Classicism style brief description. Characteristics of classicism as a movement in art. Main features of classicism

1. Introduction.Classicism as an artistic method...................................2

2. Aesthetics of classicism.

2.1. Basic principles of classicism.........................…………….….....5

2.2. Picture of the world, concept of personality in the art of classicism......5

2.3. The aesthetic nature of classicism.................................................... ........9

2.4. Classicism in painting......................................................... .........................15

2.5. Classicism in sculpture......................................................... .......................16

2.6. Classicism in architecture................................................................... .....................18

2.7. Classicism in literature................................................................... .......................20

2.8. Classicism in music......................................................... ...............................22

2.9. Classicism in the theater................................................... ...............................22

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism.................................................... ....22

3. Conclusion……………………………………...…………………………...26

Bibliography..............................…….………………………………….28

Applications ........................................................................................................29

1. Classicism as an artistic method

Classicism is one of the artistic methods that actually existed in the history of art. Sometimes it is referred to by the terms “direction” and “style”. Classicism (French) classicisme, from lat. classicus- exemplary) - artistic style and aesthetic direction in European art of the 17th-19th centuries.

Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism, which were formed simultaneously with the same ideas in the philosophy of Descartes. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Of interest to classicism is only the eternal, the unchangeable - in each phenomenon it strives to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual characteristics. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art (Aristotle, Horace).

Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined characteristics, the mixing of which is not allowed.

The concept of classicism as a creative method presupposes in its content a historically determined method of aesthetic perception and modeling of reality in artistic images: the picture of the world and the concept of personality, the most common for the mass aesthetic consciousness of a given historical era, are embodied in ideas about the essence of verbal art, its relationship with reality , its own internal laws.

Classicism arises and is formed in certain historical and cultural conditions. The most common research belief connects classicism with the historical conditions of the transition from feudal fragmentation to a unified national-territorial statehood, in the formation of which the centralizing role belongs to the absolute monarchy.

Classicism is an organic stage in the development of any national culture, despite the fact that different national cultures go through the classicist stage at different times, due to the individuality of the national version of the formation of a general social model of a centralized state.

The chronological framework of the existence of classicism in different European cultures is defined as the second half of the 17th - the first thirty years of the 18th century, despite the fact that early classicist trends were noticeable at the end of the Renaissance, at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. Within these chronological limits, French classicism is considered the standard embodiment of the method. Closely connected with the heyday of French absolutism in the second half of the 17th century, it gave European culture not only great writers - Corneille, Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, Voltaire, but also a great theorist of classicist art - Nicolas Boileau-Dépreau. Being himself a practicing writer who earned fame during his lifetime for his satires, Boileau was mainly famous for the creation of the aesthetic code of classicism - the didactic poem “Poetic Art” (1674), in which he gave a coherent theoretical concept of literary creativity, derived from the literary practice of his contemporaries. Thus, classicism in France became the most self-conscious embodiment of the method. Hence its reference value.

The historical prerequisites for the emergence of classicism connect the aesthetic problematics of the method with the era of aggravation of the relationship between the individual and society in the process of the formation of autocratic statehood, which, replacing the social permissiveness of feudalism, seeks to regulate by law and clearly delimit the spheres of public and private life and the relationship between the individual and the state. This determines the meaningful aspect of art. Its basic principles are motivated by the system of philosophical views of the era. They form a picture of the world and a concept of personality, and these categories are embodied in a set of artistic techniques of literary creativity.

The most general philosophical concepts present in all philosophical movements of the second half of the 17th - late 18th centuries. and directly related to the aesthetics and poetics of classicism are the concepts of “rationalism” and “metaphysics”, relevant for both idealistic and materialistic philosophical teachings of this time. The founder of the philosophical doctrine of rationalism is the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650). The fundamental thesis of his doctrine: “I think, therefore I exist” - was realized in many philosophical movements of that time, united by the common name “Cartesianism” (from the Latin version of the name Descartes - Cartesius). In essence, this is an idealistic thesis, since it brings out the material existence from an idea. However, rationalism, as the interpretation of reason as the primary and highest spiritual ability of man, is equally characteristic of the materialist philosophical movements of the era - such, for example, as the metaphysical materialism of the English philosophical school of Bacon-Locke, which recognized experience as a source of knowledge, but put it below the generalizing and analytical activity of the mind, extracting from the multitude of facts obtained by experience the highest idea, a means of modeling the cosmos - the highest reality - from the chaos of individual material objects.

The concept of “metaphysics” is equally applicable to both varieties of rationalism - idealistic and materialistic. Genetically, it goes back to Aristotle, and in his philosophical teaching it denoted a branch of knowledge that explores the highest and unchangeable principles of all things, inaccessible to the senses and only rationally and speculatively comprehended. Both Descartes and Bacon used the term in the Aristotelian sense. In modern times, the concept of “metaphysics” has acquired additional meaning and has come to mean an anti-dialectical way of thinking that perceives phenomena and objects without their interrelation and development. Historically, this very accurately characterizes the peculiarities of thinking of the analytical era of the 17th-18th centuries, the period of differentiation of scientific knowledge and art, when each branch of science, standing out from the syncretic complex, acquired its own separate subject, but at the same time lost connection with other branches of knowledge.

2. Aesthetics of classicism

2.1. Basic principles of classicism

1. Cult of reason 2. Cult of civic duty 3. Appeal to medieval subjects 4. Abstraction from the depiction of everyday life, from historical national identity 5. Imitation of ancient models 6. Compositional harmony, symmetry, unity of a work of art 7. Heroes are bearers of one main feature, given without development 8. Antithesis as the main technique for creating a work of art

2.2. Picture of the world, concept of personality

in the art of classicism

The picture of the world generated by the rationalistic type of consciousness clearly divides reality into two levels: empirical and ideological. The external, visible and tangible material-empirical world consists of many separate material objects and phenomena that are in no way connected with each other - it is a chaos of individual private entities. However, above this chaotic multitude of individual objects, there is their ideal hypostasis - a harmonious and harmonious whole, a universal idea of the universe, which includes the ideal image of any material object in its highest, purified from particulars, eternal and unchanging form: in the way it should be according to the original plan of the Creator. This universal idea can only be comprehended rationally and analytically by gradually purifying an object or phenomenon from its specific forms and appearance and penetrating into its ideal essence and purpose.

And since design precedes creation, and thinking is an indispensable condition and source of existence, this ideal reality has the highest primary character. It is easy to notice that the main patterns of such a two-level picture of reality are very easily projected onto the main sociological problem of the period of transition from feudal fragmentation to autocratic statehood - the problem of the relationship between the individual and the state. The world of people is a world of individual private human beings, chaotic and disorderly, the state is a comprehensive harmonious idea that creates a harmonious and harmonious ideal world order out of chaos. It is this philosophical picture of the world of the 17th-18th centuries. determined such substantive aspects of the aesthetics of classicism as the concept of personality and the typology of conflict, universally characteristic (with the necessary historical and cultural variations) for classicism in any European literature.

In the field of human relations with the outside world, classicism sees two types of connections and positions - the same two levels from which the philosophical picture of the world is formed. The first level is the so-called “natural man,” a biological being who stands alongside all objects of the material world. This is a private entity, possessed by selfish passions, disorderly and unrestricted in its desire to ensure its personal existence. At this level of human connections with the world, the leading category that determines the spiritual appearance of a person is passion - blind and unrestrained in its desire for realization in the name of achieving individual good.

The second level of the concept of personality is the so-called “social person”, harmoniously included in society in his highest, ideal image, aware that his good is an integral part of the good of the general. A “social man” is guided in his worldview and actions not by passions, but by reason, since reason is the highest spiritual ability of a person, giving him the opportunity for positive self-determination in the conditions of human community, based on the ethical norms of consistent community life. Thus, the concept of human personality in the ideology of classicism turns out to be complex and contradictory: a natural (passionate) and a social (reasonable) person is one and the same character, torn by internal contradictions and in a situation of choice.

Hence the typological conflict of the art of classicism, which directly follows from such a concept of personality. It is quite obvious that the source of a conflict situation is precisely the character of a person. Character is one of the central aesthetic categories of classicism, and its interpretation differs significantly from the meaning that modern consciousness and literary criticism puts into the term “character”. In the understanding of the aesthetics of classicism, character is precisely the ideal hypostasis of a person - that is, not the individual makeup of a specific human personality, but a certain universal view of human nature and psychology, timeless in its essence. Only in this form of an eternal, unchanging, universal attribute could character be an object of classicist art, unambiguously attributed to the highest, ideal level of reality.

The main components of character are passions: love, hypocrisy, courage, stinginess, sense of duty, envy, patriotism, etc. It is by the predominance of one passion that a character is determined: “lover”, “miserly”, “envious”, “patriot”. All these definitions are precisely “characters” in the understanding of classicist aesthetic consciousness.

However, these passions are unequal to each other, although according to the philosophical concepts of the 17th-18th centuries. all passions are equal, since they are all from human nature, they are all natural, and no passion on its own can decide which passion is consistent with the ethical dignity of a person and which is not. These decisions are made only by reason. Despite the fact that all passions are equally categories of emotional spiritual life, some of them (such as love, stinginess, envy, hypocrisy, etc.) are less and more difficult to agree with the dictates of reason and are more associated with the concept of selfish good. Others (courage, sense of duty, honor, patriotism) are more subject to rational control and do not contradict the idea of the common good, the ethics of social relations.

So it turns out that rational and unreasonable passions, altruistic and selfish, personal and social, collide in conflict. And reason is the highest spiritual ability of a person, a logical and analytical tool that allows one to control passions and distinguish good from evil, truth from lies. The most common type of classic conflict is a conflict situation between personal inclination (love) and a sense of duty to society and the state, which for some reason excludes the possibility of realizing love passion. It is quite obvious that by its nature this conflict is psychological, although a necessary condition for its implementation is a situation in which the interests of man and society collide. These most important ideological aspects of the aesthetic thinking of the era found their expression in the system of ideas about the laws of artistic creativity.

2.3. The aesthetic nature of classicism

The aesthetic principles of classicism have undergone significant changes during its existence. A characteristic feature of this trend is admiration for antiquity. The art of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome was considered by classicists as an ideal model of artistic creativity. “Poetics” of Aristotle and “The Art of Poetry” of Horace had a huge influence on the formation of the aesthetic principles of classicism. Here we find a tendency to create sublimely heroic, ideal, rationalistically clear and plastically completed images. As a rule, in the art of classicism, modern political, moral and aesthetic ideals are embodied in characters, conflicts, situations borrowed from the arsenal of ancient history, mythology, or directly from ancient art.

The aesthetics of classicism guided poets, artists, and composers to create works of art distinguished by clarity, logic, strict balance and harmony. All this, according to classicists, was fully reflected in ancient artistic culture. For them, reason and antiquity are synonymous. The rationalistic nature of the aesthetics of classicism manifested itself in the abstract typification of images, strict regulation of genres, forms, in the interpretation of the ancient artistic heritage, in the appeal of art to reason rather than to feelings, in the desire to subordinate the creative process to unshakable norms, rules and canons (norm - from the Latin. norma – guiding principle, rule, pattern; generally accepted rule, pattern of behavior or action).

Just as the aesthetic principles of the Renaissance found their most typical expression in Italy, so in France in the 17th century. – aesthetic principles of classicism. By the 17th century Italian artistic culture has largely lost its former influence. But the innovative spirit of French art clearly emerged. At this time, an absolutist state was formed in France, which united society and centralized power.

The strengthening of absolutism meant the victory of the principle of universal regulation in all spheres of life, from economics to spiritual life. Debt is the main regulator of human behavior. The state personifies this duty and acts as a kind of entity alienated from the individual. Submission to the state, fulfillment of public duty is the highest virtue of an individual. Man is no longer thought of as free, as was typical of the Renaissance worldview, but as subject to norms and rules alien to him, limited by forces beyond his control. The regulating and limiting force appears in the form of the impersonal mind, to which the individual must submit and act according to its commands and instructions.

The high rise in production contributed to the development of the exact sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics, and this, in turn, led to the victory of rationalism (from the Latin ratio - reason) - a philosophical trend that recognizes reason as the basis of human cognition and behavior.

Ideas about the laws of creativity and the structure of a work of art are determined to the same extent by the epochal type of worldview as the picture of the world and the concept of personality. Reason, as the highest spiritual ability of man, is conceived not only as an instrument of knowledge, but also as an organ of creativity and a source of aesthetic pleasure. One of the most striking leitmotifs of Boileau’s “Poetic Art” is the rational nature of aesthetic activity:

French classicism affirmed the personality of man as the highest value of existence, freeing him from religious and church influence.

Interest in the art of ancient Greece and Rome appeared back in the Renaissance, which, after centuries of the Middle Ages, turned to the forms, motifs and subjects of antiquity. The greatest theorist of the Renaissance, Leon Batista Alberti, back in the 15th century. expressed ideas that foreshadowed certain principles of classicism and were fully manifested in Raphael’s fresco “The School of Athens” (1511).

The systematization and consolidation of the achievements of the great artists of the Renaissance, especially the Florentine ones led by Raphael and his student Giulio Romano, formed the program of the Bolognese school of the late 16th century, the most typical representatives of which were the Carracci brothers. In their influential Academy of Arts, the Bolognese preached that the path to the heights of art lay through a scrupulous study of the heritage of Raphael and Michelangelo, imitation of their mastery of line and composition.

Following Aristotle, classicism considered art to be an imitation of nature:

However, nature was by no means understood as a visual picture of the physical and moral world, presented to the senses, but rather as the highest intelligible essence of the world and man: not a specific character, but its idea, not a real historical or modern plot, but a universal human conflict situation, not given landscape, but the idea of a harmonious combination of natural realities in an ideally beautiful unity. Classicism found such an ideally beautiful unity in ancient literature - it was precisely this that was perceived by classicism as the already achieved pinnacle of aesthetic activity, the eternal and unchanging standard of art, which recreated in its genre models that very highest ideal nature, physical and moral, which art should imitate. It so happened that the thesis about imitation of nature turned into a prescription to imitate ancient art, where the term “classicism” itself came from (from the Latin classicus - exemplary, studied in class):

Thus, nature in classic art appears not so much reproduced as modeled on a high model - “decorated” with the generalizing analytical activity of the mind. By analogy, one can recall the so-called “regular” (i.e., “correct”) park, where the trees are trimmed in the form of geometric shapes and symmetrically planted, the paths have the correct shape, sprinkled with multi-colored pebbles, and the water is enclosed in marble pools and fountains. This style of gardening art reached its peak precisely in the era of classicism. The desire to present nature as “decorated” also results in the absolute predominance in literature of classicism of poetry over prose: if prose is identical to simple material nature, then poetry, as a literary form, is certainly an ideal “decorated” nature.”

In all these ideas about art, namely as a rational, ordered, standardized, spiritual activity, the hierarchical principle of thinking of the 17th-18th centuries was realized. Within itself, literature also turned out to be divided into two hierarchical series, low and high, each of which was thematically and stylistically associated with one - material or ideal - level of reality. Low genres included satire, comedy, and fable; to the highest - ode, tragedy, epic. In low genres, everyday material reality is depicted, and a private person appears in social connections (while, of course, both the person and reality are still the same ideal conceptual categories). In high genres, man is presented as a spiritual and social being, in the existential aspect of his existence, alone and along with the eternal fundamentals of questions of existence. Therefore, for high and low genres, not only thematic, but also class differentiation turned out to be relevant based on the character’s belonging to one or another social stratum. The hero of low genres is a middle-class person; high hero - a historical figure, a mythological hero or a fictional high-ranking character - usually a ruler.

In low genres, human characters are formed by base everyday passions (stinginess, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, envy, etc.); in high genres, passions acquire a spiritual character (love, ambition, vindictiveness, a sense of duty, patriotism, etc.). And if everyday passions are clearly unreasonable and vicious, then existential passions are divided into reasonable - social and unreasonable - personal, and the ethical status of the hero depends on his choice. He is unambiguously positive if he prefers a reasonable passion, and unambiguously negative if he chooses an unreasonable one. Classicism did not allow halftones in ethical assessment - and this also reflected the rationalistic nature of the method, which excluded any confusion of high and low, tragic and comic.

Since in the genre theory of classicism those genres that reached the greatest flowering in ancient literature were legitimized as the main ones, and literary creativity was thought of as a reasonable imitation of high models, the aesthetic code of classicism acquired a normative character. This means that the model of each genre was established once and for all in a clear set of rules, from which it was unacceptable to deviate, and each specific text was aesthetically assessed according to the degree of compliance with this ideal genre model.

The source of the rules were ancient examples: the epic of Homer and Virgil, the tragedy of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Seneca, the comedy of Aristophanes, Menander, Terence and Plautus, the ode of Pindar, the fable of Aesop and Phaedrus, the satire of Horace and Juvenal. The most typical and illustrative case of such genre regulation is, of course, the rules for the leading classic genre, tragedy, drawn both from the texts of ancient tragedians and from Aristotle’s Poetics.

For the tragedy, a poetic form was canonized (“Alexandrian verse” - iambic hexameter with paired rhyme), a mandatory five-act structure, three unities - time, place and action, high style, a historical or mythological plot and a conflict, suggesting a mandatory situation of choice between reasonable and unreasonable passion, and the process of choice itself was supposed to constitute the action of the tragedy. It was in the dramatic section of the aesthetics of classicism that the rationalism, hierarchy and normativity of the method were expressed with the greatest completeness and obviousness:

Everything that was said above about the aesthetics of classicism and the poetics of classicist literature in France applies equally to almost any European variety of the method, since French classicism was historically the earliest and aesthetically most authoritative embodiment of the method. But for Russian classicism, these general theoretical principles found a unique refraction in artistic practice, since they were determined by the historical and national characteristics of the formation of the new Russian culture of the 18th century.

2.4. Classicism in painting

At the beginning of the 17th century, young foreigners flocked to Rome to get acquainted with the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. The most prominent place among them was occupied by the Frenchman Nicolas Poussin, in his paintings, mainly on the themes of ancient antiquity and mythology, who provided unsurpassed examples of geometrically precise composition and thoughtful relationships between color groups. Another Frenchman, Claude Lorrain, in his antique landscapes of the environs of the “eternal city”, organized the pictures of nature by harmonizing them with the light of the setting sun and introducing peculiar architectural scenes.

Poussin's coldly rational normativism won the approval of the Versailles court and was continued by court artists like Le Brun, who saw in classicist painting the ideal artistic language for praising the absolutist state of the "sun king." Although private clients favored various variants of Baroque and Rococo, the French monarchy kept classicism afloat by funding academic institutions such as the École des Beaux-Arts. The Rome Prize provided the most talented students with the opportunity to visit Rome for direct acquaintance with the great works of antiquity.

The discovery of “genuine” ancient painting during the excavations of Pompeii, the deification of antiquity by the German art critic Winckelmann and the cult of Raphael, preached by the artist Mengs, who was close to him in views, breathed new breath into classicism in the second half of the 18th century (in Western literature this stage is called neoclassicism). The largest representative of the “new classicism” was Jacques-Louis David; his extremely laconic and dramatic artistic language served with equal success to promote the ideals of the French Revolution (“The Death of Marat”) and the First Empire (“The Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I”).

In the 19th century, classicist painting entered a period of crisis and became a force holding back the development of art, not only in France, but also in other countries. David’s artistic line was successfully continued by Ingres, who, while maintaining the language of classicism in his works, often turned to romantic subjects with an oriental flavor (“Turkish Baths”); his portrait works are marked by a subtle idealization of the model. Artists in other countries (like, for example, Karl Bryullov) also filled works that were classic in form with the spirit of romanticism; this combination was called academicism. Numerous art academies served as its breeding grounds. In the middle of the 19th century, the young generation, gravitating towards realism, represented in France by the Courbet circle, and in Russia by the Itinerants, rebelled against the conservatism of the academic establishment.

2.5. Classicism in sculpture

The impetus for the development of classicist sculpture in the mid-18th century was the writings of Winckelmann and archaeological excavations of ancient cities, which expanded the knowledge of contemporaries about ancient sculpture. In France, such sculptors as Pigalle and Houdon vacillated on the verge of Baroque and Classicism. Classicism reached its highest embodiment in the field of plastic art in the heroic and idyllic works of Antonio Canova, who drew inspiration mainly from the statues of the Hellenistic era (Praxiteles). In Russia, Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Boris Orlovsky, and Ivan Martos gravitated towards the aesthetics of classicism.

Public monuments, which became widespread in the era of classicism, gave sculptors the opportunity to idealize military valor and the wisdom of statesmen. Fidelity to the ancient model required sculptors to depict models naked, which conflicted with accepted moral norms. To resolve this contradiction, modern figures were initially depicted by classicist sculptors in the form of naked ancient gods: Suvorov as Mars, and Polina Borghese as Venus. Under Napoleon, the issue was resolved by moving to the depiction of modern figures in ancient togas (these are the figures of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the Kazan Cathedral).

Private customers of the Classical era preferred to immortalize their names in tombstones. The popularity of this sculptural form was facilitated by the arrangement of public cemeteries in the main cities of Europe. In accordance with the classicist ideal, figures on tombstones are usually in a state of deep repose. The sculpture of classicism is generally alien to sudden movements and external manifestations of emotions such as anger.

Late, Empire classicism, represented primarily by the prolific Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, is imbued with a dryish pathos. Purity of lines, restraint of gestures, and dispassionate expressions are especially valued. In choosing role models, the emphasis shifts from Hellenism to the archaic period. Religious images are coming into fashion, which, in Thorvaldsen’s interpretation, produce a somewhat chilling impression on the viewer. Tombstone sculpture of late classicism often bears a slight touch of sentimentality.

2.6. Classicism in architecture

The main feature of the architecture of classicism was the appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as a standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by regularity of layout and clarity of volumetric form. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity. Classicism is characterized by symmetrical axial compositions, restraint of decorative decoration, and a regular system of city planning.

The architectural language of classicism was formulated at the end of the Renaissance by the great Venetian master Palladio and his follower Scamozzi. The Venetians absolutized the principles of ancient temple architecture to such an extent that they even applied them in the construction of such private mansions as Villa Capra. Inigo Jones brought Palladianism north to England, where local Palladian architects followed Palladian principles with varying degrees of fidelity until the mid-18th century.

By that time, satiety with the “whipped cream” of the late Baroque and Rococo began to accumulate among the intellectuals of continental Europe. Born of the Roman architects Bernini and Borromini, Baroque thinned out into Rococo, a predominantly chamber style with an emphasis on interior decoration and decorative arts. This aesthetics was of little use for solving large urban planning problems. Already under Louis XV (1715-74), urban planning ensembles were built in Paris in the “ancient Roman” style, such as Place de la Concorde (architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel) and the Church of Saint-Sulpice, and under Louis XVI (1774-92) a similar “noble Laconism" is already becoming the main architectural direction.

The most significant interiors in the classicist style were designed by the Scot Robert Adam, who returned to his homeland from Rome in 1758. He was greatly impressed by both the archaeological research of Italian scientists and the architectural fantasies of Piranesi. In Adam’s interpretation, classicism was a style hardly inferior to rococo in the sophistication of its interiors, which gained it popularity not only among democratically minded circles of society, but also among the aristocracy. Like his French colleagues, Adam preached a complete rejection of details devoid of constructive function.

The Frenchman Jacques-Germain Soufflot, during the construction of the Church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, demonstrated the ability of classicism to organize vast urban spaces. The massive grandeur of his designs foreshadowed the megalomania of the Napoleonic Empire style and late classicism. In Russia, Bazhenov moved in the same direction as Soufflot. The French Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and Etienne-Louis Boullé went even further towards developing a radical visionary style with an emphasis on abstract geometrization of forms. In revolutionary France, the ascetic civic pathos of their projects was of little demand; Ledoux's innovation was fully appreciated only by the modernists of the 20th century.

The architects of Napoleonic France drew inspiration from the majestic images of military glory left behind by imperial Rome, such as the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus and Trajan's Column. By order of Napoleon, these images were transferred to Paris in the form of the triumphal arch of Carrousel and the Vendôme Column. In relation to monuments of military greatness from the era of the Napoleonic wars, the term “imperial style” is used - Empire style. In Russia, Carl Rossi, Andrei Voronikhin and Andreyan Zakharov proved themselves to be outstanding masters of the Empire style. In Britain, the empire style corresponds to the so-called. “Regency style” (the largest representative is John Nash).

The aesthetics of classicism favored large-scale urban planning projects and led to the streamlining of urban development on the scale of entire cities. In Russia, almost all provincial and many district cities were replanned in accordance with the principles of classicist rationalism. Cities such as St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh and a number of others have turned into genuine open-air museums of classicism. A single architectural language, dating back to Palladio, dominated throughout the entire space from Minusinsk to Philadelphia. Ordinary development was carried out in accordance with albums of standard projects.

In the period following the Napoleonic Wars, classicism had to coexist with romantically colored eclecticism, in particular with the return of interest in the Middle Ages and the fashion for architectural neo-Gothic. In connection with Champollion's discoveries, Egyptian motifs are gaining popularity. Interest in ancient Roman architecture is replaced by reverence for everything ancient Greek (“neo-Greek”), which was especially clearly manifested in Germany and the USA. German architects Leo von Klenze and Karl Friedrich Schinkel built up, respectively, Munich and Berlin with grandiose museum and other public buildings in the spirit of the Parthenon. In France, the purity of classicism is diluted with free borrowings from the architectural repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque (see Beaux Arts).

2.7. Classicism in literature

The founder of the poetics of classicism is the Frenchman Francois Malherbe (1555-1628), who carried out a reform of the French language and verse and developed poetic canons. The leading representatives of classicism in drama were the tragedians Corneille and Racine (1639-1699), whose main subject of creativity was the conflict between public duty and personal passions. “Low” genres also achieved high development - fable (J. Lafontaine), satire (Boileau), comedy (Molière 1622-1673).

Boileau became famous throughout Europe as the “legislator of Parnassus,” the greatest theorist of classicism, who expressed his views in the poetic treatise “Poetic Art.” Under his influence in Great Britain were the poets John Dryden and Alexander Pope, who made alexandrines the main form of English poetry. English prose of the classical era (Addison, Swift) is also characterized by a Latinized syntax.

Classicism of the 18th century developed under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The work of Voltaire (1694-1778) is directed against religious fanaticism, absolutist oppression, and is filled with the pathos of freedom. The goal of creativity is to change the world for the better, to build society itself in accordance with the laws of classicism. From the standpoint of classicism, the Englishman Samuel Johnson reviewed contemporary literature, around whom a brilliant circle of like-minded people formed, including the essayist Boswell, the historian Gibbon and the actor Garrick. Dramatic works are characterized by three unities: unity of time (the action takes place on one day), unity of place (in one place) and unity of action (one storyline).

In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the reforms of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of “three calms,” which was essentially an adaptation of French classical rules to the Russian language. The images in classicism are devoid of individual features, since they are designed primarily to capture stable generic characteristics that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.

Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been the focus of attention of Russian classic writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism, genres that require the author’s obligatory assessment of historical reality have received great development: comedy (D. I. Fonvizin), satire (A. D. Kantemir), fable (A. P. Sumarokov, I. I. Khemnitser), ode (Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin).

In connection with Rousseau’s proclaimed call for closeness to nature and naturalness, crisis phenomena were growing in classicism at the end of the 18th century; The absolutization of reason is replaced by the cult of tender feelings - sentimentalism. The transition from classicism to pre-romanticism was most clearly reflected in German literature of the era of Sturm and Drang, represented by the names of J. W. Goethe (1749-1832) and F. Schiller (1759-1805), who, following Rousseau, saw art as the main force of education person.

2.8. Classicism in music

The concept of classicism in music is steadily associated with the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, called Viennese classics and determined the direction of further development of musical composition.

The concept of "music of classicism" should not be confused with the concept of "classical music", which has a more general meaning as the music of the past that has stood the test of time.

The music of the Classical era glorifies the actions and deeds of man, the emotions and feelings he experiences, and the attentive and holistic human mind.

The theatrical art of classicism is characterized by a solemn, static structure of performances and measured reading of poetry. The 18th century is often called the “golden age” of theater.

The founder of European classical comedy is the French comedian, actor and theater figure, reformer of stage art Moliere (name: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622-1673). For a long time, Moliere traveled with a theater troupe around the province, where he became acquainted with stage technology and the tastes of the public. In 1658, he received permission from the king to play with his troupe at the court theater in Paris.

Based on the traditions of folk theater and the achievements of classicism, he created the genre of social comedy, in which slapstick and plebeian humor were combined with grace and artistry. Overcoming the schematism of the Italian comedies dell'arte (Italian commedia dell'arte - comedy of masks; the main masks are Harlequin, Pulcinella, the old merchant Pantalone, etc.), Moliere created life-like images. He ridiculed the class prejudices of the aristocrats, the narrow-mindedness of the bourgeoisie, the hypocrisy of the nobles ( "The Tradesman in the Nobility", 1670).

With particular intransigence, Moliere exposed hypocrisy, hiding behind piety and ostentatious virtue: “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver” (1664), “Don Juan” (1665), “The Misanthrope” (1666). Moliere's artistic heritage had a profound influence on the development of world drama and theater.

The most mature embodiment of the comedy of manners is recognized as “The Barber of Seville” (1775) and “The Marriage of Figaro” (1784) by the great French playwright Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais (1732-1799). They depict the conflict between the third estate and the nobility. Operas by V.A. were written based on the plots of the plays. Mozart (1786) and G. Rossini (1816).

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism

Russian classicism arose in similar historical conditions - its prerequisite was the strengthening of autocratic statehood and national self-determination of Russia starting from the era of Peter I. The Europeanism of the ideology of Peter's reforms aimed Russian culture at mastering the achievements of European cultures. But at the same time, Russian classicism arose almost a century later than French: by the middle of the 18th century, when Russian classicism was just beginning to gain strength, in France it reached the second stage of its existence. The so-called “Enlightenment classicism” - a combination of classicist creative principles with the pre-revolutionary ideology of the Enlightenment - in French literature flourished in the work of Voltaire and acquired an anti-clerical, socially critical pathos: several decades before the Great French Revolution, the times of apology for absolutism were already distant history. Russian classicism, due to its strong connection with secular cultural reform, firstly, initially set itself educational tasks, trying to educate its readers and instruct monarchs on the path of public good, and secondly, acquired the status of a leading direction in Russian literature towards that time when Peter I was no longer alive, and the fate of his cultural reforms was jeopardized in the second half of the 1720s - 1730s.

Therefore, Russian classicism begins “not with the fruit of spring - ode, but with the fruit of autumn - satire,” and social-critical pathos is inherent in it from the very beginning.

Russian classicism also reflected a completely different type of conflict than Western European classicism. If in French classicism the socio-political principle is only the soil on which the psychological conflict of rational and unreasonable passion develops and the process of free and conscious choice between their dictates is carried out, then in Russia, with its traditionally anti-democratic conciliarity and the absolute power of society over the individual, the situation was completely different. otherwise. For the Russian mentality, which had just begun to comprehend the ideology of personalism, the need to humble the individual before society, the individual before the authorities, was not at all such a tragedy as for the Western worldview. The choice, relevant for the European consciousness as an opportunity to prefer one thing, in Russian conditions turned out to be imaginary, its outcome was predetermined in favor of society. Therefore, the situation of choice itself in Russian classicism lost its conflict-forming function, and was replaced by another.

The central problem of Russian life in the 18th century. There was a problem of power and its succession: not a single Russian emperor after the death of Peter I and before the accession of Paul I in 1796 came to power by legal means. XVIII century - this is an age of intrigue and palace coups, which too often led to absolute and uncontrolled power of people who did not at all correspond not only to the ideal of an enlightened monarch, but also to ideas about the role of the monarch in the state. Therefore, Russian classic literature immediately took a political-didactic direction and reflected precisely this problem as the main tragic dilemma of the era - the inconsistency of the ruler with the duties of the autocrat, the conflict of the experience of power as an egoistic personal passion with the idea of power exercised for the benefit of his subjects.

Thus, the Russian classic conflict, having preserved the situation of choice between reasonable and unreasonable passion as an external plot pattern, was entirely realized as socio-political in nature. The positive hero of Russian classicism does not humble his individual passion in the name of the common good, but insists on his natural rights, defending his personalism from tyrannical attacks. And the most important thing is that this national specificity of the method was well understood by the writers themselves: if the plots of French classic tragedies are drawn mainly from ancient mythology and history, then Sumarokov wrote his tragedies based on plots from Russian chronicles and even on plots from not so distant Russian history.

Finally, another specific feature of Russian classicism was that it did not rely on such a rich and continuous tradition of national literature as any other national European variety of method. What any European literature had at the time of the emergence of the theory of classicism - namely, a literary language with an ordered stylistic system, principles of versification, a defined system of literary genres - all this had to be created in Russian. Therefore, in Russian classicism, literary theory was ahead of literary practice. The normative acts of Russian classicism - reform of versification, reform of style and regulation of the genre system - were carried out between the mid-1730s and the end of the 1740s. - that is, mainly before a full-fledged literary process in line with classicist aesthetics unfolded in Russia.

3. Conclusion

For the ideological premises of classicism, it is essential that the individual’s desire for freedom is considered here to be as legitimate as the need of society to bind this freedom by laws.

The personal principle continues to retain that immediate social significance, that independent value with which the Renaissance first endowed it. However, in contrast, now this principle belongs to the individual, along with the role that society now receives as a social organization. And this implies that any attempt by an individual to defend his freedom in spite of society threatens him with the loss of the fullness of life connections and the transformation of freedom into an empty subjectivity devoid of any support.

The category of measure is a fundamental category in the poetics of classicism. It is unusually multifaceted in content, has both a spiritual and plastic nature, is in contact with, but does not coincide with, another typical concept of classicism - the concept of norm - and is closely connected with all aspects of the ideal affirmed here.

Classical reason, as the source and guarantor of balance in nature and the life of people, bears the stamp of poetic faith in the original harmony of all things, trust in the natural course of things, confidence in the presence of an all-encompassing correspondence between the movement of the world and the formation of society, in the humanistic, human-oriented nature of this communications.

I am close to the period of classicism, its principles, poetry, art, creativity in general. The conclusions that classicism makes regarding people, society, and the world seem to me to be the only true and rational ones. Measure, as the middle line between opposites, order of things, systems, and not chaos; a strong relationship between man and society against their rupture and enmity, excessive genius and selfishness; harmony against extremes - in this I see the ideal principles of existence, the foundations of which are reflected in the canons of classicism.

List of sources

The art of classicism followed ancient, that is, classical, patterns, which were considered the ideal aesthetic standard. Unlike the masters of Baroque, the creators of classicism tried to follow the firmly established canons of beauty. The new era developed strict rules that determined how to write poetry and plays, how to create paintings, how to dance, etc. The basic principles of classicism are strict adherence to established norms and majesty.

Through the efforts of the French Academy, founded in 1634, a single literary language was gradually established in France instead of numerous local dialects, which became the most important means of not only developing culture, but also strengthening national unity. The Academy dictated linguistic norms and artistic tastes, contributing to the formation of general canons of French culture. The formation of classicism was also facilitated by the activities of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, the Academy of Architecture, and the Academy of Music, which determined the norms of artistic creativity in the relevant fields of art. The artistic canons of that era were formed under the influence of philosophical rationalism, the founder of which was the outstanding French thinker of the first half of the 17th century. R. Descartes.

Cartesianism, as Descartes' philosophy is called, asserted faith in the omnipotence of the human mind and its ability to organize all human life on rational principles.

The leading poet of classicism and its theorist in the field of poetry was N. Boileau, author of the poetic treatise “Poetic Art” (1674).

Dramaturgy

In dramaturgy, where classicism reached its greatest completeness, the principle of “three unities” was established, which meant that the entire plot unfolded in one place, at one time and in one action. Tragedy was recognized as the highest genre of theatrical art. In classical drama, characters were clearly distinguished and contrasted with each other: positive characters embodied only virtues, negative ones became the personification of vice. At the same time, good always had to defeat evil.

The founder of classical French tragedy was P. Cornel, who not only wrote plays that are still recognized as masterpieces of world drama, but also became a leading theorist of theatrical art.

Ballet

Ballet reached high perfection in the era of classicism, for which the “Sun King” had a weakness, often appearing on stage himself. Ballet, which came from Renaissance Italy, under the patronage of the King of France, turned into a special type of stage art. By the end of the 17th century. Its canons were developed, turning ballet into the most classical of all types of classical arts.

Opera

Opera also came from Italy to France. The national opera tradition, which originated at the court of Louis XIV, was also formed in line with classicism.

Formed the classical canons in painting N. Poussin. French painting of the 17th century. laid the foundations of a great national tradition, the further development of which brought France undeniable primacy in the field of fine arts.

Portrait

Louis XIV placed the royal palace of the Louvre at the disposal of the servants of the muses, which acquired its majestic eastern façade under him. Paris and its suburbs during the reign of the “Sun King” were decorated with wonderful architectural monuments. “His Majesty’s Construction Works” turned into a whole industry, and everything built then is, in the words of the biographer of Louis XIV, “a permanent world exhibition of masterpieces of French classical taste.”

Since the time of Louis XIV, the primacy of France in many spheres of culture has become generally recognized. For a long time, French influence determined the main directions of development of world art. Paris turned into the center of artistic life in Europe, into a trendsetter and tastemaker, which became role models in other countries. Material from the site

Palace and park en-ensemble of Versailles

The outstanding achievement of that era is the grandiose palace and park ensemble of Versailles. The best architects, sculptors and artists of that time took part in its construction. The parks of Versailles are a classic example of French park art. Unlike the English park, which is more natural, landscape in nature, embodying the desire for harmony with nature, the French park is characterized by a regular layout and a desire for symmetry. Alleys, flower beds, ponds - everything is arranged in accordance with the strict laws of geometry. Even the trees and bushes are trimmed in the shape of regular geometric shapes. The attractions of Versailles also included various fountains, rich sculpture, and luxurious interiors of palaces. According to the French historian, no treaty “gave so much for the glory of our country as the ensemble of Versailles.” “One of a kind in proportions, combining the play of all arts, reflecting the culture of a unique era,” Versailles still amazes the imagination of visitors.

Classicism (French) classicisme, from lat. classicus- exemplary) - artistic style and aesthetic direction in European art of the 17th-19th centuries.

How a certain direction was formed in France in the 17th century. French classicism affirmed the personality of man as the highest value of existence, freeing him from religious and church influence.

43. Features of the Rococo style in architecture and music

The architectural (more precisely, decorative) Rococo style appeared in France during the Regency ( 1715 -1723 ) and reached its apogee at Louis XV, moved to other European countries and dominated it until 1780 's. Having rejected the cold pomp, heavy and boring pomposity of the art of the times of Louis XIV and Italian Baroque, Rococo architecture strives to be light, welcoming, playful at all costs; she does not care about the organic combination and distribution of parts of the structure, nor about the expediency of their forms, but disposes of them with complete arbitrariness, reaching the point of caprice, avoids strict symmetry, endlessly varies the divisions and ornamental details and does not skimp on squandering the latter. In the creations of this architecture, straight lines and flat surfaces almost disappear, or at least are disguised by figured decoration; none of the established orders is carried out in pure form; the columns are sometimes lengthened, sometimes shortened and twisted in a helical manner; their capitals distorted by flirtatious changes and additions, cornices are placed above the cornices; high pilasters and huge caryatids support insignificant ledges with a strongly protruding cornice; roofs are girded along the edge balustrades with bottle-shaped balusters and with pedestals placed at some distance from each other, on which vases or statues are placed; gables, representing broken convex and sunken lines, are also crowned with vases, pyramids, sculptural figures, trophies and other similar objects. Everywhere, in the frame of windows, doors, wall spaces inside the building, in lampshades, intricate stucco ornamentation is used, consisting of curls that vaguely resemble plant leaves, convex shields irregularly surrounded by the same curls, masks, flower garlands and festoons, shells, rough stones (rocaille), etc. Despite such a lack of rationality in the use of architectural elements, such capriciousness, sophistication and burdensome forms, the Rococo style left many monuments that to this day fascinate with their originality, luxury and cheerful beauty, vividly conveying us in the era of blush and white, flies and powder wigs .

Music: In its “pure form,” the Rococo musical style manifested itself in the works of the “great French harpsichordists» Francois Couperin(“Great”) and Jean Philippe Rameau(no less great, but without the same “ title"). Their lesser-known contemporaries worked in exactly the same manner: Louis Claude Daquin, Antoine Forcret, Andre Campra, Joseph Baudin de Boismortier, Louis Nicolas Clerambault, Marine Mare and many others. With one voice they declared the great Jean Baptiste Lully.

The Rococo style in music is characterized by exactly the same features as in painting and in architecture. An abundance of small sound decorations and curls (the so-called "melismas", similar to the sinuous lines of stylized “rocaille” shells), the predominance of small (jeweled in detail) and chamber forms, the absence of bright contrasts and dramatic effects, the dominance of the same themes and images familiar from Boucher’s paintings: playful, flirtatious and gallant. And the instrument itself, harpsichord, which experienced its highest point of prosperity in the era of gallant style and Rococo and popularity What is this if not the highest expression of all the features of the same Rococo style? A chamber instrument of small (or even very small) size, with a quiet sound that quickly fades and requires a large number of small notes to fill the space. It goes without saying that the external decoration of the instrument: elaborate, rich, full of small decorations and the finest details inevitably complemented the unity of style.

But even in large forms ( operas, ballets And cantatas) all these features showed themselves in full. Yes, big operas Ramo And Campra are also built from small numbers interconnected according to the suite principle, and sometimes even represent an enchanting suite, practically unrelated to any intelligible general plot. The most famous works of this type: “ Gallant India" Ramo, " Venetian festivities" And " Gallant Europe» Campra. Heroes mythological the plots of the operas were gallant gentlemen and ladies dressed in magnificent costumes according to the principle masquerade. Was also very popular genre pastorals, with the same gallant shepherds and shepherdesses, of course, who have nothing in common with real peasant types grazing livestock. IN instrumental music the same gallant genre dominated, portrait-landscape, pastoral or dance miniature(For harpsichord,viols, sometimes with the addition flutes, violins And oboe). They usually played music in suite form, which over time gradually gained in number of parts and was enriched with numerous details. Classical baroque the suite, which usually consisted of 3-5 dances with simple genre names, was first enriched with new “insert” French dances, such as paspier, bourre,minuet, pavana, galliard, and then began to include free ones, fantasy parts with landscape, genre or even personal names. In a relatively short era, Rococo itself suite genre was first brought by harpsichordists and masters of instrumental genres to its highest development, and then to exhaustion and decline, after which he simply left the professional musical environment for a good hundred years. Since music was played at social gatherings and during meals, various inventions, carnival imitations and witty entertainment techniques for amusement were especially welcomed aristocratic listeners. Bright sound-based pieces, for example, Rameau’s “Chicken” (for harpsichord) or Couperin’s “Little Windmills” (also, by the way, parts of a harpsichord suite) enjoyed constant popularity. This success led to numerous imitations, repetitions and replications in the works of other authors, which was generally characteristic of the era Baroque generally. Sometimes the entertaining effects moved directly into the musical sphere, parodying or imitating a fellow composer or mimicking some of the professional habits of the musicians themselves. In this regard, it is especially significant "Sonata-quartet" Guillaume Guillemin, bearing the subtitle "Gallant and entertaining conversations between the transverse flute, violin, bass viol and cello" ( 1743 ). IN salons most often languid or playful love songs were performed, as well as popular arias from the operas Rameau, Campra and Lully, arranged for harpsichord or small chamber ensemble.

Details Category: Variety of styles and movements in art and their features Published 03/05/2015 10:28 Views: 10592

"Class!" - we talk about what causes us admiration or corresponds to our positive assessment of an object or phenomenon.
Translated from Latin the word classicus and means "exemplary".

Classicismnamed the artistic style and aesthetic direction in European culture of the 17th-19th centuries.

What about as a sample? Classicism developed canons according to which any work of art should be built. Canon- this is a certain norm, a set of artistic techniques or rules that are mandatory in a certain era.
Classicism is a strict movement in art; it was only interested in the essential, eternal, typical; accidental signs or manifestations were not interesting to classicism.
In this sense, classicism performed the educational functions of art.

Buildings of the Senate and Synod in St. Petersburg. Architect K. Rossi
Is it good or bad when there are canons in art? When is it possible to do this and nothing else? Don't rush to a negative conclusion! The canons made it possible to streamline the work of a certain type of art, give direction, show examples and sweep away everything that is insignificant and not deep.
But canons cannot be an eternal, unchanging guide to creativity - at some point they become obsolete. This is what happened at the beginning of the 20th century. in the visual arts and in music: norms that had been rooted for several centuries had become obsolete and were torn apart.
However, we have already gotten ahead of ourselves. Let's return to classicism and take a closer look at the hierarchy of classicism genres. Let's just say that classicism as a specific movement was formed in France in the 17th century. The peculiarity of French classicism was that it affirmed the personality of man as the highest value of existence. In many ways, classicism relied on ancient art, seeing in it an ideal aesthetic model.

Hierarchy of classicism genres

Classicism established a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high and low. Each genre has certain characteristics, which should not be mixed.
Let's consider the hierarchy of genres using examples of various types of art.

Literature

Nicolas Boileau is considered the largest theorist of classicism, but the founder is Francois Malherbe, who carried out a reform of the French language and verse and developed poetic canons. N. Boileau expressed his views on the theory of classicism in the poetic treatise “Poetic Art”.

Bust of Nicolas Boileau by F. Girardon. Paris, Louvre
In dramaturgy it was necessary to observe three unities: unity of time (the action must take place over one day), unity of place (in one place) and unity of action (the work must have one storyline). The leading representatives of classicism in drama were the French tragedians Corneille and Racine. The main idea of their work was the conflict between public duty and personal passions.
The goal of classicism is to change the world for the better.

In Russia

In Russia, the emergence and development of classicism is associated primarily with the name of M.V. Lomonosov.

M. V. Lomonosov at the monument “1000th anniversary of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod. Sculptors M.O. Mikeshin, I.N. Schroeder, architect V.A. Hartmann
He carried out a reform of Russian verse and developed the theory of the “three calms”.

“Theory of three calms” M.V. Lomonosov

The doctrine of three styles, i.e. the classification of styles in rhetoric and poetics, distinguishing high, middle and low (simple) styles, has been known for a long time. It was used in ancient Roman, medieval and modern European literature.
But Lomonosov used the doctrine of three styles to build a stylistic system Russian language and Russian literature. Three “styles” according to Lomonosov:
1. Tall – solemn, majestic. Genres: ode, heroic poems, tragedies.
2. Intermediate – elegies, dramas, satires, eclogues, friendly essays.
3. Low - comedies, letters, songs, fables.
Classicism in Russia developed under the influence of the Enlightenment: ideas of equality and justice. Therefore, in Russian classicism a mandatory author's assessment of historical reality was usually assumed. We find this in the comedies of D.I. Fonvizin, satires by A.D. Kantemir, fables by A.P. Sumarokova, I.I. Khemnitser, ode M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavina.
At the end of the 18th century. The tendency to see art as the main force for educating a person has intensified. In this regard, the literary movement sentimentalism emerged, in which feeling (and not reason) was declared to be the main thing in human nature. The French writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau called for being closer to nature and naturalness. This call was followed by the Russian writer N.M. Karamzin – let’s remember his famous “Poor Liza”!
But works in the direction of classicism were also created in the 19th century. For example, “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboedova. Although this comedy already contains elements of romanticism and realism.

Painting

Since the definition of “classicism” is translated as “exemplary,” then some kind of example is natural for it. And supporters of classicism saw it in ancient art. This was the highest example. There was also reliance on the traditions of the High Renaissance, which also saw its model in antiquity. The art of classicism reflected the ideas of a harmonious structure of society, but reflected conflicts between the individual and society, ideal and reality, feelings and reason, which indicate the complexity of the art of classicism.
The artistic forms of classicism are characterized by strict organization, balance, clarity and harmony of images. The plot should develop logically, the composition of the plot should be clear and balanced, the volume should be clear, the role of color should be subordinated with the help of chiaroscuro, and the use of local colors. This is what N. Poussin wrote, for example.

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)

N. Poussin “Self-Portrait” (1649)
French artist who stood at the origins of classicism painting. Almost all of his paintings were created on historical and mythological subjects. His compositions are always clear and rhythmic.

N. Poussin “Dance to the Music of Time” (circa 1638)
The painting depicts an allegorical round dance of Life. Circling in it (from left to right): Pleasure, Diligence, Wealth, Poverty. Next to the double-headed stone statue of the Roman god Janus sits a baby blowing soap bubbles - a symbol of fast-flowing human life. The young face of the two-faced Janus looks to the future, and the old face looks to the past. The winged, gray-bearded old man, to whose music the round dance spins, is Father Time. At his feet sits a baby holding an hourglass, reminiscent of the rapid movement of time.
The chariot of the sun god Apollo rushes across the sky, accompanied by the goddesses of the seasons. Aurora, goddess of the dawn, flies ahead of the chariot, scattering flowers along her path.

V. Borovikovsky “Portrait of G.R. Derzhavin" (1795)

V. Borovikovsky “Portrait of G.R. Derzhavin", State Tretyakov Gallery
The artist captured in the portrait a man whom he knew well and whose opinion he valued. This is a traditional ceremonial portrait for classicism. Derzhavin is a senator, a member of the Russian Academy, a statesman, his uniform and awards speak about this.
But at the same time, he is also a renowned poet, passionate about creativity, educational ideals and social life. This is indicated by a desk littered with manuscripts; luxury ink set; shelves with books in the background.
The image of G. R. Derzhavin is recognizable. But his inner world is not shown. Rousseau's ideas, which were already actively discussed in society, have not yet appeared in the work of V. Borovikovsky, this will happen later.
In the 19th century Classical painting entered a period of crisis and became a force holding back the development of art. Artists, preserving the language of classicism, begin to turn to romantic subjects. Among Russian artists, first of all, this is Karl Bryullov. His work occurred at a time when works that were classical in form were filled with the spirit of romanticism; this combination was called academicism. In the middle of the 19th century. The younger generation, gravitating toward realism, began to rebel, represented in France by the Courbet circle, and in Russia by the Wanderers.

Sculpture

The sculpture of the era of classicism also considered antiquity as a model. This was also facilitated by archaeological excavations of ancient cities, as a result of which many Hellenistic sculptures became known.
Classicism reached its highest embodiment in the works of Antonio Canova.

Antonio Canova (1757-1822)

A. Canova “Self-portrait” (1792)
Italian sculptor, representative of classicism in European sculpture. The largest collections of his works are in the Paris Louvre and the St. Petersburg Hermitage.

A. Canova “The Three Graces”. St. Petersburg, Hermitage
The sculptural group “The Three Graces” belongs to the late period of Antonio Canova’s work. The sculptor embodied his ideas about beauty in the images of the Graces - ancient goddesses personifying feminine beauty and charm. The composition of this sculpture is unusual: the graces stand side by side, the two outermost ones face each other (and not the viewer) and the friend standing in the center. All three slender female figures merged in an embrace, they are united by an interlacing of arms and a scarf falling from the hand of one of the graces. Canova's composition is compact and balanced.
In Russia, the aesthetics of classicism include Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Boris Orlovsky, Ivan Martos.
Fedot Ivanovich Shubin(1740-1805) worked mainly with marble, sometimes turning to bronze. Most of his sculptural portraits are executed in the form of busts: busts of Vice-Chancellor A. M. Golitsyn, Count P. A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, Potemkin-Tavrichesky, M. V. Lomonosov, Paul I, P. V. Zavadovsky, a statue of Catherine II -legislators and others.

F. Shubin. Bust of Paul I
Shubin is also known as a decorator; he created 58 marble historical portraits for the Chesme Palace, 42 sculptures for the Marble Palace, etc. He was also a master bone carver of Kholmogory carved bones.
In the era of classicism, public monuments became widespread, in which military valor and the wisdom of statesmen were idealized. But in the ancient tradition it was customary to depict models naked, but moral norms modern to classicism did not allow this. That is why figures began to be depicted in the form of naked ancient gods: for example, Suvorov - in the form of Mars. Later they began to be depicted in antique togas.

Monument to Kutuzov in St. Petersburg in front of the Kazan Cathedral. Sculptor B.I. Orlovsky, architect K.A. Tone
Late, Empire classicism is represented by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.

B. Thorvaldsen. Monument to Nicolaus Copernicus in Warsaw

Architecture

The architecture of classicism was also focused on the forms of ancient architecture as standards of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity. Order– a type of architectural composition that uses certain elements. Includes a system of proportions, prescribes the composition and shape of elements, as well as their relative position. Classicism is characterized by symmetrical axial compositions, restraint of decorative decoration, and a regular system of city planning.

London mansion Osterley Park. Architect Robert Adam
In Russia, representatives of classicism in architecture were V.I. Bazhenov, Karl Rossi, Andrey Voronikhin and Andreyan Zakharov.

Carl Bartalomeo-Rossi(1775-1849) - Russian architect of Italian origin, author of many buildings and architectural ensembles in St. Petersburg and its environs.
The outstanding architectural and urban planning skills of Russia are embodied in the ensembles of the Mikhailovsky Palace with the adjacent garden and square (1819-1825), Palace Square with the grandiose arched building of the General Staff and a triumphal arch (1819-1829), Senate Square with the buildings of the Senate and Synod (1829 -1834), Alexandrinskaya Square with the buildings of the Alexandrinsky Theater (1827-1832), the new building of the Imperial Public Library and two homogeneous extended buildings of Teatralnaya Street (now Architect Rossi Street).

The General Staff Building on Palace Square

Music

The concept of classicism in music is associated with the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, who are called the Viennese classics. It was they who determined the direction of the further development of European music.

Thomas Hardy "Portrait of Joseph Haydn" (1792)

Barbara Kraft "Posthumous Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" (1819)

Karl Stieler "Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven" (1820)
The aesthetics of classicism, based on confidence in the rationality and harmony of the world order, embodied these same principles in music. What was required of her was: balance of parts of the work, careful finishing of details, development of the basic canons of musical form. During this period, the sonata form was finally formed, and the classical composition of the sonata and symphony parts was determined.
Of course, the path of music to classicism was not simple and unambiguous. There was the first stage of classicism - the Renaissance of the 17th century. Some musicologists even consider the Baroque period as a particular manifestation of classicism. Thus, the work of I.S. can also be classified as classicism. Bach, G. Handel, K. Gluck with his reform operas. But the highest achievements of classicism in music are still associated with the work of representatives of the Viennese classical school: J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and L. van Beethoven.

Note

It is necessary to distinguish between concepts "music of classicism" And "classical music". The concept of “classical music” is much broader. It includes not only the music of the classical era, but also the music of the past in general, which has stood the test of time and is recognized as exemplary.

In literature, classicism originated and spread in France in the 17th century. Nicolas Boileau is considered a theorist of classicism, who formed the basic principles of the style in the article “Poetic Art.” The name comes from the Latin “classicus” - exemplary, which emphasizes the artistic basis of the style - the images and forms of antiquity, to which they began to have a special interest at the end of the Renaissance. The emergence of classicism is associated with the formation of the principles of a centralized state and the ideas of “enlightened” absolutism in it.

Classicism glorifies the concept of reason, believing that only with the help of the mind can one obtain and organize a picture of the world. Therefore, the main thing in a work becomes its idea (that is, the main thought and form of the work must be in harmony), and the main thing in the conflict of reason and feelings is reason and duty.

The basic principles of classicism, characteristic of both foreign and domestic literature:

Forms and images from ancient (ancient Greek and Roman) literature: tragedy, ode, comedy, epic, poetic odic and satirical forms.
A clear division of genres into “high” and “low”. The “high” ones include ode, tragedy and epic, the “low” ones, as a rule, are funny - comedy, satire, fable.
A distinctive division of heroes into good and bad.
Compliance with the principle of the trinity of time, place, action.

Classicism in Russian literature

XVIII century

In Russia, classicism appeared much later than in European countries, since it was “imported” along with European works and enlightenment. The existence of style on Russian soil is usually placed within the following framework:

1. The end of the 1720s, the literature of Peter the Great’s time, secular literature, different from the church literature that had previously dominated in Russia.

The style began to develop first in translated works, then in original works. The names of A.D. Kantemir, A.P. Sumarokov and V.K. Trediakovsky (reformers and developers of the literary language, they worked on poetic forms - odes and satires) are associated with the development of the Russian classical tradition.

1730-1770 - the heyday of the style and its evolution. Associated with the name of M.V. Lomonosov, who wrote tragedies, odes, and poems.
The last quarter of the 18th century saw the emergence of sentimentalism and the beginning of the crisis of classicism. The time of late classicism is associated with the name of D. I. Fonvizin, the author of tragedies, dramas and comedies; G. R. Derzhavin (poetic forms), A. N. Radishchev (prose and poetic works).

(A. N. Radishchev, D. I. Fonvizin, P. Ya. Chaadaev)

D. I. Fonvizin and A. N. Radishchev became not only developers, but also destroyers of the stylistic unity of classicism: Fonvizin in comedies violates the principle of the trinity, introducing ambiguity in the assessment of heroes. Radishchev becomes the harbinger and developer of sentimentalism, providing psychologism to the narrative, rejecting its conventions.

(Representatives of classicism)

19th century

It is believed that classicism existed by inertia until the 1820s, but during late classicism the works created within its framework were classical only formally, or its principles were used deliberately to create a comic effect.

Russian classicism of the early 19th century is moving away from its breakthrough features: affirmation of the primacy of reason, civic pathos, opposition to the arbitrariness of religion, against its oppression over reason, criticism of the monarchy.

Classicism in foreign literature

Initial classicism was based on the theoretical developments of ancient authors - Aristotle and Horace (“Poetics” and “Epistle to the Piso”).

In European literature, with identical principles, the style ends its existence in the 1720s. Representatives of classicism in France: Francois Malherbe (poetic works, reformation of poetic language), J. Lafontaine (satirical works, fable), J.-B. Moliere (comedy), Voltaire (drama), J.-J. Rousseau (late classicist prose writer, harbinger of sentimentalism).

There are two stages in the development of European classicism:

The development and flourishing of the monarchy, contributing to the positive development of the economy, science and culture. At this stage, representatives of classicism see their task as glorifying the monarch, establishing her inviolability (Francois Malherbe, Pierre Corneille, leading genres - ode, poem, epic).
The crisis of the monarchy, the discovery of shortcomings in the political system. Writers do not glorify, but rather criticize the monarchy. (J. Lafontaine, J.-B. Moliere, Voltaire, leading genres - comedy, satire, epigram).