DISCOVERING ART DIMENSION OF THE OLD RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS ART IN THE CULTURE OF THE FIRST THIRD OF THE XX CENTURY: THE REVISION OF STYLISTIC DEMARCATIONS

The aim of the article is to analyze the correlation between different meaningful layers of the Russian icon-painting phenomenon in philosophical and culturological aspects. Based on the analysis of art historians’ and painters’ works of the 19th - 20th centuries, the author draws a conclusion that a systematical studying of the Russian icon-painting artistic dimension was the result of icons restoration, as well as new aesthetical views and a new understanding of the problems of contemporary painting. A change in aesthetical preferences was promoted by contemporary French art predominantly based upon creation and valued more for painting composition and color painting basics, not for its content. According to Alexis Gritchenko, French artists discovered for Europe not only the Russian icons, but also the artists’ works of Italian Quattrocento, El Greco, Francisco Goya. There are several consequences deriving from the discovery of the Old Russian religious art dimension. Firstly, the opportunity to speak about the icon parallels in the history of art appeared. Secondly, the painters studied the Russian icon and they strived to move its stylistic principles to their creativity. Such purposes led to formal stylization, decorative effect, associated with superficial meanings of the Old Russian icon. More detailed understanding of its principles contributed to formation of the creative language of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Nikolai Chernyshov, Dmitry Zhilinsky. Contemporary church art also refuses from the domination of stylization and emphasizes the necessity to identify the artistic language of the old religious art