had on the city’s art scene. The timeline of the activity of the higher art school and the Art Museum has been detailed.
 
 

Practical aspects of colour science in the educational process. Using a limited palette

The paper presents the practical aspects of colour science in the context of the interaction of colours and obtaining certain shades. As a practical teaching methodology, the use of a limited palette of three primary colours in several modifications has been offered. The given individual author's observations and conclusions formed in the process of teaching painting in the higher art school. The paper presents some of the author's observations and conclusions emerged in the process of teaching painting in a higher art school. A practical problem is the shallow knowledge of the physical features of colour, the standardization of the educational palette, the absence of an individual artist's palette. To avoid those problems, the students were asked to use a limited palette instead of the standard one. It is based on three primary colours in different versions. For each task, two options of a basic paints set were offered with the condition that other ready-mixed paints would not be used. The painting task prompted the creation of a wide scale of cold and warm colour tones. Relying on the colour theory, the students had to create their own palette of complementary colours (purple, orange, green), as well as their shades. In the course of work, it turned out that the very fact of the finished palette absence was the most difficult for the students. The first attempts to mix the main colours took a lot of time, but at this stage they began to be more attentive to the properties of paints, to notice the difference in shades, to vary the saturation of colour. Almost all the students have achieved the effect of a wide range of ochre and brown colours and have created a fairly wide palette. The resulting colours have turned out to be easy to reproduce and convenient to use. The results of the work prove that practical tasks with a limited palette use are informative and useful in teaching painting. An empirical research of the interaction of pigments will help students to learn and successfully embody their own painting intentions.

The War and the Academy. Architectural Department of Higher Art School at the Imperial Academy of Arts, 1914–1918

The War and the Academy. Architectural Department of Higher Art School at the Imperial Academy of Arts, 1914–1918

Conceptual Ideas of Narrative Pedagogy in Professional Formation of a Music Art Teacher

Modern artistic education is considered in the context of the development of the spiritual potential of the individual on the basis of constructing a pedagogical process in line with the humanitarian practice. This practice involves the joint actions of teacher-student in the hermeneutic circle from life experience - to theoretical knowledge, reflection of practical activity - through the identification, formulation and solution of professional development tasks. In this regard, the pedagogical community is actively discussing the need to develop promising technologies that can provide a breakthrough in the development of education. The new technologies aim to solve a number of problems faced by a modern high school. Accordingly, the process of learning at higher art schools should be reoriented from acquiring knowledge and skills to forming abilities to gain this knowledge and skills independently. Therefore, for humanitarian knowledge in general and for artistic pedagogy in particular, a hermeneutical view is particularly productive. In an effort to overcome the traditional rational orientation and intellectualization of consciousness, it goes to the understanding of a man through the reflective re-evaluation of the spiritual experience of mankind, fixed not only in science, but also in art, in the culture as a whole, which, from our point of view, is very relevant. So there is a natural appeal to the narrative mode of knowledge, provided not by logics but imagination, because there are free images and fantasia in it. The linguistic design of the hermeneutic interpretation of a musical piece is associated with an appeal to meanings - individual meanings of words isolated from the objective system of relationships that are directly related to a specific musical piece. We referred suggestions regarding the phasing of the metaphor to narrative techniques. Mechanism of metaphor design is recommended to imagine as a series of mental operations: the emergence of the author's intention, in search of the object (metaphor basis) that allows the author to express his idea. During this process due to the association some images and concepts arise and figurative, vivid ones should be chosen among them.

Выпускник Сибирского кадетского корпуса Е. А. Калачев – художник советской эпохи

The article follows the fate of Eugene (Yevgeny) Kalachev, a Siberian Cadet Corps graduate and Cossack regular officer of the Russian Imperial army, a creative person, teacher, professor of pictorial art of the Soviet era. Siberian Cossack E. A. Kalachev graduated the Siberian Cadet Corps (1905) and the Nikolaevsky Cavalry School (1907). Having served three years in the Third Siberian Cossack Regiment in the rank of sotnik, he left military service (1911) and thus drastically changed his life. After leaving Omsk for good, he went to St. Petersburg and enrolled at the Higher Art School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture of the Imperial Academy of Arts. He studied in the workshop of Nikolai Semenovich Samokish. His later life was that of an artist and a teacher. In Soviet era, he was a member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia of the State Academy of Artistic Sciences and participated in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. In his later years E. A. Kalachev was teaching at the faculty of arts of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. The article is based on published and unpublished sources. Of most interest are biographical documents from the fonds of the Historical Archive of the Omsk Region and correspondence preserved in the family archive of the author. The following three letters are of particular interest to historians: (1) letter from a Russo-Japanese War participant, sub-yesaul Vasily Epifanovich Dolzhenko to cadet E. A. Kalachev (1904); (2) letter from junker of the Nicholaevsky Cavalry School E. A. Kalachev to captain V. E. Dolzhenko (1906); and (3) letter from professor of pictorial art E. A. Kalachev to Maria Evgenievna Dolzhenko, widow of V. E. Dolzhenko (1956). The article may be of interest to art historians, researchers writing biographies of the Russia Cadet Corps graduates, and historians following the life of Russian officers on the eve of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Special features of building special libraries’ information resources

Main trends in developing special libraries’ information resources are characterized, in particular, those of art and museum libraries, libraries of higher art schools. The projects for generating information resources undertaked by these libraries are discussed. User inquiries are analyzed; stages of information services development are compared. Modern online-services: “Ask-a-bibliographer”, e-mail inquiries, Internet-based services, subject databases are illustrated by the examples of the databases: M. Fokin Archive, Sketch collection, The Artist, Russian Drama, Modern Dramatic Art , etc. The author concludes on the demand for building integrated digital resource of the libraries, museums, and art schools.

HIGHER CHOREOGRAPHIC EDUCATION: THE EXPERIENCE OF GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

The current state of higher choreographic education and features of professional training of choreographers in the German-speaking countries, in particular Austria, Germany and Switzerland were analyzed. It is found that most of the German-speaking countries are Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which became the object of study. The considered the structure of higher choreographic education in the German-speaking countries. Universities, higher dance schools and higher art schools are functioning in Germany. Universities and academies are functioning in Austria and Switzerland. The institutions of theatre sciences, faculty of pedagogy and psychology, departments of performing arts are the structural units of the universities. The institutions of higher education have both private and state ownership. It is found out that the main areas for which training is future choreographers in the German-speaking countries there is a Dance, Dance pedagogy, dance, Science of dance, Choreography. German-speaking countries recognized by the training of specialists in the specialty choreography of Modern dance that has no analogues in Ukraine. The term of study is four (bachelor) and two (master) years. Higher choreographic education in these countries has a different approach and aims at mastering a separate specialty that provides future dance instructors completely and thoroughly master the basic knowledge and skills in this specialty. Specific conditions and rules of admission to the higher educational institutions of German-speaking countries.

Le renouveau de l’enseignement artistique en Allemagne après la Seconde Guerre mondiale

Germany after 1945 was a territorial unity that had lost its status as a State and which was divided into four zones of occupation. The program of reform of art education is part of the widespread political and cultural renewal that took place during the subsequent post-War years. The importance of these reforms is a question to consider, with respect to the difficult ethical, historical and ideological context that shaped them. To all appearances, the reopening of many artistic institutions gave birth to an exceptional period of cultural and artistic activity. Indeed, some artists who had lost their right to practice under the Third Reich agreed to come back and teach art at these newly reopened institutions. The present study will focus on those artist-educators who developed the most innovative pedagogical concepts and methods, for example Willi Baumeister (Art Academy in Stuttgart), Karl Otto Gotz (Art Academy in Dusseldorf) and Georg Meistermann (Art Academy in Karlsruhe). In total, the group I wish to investigate taught in eleven higher education institutions across all the four occupation zones; their work continued later, in the post-War states, FRG and GDR. My research methodology includes bibliographic research, archival research, and interviews with former students, many of whom have become artist-educators themselves. My correspondents were the benefactors of an extraordinary kind of teacher-student relationship that stressed an attitude of freedom that contrasted strongly with the previous historical period of the mid-1930s to 1945. The vast majority of German artists who now have an international reputation — including Georg Baselitz, Otto Piene, Gerhard Richter, Gunter Uecker — studied in one or several higher art schools or art academies in the occupied zones (East or West) after 1945.