This magical power of art. Essay: The great power of art What is the magical power of art
A lot of words have been spent to denote or illustrate the notorious power of what we call art, in our case literature. They are looking for the roots of this influence, going through the technical details of the letter (which is, of course, important), building theories, inventing models, fighting with schools and opinions of authorities, calling on the spirits of ancient deities and calling on new-fangled experts to help... But how this happens remains completely incomprehensible.
More precisely, there is a science called literary criticism, there is a current theory of reading, there is a hypothesis about the different forms of psychoactivity of a person writing, as well as a person reading, but somehow they do not get to the main point. It seems to me that if we got there, the solution to this riddle, like the discovery of nuclear physics, would change our understanding of ourselves in a matter of years.
And only the most “strange” of theorists know that the power of art lies in the fact that it does not shovel a person’s experience from bottom to top, it, as it were, completes it without conflicting with it, and miraculously transforms this experience, which many considered hardly necessary, but then completely unusable rubbish, into new knowledge, if you like - into wisdom.
WINDOW TO WISDOM
When I was just planning to write this book and told a publisher I knew about it, he was very surprised: “Why do you think,” he asked, “that writing a novel is the only way out? It’s better to let them read books, it’s much easier.” In his own way, he was, of course, right.
Reading, of course, is simpler, easier and more enjoyable. Actually, that’s what people do - they read, finding in the world of these Scarlett and Holmes, Frodo and Conan, Brugnon and the Turbins all the experiences, ideas, consolation and partial solutions to problems that are significant to them.
Yes, I read the book, you experience the same thing as the author. But only ten to twenty times weaker!
And recognizing reading as a very powerful tool, let’s still try to imagine what we can achieve if we ourselves develop the score of the notorious “meditation”? And then we “arrange” everything ourselves, as is expected in such cases? Of course, without losing sight of the fact that we are doing this in full accordance with our own, deeply PERSONAL ideas about the problem?...
Did you imagine? Yes, I also have a hard time imagining, only to a small extent guessing, the effect that a properly organized and well-written book can have on the author. I am a novelist, a connoisseur of texts and people who work professionally with books, I have to admit that I do not know how, why and to what extent this happens. But I can vouch for the fact that it works with stunning power, that sometimes it radically changes the being of the author.
Of course, everything is a little more complicated than I’m portraying here. There is no difference between novel and novel, and there is also a difference between author and author. Sometimes among writers you come across such “radishes” that you are simply amazed, but they write like a nightingale - easily, loudly, convincingly, beautifully! The whole point, probably, is that without novels they would be even worse, they would do evil deeds or turn into downright unhappy people, making their family and friends unhappy.
In any case, I argue that the novel, the very writing of this seemingly completely optional monograph, serves as a means of changing the author’s personality, attracting the rarest property of psychological changeability, or rather, metamorphic creativity. Because it is a kind of window to the truth, opened into oneself. And how we will use this tool, what we will see in the window, what wisdom we will be able to obtain as a result - this, as they say, God knows. All life is built on the fact that everyone is only responsible for themselves, isn’t it?
(410 words) What is art? This is what causes trembling in the soul. It can touch even the most callous and petrified hearts. Creativity brings beauty into people's lives and makes it possible to come into contact with it through music, painting, architecture, literature... The great power of art directs us to goodness and light, instilling in our minds hope and a sense of significance in this world. Sometimes only through it we can express all the joy or pain, despair or happiness. To support my assertions, I will give examples from books.
In the story by A.P. Chekhov's "Rothschild's Violin" » the main character lost his wife and barely survived. This event knocked him out of his routine. At some point, he realized how meaningless his entire existence was, filled with everyday life, hoarding and routine. Under the power of these emotions, he plays the violin, pouring out all his soul and all his sorrows through the sounds of music. Then a Jew named Rothschild heard his melody, and it did not leave him aside. He followed the call of creativity. Never before in his entire life had Yakov Matveevich felt pity for anyone, and even for a person who had previously evoked only contempt in him. And he, once greedy and selfish, gave his instrument to Rothschild, along with all his music - an incredible work of art. This violin and Jacob's music gave Rothschild fame, recognition and a chance for a new life. Thus, the power of creativity helped people discover positive sides in themselves, find mutual understanding, and even helped some of them change their destiny.
In the work of I.S. Turgenev’s “Singers” we can also find an interesting example. The author dedicated the story to the Russian people and their attitude towards art, because he himself knew what folk art and the Russian soul were. In this piece he shows us how powerful the power of music can be and how deeply a song can touch people's hearts. During Yakov's performance, whose cracked voice was filled with deep sensuality, people cried while listening to his song. The author, trying to convey all his emotions and sensations from what he heard and saw, said that for a very long time he could not close his eyes that night, because Yakov’s beautiful song was constantly flowing in his ears. This means that the power of art can influence people’s feelings and control them, purifying and elevating the soul.
Art is for everyone. For the rude and callous, for the kind and sensitive, for the poor and the rich. No matter who a person is, no matter what personality he is, the great power of creativity will always motivate him to do wonderful deeds, will sow a feeling of beauty in his soul, and embody real miracles. The cleansing and uplifting energy of art gives us the opportunity to live correctly - according to the laws of goodness and beauty.
Art enriches our lives. And one of its types—literature—meets us at the very beginning of our life’s journey and remains forever. The book, like caring parents, educates and teaches us. By reading fairy tales as children, we learn to distinguish good from evil, truth from lies, virtue from meanness.
Literature teaches you to feel, understand, and empathize. After all, every book makes us think about what the author wanted to convey with his work. What thought did he put into his creation? By getting to know new characters, understanding their feelings and thoughts, we begin
It is better to understand the people around us, and most importantly, ourselves. It is not for nothing that many great cultural and scientific figures, in moments of emotional excitement, picked up fiction. They found peace and satisfaction in it. Books can help us find the right path in life, while looking for it we often get confused.
But these are not all the advantages of literature. Thanks to her, we learned a lot of necessary and useful information. For example, very few sources were preserved about the campaign of Prince Igor, and the literary work “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” shed light on many unknown facts.
By describing the life and customs of his century, the writer helps us form a picture of the time.
The book can even influence the course of the reader’s real life. For example, after reading Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man,” many people whose lives were similar to the fate of the hero of this work perked up and found the strength to live on.
I think this is the great power of the art of literature.
I was somehow struck by a simple thought: humanity has been polishing and accumulating its moral experience for thousands of years, and a person must master it in order to reach the level of culture of his time, in just 15-20. And in order to enter into varied communication with people, he needs to learn this experience, or at least the basics of it, even earlier - at the age of five to seven! No matter what variety of life and activities the family provides to the child, no matter how developed the children’s connections with people and the world around them, this world will still be narrow and this experience will be poor without correlating it with the moral experience of humanity, with all the wealth that has accumulated it has a long history. But how can you compare your personal experience with what has already happened, what is and should be, what will happen? This, in my opinion, is why art is needed, which equips a person with what cannot be comprehended by the simple experience of life. It is like Promethean fire, which generations of people pass on to each other with the hope of bringing it to the heart and mind of everyone who is lucky enough to be born human. To convey that everyone becomes a human being.
B.P. (author's initials): I think there is no need to exaggerate the role of art. A person is made by circumstances, the nature of his activities, the conditions of his life. Art also has a place among these conditions, but, firstly, it is not the main thing, and secondly, it is not independent: it itself, as we know, is heterogeneous and subordinate to the interests of different classes and strata of society. So the beautiful words about Promethean fire, I think, even figuratively, do not correspond to reality. Of course, art teaches a lot, gives knowledge about the world, about man, about relationships between people, but to remake people, to make a newborn a person, it is beyond his power.
L.A.: This is our old dispute, into which our seventeen-year-old son once contributed. Usually the question: “Why does a person need to learn to read at three years old?” - we answered this way: already before school, the child learns a lot from books. Geographic maps and reference books become available to him, his range of interests expands, his fantasy and imagination develop. Reading becomes his need and satisfaction. He becomes impeccably literate without mastering grammar. Finally, this saves adults time: he stops pestering: “Read, read!” And he looks for answers to his many why-why questions in books. And Alyosha said something that, unfortunately, we ourselves did not think of, but which is an extremely important result of early reading. Here is his thought (I convey, of course, not literally, but I vouch for the meaning): our fiction, especially children's literature, is extremely moral in its essence. Having learned to read early and reading much more than adults would read to him, a child, imperceptibly for himself, will definitely acquire a moral standard, a role model - even before he encounters some of the shadow sides of life, before various conditions begin to strongly influence him , including unfavorable ones. Then he encounters these conditions, as if morally protected, having already gradually acquired the basic ideas about relationships between people: about good and evil, about courage and cowardice, about stinginess and generosity, about much, much more.
B.P.: It turns out that the influence of literature can be stronger than the influence of reality? Even when they are opposite in direction? I can't believe it. Then it would be too easy to educate people: read fairy tales and “educational” stories from morning to evening - and everything is in order: a highly moral personality is ensured.
L.A.: There is no need to be ironic about these fairy tales and stories. Their influence on the formation of a child’s personality is very great.
In the library where I worked, and among our guests, in my life I met only four teenagers who did not read or like fairy tales. Whether it was a coincidence, I don’t know, but they were all similar in their categoricalness, rationalism, lack of lively curiosity and even a sense of humor. All this to varying but noticeable degrees. Two of them were very developed, but they were difficult to talk to, difficult to get along with. It’s difficult to describe the impression they make; Maybe I’m exaggerating something or saying it inaccurately, but I remember very clearly: I felt sorry for everyone, because they were deprived of some kind of inner goodwill necessary for establishing contacts with people. One of them gave the painful impression of a strange, even sick person, although he was absolutely healthy and when I asked: “How do you study?” - He answered condescendingly: “A high five, of course.” - “Why do you read science fiction?” - I asked, writing down the selected books. He curled his lips: “Not all of them. I don’t like Greene, for example. What kind of fiction is this? It’s all fiction. Science fiction is scientific prediction, what will actually happen, and what Greene says is a beautiful lie, that’s all.” He looked at me with cold, ironic eyes, confident in his own rightness. I had nothing to say to him: with what words could I reach him if Green’s brightest humanity and kindness could not do this? How will this “thinker” understand people, how to live with them?
Is a dislike for fairy tales to blame here? I think yes. Why was this greatest invention of mankind created - fairy tales? Probably, first of all, in order to convey to new generations already in childhood, the tenderest, most receptive age, the basic moral concepts and feelings developed by centuries of experience, to convey not in the form of naked morality, sermons, but in a transparently clear meaning, charming and a fairy tale that is funny in form, with the help of which children are presented with knowledge about a complex and contradictory reality.
Everyone in our family loves fairy tales. We read them several times, especially our favorite ones, both out loud and silently, and play fairy-tale characters, and watch fairy tales on TV. What a pleasure it is to see how even the little ones empathize, sympathize with the heroes or are indignant and indignant at the machinations of their enemies - they learn to understand what’s what.
We watch and read, of course, not only fairy tales. We re-read a lot of children's and adult books out loud, sometimes stretching out the pleasure over several evenings, sometimes without stopping for three or four hours in a row, reading everything from beginning to end.
So, for example, we read “Spring Changelings” by V. Tendryakov, “Don’t Shoot White Swans” by B. Vasilyev - they could not be torn apart, absolutely impossible! Usually everyone listens, even the elders, although the content may have been known to them for a long time.
Somehow I couldn’t stand it (I was getting curious) and asked:
- You’ve already read it, why are you listening?
- You know, mom, when you read to yourself, it turns out so quickly that you don’t have time to imagine it in detail. Everything merges, as if driving at high speed. And you read out loud slowly, and everything suddenly takes on colors and sounds, comes to life in your imagination - you have time to both examine and reflect.
- It turns out that it’s better to be a pedestrian? - I laughed, surprised and delighted by my son’s unexpected discovery.
We do not have any “conversations about” after reading. I absolutely cannot ask children questions for any educational or didactic purpose - I am afraid of destroying the integrity of impressions and feelings. The only thing I dare to do is make some remarks along the way as we read; sometimes it’s just hard to resist them.
B.P.: There was a time when I was skeptical about fairy tales, fiction, films, performances - I considered them entertainment, relaxation, in general, not a very serious matter. It even happens, and now, not without annoyance, I drop something I’m doing and go - at the invitation of the guys or my mother - to watch something on TV. And then I say: “Thank you.” Indeed, this is very necessary - to sit next to the kids, to cuddle with each other if you are scared; wipe away tears with one handkerchief, if it’s bitter; jump and laugh, hugging each other, if joyful and good.
L.A.: This kind of empathy is one of the most reliable ways to orient children in the complex world of human feelings: what to be happy about, when to be indignant, who to pity, who to admire - after all, this is exactly what they learn from us when we read together, watch together Let's listen to something together. At the same time, you check your own views and feelings - are they not outdated? Are they rusty? This means that we, adults, need this too.
And I really need one more thing. I myself truly understood this when I started reading books by Nosov, Dragunsky, Aleksin, Dubov to the children... They are considered books for children. It was a discovery for me that these books are primarily for us, parents! And for everyone who has at least some relation to children. Now I can’t imagine how I would understand my children if I didn’t know Janusz Korczak’s book “When I Become Little Again,” or Richie Dostyan’s story “Anxiety,” dedicated to people who have forgotten their childhood, or Dubov’s “The Fugitive,” or “ Seryozha" Panova, or amazing books about the childhood of L. Tolstoy, Garin-Mikhailovsky, Aksakov? Writers seem to be trying to reach our adult consciousness and heart: look, listen, understand, appreciate, love Childhood! And they help us understand children, and children understand adults. That's why I read what my children are reading, I can put everything aside and read the book that my son is reading for the third time in a row.
Now about the TV. It can become a real disaster if it replaces everything: books, classes, walks, family holidays, meetings with friends, games, conversations - in short, it replaces life itself. And he can also be an assistant and friend if he is used for its intended purpose: as an informant, as a way to meet interesting people, as a magician who, saving our time, delivers the best works of art directly to our home. You just need to know that this wizard has one drawback: since he is obliged to satisfy millions of clients with very different tastes and needs (and there is only one screen!), he works without a break in four persons at once (that is, in four programs) for everyone at once: figure out for yourself who needs what. And all that remains is to determine what exactly we need. That's what programs exist for. We note in advance what we would like to watch: three or four programs a week, and sometimes one or two, sometimes none. That's all. And no problems.
I think that the problems here are again created by us, adults, when we arrange, for example, “watching” everything.
After all, this means: long sitting, excess impressions, overwork, and for children first of all. And yet, in my opinion, this is not the worst option. The scariest thing is having the TV on all day. Whether they watch it or not, it doesn’t matter: it’s on, and the announcer can smile and talk as much as he wants - to no one, and the artist can cry and appeal to the feelings and reason of... an empty chair.
It always saddens me to see a child stupidly turning the tuning knob and looking indifferently at everything that flashes there on the screen. This is ridiculous, inhumane! What does it matter that this is just a box, a screen - after all, on the screen is what people did for people, trying to say, convey, convey something to them. When a child cries, experiencing the misfortune of a wooden doll, this is normal. And if a child indifferently glances at the face of a living person, distorted by pain, something human in the person is being killed.
B.P.: Maybe this is too much - murder? The child understands that this is an artist, that in fact...
L.A.: I’ll have to remember one sad episode. Our good friend, by the way, an intelligent and seemingly kind person, decided to console the girls who were crying bitterly because Gerasim had to drown Mumu.
- For what? Well, why did he do it, mommy? - my three-year-old daughter whispered to me in despair, bursting into tears and afraid to look at the screen. And suddenly a calm, smiling voice:
- Come on, weirdo, it’s not he who’s actually drowning her, these are artists. They made a movie and then pulled it out. Probably somewhere alive is still running around...
- Yes? - the girl was surprised and stared at the screen with curiosity. I simply choked with indignation - there were no words, but there was a disgusting feeling as if something vile had been committed in front of you, and you did not resist it. Yes, that’s how it was, essentially, although, it seems, our friend still didn’t understand what he had done so special. After all, he wished well, and besides, he told, essentially, the truth...
But it was a lie, not the truth! A lie, because in fact Mumu was drowned, because injustice and cruelty exist in real life, they should be hated. Of course, it’s better to learn this in real life. Not only worry while looking at the screen, but fight real injustice when you encounter it. True, but in order to fight against lies, injustice, meanness, abomination, you must learn to see them, to distinguish them under any guise. This is exactly what art teaches, it teaches us to reach for the lofty and bright, no matter what strange and unusual forms it takes, it teaches us to resist everything inhuman, no matter what masks it wears. You just need to understand its language and distinguish true art from imaginary, but this is what you need to learn from childhood on the best examples of world and our Soviet culture.
I sadly realize that we have missed a lot here: our guys hardly know the history of painting, music, not to mention sculpture and architecture. They rarely went to the theater, we don’t even go to the movies with them often. It is unlikely that they will name many famous composers, artists, architects, or remember their works. And this happened not because we did not want to give this knowledge to children - we simply were not enough for this, to my great regret. But I have one consoling thought, with which I want to justify myself at least a little. It consists of this. What is more important: to find out by ear who owns this or that melody, or to feel this melody with your heart, to respond to it with your whole being? What is better: to know all of Raphael’s paintings in detail or to stand in awe even before a simple reproduction of the “Sistine Madonna” when seeing it for the first time? It's probably good to have both. Of course, without knowing when, who and why a work was created, you will not comprehend its depth, you will not truly feel it. And yet, not everything, far from everything, depends on knowledge! When I see children singing in the choir with bored faces or somehow dispassionately performing complex pieces on the piano, I feel embarrassed: why is this? Why skill if the soul is silent? After all, music is when a person speaks to another without words about the most difficult and most personal things. And here there are no worries. No, let it be better the other way around: not to be an expert, but to be able to feel.
Sometimes we like to listen to the silence of the night with the children, we can stop and look at the unique, charming play of the sunset, or at a real miracle - a garden covered with frost, or we freeze in a dark room at the piano, listening to a very simple melody played by Anochka so soulfully and tenderly... - in my opinion, all this is also an introduction to art.
B.P.: And yet I stand on the fact that a person himself must act, try, create, and not just assimilate what someone else has done. Even in the field of art. It seems important to me that in our home concerts and performances, the guys make the scenery themselves, write poems, even plays and songs. Isn’t this also an introduction to art?
Our family holidays
L.A.: We have holidays, as it sometimes seems to me, even too often, because all the national holidays, which we love very much and always celebrate in the family, are also joined by intra-family celebrations. Sometimes, tired of yet another pies and pies that need to be baked for fifteen to twenty people each time, I jokingly hum: “Unfortunately, birthdays come ten times a year.” There is, however, an eleventh, although it is rather the first. This is our family’s birthday - not our wedding day, but the day of our meeting, because the main thing is to meet and not pass by. And on this day we buy apples and cakes and divide each one in half, as we once did, many years ago, on the first day of our meeting. This is now one of our traditions. We don’t have very many of them, but they are dear to us and live for a long time.
How are our family celebrations going? Sometimes the guys prepare invitation cards, more often we make do with verbal invitations: “Welcome to our holiday.” Long before evening the house is filled with noise and bustle. From above, from the attic, squeals and bursts of laughter are heard - there is a fitting of costumes and the last rehearsal, sometimes, however, it is also the first; Artists do not always have the patience for several rehearsals; they prefer impromptu. It turns out to be a surprise not only for the public, but also for yourself. Downstairs, in the kitchen, there is a column of smoke (sometimes literally) - here they are busy preparing food that is no longer spiritual, but quite material. And that’s why, as a rule, it’s no laughing matter, otherwise something will burn, run away, or scald. I can barely stand on my feet from the heat, bustle, noise and worries.
It seems that everything is ready, you can already set the table and invite guests. The girls will do this, and for now I’ll rest and answer the question that we sometimes get asked: “Why are you bothering with pies, dough, don’t you mind the time? You could buy a cake or something ready-made, and no hassle.” . What can I say to this? That’s right: no hassle, but much less joy! How much pleasure everyone gets from just the smell of dough. And everyone can touch it, crush it in their palms - how tender, pliable, warm it is, as if alive! And you can mold it yourself into whatever you want, and decorate it as you please, and make a real funny bun, and carefully take it out of the oven, and take it as a gift to your grandmothers, and proudly say: “I made this myself!” How can you live without this?
And now the concert is ready, the artists are already in costume, the audience is seated on chairs in front of the “curtain” separating the “stage” from the “auditorium”.
All the performances are prepared by the boys themselves, they draw up the program for the evening, choose the compere, the boys prepare the lighting and, of course, sound effects. The “curtain” is not simply parted, but with the help of a clever device. But the love of impromptu lets you down, and without preparation you get:
- Hurry, hurry - you already need it!
- I can’t - I forgot.
- Well, go ahead.
- No you!
- Quiet... quiet! - They push the flushed “entertainer” onto the stage and:
- We continue our concert...
The program includes: poems and songs (including my own compositions), plays (only my own compositions), music (piano), more music (balalaika), acrobatic performances, dances, pantomimes, clowning, magic tricks... Some numbers combine almost not all genres at once.
Often the “audience” takes part in performances, and the “artists” become spectators. Laughter, applause - it's all real. And the main thing is real excitement before the performance, and trying to do the best you can, and joy for someone else when everything turned out well - this is the main thing.
After such a stormy start, the feast turns out to be stormy and cheerful. Everyone clinks glasses, and takes turns making toasts or congratulations to the hero of the occasion, and drinking from large glasses - as much as you want! - lemonade. Yes, children are at the table with adults, and instead of colorful wine bottles, there is lemonade, grape juice or homemade fruit drink on the table. We even celebrate the New Year this way. And we are never bored. The main thing is to clink glasses, and look into each other’s eyes, and say the kindest words in the world...
B.P.: They don’t believe us when we say that we have unopened bottles of wine left for months and even, sometimes, years, brought by one of the guests who came to our house for the first time. And not because we have a dry law or someone else’s ban. It’s just of no use to us, this bottled happiness is of no use, that’s all. The same as cigarettes, by the way. And our teenage boys have a definite attitude towards these attributes of imaginary masculinity: neither curiosity, nor craving, but rather conscious disgust.
L.A.: In my opinion, this is just normal. After all, a person does not infect himself with tuberculosis, cancer or anything like that. Another thing is not normal: to know that it is poison, a disease, and yet forcefully push it into yourself, push it in, until it grabs onto all the livers inside and makes a rotten thing out of a person.
B.P.: And here we have our own traditions. After all, as usually happens on birthdays: all the gifts, all the attention go to the newborn, and the mother, the main hero of the occasion, has nothing but troubles on this day. We decided that this was unfair, and our birthday boy himself gives his mother a gift on his birthday. This has been the case with us for a long time, ever since our first son was able to give something he himself had made.
Our holiday ends on the porch, sometimes with fireworks and sparklers. We see off the guests and shout in chorus from the threshold:
- Goodbye!
A work of art can capture the attention of the viewer, reader, or listener in two ways. One is determined by the “what” question, the other by the “how” question.
“What” is the object that is depicted in the work, a phenomenon, event, theme, material, i.e. what is called the content of the work. When we talk about things that interest a person, this naturally gives rise to a desire in him to delve into the meaning of what was said. However, a work that is rich in content does not necessarily have to be a work of art. Philosophical, scientific, socio-political works can be no less interesting than artistic ones. But their task is not to create artistic images (although they may sometimes turn to them). If a work of art attracts a person’s interest solely by its content, then in this case its (the work’s) artistic merits fade into the background. Then even a less artistic depiction of what is vitally important to a person can deeply hurt his feelings. With undemanding taste, a person can be completely satisfied with this. A keen interest in the events described allows lovers of detective stories or erotic novels to emotionally experience these events in their imagination, despite the ineptness of their description, the stereotypedness or wretchedness of the artistic means used in the work.
True, in this case, artistic images turn out to be primitive, standard, weakly stimulating the independent thought of the viewer or reader and giving rise to only more or less stereotyped complexes of emotions.
Another way related to the question “how” is the form of a work of art, that is, the ways and means of organizing and presenting content. This is where the “magic power of art” lurks, which processes, transforms and presents the content of the work so that it is embodied in artistic images. The material or theme of a work in itself can be neither artistic nor non-fictional. An artistic image is made up of the material that makes up the content of a work of art, but it is formed only thanks to the form in which this material is clothed.
Let's consider the characteristic features of the artistic image.
The most important feature of an artistic image is that it expresses an emotional and value-based attitude towards the object. Knowledge about an object serves only as a background against which the experiences associated with this object emerge.
I. Ehrenburg in the book “People, Years, Life” talks about his conversation with the French painter Matisse. Matisse asked Lydia, his assistant, to bring a sculpture of an elephant. I saw, writes Ehrenburg, a Negro sculpture, very expressive, the sculptor carved an angry elephant from wood. “Do you like it?” asked Matisse. I answered: “Very much.” - “And nothing bothers you?” - “No.” - "Me too. But then a European, a missionary, arrived and began to teach the black man: “Why do elephants have tusks raised up?” An elephant can lift its trunk, but its tusks can lift its teeth, they don’t move.” “The Negro listened...” Matisse called again: “Lydia, please bring another elephant.” Chuckling slyly, he showed me a figurine similar to those sold in European department stores: “The tusks are in place, but the art is over.” The African sculptor, of course, sinned against the truth: he depicted the elephant not as it really is. But if he had made an anatomically accurate sculptural copy of the animal, it is unlikely that the person looking at it would be able to experience, experience, “feel” the impression of the sight of an angry elephant... The elephant is in a frenzy, its trunk is thrown up, it is all in violent movement, raised up the tusks, the most formidable part of his body, seem ready to fall on the victim.By moving them from their usual normal position, the sculptor creates an emotional tension in the viewer, which is a sign that the artistic image gives rise to a response in his soul.
From the example considered, it is clear that an artistic image is not just an image as a result of the reflection of external objects arising in the psyche. Its purpose is not to reflect reality as it is, but to evoke in the human soul experiences associated with its perception. It is not always easy for the viewer to express in words what he is experiencing. When looking at an African figurine, this may be an impression of the power, fury and fury of an elephant, a feeling of danger, etc. Different people can perceive and experience the same thing in different ways. Much depends here on the subjective characteristics of the individual, on his character, views, and values. But, in any case, a work of art can evoke experiences in a person only when it includes his imagination in the work. An artist cannot make a person experience certain feelings simply by naming them. If he simply tells us that we should have such and such feelings and moods, or even describes them in detail, then it is unlikely that we will have them. He excites experiences by modeling the reasons that gave rise to them using artistic language, that is, putting these reasons into some kind of artistic form. An artistic image is a model of the cause that gives rise to emotions. If the model of the cause “works”, that is, the artistic image is perceived and recreated in the human imagination, then the consequences of this cause also appear - “artificially” evoked emotions. And then a miracle of art occurs - its magical power enchants a person and takes him to another life, to a world created for him by a poet, sculptor, singer. “Michelangelo and Shakespeare, Goya and Balzac, Rodin and Dostoevsky created models of sensory causes that are almost more stunning than those that life presents to us. That’s why they are called great masters.”
An artistic image is a “golden key” that starts the mechanism of experience. By recreating with the power of his imagination what is presented in a work of art, the viewer, reader, listener becomes, to a greater or lesser extent, a “co-author” of the artistic image contained in it.
In “objective” (fine) art - painting, sculpture, dramatic play, film, novel or story, etc. - an artistic image is built on the basis of an image, a description of some phenomena that exist (or are presented as existing) in the real world . The emotions evoked by such an artistic image are twofold. On the one hand, they relate to the content of the artistic image and express a person’s assessment of those realities (objects, items, phenomena of reality) that are reflected in the image. On the other hand, they refer to the form in which the content of the image is embodied, and express an assessment of the artistic merits of the work. Emotions of the first kind are “artificially” evoked feelings that reproduce the experiences of real events and phenomena. Emotions of the second kind are called aesthetic. They are associated with the satisfaction of human aesthetic needs - the need for values such as beauty, harmony, proportionality. An aesthetic attitude is “an emotional assessment of how a given content is organized, constructed, expressed, embodied in form, and not of this content itself.”
An artistic image is essentially not so much a reflection of the phenomena of reality as an expression of their human perception, the experiences associated with them, and the emotional and value-based attitude towards them.
But why do people need artificially evoked emotions, born in the process of perceiving artistic images? Don't they have enough experiences related to their real lives? To some extent this is true. A monotonous, monotonous life can cause “emotional hunger.” And then the person feels the need for some additional sources of emotions. This need pushes them to seek “thrills” in the game, to deliberately take risks, and to voluntarily create dangerous situations.
Art provides people with the opportunity to have “extra lives” in the imaginary worlds of artistic images.
“Art “transferred” a person to the past and future, “resettled” him in other countries, allowed a person to “reincarnate” into another, to become for a time Spartacus and Caesar, Romeo and Macbeth, Christ and the Demon, even White Fang and the Ugly Duckling; it turned an adult into a child and an old man, it allowed everyone to feel and know what he could never comprehend and experience in his real life.”
The emotions that works of art evoke in a person do not just make his perception of artistic images deeper and more exciting. As shown by V.M. Allahverdov, emotions are signals coming from the area of the unconscious to the sphere of consciousness. They signal whether the information received reinforces the “model of the world” that has developed in the depths of the subconscious, or, on the contrary, reveals its incompleteness, inaccuracy, and inconsistency. By “moving” into the world of artistic images and experiencing “additional lives” in it, a person receives ample opportunities to test and clarify the “model of the world” that has formed in his head on the basis of his narrow personal experience. Emotional signals break through the “protective belt” of consciousness and encourage a person to realize and change his previously unconscious attitudes.
This is why the emotions evoked by art play an important role in people's lives. Emotional experiences of “extra lives” lead to expansion of a person’s cultural horizons, enrichment of his spiritual experience and improvement of his “model of the world.”
We often hear how people, looking at a painting, admire its resemblance to reality (“The apple is just like a real one!”; “In the portrait he stands as if alive!”). The opinion that art - at least “objective” art - lies in the ability to achieve similarity between an image and the depicted is widespread. Even in antiquity, this opinion formed the basis of the “theory of imitation” (in Greek - mimesis), according to which art is an imitation of reality. From this point of view, the aesthetic ideal should be the maximum similarity of the artistic image with the object. In the ancient Greek legend, the delight of the audience was caused by an artist who painted a bush with berries so similar that birds flocked to eat them. And two and a half thousand years later, Rodin was suspected of having achieved amazing verisimilitude by covering a naked man with plaster, making a copy of him and passing it off as a sculpture.
But an artistic image, as can be seen from the above, cannot be simply a copy of reality. Of course, a writer or artist who sets out to depict any phenomena of reality must do so in such a way that readers and viewers can at least recognize them. But resemblance to what is depicted is not at all the main advantage of an artistic image.
Goethe once said that if an artist draws a poodle very similar, then one can rejoice at the appearance of another dog, but not a work of art. And Gorky about one of his portraits, which was distinguished by photographic accuracy, put it this way: “This is not my portrait. This is a portrait of my skin." Photographs, casts of hands and faces, wax figures are intended to copy the originals as accurately as possible.
However, accuracy does not make them works of art. Moreover, the emotional-value nature of the artistic image, as has already been shown, presupposes a departure from dispassionate objectivity in the depiction of reality.
Artistic images are mental models of phenomena, and the similarity of a model with the object it reproduces is always relative: any model must be different from its original, otherwise it would simply be a second original, and not a model. “The artistic mastery of reality does not pretend to be reality itself - this distinguishes art from illusionistic tricks designed to deceive the eye and ear.”
By perceiving a work of art, we seem to “put aside the fact that the artistic image it bears does not coincide with the original. We accept the image as if it were the embodiment of a real object, we “agree” not to pay attention to its “fake character.” This is the artistic convention.
Artistic convention is a consciously accepted assumption in which an “unreal”, art-created cause of experience becomes capable of causing experiences that feel “just like real,” although we are aware that they are of artificial origin. “I will shed tears over fiction” - this is how Pushkin expressed the effect of artistic convention.
When a work of art gives rise to certain emotions in a person, he not only experiences them, but also understands their artificial origin. Understanding their artificial origin helps them find relief in reflection. This allowed L.S. Vygotsky said: “The emotions of art are intelligent emotions.” The connection with understanding and reflection distinguishes artistic emotions from emotions caused by real life circumstances.
V. Nabokov in his lectures on literature says: “In fact, all literature is fiction. All art is a deception... The world of any major writer is a world of fantasy with its own logic, its own conventions...” The artist misleads us, and we willingly succumb to deception. According to the expression of the French philosopher and writer J.-P. Sartre, the poet lies in order to tell the truth, that is, to arouse sincere, truthful experience. The outstanding director A. Tairov said jokingly that theater is a lie elevated to a system: “The ticket that the viewer buys is a symbolic agreement of deception: the theater undertakes to deceive the viewer; the viewer, a real good viewer, undertakes to succumb to deception and be deceived... But the deception of art - it becomes true due to the authenticity of human feelings.”
There are various types of artistic conventions, including:
“signifying” - separates the work of art from the environment. This task is served by the conditions that define the area of artistic perception - the stage of a theater, the pedestal of a sculpture, the frame of a painting;
“compensating” - introduces into the context of the artistic image the idea of its elements that are not depicted in the work of art. Since the image does not coincide with the original, its perception always requires conjecture in the imagination of what the artist could not show or deliberately left unsaid.
This is, for example, the space-time convention in painting. The perception of the painting assumes that the viewer mentally imagines the third dimension, which is conventionally expressed by perspective on a plane, draws in his mind a tree cut off by the border of the canvas, introduces into the static image the passage of time and, accordingly, temporary changes, which are conveyed in the painting using some kind of conventional funds;
“accentuating” - emphasizes, enhances, exaggerates emotionally significant elements of the artistic image.
Painters often achieve this by exaggerating the size of the object. Modigliani paints women with unnaturally large eyes that extend beyond their faces. In Surikov’s painting “Menshikov in Berezovo,” the incredibly huge figure of Menshikov creates the impression of the scale and power of this figure, who was Peter’s “right hand”;
“complementary” - increasing the variety of symbolic means of artistic language. This type of convention is especially important in “non-objective” art, where an artistic image is created without recourse to the depiction of any objects. Non-figurative symbolic means are sometimes not enough to construct an artistic image, and the “complementary” convention expands their range.
Thus, in classical ballet, movements and poses, naturally associated with emotional experiences, are complemented by conventional symbolic means of expressing certain feelings and states. In music of this kind, additional means are, for example, rhythms and melodies that give national flavor or are reminiscent of historical events.
A symbol is a special type of sign. Using a sign as a symbol allows us, through the image of a specific, individual thing (the external appearance of the symbol), to convey thoughts that are of a general and abstract nature (the deep meaning of the symbol).
Turning to symbols opens up wide possibilities for art. With their help, a work of art can be filled with ideological content that goes far beyond the specific situations and events that are directly depicted in it. Therefore, art, as a secondary modeling system, widely uses a variety of symbols. In the languages of art, symbolic means are used not just in their direct meaning, but also in order to “encode” deep, “secondary” symbolic meanings.
From a semiotic point of view, an artistic image is a text that carries aesthetically designed, emotionally rich information. Through the use of symbolic language, this information is presented on two levels. At the first, it is expressed directly in the sensually perceived “fabric” of the artistic image - in the appearance of specific persons, actions, objects displayed in this image. On the second, it must be obtained by penetrating the symbolic meaning of an artistic image, by mentally interpreting its ideological content. Therefore, an artistic image carries within itself not only emotions, but also thoughts. The emotional impact of an artistic image is determined by the impression that is made on us both by the information that we receive on the first level, through the perception of the description of specific phenomena directly given to us, and by the information that we capture on the second level by interpreting the symbolism of the image. Of course, understanding the symbolism requires additional intellectual effort. But this significantly enhances the emotional impressions made on us by artistic images.
The symbolic content of artistic images can be of a very different nature. But it is always present to some extent. Therefore, an artistic image cannot be reduced to what is depicted in it. He always “tells” us not only about this, but also about something else that goes beyond the specific, visible and audible object that is represented in it.
In the Russian fairy tale, Baba Yaga is not just an ugly old woman, but a symbolic image of death. The Byzantine dome of the church is not just an architectural form of the roof, but a symbol of the vault of heaven. Gogol’s overcoat of Akaki Akakievich is not just clothing, but a symbolic image of the futility of a poor man’s dreams of a better life.
The symbolism of an artistic image can be based, firstly, on the laws of the human psyche.
Thus, people’s perception of color has an emotional modality associated with the conditions under which a particular color is usually observed in practice. Red color - the color of blood, fire, ripe fruits - excites a sense of danger, activity, erotic attraction, and the desire for the blessings of life. Green - the color of grass and foliage - symbolizes the growth of vitality, protection, reliability, tranquility. Black is perceived as the absence of bright colors of life; it reminds of darkness, mystery, suffering, death. Dark purple - a mixture of black and red - evokes a heavy, gloomy mood.
Researchers of color perception, despite some differences in the interpretation of individual colors, come to basically similar conclusions about their psychological effects. According to Frieling and Auer, colors are characterized as follows.
Secondly, an artistic image can be built on symbolism historically established in a culture.
In the course of history, it turned out that green became the color of the banner of Islam, and European artists, depicting a greenish haze behind the Saracens opposing the crusaders, symbolically point to the Muslim world lying in the distance. In Chinese painting, the color green symbolizes spring, and in the Christian tradition it sometimes acts as a symbol of stupidity and sinfulness (the Swedish mystic Swedenberg says that fools in hell have green eyes; one of the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral shows a green-skinned and green-eyed Satan).
Another example. We write from left to right, and movement in that direction seems normal. When Surikov depicts the noblewoman Morozova on a sleigh traveling from right to left, her movement in this direction symbolizes a protest against accepted social attitudes. At the same time, on the map it is West on the left, East on the right. Therefore, in films about the Patriotic War, the enemy usually advances from the left, and Soviet troops from the right.
Thirdly, when creating an artistic image, the author can give it a symbolic meaning based on his own associations, which sometimes unexpectedly illuminate familiar things from a new perspective.
The description of the contact of electrical wires here turns into a philosophical reflection on the synthesis (not just “plexus”!) of opposites, on dead coexistence (as happens in family life without love) and the flash of life at the moment of death. Artistic images born of art often become generally accepted cultural symbols, a kind of standards for assessing the phenomena of reality. The title of Gogol's book "Dead Souls" is symbolic. Manilov and Sobakevich, Plyushkin and Korobochka - all these are “dead souls”. The symbols were Pushkin's Tatyana, Griboyedov's Chatsky, Famusov, Molchalin, Goncharov's Oblomov and Oblomovism, Saltykov-Shchedrin's Judushka Golovlev, Solzhenitsyn's Ivan Denisovich and many other literary heroes. Without knowledge of the symbols that entered the culture from the art of the past, it is often difficult to understand the content of modern works of art. Art is thoroughly permeated with historical and cultural associations, and those who do not notice them often find the symbolism of artistic images inaccessible.
The symbolism of an artistic image can be created and captured both at the level of consciousness and subconsciously, “intuitively.” However, in any case it must be understood. This means that the perception of an artistic image is not limited to just an emotional experience, but also requires understanding and comprehension. Moreover, when the intellect comes into play when perceiving an artistic image, this strengthens and expands the effect of the emotional charge inherent in it. The artistic emotions experienced by a person who understands art are emotions organically associated with thinking. Here, in one more aspect, Vygotsky’s thesis is justified: “the emotions of art are intelligent emotions.”
It should also be added that in literary works the ideological content is expressed not only in the symbolism of artistic images, but also directly in the mouths of the characters, in the author’s comments, sometimes expanding into entire chapters with scientific and philosophical reflections (Tolstoy in “War and Peace”, T. Mann in “The Magic Mountain”). This further demonstrates that artistic perception cannot be reduced solely to the impact on the sphere of emotions. Art requires both creators and consumers of their creativity not only emotional experiences, but also intellectual efforts.
Any sign, since its meaning can be set arbitrarily by a person, is capable of being a bearer of different meanings. This also applies to verbal signs - words. As shown by V.M. Allahverdov, “it is impossible to list all the possible meanings of a word, because the meaning of this word, like any other sign, can be anything. The choice of meaning depends on the consciousness that perceives this word. But “the arbitrariness of the sign-meaning relationship” does not mean unpredictability. The meaning once assigned to a given sign must continue to be persistently assigned to that sign if the context of its appearance is preserved.” Thus, the context in which it is used helps us understand what a sign means.
When we set out to communicate knowledge about a subject to another, we try to ensure that the content of our message is understood unambiguously. In science, for this purpose, strict rules are introduced that determine the meaning of the concepts used and the conditions for their application. The context does not allow going beyond these rules. It is implied that the conclusion is based only on logic and not on emotions. Any secondary shades of meaning not specified by definitions are excluded from consideration. A textbook on geometry or chemistry must present facts, hypotheses and conclusions in such a way that all students studying it unambiguously and in full accordance with the author’s intentions perceive its content. Otherwise, we have a bad textbook. The situation is different in art. Here, as already mentioned, the main task is not to convey information about some objects, but to influence feelings, to arouse emotions, so the artist is looking for symbolic means that are effective in this regard. He plays with these means, connecting those subtle, associative shades of their meaning that remain outside strict logical definitions and whose appeal is not permissible in the context of scientific proof. In order for an artistic image to make an impression, arouse interest, and awaken emotion, it is built with the help of non-standard descriptions, unexpected comparisons, vivid metaphors and allegories.
But people are different. They have different life experiences, different abilities, tastes, desires, and moods. The writer, when selecting means of expression to create an artistic image, proceeds from his ideas about the strength and nature of their impact on the reader. He uses and evaluates them in the light of his views in a particular cultural context. This context is associated with the era in which the writer lives with the social problems that concern people in this era, with the focus of interests and the level of education of the public to whom the author addresses. And the reader perceives these means in his own cultural context. Different readers, based on their context and simply from their individual characteristics, can see the image created by the writer in their own way.
Nowadays, people admire the cave paintings of animals made by the hands of nameless Stone Age artists, but when they look at them, they see and experience something completely different from what our distant ancestors saw and experienced. A non-believer may admire Rublev’s “Trinity,” but he perceives this icon differently than a believer, and this does not mean that his perception of the icon is incorrect.
If an artistic image evokes in the reader exactly those experiences that the author wanted to express, he (the reader) will experience empathy.
This does not mean that the experiences and interpretations of artistic images are completely arbitrary and can be anything. After all, they arise on the basis of the image, stem from it, and their character is determined by this image. However, this conditionality is not unambiguous. The connection between an artistic image and its interpretations is the same as that which exists between a cause and its consequences: the same cause can give rise to many consequences, but not any, but only those arising from it.
There are various interpretations of the images of Don Juan, Hamlet, Chatsky, Oblomov and many other literary heroes. In L. Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina, the images of the main characters are described with amazing vividness. Tolstoy, like no one else, knows how to present his characters to the reader in such a way that they become, as it were, his close acquaintances. It would seem that the appearance of Anna Arkadyevna and her husband Alexei Alexandrovich, their spiritual world, is revealed to us to the very depths. However, readers may have different attitudes towards them (and in the novel, people treat them differently). Some approve of Karenina's behavior, others consider it immoral. Some people strongly dislike Karenin, others see him as an extremely worthy person. Tolstoy himself, judging by the epigraph of the novel (“Vengeance is mine and I will repay”), seems to condemn his heroine and hint that she is suffering just retribution for her sin. But at the same time, in essence, with the entire subtext of the novel, he evokes compassion for her. What is higher: the right to love or marital duty? There is no clear answer in the novel. You can sympathize with Anna and blame her husband, or you can do the opposite. The choice is up to the reader. And the field of choice is not limited to only two extreme options - there are probably countless intermediate ones.
So, any full-fledged artistic image is polysemantic in the sense that it allows for the existence of many different interpretations. They seem to be potentially embedded in it and reveal its content when perceived from different points of view and in different cultural contexts. Not empathy, but co-creation is what is necessary to understand the meaning of a work of art, and, moreover, an understanding associated with the personal, subjective, individual perception and experience of the artistic images contained in the work.
