Ethical and aesthetic program

The basic principle of the aesthetic code of classicism is the imitation of beautiful nature. Objective beauty for the theorists of classicism (Boileau, André) is the harmony and regularity of the universe, which has a spiritual source as its source, which forms matter and brings it into order. Thus, beauty as an eternal spiritual law is opposed to everything sensual, material, changeable. Therefore, moral beauty is higher than physical beauty; the creation of human hands is more beautiful than the rough beauty of nature.

The laws of beauty do not depend on the experience of observation, they are derived from the analysis of inner spiritual activity.

The ideal of the artistic language of classicism is the language of logic - precision, clarity, consistency. The linguistic poetics of classicism avoids, as far as possible, the figurative depiction of the word. Its usual remedy is an abstract epithet.

The relationship between the individual elements of a work of art is based on the same principles, i.e. composition, which is usually a geometrically balanced structure based on strict symmetric segmentation of the material. Thus, the laws of art are likened to the laws of formal logic.

A.A. Blok - literary critic

In early childhood, as a child, Blok began to "compose". The biographer of the poet M.A. Beketova clarifies the first literary hobbies of the little Blok: “At the age of 6, Sasha developed a taste for the heroic, for fantasy ...

Analysis of the philosophical and aesthetic foundations of B.A. Akhmadulina

The painful tragedy of F.M. Dostoevsky

The pain effect is an extremely acute aesthetic reaction (on the verge of anti-aestheticism), which F.M. Dostoevsky, building his own aesthetics of "cutting truth" ...

Irony in modern Russian prose (based on the poem "Moscow-Petushki" by Erofeev and the story "By Mutual Correspondence")

Irony (Greek eironeia, literally - pretense) is a category of philosophy and aesthetics that denotes a statement or image of art that has a hidden meaning, the opposite of that which is directly expressed or expressed. Unlike satire ...

Lyceum years of Pushkin

Through the efforts of the administration and teachers, the Lyceum was turned into an advanced and innovative educational institution. The atmosphere created in it made it possible for the pupils to feel at home, in a single family ...

The moral aspect in the novel by O. Wilde "The Portrait of Dorian Gray"

Oscar Wilde entered the history of literature as the most prominent representative of aestheticism in art. This trend originated in the 70s of the XIX century, formed in the 80-90s. and lost its position at the beginning of the twentieth century ...

The image of Petersburg in the works of N.V. Gogol

"Portrait", "Nevsky Prospect", "Notes of a Madman", "Nose", "Overcoat" - stories by N.V. Gogol, which are usually called St. Petersburg. Despite...

Oscar Wilde "Portrait of Dorian Gray"

In his lecture "The Revival of English Art" (1882), Wilde first formulated those basic provisions of the aesthetic program of English decadence, which were later developed in his treatises "Brush, Pen and Poison" (1889), "The Truth of Masks" ...

Reflection of the spiritual state of society in the journalism of F.M. Dostoevsky ("A Writer's Diary", 1873-1881)

Reflection of the Soviet era in satirical works of the twentieth century

In the XX century. the view on satire as a kind of comic (ironic, sarcastic) denial of the described phenomena and mores became firmly established. “In satire, stinging irony and denial are bizarrely combined ...

The concept of the comic in Ostrovsky's play

The comic belongs to the main aesthetic categories. There are various interpretations of its place in the system of aesthetic categories. Sometimes it is understood as a category polar to the tragic or the sublime, for example ...

Application of fiction in bibliotherapy

Bibliotherapy is a scientific discipline aimed at solving the problems of forming a person's abilities and skills to resist extraordinary situations (illness, stress, depression, etc.), to strengthen willpower ...

Classicism

Classicism is one of the most important areas of art in the past, an artistic style based on normative aesthetics, requiring strict adherence to a number of rules, canons, and unities. The rules of classicism are of paramount importance as a means of securing the main purpose - to educate and instruct the public, turning them to sublime examples. The aesthetics of classicism reflected the desire to idealize reality, by rejecting the depiction of a complex and multifaceted reality. In the theatrical art, this direction has established itself in the work of, first of all, French authors: Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, Moliere. Classicism had a great influence on the Russian national theater (A.P. Sumarokov, V.A.Ozerov, D.I.Fonvizin and others).

Historical roots of classicism

The history of classicism begins in Western Europe at the end of the 16th century. In the 17th century. reaches its highest development associated with the flowering of the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV in France and the highest rise of theatrical art in the country. Classicism continues to fruitfully exist in the 18th and early 19th centuries, until it was replaced by sentimentalism and romanticism.

As an artistic system, classicism finally took shape in the 17th century, although the very concept of classicism was born later, in the 19th century, when an implacable war against romance was declared. "Classicism" (from the Latin "classicus", that is, "exemplary") assumed a stable orientation of the new art in the antique way, which did not mean a simple copying of antique samples. Classicism also carries out continuity with the aesthetic concepts of the Renaissance, which were oriented towards antiquity.

Having studied the poetics of Aristotle and the practice of Greek theater, the French classics proposed the rules of construction in their works, based on the foundations of rationalistic thinking of the 17th century. First of all, this is strict adherence to the laws of the genre, the division into higher genres - ode, tragedy, epic and lower ones - comedy, satire.

Classicism laws

The laws of classicism were most characteristic of all expressed in the rules for constructing a tragedy. From the author of the play, first of all, it was required that the plot of the tragedy, as well as the passions of the heroes, were believable. But the classicists have their own understanding of plausibility: not just the similarity of what is depicted on the stage with reality, but the consistency of what is happening with the requirements of reason, with a certain moral and ethical norm.

The concept of a reasonable prevalence of duty over human feelings and passions is the basis of classicism aesthetics, which differs significantly from the concept of a hero adopted in the Renaissance, when complete freedom of the individual was proclaimed, and a person was declared the "crown of the universe." However, the course of historical events refuted these ideas. Overwhelmed by passions, the person could not decide, find support. And only in serving society, a single state, a monarch, who embodied the strength and unity of his state, could a person express himself, establish himself, even at the cost of giving up his own feelings. The tragic collision was born on a wave of colossal tension: ardent passion collided with an inexorable duty (in contrast to the Greek tragedy of fatal predestination, when a person's will turned out to be powerless). In the tragedies of classicism, reason, will were decisive and suppressed spontaneous, poorly controlled feelings.

A hero in the tragedies of classicism

The classicists saw the truthfulness of the characters in the strict subordination of internal logic. The unity of the character of the hero is the most important condition for the aesthetics of classicism. Generalizing the laws of this direction, the French author N.Boileau-Depreo, in his poetic treatise Poetic Art, states: Let your hero be carefully thought out, Let him always remain himself.

The one-sidedness, internal static character of the hero does not exclude, however, the manifestation of living human feelings on his part. But in different genres, these feelings are manifested in different ways, strictly according to the chosen scale - tragic or comic. Bouileau says about the tragic hero:

The hero, in whom everything is petty, is suitable only for a novel,

Let him be brave, noble,

But still, without weaknesses, he is not nice to anyone ...

He cries from resentment - not a superfluous detail,

So that we believe in its plausibility ...

So that we crown you with enthusiastic praise,

Your hero should excite and touch us.

Let him be free from unworthy feelings

And even in weakness, powerful and noble.

To reveal the human character in the understanding of the classicists means to show the nature of the action of the eternal passions, unchanging in their essence, their influence on the fate of people. Basic rules of classicism. Both high genres and low genres were obliged to instruct the public, to elevate its morals, to enlighten feelings. In the tragedy, the theater taught the viewer resilience in life's struggle, the example of a positive hero served as an example of moral behavior. The hero, as a rule, a king or a mythological character was the main character. The conflict between duty and passion or selfish desires was necessarily resolved in favor of duty, even if the hero died in an unequal struggle. In the 17th century. the dominant idea has become that only in serving the state does a person acquire the possibility of self-affirmation. The flourishing of classicism was due to the establishment of absolute power in France, and later in Russia.

The most important standards of classicism - the unity of action, place and time - follow from those substantive premises, which were discussed above. In order to more accurately convey the idea to the viewer and inspire selfless feelings, the author did not have to complicate anything. The main intrigue should be simple enough so as not to confuse the viewer and not deprive the picture of integrity. The demand for the unity of time was closely related to the unity of action, and many different events did not take place in the tragedy. The unity of the place has also been interpreted in different ways. It could be the space of one palace, one room, one city, and even the distance that the hero could cover in twenty-four hours. Particularly courageous reformers dared to stretch the action for thirty hours. The tragedy must have five acts and be written in Alexandrian verse (six-foot iambic). The visible excites more than the story, But that which will endure hearing, sometimes will not endure the eyes. (N. Bouileau)

Similar information.

Classicism is an aesthetically significant trend in art that originated in the 17th century, developed in the 18th and traced in the 19th centuries. It is characterized by an appeal to antique classics as a strict normative example of perfect harmony. The aesthetic ideas of classicism are formed in the spirit of rationalism, which spread its dominance in that era - the philosophical and scientific doctrine, according to which reason is the highest human ability, allowing him to cognize and even transform the world, becoming partly on a par with God, to reorganize societies. Reason, from the point of view of rationalism, is not only the main, but also the only fully adequate ability of the human mind. Feelings are only a prerequisite for rational reasoning, which by themselves obscures clear truth; mystical intuition is valuable for its inclusion in the system of rational argumentation. This view could not but affect the relationship between the spheres of culture, which began to form in the highest circles of society in Europe: science, philosophy and mathematics in particular - these are the main driving forces of the progress of knowledge; art is assigned a more modest, secondary role of sentimental pleasure, light entertainment and intelligible, impressive edification; traditional religion, not "enlightened" by the rational ideas of philosophical deism, is the faith of a simple uneducated people useful for the social organism - a kind of stabilizer in the field of social mores.
Classicism is based on normative aesthetic theory. Already Rene Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher of the first half of the 17th century, in his original works for that time, "Discourse on Method", "Compendium of Music" and others, asserts that art should be subject to strict regulation by reason. At the same time, the language of works of art, according to R. Descartes, should be distinguished by rationality, the composition should be based on strictly established rules. The main task of the artist is to convince, first of all, with the power and logic of thoughts. The normative aesthetic theory of classicism is characterized by rationalism, verified clarity, formal calculation with an orientation towards proportionality, integrity, unity, poise and completeness of forms, connection with the ideas of political absolutism and moral imperative. The normative principles of classicism assumed a clear division into high and low genres.
These principles of classicism are manifested in all types of art: In the theater, adhering to the ideological generalizations of N. Boileau (Cornel, Racine, Moliere, Lope de Vega, etc.); in literature (La Fontaine) in architecture, especially secular - palace and park (the image of Versailles) and civil and ecclesiastical (Levo, Hardouin-Mansart, Lebrun, Le Nôtre, Jones, Ren, Quarenghi, Bazhenov, Voronikhin, Kazakov, Rossi, etc. .); in painting (Poussin, Velasquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Dyck): In sculpture (Canova, Thorvaldsen, etc.) in music (Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, early Beethoven, etc.) their designs went beyond the strict normative nature of classicism, the separation of high and low genres postulated by it, but their work is nevertheless united by the principles of expressive clarity, laconism and harmony of style characteristic of this era.
The most prominent representative of the aesthetic theory of art of that era was Nicolas Boileau (1636 - 1711) - a French poet-satirist, theorist of classicism, the norms and rules of which he set out in the poetic treatise Poetic Art - a kind of instruction for a novice poet and artist.
N. Boileau is a supporter of the predominance of the intellectual sphere over the emotional in the poet's work (and in art in general). He believes that works of art are addressed not so much to feeling as to reason. The most important signs of beauty - something that is easily captured by the mind - is clarity, distinctness. Everything incomprehensible and ugly at the same time. The idea of ​​the work, its embodiment must be clear, the parts and the whole architectonics of the work must be clear and distinct. Simplicity and clarity - this is the motive of the famous principle of "three unities", which N. Boileau extended to poetry and dramaturgy in their perfect compositionality: the unity of the place (the action is geographically localized, although it involves a change of scenes), the unity of time (the action must fit into one day, one day), unity of action (scenes replacing each other must correspond to the temporal order of events). Moreover, the characters depicted should not change throughout the entire work. These principles, according to N. Boileau, being direct manifestations of the laws of reason, discipline the poet's creative abilities and allow the reader or viewer to easily, and therefore fully understand the transmitted content without obstacles.
Plausibility is the key concept of the aesthetics of N. Boileau's art. Because N. Boualo represents the beautiful as reasonable and natural. Reason is the basis for the universality of taste norms. Thus, the beautiful in one way or another obeys the truth. But the truth of life is also a normative idealization, and not just a correct reflection. Beauty, according to N. Boileau, is brought into the world by a certain rational spiritual principle, and a work of art, as a product of rational activity, turns out to be more perfect than the creations of nature. Spiritual beauty is placed above physical beauty, and art is placed above nature.
N. Boileau concretizes the theory of genres that has developed in classicism when dividing them into higher and lower: Thus, tragedy should depict the high and the heroic, and comedy - the low and vicious. The heroes of the comedy are a simple people, expressing their thoughts not in the lofty language of rhetoric, but in an easy modern secular language.
The new ideas of the Enlightenment were largely associated with the principles of classicism and represented an organic unity with it in many cultural phenomena of the 18th century. The era of the Enlightenment in its axiomatic principles is as rationalistic as the emerging worldview of the 17th century .. but unlike early rationalism, the Enlightenment is a whole program aimed not so much at mastering the forces of nature through the scientific knowledge of its laws (this process, begun in the 17th century, of course, continued), as much as on the transformation of the entire culture and the entire society on the basis of reason, on the basis of new scientific knowledge, in many respects contrary to the spiritual tradition rooted in the attitudes of the Middle Ages. The Enlightenment Project, the authors of which are French, English and German thinkers (D. Diderot, Voltaire (M.F. Aruet), J.-J. Rousseau, J. Locke, D. Hume, I. Herder and others, many of which were members of secret mystical societies of a rationalistic sense, such as the Illuminati (from Latin illuminatio - enlightenment) - consisted of a number of interrelated directions: the consolidation of scientific knowledge and the dissemination of rational knowledge of a new type to questions of the philosophical understanding of man, society, culture, including including art; the dissemination of scientific knowledge and values ​​of the new generation among wide layers of society, addressing an educated public; improvement of the laws by which society lives, up to revolutionary transformations.
In this regard, one of the lines of the philosophy of the Enlightenment is the identification of the boundaries of the knowing mind and its connection with other knowing and active forces of man, such as the conceptual feeling - hence the emergence of philosophical aesthetics as an independent discipline, such as the will, the sphere of which was interpreted as a sphere practical reason. The ratio of naturalness and culture was understood by the enlighteners in different ways: the dominant ideas of cultural and civilizational progressivism were opposed by the thesis of human naturalness, strikingly expressed in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's call: "Back to nature." Another aspect associated with the implementation of the program objectives of the Enlightenment is the emergence of knowledge on the horizons of world culture, the beginning of the development of the extra-European experience of culture, art and religion and, in particular, the emergence of the concept of world artistic culture (I. Goethe).
The ideas of the Enlightenment in art were expressed in a number of new phenomena in the artistic life of the 18th century. - in democracy - art going beyond secular salons, offices and palaces into public concert halls, libraries, galleries, in addressing the themes of folk life and national history, in rejecting heroic aristocracy and glorifying the images of commoners, in a mixture of high and low genres, the popularity of the genre of genre and the genre of comedy; in an interest in public life and progress; in anti-clericalism and caricatured ironic criticism of dilapidated vestiges of the Middle Ages and vicious customs, including those covered by personal piety; in liberalism - the preaching of individual freedom and at the same time in the moral preaching of the simplicity and naturalness of man, coordinated with the good of society; in broad encyclopedic interests and attention to non-European cultures; in realism - the reflection of the simple nature, social context and psychological aura of human images, in an idyllic commitment to naturalness and fidelity to human feeling as opposed to reason that can make mistakes.
In literature and theater, this was reflected in the works of Beaumarchais, Lessing, Sheridan, Goldoni, Gozzi, Schiller, Goethe, Defoe, Swift; in painting - Hogarth, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Chardin, Greuze, David, Goya, Levitsky; in sculpture - Houdon, Shubin, etc.
Many ideas of enlightenment were embodied in art forms developed by the aesthetics of classicism, so we can talk about the real closeness of these styles with a certain ideological delimitation of their principles. Some enlightenment motives were in harmony with the playful and sophisticated rococo court style. Within the framework of the ideas of the late Enlightenment, an original style of sentimentalism was formed (especially in poetry and painting), characterized by dreaminess, sensitivity, the special role of transmitted feelings in comprehending life and compassion (sympathy) in moral education, conformity to nature and idyllic pastoralism - in the spirit of the philosophy of J.J. Russo. Sentimentalism, on the one hand, and the highly expressive symbolic images of such creators of art of the late 18th century as F. Schiller, I. Goethe, F. Goya, J.L. life of the Enlightenment.
The philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment aesthetics were clearly expressed in the works of a number of major thinkers of the 18th century, including:
Alexander Baumgarten (1714 - 1762) - German philosopher, follower of Leibniz and Wolf, founder of the aesthetics of German classical philosophy. In 1735
A. Baumgarten was the first to introduce the term "aesthetics", with which he designated the philosophical science of sensory cognition, comprehending and creating beauty and expressed in the images of art. Baumgarten's aesthetic views are set out in the works: "Philosophical Reflections on Certain Questions Relating to a Poetic Work", "Aesthetics".
Gothold Ephraim Lessing (1729 - 1781) - German philosopher - educator, playwright, literary critic, art theorist, who advocated the convergence of literature and art with life; for freeing them from the shackles of class-aristocratic normativity. Art, according to Lessing, is an imitation of nature, widely interpreted as the knowledge of life. Justifying the theory of realistic art, he relies on the terminology of Aristotle and the work of Shakespeare to fight classicism. The main theoretical work of Lessing: “Laocoon. On the boundaries of painting and poetry. "
Johann Goethe (1749 - 1832) - German poet, founder of modern German literature, thinker and naturalist. In his youth, Goethe was one of the leaders of the Storm and Onslaught movement. Art, according to Goethe, is called upon to resist obsolete conventions, decayed morality, to fight against oppression of the individual. Art I. Goethe interpreted as "imitation" of nature. In fact, he formulated the idea of ​​"Typification". To denote any creative force, Goethe introduced the concept of "demonic". The main works of I. Goethe: “Simple imitation of nature. Manner. Style ”,“ The Teaching of Light ”.
Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) - the founder of German classical philosophy. The main work of I. Kant on the problems of aesthetics is "Critique of the ability to judge." The aesthetic principle in I. Kant turns out to be the fundamental a priori (defining the constitution of consciousness prior to any empirical experience) form - the form of an uninterested judgment of taste that is universal in its application. The judgment of taste is associated with the ability to feel pleasure or displeasure on the basis of the principle of "expediency without a goal", the derivatives of which are the practical expediency of the action of human will and the lawfulness of the activity of reason. The main categories of Kant's aesthetics are expediency (harmonious connection between parts and the whole), the beautiful and the sublime. Kant dispelled rationalistic and utilitarian ideas about beauty, reducing the feeling of beauty to the "disinterested" pleasure provided by the contemplation of the aesthetic form. At the same time, the main merit of a work of art, according to I. Kant, is not so much their vital content as a perfect form, appealing to the pre-experienced aesthetic ability of a person. The essence of the sublime, according to Kant, is in violation of the usual measure. Judging the sublime requires a developed imagination and high morality. For the perception of art, taste is needed, for creation - a genius - a unique personality endowed with a high degree of creative imagination.
Georg Hegel (1770 - 1831) - an outstanding representative of German classical philosophy, whose views were formed under the influence of rationalism inherent in the era of the Enlightenment. However, G. Hegel, in his truly universal philosophical system, overcame the framework of enlightenment ideas. In the formation of his original methodology, he was also influenced by early romantic motives, which were noticeable in the concepts of German philosophers of the early 19th century. I. Fichte and F. Schelling. G. Hegel made the method of rational reflection more perfect, capable of comprehending the contradictions of being and consciousness, integrating in itself both strictly rational-logical and specifically aesthetic and even mystical models of the movement of thought, which, according to Hegel, fit into the broader coordinates of dialectical logic, it is true , thus turning into modalities of the mind. G. Hegel is the creator of a system of objective idealism based on the method of dialectics.
In the early period of his work, G. Hegel believed that the highest act of reason, embracing all ideas, is an aesthetic act and that truth and goodness are united by kinship only in beauty. Later, Hegel presented aesthetics as a philosophy of art. Art occupies a subordinate, in comparison with philosophy as an absolute form of self-knowledge of the spirit, a step in the historical development of historical consciousness.
The novelty of Hegel's aesthetics of the mature period consisted in the accentuation of the connection between art and beauty with human activity and with the development of the "objective spirit", that is, in other words, the culture of society as a whole. According to Hegel, beauty is always human. An extremely general aesthetic category for Hegel is the beautiful. The historical principle of material consideration is inherent in Hegel's aesthetics. The dialectical triad of self-development of art is formed by its forms, successively replacing in the course of history: symbolic (Ancient East), classical (Antiquity) and romantic (Christian Europe). The art forms were examined in detail in Hegel's Aesthetics. Everywhere he tried to grasp the principle of development. The main work, which expounds the aesthetic concept of G. Hegel - "Lectures on Aesthetics".

Classicism is the artistic direction of the era of absolutism. Classicism took shape in France in the 17th century, in the era of Louis XIV, who went down in history with the famous phrase: "The state is me." The largest representatives of classicism in French literature are the tragedians Corneille and Racine, the comedian Moliere, the fabulist La Fontaine. The aesthetic program of classicism was set forth in the poetic treatise by Nicolas Boileau "Poetic Art".

The subject of art, according to the classicists, can only be the sublime, the beautiful. "Avoid the low, It is always ugliness ..." - wrote Boileau. In real life, there is little tall, beautiful, so the classicists turned to ancient art as a source of beauty. Borrowing plots and heroes from ancient literature is a characteristic feature of classicism.

The pathos of classicism, which was formed in an era when the state in the form of an absolute monarchy played a progressive role, is the assertion of the primacy of state interests over personal ones. This civic pathos was expressed in different ways in different genres.

The classicists created a strict genre system. Genres were divided into high (tragedy, epic poem, ode) and low (comedy, fable, satire). All genres were clearly separated from each other, for each there were laws that writers had to adhere to. So, for the tragedy of classicism, the conflict of feeling and duty, the law of three unities ("Let everything be done in a day And in only one place ..." - wrote Boileau), a five-act composition and an Alexandrian verse as a form of narration were obligatory for the tragedy of classicism. The normality of classicist aesthetics did not become an obstacle for artists, the best of whom, within the strict laws of classicism, were able to create bright, artistically convincing works.

Features of the tragedies of classicism. The tragedy of Corneille "Sid"

Tragedy was the leading genre of classicism literature.

In the aesthetics of classicism, the theory of tragedy was carefully developed. Its main laws are as follows. 1. At the heart of the tragedy is an internal conflict of feeling and duty. This conflict is fundamentally insoluble, and the tragedy ends with the death of the heroes. 2. The plot of the tragedy obeys the law of three unities: the unity of the place (all events take place in one place), the unity of time (all events take place in 24 hours), the unity of action (there are no side plot lines in the tragedy that do not work for the main conflict). 3. Tragedy is written in verse. The size is also determined: the Alexandrian verse.

One of the first great classicistic tragedies - "Cid" by Pierre Corneille (1637). The hero of the tragedy is the courageous and noble knight Rodrigo Diaz, sung in the Spanish heroic epic "Song of My Side" and numerous romances. The action in Corneille's tragedy is driven by a conflict of feeling and duty, which is realized through a system of private conflicts that flow into each other. This is a conflict between feelings and public debt (Infanta storyline), a conflict between feelings and family debt (storylines of Rodrigo Diaz and Jimena) and a conflict between family debt and public debt (storyline of King Fernando). All the heroes of Corneille's tragedy, after a painful struggle, choose duty. The tragedy ends with the approval of the idea of ​​public debt.

Corneille's "Sid" was enthusiastically received by the audience, but became the object of sharp criticism in the literary environment. The fact is that the playwright violated the fundamental laws of classicism: the law of the unity of the genre (in "Side" the tragic conflict is successfully resolved), the law of three unities (in "Side" the action takes place within 36 hours in three different places), the law of the unity of verse

(Rodrigo's stanzas are not written in Alexandrian verse). Over time, the deviations from the classicist norms, made by Corneille, were forgotten, but the tragedy itself continues to live in literature and on stage.

INTRODUCTION

Among the numerous artistic and aesthetic trends and trends identified by modern culturologists, classicism occupies a completely special position. It was he who became the first integral and self-aware system in the history of European culture.

The significance of this trend for the subsequent development of art and literature of the modern era was very important; it is enough just to mention that under the sign of all sorts of modifications of classicism, the process of cultural evolution in the countries of Europe, North and Latin America took place for two centuries, and neoclassical tendencies are traced by individual specialists even in the culture of the multifaceted XX century.

And although the decline of classicism took place in the 19th century, it is still argued about its significance and role in the history of culture, and artists and writers still turn to its treasury for inspiration and subjects.

CONCEPT OF CLASSICISM

Classicism (from Latin classicus - exemplary; the term was introduced by romantics in the 19th century in the process of fighting the classicists) is an artistic style in European art of the 17th - early 19th centuries, one of the most important features of which was the appeal to the forms of ancient art as ideal aesthetic standard. Continuing the traditions of the Renaissance (admiration for the ancient ideals of harmony and measure, belief in the power of the human mind), classicism was also its kind of antithesis, since with the loss of Renaissance harmony, the unity of feeling and reason, the tendency to aesthetic experience of the world as a harmonious whole was also lost. Concepts such as society and personality, man and nature, elements and consciousness, in classicism are polarized, become mutually exclusive, which brings it closer (while preserving all cardinal general outlook and stylistic differences) with the baroque, also imbued with the consciousness of general discord generated by the crisis of the Renaissance ideals.

The artistic concept of the world of classicism is rationalistic, ahistorical and includes the ideas of statehood and stability (sustainability).
Classicism arose at the end of the Renaissance, with which it has a number of related features:

1) imitation of antiquity;

2) a return to the norms of classical art forgotten in the Middle Ages (hence its name).

Usually distinguish between classicism of the 17th century. and classicism of the 18th - early 19th centuries. (the latter is often referred to as neoclassicism in foreign art history), but in the plastic arts, the tendencies of classicism were already outlined in the second half of the 16th century. in Italy - in the architectural theory and practice of Palladio, theoretical treatises of Vignola, S. Serlio; more consistently - in the works of J.P. Bellory (17th century), as well as in the aesthetic standards of academics of the Bologna school. However, in the 17th century. classicism, which developed in acutely polemical interaction with the baroque, only in French artistic culture developed into an integral style system. In the bosom of French artistic culture, the classicism of the 18th century was predominantly formed, which became a common European style. The principles of rationalism underlying the aesthetics of classicism (the same ones that determined the philosophical ideas of R. Descartes and Cartesianism) determined the view of works of art as the fruit of reason and logic, triumphing over the chaos and fluidity of sensually perceived life. In classicism, only the enduring, timeless has aesthetic value. Attaching great importance to the social function of art, classicism puts forward new ethical norms that shape the image of its heroes: resistance to the cruelty of fate and the vicissitudes of life, subordination of the personal to the general, passions - duty, reason, the supreme interests of society, the laws of the universe. The consolidation of the theoretical doctrines of classicism was facilitated by the activities of the Royal Academies founded in Paris - painting and sculpture (1648) and architecture (1671).

In the middle of the 18th century. the principles of classicism were transformed in the spirit of the Enlightenment aesthetics. In architecture, the appeal to "naturalness" put forward the requirement for a constructive justification of the order elements of the composition, in the interior - the development of a flexible layout of a comfortable residential building. The landscape environment of the "English" park became the ideal environment for the house. Huge influence on classicism of the 18th century. had a rapid development of archaeological knowledge about Greek and Roman antiquity (excavations of Herculaneum, Pompeii, etc.); contributions to the theory of classicism were made by the works of I.I.Vinkelman, I.V. Goethe, F. Militia.

Classicism strove to sort everything out on the shelves, to define the place and role for everything. It is no coincidence that the aesthetic program of classicism established a hierarchy of genres - “high” (tragedy, epic, ode, history, mythology, religious painting, etc.) and “low” (comedy, satire, fable, genre painting, etc.) ...

To the greatest extent, the principles of classicism are expressed in the tragedies of P. Corneille, J. Racine and Voltaire, the comedies of J. B. Moliere, satire by N. Boileau, fables by J. La Fontaine, prose by F. La Rochefoucauld (France), in the works of I.V. Goethe and F. Schiller (Germany), M.V. Lomonosov and G.R. Derzhavin, the tragedies of A.P. Sumarokov and Ya.B. Knyazhnina (Russia).

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

The founder of the European classical comedy is the French comedian, actor and theatrical figure, reformer of the stage art Moliere (real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622-1673). For a long time, Molière traveled with the theater troupe across the provinces, where he got acquainted with the stage technique 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 a genre of social and everyday comedy, in which buffoonery and plebeian humor were combined with grace and artistry. Overcoming the schematism of the Italian commedia dell "arte" - a comedy of masks; the main masks are Harlequin, Pulcinella, the old merchant Pantalone, etc. “Bourgeois in the nobility.”) With special intransigence, Moliere exposed the hypocrisy behind piety and ostentatious virtue: “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver,” “Don Juan,” “Misanthrope.” Moliere's artistic legacy had a profound influence on the development of world drama and theater.

The most mature incarnations of the comedy of morals are recognized as "The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro" 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. Mozart and G. Rossini.

Classic comedy also developed in Italy and England. And in the 18th century, despite the economic downturn, Venice remained the capital of carnivals, theaters and carefree fun. This small town had seven theaters - as many as in Paris and London combined. At the Venetian carnivals, then, as well as two hundred years later, people came from all over Europe. Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793), the creator of the national comedy, worked here. He carried out an educational reform of Italian drama and theater, replacing the artificial genre of the commedia dell'arte with realistic dramaturgy, with lively characters, and witty criticism of the vices of society. He wrote 267 plays, including The Servant of Two Masters, The Sly Widow and The Innkeeper. Goldoni's contemporary was Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806). He wrote fairy tales (fiabs) for the theater with motifs of folklore and elements of the commedia dell'arte: "The Love for Three Oranges", "Turandot" and others about the life of theatrical Venice.

The greatest English playwright of the 18th century was Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816). The most famous are his comedies of morals, primarily The School of Scandal, directed against the immorality of the "high" society, the puritanical hypocrisy of the bourgeois.

If Moliere is called the founder of classical comedy, then two other Frenchmen are considered the founders of classical tragedy. The plays of Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) and Jean Racine (1639-1699) strictly adhere to the golden rule of classical drama - the unity of place, time and action. The language of the heroes of their works is imbued with pathos and pathos. Most of the plays are based on the tragic conflict of passion and duty. In the tragedy "Horace" Corneille develops the theme of the state as the highest beginning of life (the embodiment of reason and national interests). In the tragedies "Mithridates", "Phaedra" by Racine, a poetic image of tragic love and the confrontation of passions in the human soul is given, the need to follow the requirements of moral duty is affirmed. The family, state and monarchy, according to Racine, are inviolable, every citizen must remain loyal to them. The French theater of the era of classicism, guided by the taste of the court audience, transferred the ideals of absolutism to the stage, created a type of hero who overcomes himself, subordinates his feelings to the interests of the state, fights for honor and glory.

The literature of classicism developed under the sign of the dominance of the rationalization of artistic thought, since the content of the literary process was the liberation of feelings, thoughts and ideas of a person from the hypnosis of the irrational collegiality of the past. The new consciousness as a dynamically active force was opposed to the surrounding reality, to the inert and immobile world of things. The mind of an enlightened person is affirmed as a beginning that surpasses objective reality. Logic is given only to consciousness and is denied in things and phenomena. A strong-willed intellect dominates the material given, the external world appears in spontaneity, unenlightened by consciousness. Therefore, the heroes of the literature of classicism are immersed in deep thought, reason and argue, polemicize with unacceptable views.

Literary creativity as a whole retains an orderly character, subordinate to consciousness, its subject appears clear and dismembered. Poetry was built on the harmonious correlation between man and the world, on their correspondence to each other, on the infinity of knowledge. Classicist writers descended from a certain norm in their ideas about man. The hero must correlate his actions with the norm, only under this condition he can orient himself in the artificial world of poetry and in the natural world of nature. Art is called upon to form ideals that are higher than the transitory and changeable.

The reader of the era of classicism gradually becomes familiar with ancient poetry, history, which, along with philosophy, architecture began to resist biblical legends and lives.

Decisive shifts are associated with new principles of the written word. It loses its cult character, is saturated with business, everyday functions. The act of reading is no longer a privilege of the clergy. The development of printing, which greatly intensifies the mechanism of correspondence and reprint, contributed to the breaking of the close connection between the author and the text, which is no longer directly related to the rite behind it. The secular nature of the book business allows individual author's forms and undertakings to become more active.

Philology acquires a special role in the era of classicism, being in the center of the humanities. Poets study not only ancient texts, but also turn to the written language of legal legalizations, philosophical reflections, public declarations, rhetorical treatises; a completely new type of writer is emerging, a secular intellectual, distinguished by the freedom-loving and versatile nature of his spiritual needs and mentality. Literature of classicism realizes the semantic potential of the image in the artistic word, the era of professionalization of poets, artists, musicians is coming.

Music fixes its independent existence in sound, painting in paint and composition. New tendencies are especially active in architecture and sculpture, since they are extremely consistent with the principle of entertainment. Almost all types of art are gradually losing their cult functions, acquiring a universally secular character.

In painting, the tendencies of classicism are outlined already in the second half of the 16th century in Italy. However, its heyday came only in French artistic culture, where it formed from disparate elements into an integral style system. The basis of the theory of classicism was rationalism, based on the philosophical system of Descartes. The principles of rationalism predetermined the view of a work of art as the fruit of reason and logic, triumphing over the chaos and fluidity of sensory perception. Only the beautiful and the sublime was proclaimed the subject of the art of classicism. Antiquity was the aesthetic ideal. The most vividly classicism is represented by the works of French painters and sculptors N. Poussin, C. Lorrain, J.-L. David, J.O.D. Ingres and E.M. Falcone.

Sometimes experts distinguish between academic classicism of the first half of the 17th century and neoclassicism of the late 18th - early 19th centuries.

The representative of academic classicism in French painting was Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). His customers belonged to the circle of bourgeois intellectuals in Paris, who were fond of the philosophy of the ancient Stoics. The themes of Poussin's canvases are varied: mythology, history, Old and New Testaments. Poussin's heroes are people of strong characters and magnificent deeds, a high sense of duty. Poussin was the creator of the classic ideal landscape in its heroic form. Poussin's landscape is not real nature, but "improved" nature, created by the artist's artistic invention. His paintings, cold, harsh, speculative, were called "frozen sculptures." Ancient plastic and the world of ancient heroes served as a model for them. Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), in whose solemn compositions "ideal" landscapes are filled with lyricism and dreaminess, is considered one of the founders of classicism in 17th century European art.

In 100 years, another famous French painter David (1748-1825) will return to the cold and lofty ideals of ancient art. The return of classicism will be called neoclassicism. The son of a major Parisian merchant, David receives the "Roman Prize" as the best student of the Academy, after which he leaves for Italy to get acquainted with the monuments of antiquity. While in Rome, he developed a strict pictorial style based on a careful study of classical sculpture. In the "Oath of the Horatii" (1784), commissioned to David by Louis XVI, a strictly heroic interpretation of the plot taken from Roman history emphasizes its ethical orientation: the brothers of Horace take an oath of fidelity to duty and readiness to fight enemies to their father. The famous painting of David "Brutus" is dedicated to the ancient theme of love for the motherland, in which the main character is depicted at the moment when he orders the execution of his own sons, having learned about their conspiracy against the state. David is one of the greatest historical portrait painters. He completes an old century (XVIII) and begins a new one (XIX).

Between the two classicisms - early (academic) and late (neoclassicism), the rococo style dominated.

MAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF CLASSICISM

Among the main representatives of classicism can be distinguished R. Descartes, P. Corneille ("Discourse on Dramatic Poetry" and other texts), F. d'Aubignac ("The Practice of Theater"), N. Bouileau ("Poetic Art"), Batteu and others. Based on the "Poetics" of Aristotle and the "Science of Poetry" by Horace and their numerous Italian commentaries of the 16th century, as well as on samples of ancient art and literature, the theorists of classicism tried to work out an ideal system of rules (a kind of ideal poetics, or aesthetics), on which should be guided by genuine high art. It was based on the ancient principles of beauty, harmony, sublime, tragic. The classicists paid special attention to the dramatic arts, as the main thing in their understanding. One of the essential principles of classicism was the Aristotelian category of "likelihood", understood as the creation of generalized, idealized and allegorized images of the events of the life of legendary persons or episodes of ancient mythology that are significant in the didactic plan. “This does not mean that the genuine and the possible are being expelled from the theater; but they are accepted there insofar as they are plausible, and in order to introduce them into a theatrical play, one has to omit or change circumstances that do not have plausibility, and communicate it to everything that needs to be portrayed ”[F. d'Aubignac // 10, p. 338].

Work description

The significance of this trend for the subsequent development of art and literature of the modern era was very important; it is enough just to mention that under the sign of all sorts of modifications of classicism, the process of cultural evolution in the countries of Europe, North and Latin America took place for two centuries, and neoclassical tendencies are traced by individual specialists even in the culture of the multifaceted XX century.