Sphere of culture

A drawing which acts as the basis of any pictorial activity has characteristic properties that allow it to be considered as one of the universals of culture. The article reveals the peculiarities of this category of cultural phenomena basing on the works of J.P. Murdoch, M.I. Bilalov and other scholars. The author correlates the drawing with other universals of culture, highlighting its key properties such as universality, extracultural origins, phenomenology, historical dynamics, local diversity, interpenetration with cultural phenomena of the same level and high cultural significance for society. The attributive analysis undertaken in the study relies on an evidence base drawn from various spheres of humanitarian knowledge (art history, history, semiotics, cultural studies, etc.).

Social Democrat F.F. Syromolotov (1877-1949), organizer of the Marxist circle “Ural Union of the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class” (1897), left a rich literary and artistic heritage. The article presents an attempt to analyze the revolutionary’s poetic works in the context of his biography. Particular attention is paid to his editorial and publishing activities. Basing on the materials of the hard-to-obtain pre-revolutionary times newspapers (Ural`skaya Zhizn`, Samarskaya Luka, Step`, Pravda, Yuny`j proletarij Urala), the author traces the evolution of the poetic feuilleton genre in F.F. Syromolotov’s work. The writer’s interest in memoir literature, the history of the Urals, as well as a special attitude to the poetic (and, more broadly, artistic) word are shown: he believed that poetry should serve a certain practical task, take into account the paraliterature context.

The change in the person’s appearance in works of fine art has been accompanied by the historical evolution of a fashion drawing, its approaches and graphic techniques. This article reveals the interaction of the designer’s sketch with the embodiment of the finished costume at various points in the history of the costume. A fashion drawing is seen as a major graphic skill for a designer or a costume designer. The emergemce of illustration and magazine graphics in fashion is traced, as well as the evolution of fashion graphics in world culture. The creativity of the most outstanding fashion designers and graphic artists who have formed graphic trends in fashion illustration is analyzed.

Master of Siberian abstraction N.D. Gritsyuk, A.G. Pozdeev and A.V. Suslov left a rich creative heritage and became mentors of a number of contemporary artists. The study provides a comparative analysis of their creative principles, on the one hand, and those of their successors (N.D. Gritsyuk and T.N. Gritsyuk, A.G. Pozdeev and A.D. Zaitsev, A.V. Suslov and E.V. Chepis), on the other. The author proves that the leaders of Siberian abstraction sought to develop world art erudition, freedom in choosing a creative path and scale in the implementation of creative projects among young artists.

The use of dramatic material in group voice-speech training has certain special features. The article analyzes the peculiarities of the poetics of monologues and replicas from the plays by W. Shakespeare, J.B. Moliere and O. Wilde, as well as the methodological ways of mastering such material. Using the examples from his pedagogical practice, the author has proven that training based on dramatic material provides effective solution of educational and creative problems, teaches students to act in words and brings the process of speech education closer to real theatrical practice.

In most cases, the process of adaptation of foreign students in a host country is difficult and includes many spheres which they have to adapt to: social, everyday, cultural, educational, linguistic, communication, legal, etc. The central part in this list is undoubtedly taken by the academic adaptation, However, one cannot ignore the need to become involved in a rich ethnocultural environment. The article reveals the role, influence and place of a university library in introducing foreign students of the Kazan (Volga) Federal University to the educational process exemplified by the Scientific Library named after N.I. Lobachevsky of the Kazan (Volga) Federal University. A university library is the intellectual core of the community, a modern information center, whose activities are concentrated on the operational and high-quality library and information support of the scientific and educational process, including students who have come from abroad.