Vol 6, No 2 (2025)

A programme study by Christopher Lash, professor of history at the University of Rochester (1932-1994), The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Era of Diminishing Expectations, first published in 1979, has become a certain manifesto of a new type of culture and revealed the forming peculiarities of a modern man sociotype. Basing on theoretical generalizations of the clinical practice of psychoanalysts, the scholar examined the socio-political and economic processes in the United States in the XX^th century through the prism of the “narcissistic culture” concept. The current article provides an overview of the key provisions of Ch. Lash’s book, which, despite its obvious relevance, still has no professional translation into the Russian language.

The axiological and ethical foundations of the society are undergoing transformation as the latter develops with a significant impact on historical and cultural continuity. The article justifies the need for theoretical understanding of the semantic space of the country in order to create practical conditions for the formation of the cultural identity of an individual and the society. Depending on the level of factors that influence the axiological and ethical foundations of sociocultural institutions, the appearance of inversions and trends that carry destructive or creative meanings is shown.

The events of the First Russian Revolution were widely reflected in the fiction of Russia in early XXth century, dividing authors not only by the extent of their talent, but also by ideological orientation. Tomsk poet and writer Valentin Vladimirovich Kuritsyn (1878-1911), who served as a clerk at the Siberian Railway administration, happened to be a direct eyewitness to the revolutionary events. With specific examples, the authors of the study show that the revolution was the context of a significant part of his works written in different genres (poetic, satirical, “novel-chronicle” genres). Using his work experience on the railway and, apparently, eyewitness accounts, V.V. Kuritsyn created texts full of sympathy for the revolutionary movement and workers who were prosecuted for their political views.

The XXth century has seen an inversion of the image of a rat in the work of some European artists. Christian culture has been characterized by a negative attitude towards this rodent as the embodiment of the devil, disease and evil. The present study, exemplified by the work of the French street artist Blek le Rat and the English street artist Banksy, reveals the reasons that prompted both artists to destroy the binary oppositions of the beautiful and the ugly in order to achieve an inversion of artistic meanings, having chosen the image of a rat as a multi-layered one. For them, this is a profound and meaningful symbol of adaptation, self-preservation and resilience of an urban marginal, who fights for survival in the tough and inexorable rhythm of the city, like a mirror reflecting the state of society and universal experience.

Animation films d’auteur is a unique direction in cinematography, which is characterized by aesthetic novelty, an original visual language alongside the use of innovative techniques and non-standard narrative structures. The author of the article introduces a definition of the concept of animation d’auteur, based on the analysis of art history studies, encyclopedic and reference sources, various theoretical approaches and examples of animation films, considers the boundaries and relationships between animation films d’auteur and commercial ones. This direction of cinematography assigns the central role to the director who is experimenting with the form and content, and the artistic expression is integrated with collective work.

The categories “decorative art” and “industrial art”, their similarities, differences and specific features present a significant problem field of modern art history. The current article is devoted to the issue of the formation of the system of the art industry in Leningrad from the differentiation of author’s works and mass production works (early XXth century) to the integration of decorative and industrial art (in the 1950-80s). Being independent areas of art, they combined aesthetic value and a high level of professional skill, independent of the utilitarian component, its presence or absence.

The study summarizes the results of the complex of architectural restoration work (2020-2021) at the the Petrovs’ Old Believer estate of the XIXth century in the village of Nizhny Zhirim of the Tarbagatai district of the Republic of Buryatia. The project was implemented with the support of a grant for the development of civil society of the Presidential Grants Foundation. When choosing the estate as an object of restoration, its historical, cultural and scientific value was taken into account. This architectural complex has been preserved thanks to the traditional way of life of several generations of Old Believers who lived in it. Due to the insufficient study of the material heritage of the Semeyskie, the Old Believer Petrovs’ estate has a high cultural value.

The formation of the artistic and creative consciousness of an individual is invariably one of the most important issues in the theory and practice of art pedagogy. The article defines the ways of its development in music classes using the potential of related arts. The possibilities of synergistic combination of music and painting are evaluated. The authors of the article analyze practical experience of a city contest in the system of additional education, which is aimed at solving these problems. The main stages of the contest and the creation of methodological content are considered. The obtained results and experience in the formation of “emotional intelligence” are summarized.

The study summarizes information on the program and project activities of national libraries operating in five republics of the Russian Federation: Altai, Tuva, Khakassia, Buryatia and Sakha (Yakutia). The participation of these institutions in the creation and implementation of projects and programs at various levels for the period from 1990 to 2000 is considered. Comparing data obtained from scientific publications, annual reports and materials posted on official websites, the authors conclude that the introduction of project work methods in the activities of the republican libraries in most cases is connected with a change in their status in 1990-1998.

The characteristic features of works of the Astrakhan artist Shamil Abdul-Khamitovich Taktashev (1949-2011) include their own formal solutions, peculiar symbolism, internal intellectual energy and an appeal to the associativity of the viewer’s thinking. In the 1990s, striving to gain his creative identity, the artist turned to the original language of painting, characterizing his art as parallel realism. This article traces the main stages of the artist’s life and work, reveals the essence of his artistic style. An attempt has been made to reconstruct the meaning that the master put into the concept of parallel realism basing on Sh. A.-Kh. Taktashev’s interviews, drafts of his unpublished articles and essays, as well as on some plots, images and techniques of paintings created during the studied period.