Artistic creativity and mental health. Creativity in art

Write an essay based on the text you read.

Formulate one of the problems posed by the author of the text.

Comment on the formulated problem. Include in your comment two illustrative examples from the text you read that you think are important for understanding the problem in the source text (avoid excessive quoting). Explain the meaning of each example and indicate the semantic connection between them.

The volume of the essay is at least 150 words.

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(4) An amazing woman, amateur artist Evfrosinya Antonovna Kersnovskaya spent many years in a Stalinist camp, after which she began to sketch her entire life from the very beginning: her childhood in Bessarabia, how she was arrested in Romania, how she was exiled to Siberia. (5) For many years she depicted everyday life, details and commented on her drawings.

(6) This is what she writes to her mother:

(7) “I drew them for you, thinking about you... (8) I started drawing there, in Norilsk, immediately after I left the camp. (9) There was still neither a mattress, nor a sheet, there was not even a corner of our own. (10) But I already dreamed of drawing something beautiful, reminiscent of the past - the past that

was inextricably linked with you, my dear! (11) And the only thing I could think of was to draw...”

(12) And so Euphrosyne creates in pictures the story of her life, all her misadventures, in order to free herself from those difficult memories that surrounded her after leaving twelve years of hell. (13) She drew with whatever she had to: colored pencils, a pen, and sometimes tinted it with watercolors.

(14) And these simple, but such detailed, truthful drawings amaze with their persuasiveness and inner freedom. (15) As many as twelve general notebooks were composed and drawn by her in the 60s of the last century. (16) In 1991 they were published as a separate book called “Rock Painting”. (17) And to this day, looking at these drawings that were born so long ago, somewhere deep inside I feel how much art helped this amazing artist and simply noble woman to survive.

(18) Here's another story. (19) The artist Boris Sveshnikov was also imprisoned for a long time. (20) His albums were drawn directly there, in captivity, but they were not about the camp, not about the life he lived then - they were fantastic. (21) He depicted some kind of fictional reality and extraordinary cities. (22) With a thin feather, the thinnest, almost transparent silver stroke, he created in his albums a parallel, incredibly mysterious, exciting life. (23) And subsequently these albums became evidence that his inner world, fantasy, and creativity saved his life in this camp. (24) He survived thanks to his creativity.

(25) Another extraordinary artist, Mikhail Sokolov, a contemporary of Sveshnikov, being imprisoned for his extravagant appearance, also tried to seek freedom and salvation in creativity. (26) He drew with colored pencils, and sometimes with pencil stubs, small pictures three by three centimeters or five by five centimeters and hid them under his pillow.

(27) And these small fantastic drawings by Sokolov, in my opinion, are in some sense grander than some huge paintings painted by another artist in a bright and comfortable studio.

(28) As you can see, you can depict reality, or you can depict fantasy. (29) In both cases, what you transfer from your head, from your soul, from your heart, from your memory onto paper, frees you, sets you free, even if there are prison bars around you. (30) Therefore, the role of art is truly great. (31) And it doesn’t matter what or how you do it: creativity knows no boundaries and does not require special tools. (32) It, sincere and truthful, simply lives in a person, seeks a way out and is always ready to selflessly help him.

(according to L.A. Tishkov*)

*Leonid Aleksandrovich Tishkov (born in 1953) is a Russian cartoonist, also works in the field of book graphics.

Explanation.

Approximate range of problems:

1. The problem of the significance of artistic creativity in the life of the artist himself. (What is the benefit? The saving power of artistic creativity? Is artistic creativity capable of helping a person survive, saving a person?)

2. The problem of understanding such a phenomenon. as artistic creation. (What is artistic creativity? Are there boundaries to creativity? Where is artistic creativity born?)

3. The problem of the real and the fantastic in artistic creativity. (What should artistic creativity be based on: reality or fantasy?)

1. Artistic creativity is not just a way of self-expression, it can bring enormous benefits: it spiritually liberates a person, even if he is in prison. helps get rid of difficult memories. overcome difficulties, immerses a person in a different reality.

2. Artistic creativity is that. what a person transfers from his head, from his soul, from his heart onto paper. Creativity knows no boundaries and does not require special tools. True creativity can be born both in the artist’s bright studio and on a tiny piece of paper.

3. For artistic creativity, it does not matter whether a person depicts reality or fantasy. It remains creativity, the great power of which is truly limitless.

A sick spirit is healed by chants
E. Baratynsky

Art therapy, if understood as the targeted use of certain psychological and medical effects of artistic creativity and perception, seems to be a very recent phenomenon from a historical point of view.

But we would hardly be mistaken in saying that it is, not in name, but in essence, the same age as art itself. And that means a person. After all, what we now call art is the original sign and indisputable evidence of human existence in the world. No matter how far into the past knowledge extends, we see that the being confidently and without reservations called man has always created certain spatial or temporal forms that contain and express something greater than themselves. And because of this, they retain in the person himself an unconscious, and sometimes even conscious, sense of belonging to another, greater, enduring, to some deep, invisible dimension of the world and himself. Looking ahead, I will say: such an experience is vitally significant and healing in the most generalized, undifferentiated sense of the word.

Indirect confirmation that art therapy is rooted in immemorial antiquity can be found in the practices of so-called traditional or “primitive” societies, which psychologically and physically influence people through the rhythmic-intonation, motor-plastic, color-symbolic aspects of rituals.

The arts in the more modern sense of the word, which emerged from the primary ritual-magical syncret, have also demonstrated therapeutic potential since ancient times. In particular, the legends about Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans indicate that the purposeful use of one or another musical mode changed the internal state, intentions and actions of people. Plato clearly saw the educational and therapeutic potential of the arts. True, he also saw that under certain conditions their effect could become destructive - but what healing agent could not say the same? No matter how mysterious the full meaning of Aristotelian catharsis remains, there is no doubt that it means a certain renewal and purification of the soul under the influence of stage action, etc., etc.

Let's return to art therapy today, which is becoming an increasingly visible, even fashionable, component of psychological practice. It branches out and gives rise to new directions: music therapy, animation therapy, bibliotherapy, choreo-, puppet-, color-, fairy-tale therapy, therapeutic modeling, therapeutic theater... The widest range of mental and physical ill-being of a person is covered by art therapy practice: a tendency to depression, anxiety, disorders sleep, pressure, speech, sensorimotor sphere, communication abilities, problems of correction, rehabilitation, support for people with disabilities... The actions of the art therapist are “targeted”, sometimes even prescription in nature. Thus, lists of musical works are created, the listening of which is indicated in a particular case; plays are specially composed, the collisions of which should help performers resolve similar traumatic situations in their home or studio life.

Let me note: this approach to art, although justified by a good purpose and effectiveness, is of a utilitarian-applied nature: the therapist uses individual, essentially peripheral features of types of art and specific works, correlating them with the equally specific circumstances of the client’s life. The universal essence of art, the artistic transformation of existence, that which, according to M. Prishvin, encourages the writer to “seriously translate his life into words,” remains in the background. Below I will consider the possibility of a different approach, which I almost “let slip” at the very beginning of the article.

The wonderful teacher-animator and art therapist Yu. Krasny called one of his books “Art is always therapy” (3). The book is about seriously ill children and extremely specific methods of working with them in an animation studio, but the title eloquently suggests that immersion in the sphere of artistic exploration of the world is healing and beneficial in itself. And not only for a person recognized as sick.

This is confirmed by both science and pedagogical practice. Thus, domestic and foreign research in the field of musical psychology reveals the beneficial effects of music in personal and intellectual terms ((4); (5)), and speaks of its holistic positive impact on the child, starting from the prenatal period (6). Intensive visual arts classes not only intensify the general mental development of adolescents, but also correct distortions in the value sphere (7), increase mental activity and overall academic performance of schoolchildren (8). It is well known that in those educational institutions where at least some type of artistic creativity is given worthy attention, the emotional tone of children increases, they begin to have a better attitude towards learning and school itself, they suffer less from the notorious overload and school neuroses, they get sick less often and learn better.

So it’s time to talk not only about art therapy for those who already need it, but also about general “art prophylaxis” - and prevention, as we know, is in all respects better than treatment. In anticipation of the time when something similar will become possible in domestic general education, we will try to figure out how the experience of artistic creativity and communication with art can have a healing effect on the human personality.

We'll have to start from afar. But first let's make some important reservations.

The first of these is necessary to prevent one too obvious objection. Many phenomena of art of recent times, especially of our day (I’m talking about art of a serious professional level), to put it mildly, are not carriers and “generators” of mental health; As for the internal state and fate of some talented people of art, you would not wish this on your children and students. What are the grounds for asserting that mental health is so closely related to artistic creativity? I will say right away: the shadow sides of modern culture, including artistic culture, are quite real, but their discussion must be conducted starting, literally and figuratively, “from Adam.” We cannot undertake anything similar within the framework of this work, and therefore, keeping this aspect of the matter in mind, we will talk about the unconditionally positive aspects of human artistic creativity, which undoubtedly prevail on the scale of cultural history. In addition, the above objection applies exclusively to the professional artistic environment of a certain historical period. We are now talking about art in general education, and here its positive role is beyond doubt and is confirmed by the examples given above. As for the differences between “universal human” and professional artistic experience, this topic also requires a special in-depth discussion. Let us limit ourselves for now to a brief hint: in modern secularized and extremely specialized culture, these two spheres differ almost in the same way as physical education classes, which are beneficial for everyone, and elite sports, fraught with psychological and physical injuries.

And the second disclaimer. The considerations presented below do not pretend to be conclusive in the traditional, “strictly scientific” sense of the word. Like everything in the “foreign scientific”, humanitarian sphere of knowledge, they strive not for “accuracy of knowledge”, but for “depth of penetration” (9), and are addressed to the holistic, not fully verbalized experience of the reader as a partner in dialogue.

So, first of all: what are the most common, deep-seated and non-situational causes of our psychological distress and potential mental ill-health? Figuratively speaking, one of them lies in the “horizontal”, the other in the “vertical” dimension of existence, while man himself, with his conscious and unconscious difficulties and contradictions, is constantly at the point of their intersection.

Trouble “horizontally” is rooted in the fact that our conscious “I”, standing out at the beginning of life from the primary undifferentiated integrity, necessarily opposes itself to the surrounding world as some kind of “not I” and, in the conditions of modern rationalized culture, “solidifies” in this natural, but one-sided opposition; “fences” his territory, as if enclosing himself in a transparent but impenetrable psychological shell of alienation from the world, as if initially external and alien to him. It excommunicates itself from participation in the unified being.

Both intellectually and emotionally, a person develops an image of a beginningless and endless world, living according to its own, purely objective natural and social laws and indifferent to its fleeting existence. A world of impersonal cause-and-effect relationships that determine a person, to which it is only possible to temporarily adapt. In this regard, theorists reflect on the “ultimate atomization of the consciousness of the modern individual” or (like psychologist S.L. Rubinstein) they say that in such a world there is no place for man as such; Poets come up with the image of the “desert of the world,” which (let’s remember for later!) creativity helps us get through.

Of course, not every person, much less a child, will indulge in such reflection. But when a person’s unconscious memory of his own integrity and universal nature, of the original ontological unity with the world, his need to make sure that “in the desert of the world I am not alone” (O. Mandelstam) do not receive a response and confirmation, this creates a constant common basis for psychological ill-being , irreducible to specific everyday problems and situations.

The remarkable ethnographer W. Turner described an archaic but effective form of overcoming, or rather preventing, this disease as a cyclical, regulated change in two ways of existing in a traditional society, which he defined as “structure” and “communitas” (i.e. community, inclusion (10) For most of his life, each member of a strictly hierarchical and structured society lives in his own age, gender, “professional" cell and acts in strict accordance with the system of social expectations. But in certain periods this structure is abolished for a short time, and everyone is ritually immersed in direct experience a unity that embraces other people, nature, and the world as a whole.Having touched the single fundamental principle of being, people can return to everyday functioning in their dismembered social structure without a threat to mental health.

It is obvious that in other historical and cultural conditions the phenomenon of communitas in this form cannot be reproduced, but it has many analogues: from the culture of carnival to the traditions of choral singing, from ancient mysteries to participation in religious sacraments (however, in this case the “vertical » dimension of the problem under discussion, which will be discussed further). But now it is important to emphasize something else: a person, without realizing it, seeks involvement in something “greater than himself.” And the absence of such experience - positive, socially approved - turns into absurd, sometimes destructive and pathological breakthroughs of the blocked need of the “atomized individual” to break out of the “flags” of his individuality and join a certain “we”. (Let us recall the impact on listeners of certain types of modern music, the behavior of football fans and many much darker manifestations of crowd psychology, and on the other hand, depression and suicide due to psychological loneliness.)

What therapeutic or, better yet, preventive significance can the experience of artistic creativity have in this matter?

The fact is that the basis of its very possibility is not individual sensory or any other abilities associated with the implementation of activities in one or another form of art, but a special holistic attitude of a person to the world and to himself in the world, which is highly developed among artists , but is potentially characteristic of every person and is especially successfully actualized in childhood. The psychological content of this aesthetic attitude has been described many times by representatives of different types of art, different eras and peoples. And its main feature is precisely that in aesthetic experience the invisible barrier that isolates the self-enclosed “I” from the rest of the world disappears, and a person directly and consciously experiences his ontological unity with the subject of aesthetic attitude and even with the world as a whole. Then the unique sensual appearance of things is revealed to him in a special way: their “external form” turns out to be a transparent carrier of the soul, a direct expression of the inner life, related and understandable to man. That is why he feels himself, at least for a short time, involved in the existence of the whole world and its eternity.

“I strove,” says V. Goethe in his autobiographical work, to look with love at what is happening outside and to expose myself to the influence of all beings, each in his own way, starting with the human being and further downward, to the extent in what way they were comprehensible to me. From here arose a wonderful kinship with individual natural phenomena, internal consonance with it, participation in the chorus of the all-embracing whole” (11, p. 456)

“And only because we are related to the whole world,” says our great writer and thinker M.M. Prishvin, with the power of kindred attention we restore the general connection and discover our own personal in people of a different way of life, even in animals, even plants, even in things” (12, p. 7). Creators of art, who lived in different times and often knew nothing about each other, testify that only on the basis of such experience can a truly artistic work be born.

Thus, aesthetic experience, which - we emphasize! - in appropriate pedagogical conditions every child can acquire, helps to heal the ontological crack and restore the unity of a person with the world “horizontally”. In any case, to give a person to experience the possibility, the reality of this unity. And such an experience, even if it is rare, is not fully reflected, is not retained in consciousness, will certainly remain on the unconscious, or rather, on the superconscious level, and will constantly support a person in his no matter how complex relationships with the outside world.

Note: we needed to mention superconsciousness, and this means that we have come to the line beyond which our thoughts move to the “vertical” plane of the issue under discussion.

The ultimate expression of the aesthetic experience that has been discussed so far can be considered the famous line of F.I. Tyutchev: “Everything is in me, and I am in everything!..” It is not difficult to understand that these words express not only a certain special attitude towards the world, but better to say - with the world, “horizontally” spread around us. Here, a different level of self-awareness and self-awareness of a person is discerned, the presence of a different, larger “I”, commensurate with “everything”, capable of containing “everything”, and thanks to this, the reason for our internal troubles, which lies in the “vertical” dimension of existence, is clearly outlined.

In religious and philosophical literature, in the works of many psychologists, in the spiritual and practical experience of people of different times and nations, as well as in the experience of self-observation of numerous creatively gifted people, we find evidence that, along with the empirical “I” of our everyday self-awareness, something else really exists, “the higher self”, which carries within itself the fullness of possibilities, which we partially actualize in the space-time of earthly life and in the conditions of a limited socio-cultural environment. Without being able to discuss this topic in detail within the framework of this article, I will only note that without such an assumption it is impossible to talk seriously about creativity; phenomena such as self-education, self-improvement, etc. become inexplicable.

This supreme “authority” of individual human existence is called differently: the higher “I” - in contrast to the everyday, “true” - in contrast to the illusory and changeable, “eternal” - in contrast to the mortal, transitory, “free” - in difference from determined by a set of biosocial or any other “objective” factors, “spiritual” “I” (13), “creative “I” (14), etc.

Coming into contact with this “I” of superconsciousness on the paths of spiritual self-improvement, or in the process of creativity in one area or another, or receiving it as if “for free” in the flow of everyday life, a person feels himself with a previously unknown clarity, intensity, certainty and completeness . Of course, such peaks, like the experiences of unity with the world that we talked about earlier, cannot become our permanent state, but the absence or deep oblivion of such an experience - this, figuratively speaking, “vertical gap” - becomes the cause of deep internal disorder of a person, irreparable by any changes in his external life or private recommendations of a psychologist consultant that do not affect the essence of the matter.

The philosopher will define this gap as “the discrepancy between the essence and existence of man”; humanistic psychologist - as a lack of self-actualization, as “deprivation of higher needs” (A. Maslow); a psychotherapist can with sufficient reason see in it the reason for the loss of meaning in life - the root of all diseases (V. Frankl). In any case, we are talking about the fact that not only are we not actually “ourselves,” which may not be achievable in its entirety, but we live on the distant periphery of ourselves, not trying to restore the lost connection with our own true “I” ", approach him. We live not only in an alien world, but essentially aliens to ourselves.

And again the same question arises: how can early (or even not only early) experience of artistic creativity help a person in this situation?

Let's go back a little. In aesthetic experience, a person, sometimes unexpectedly for himself, crosses the usual boundaries of his “ego”, lives a common life with the larger world, and this creates fertile ground for a kind of revelation about himself, for a “meeting” with the larger self, commensurate with this to the world. A man, in the words of the poet Walt Whitman, suddenly discovers with joy that he is bigger and better than he thought, that he does not fit “between his shoes and his hat”...

This kind of “meeting” is experienced and recorded in the memories of many masters of art. Then they come up with ideas that clearly go beyond their usual capabilities, and, nevertheless, come true. In the process of creating or performing a work, a person feels like an “instrument” in the hand of “someone” much more powerful and insightful, and sometimes perceives the result detachedly, as something to which he has no direct relationship. Such self-reports are usually characterized by trustworthy sobriety and lack of affectation. The level of awareness of this experience is different - from the experience of emotional and energetic upsurge, creative daring, transcending one’s own boundaries to a conscious, almost at the level of methodology, attraction of the “creative self” to cooperation - as, for example, in the practice of the great Russian actor M. Chekhov (15) . I will not try to interpret in any way these psychological phenomena, the very existence of which is beyond doubt. Something else is important for us now: artistic and creative experience (and, probably, any truly creative experience) is, to a certain extent, the experience of “being yourself.” It allows you to overcome, at least temporarily, the “vertical gap”: to experience the moment of unity of the everyday – and the higher, creative self; at least - to remember and experience the very fact of its existence.

Let me note: when talking about creativity, I do not mean “creating something new”; it is only a consequence, external evidence of the creative process, and the evidence is not always clear and indisputable. By creativity, I understand, first of all, the manifestation of “internal activity of the soul” (16), which is realized as the free (not determined from the outside) generation and embodiment of one’s own plan in one or another area of life and culture.

There is a lot of evidence, from theological to experimental and pedagogical, confirming that man - every person - is a creator by nature; the need to create in the most general sense of the word, “to live from the inside out” (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh) most intimately characterizes the very essence of man. And the realization of this need is a necessary condition for mental health, and its blocking, which is so characteristic, in particular, of modern general education, is a source of implicit but serious danger for the human psyche. As modern researcher V. Bazarny says, a person can be either creative or sick.

Returning to the figurative and symbolic coordinates of our presentation, we can say that true creativity is born precisely at the crossroads of the horizontal and vertical axes - the restored relationship of a person with himself and with the world. When a person sees the related world around him through the eyes of a higher, creative self and realizes the possibilities of the creative self in the images, language, and materiality of the surrounding world. This harmony is embodied in any truly artistic work (no matter how complex or tragic its specific content may be) and directly affects the viewer, reader or listener, awakening in him the memory, albeit unclear, of the original unity with the world and of the great “inner man.” "in himself.

This is where a question naturally arises. It is obvious that creativity and artistic creativity are by no means synonymous, that creative self-realization is possible in all areas of human activity and in all of his relationships with the world; Why do we so emphasize the importance of art and artistic creativity for the mental health of a person, and especially a growing person?

We are talking, first of all, about the age priority of art. It is in this area that almost all children of preschool, primary school, and early adolescence can, in favorable pedagogical conditions, acquire an emotionally positive and successful experience of creativity as such, the generation and implementation of their own ideas.

Further. Is there another area of culture in which children of 9, 7, 4 years old can create something that is recognized as valuable by society and the highest professional elite? Valuable not because a child did it, but valuable as an independent fact of culture? And in art this is exactly the case: outstanding masters of all types of art for more than a hundred years have seen in children their younger colleagues capable of creating aesthetic values, and are not even averse to learning something from them. One more thing. A young (but still not a 4- or 7-year-old!) physicist or mathematician does, in principle, the same thing as an adult scientist, only many years earlier: there is no “children’s science.” But children's art exists: being artistically valuable, a child's work at the same time bears a pronounced age mark, easily identifiable and inseparable from the artistic value of the work. This speaks, from my point of view, about the deep “natural conformity” of artistic creativity: a child acquires full-fledged creative experience in the most age-appropriate forms for him.

There are, however, difficult-to-explain phenomena when a child creates a text or a drawing that does not bear any age mark either in the emotional and meaningful sense, or even from the point of view of the perfection of the implementation of the plan, and could belong to an adult artist. I am not ready to discuss and explain this amazing phenomenon in detail - I will only remind you that even an adult artist in his work can be “bigger than himself.” Or better yet, it can be “oneself.”

A. Melik-Pashayev

Literature

Ideas of aesthetic education. Anthology in 2 volumes. T.1, M.: “Art”, 1973
Aristotle. Poetics. (On the art of poetry.) M.: State Publishing House of Fiction, 1957.
Krasny Yu.E. ART is always therapy. M.: Publishing house LLC Interregional Center for Management and Political Consulting, 2006.
Toropova A.V. Development of personality integrity through sensory filling of the child’s musical consciousness. / Methodology of pedagogy of music education (scientific school of E.B. Abdullin). – M., MPGU, 2007. P. 167-180.
Kirnarskaya D.K. Musical abilities. M.: Talents-XXI century, 2004.
Lazarev M. New paradigm of education. Art at school, No. 3, 2011
Sitnova E.N. The influence of artistic and aesthetic education on personality development in adolescence and youth. Author's abstract. PhD thesis, M., 2005
Kashekova I. Numbers and only numbers. Art at school, No. 4, 2007
Bakhtin M.M. Aesthetics of verbal creativity. M.: Art, 1979.
Turner, W. Symbol and ritual. M.: Nauka, 1983.
Goethe, V. Poetry and truth. Collected works, vol. 3. Fiction publishing house, 1976.
Prishvin M.M. The power of related attention. M.: Art at school, M., 1996.
Florenskaya T.A. Dialogue in practical psychology. M.:, 1991
Melik-Pashaev A.A. The world of the artist. M.: Progress-tradition, 2000.
Chekhov M.A. Literary heritage in 2 volumes. M.: Art, 1995
Zenkovsky V.V. The problem of mental causation. Kyiv, 1914

Unified State Examination essay:

Does creativity really help a person go through many difficult trials and survive? It is this question that is the focus of the Russian cartoonist Leonid Aleksandrovich Tishkov.

Revealing this problem, the author discusses how important creativity can play in the life of each of us. To convince the reader of this, he gives striking examples of how ... the ability to turn to art in the most difficult moments of life influenced. Surprisingly, even in Stalin’s camps, imprisonment, in secret from others, our heroes wrote “something beautiful, reminiscent of the past... fictional reality and extraordinary cities.” It is no coincidence that the author so accurately describes everything that connected the heroes with art and helped them survive:..... It was these small details that allowed us to understand: “it doesn’t matter what and how you do it,” because creativity does not require special tools and knows boundaries.

The author's position is beyond doubt. L.A. Tishkov is convinced: the role of art is truly great. The artist comes to the conclusion that the love of creativity “lives in a person”, that art is “ready to selflessly help him.”

It is difficult to disagree with the author's position. I can’t call myself a creative person, but in moments when I’m sad about home, I feel better at the piano. Art, of course, can cleanse a person’s soul and preserve him as an individual.

I would like to substantiate my point of view by referring to Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” Using the example of Nikolai Rostov, we are convinced that, no matter how hopeless the situation may be, there is a force that can help a person. This happened with Tolstoy’s hero, who lost forty-three thousand. You read the hero’s thoughts and understand that the only way out of dishonor that Nikolai Rostov sees is “a bullet to the forehead.” It is difficult to imagine how the life of the young count would have turned out if not for Natasha’s singing, which he heard. And Dolokhov, and money, and argument, and anger - all this fades into the background, what remains is the real - pure and high - art.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s work “The Master and Margarita” helps to understand how great the role of creativity is. The focus is on the author of the novel about Pontius Pilate. From the Master’s conversation with his neighbor at Professor Stravinsky’s clinic, we learn about the happiest period of the hero’s life, which he himself called the “golden age.” The patient remembers how he wrote a book chapter by chapter, read it to his beloved Margarita and believed that his whole life was in this novel. The hero admits that after finishing the book his life lost its meaning. The story written by M. Bulgakov leaves no doubt that creativity can shape a person and be the meaning of his life.

L.N. Tolstoy, M.A. Bulgakov, L.A. Tishkin help the reader to realize that turning to creativity and art makes it possible to rethink everything that is happening around, to withstand difficult moments.

Text L.A. Tishkova

(1) Artistic creativity, from my point of view, is not just a way of self-expression. (2) Sometimes it can become a saving straw, by clinging to which a person can go through many difficult trials and survive. (3) And here is one of the striking examples.
(4) An amazing woman, amateur artist Evfrosinya Antonovna Kersnovskaya spent many years in a Stalinist camp, after which she began to sketch her entire life from the very beginning: her childhood in Bessarabia, how she was arrested in Romania, how she was exiled to Siberia. (5) For many years she depicted everyday life, details and commented on her drawings.
(6) This is what she writes to her mother:
(7) “I drew them for you, thinking about you... (8) I started drawing there, in Norilsk, immediately after I left the camp. (9) There was still neither a mattress, nor a sheet, there was not even a corner of our own. (10) But I already dreamed of drawing something beautiful, reminiscent of the past - that past that was inextricably linked with you, my dear! (11) And the only thing I could think of was to draw...”
(12) And so Euphrosyne creates in pictures the story of her life, all her misadventures, in order to free herself from those difficult memories that surrounded her after leaving twelve years of hell. (13) She drew with whatever she had to: colored pencils, a pen, and sometimes tinted it with watercolors.
(14) And these simple, but such detailed, truthful drawings amaze with their persuasiveness and inner freedom. (15) As many as twelve general notebooks were composed and drawn by her in the 60s of the last century. (16) In 1991 they were published as a separate book called “Rock Painting”. (17) And to this day, looking at these drawings that were born so long ago, somewhere deep inside I feel how much art helped this amazing artist and simply noble woman to survive.
(18) Here's another story. (19) The artist Boris Sveshnikov was also imprisoned for a long time. (20) His albums were drawn directly there, in captivity, but they were not about the camp, not about the life he lived then - they were fantastic. (21) He depicted some kind of fictional reality and extraordinary cities. (22) With a thin feather, the thinnest, almost transparent silver stroke, he created in his albums a parallel, incredibly mysterious, exciting life. (23) And subsequently these albums became evidence that his inner world, fantasy, and creativity saved his life in this camp. (24) He survived thanks to his creativity.
(25) Another extraordinary artist, Mikhail Sokolov, a contemporary of Sveshnikov, being imprisoned for his extravagant appearance, also tried to seek freedom and salvation in creativity. (26) He drew with colored pencils, and sometimes with pencil stubs, small pictures three by three centimeters or five by five centimeters and hid them under his pillow.
(27) And these small fantastic drawings by Sokolov, in my opinion, are in some sense grander than some huge paintings painted by another artist in a bright and comfortable studio.
(28) As you can see, you can depict reality, or you can depict fantasy. (29) In both cases, what you transfer from your head, from your soul, from your heart, from your memory onto paper, frees you, sets you free, even if there are prison bars around you. (30) Therefore, the role of art is truly great. (31) And it doesn’t matter what or how you do it: creativity knows no boundaries and does not require special tools. (32) It, sincere and truthful, simply lives in a person, seeks a way out and is always ready to selflessly help him.

(according to L.A. Tishkov*)

ARTISTIC CREATIVITY - the process of creating new aesthetic values of artistic creativity is an element of all types of social and production activity of a person, but in its full quality it finds expression in the creation and performance of works of art. The ideological and aesthetic orientation of creativity is determined by the artist’s social and class position, his worldview and aesthetic ideal.

Creativity in art is innovation both in the content and in the form of artistic works. The ability to think productively is certainly a mandatory sign of talent. But innovation is not an end in itself. Creativity is necessary for the product of aesthetic activity to have both novelty and social significance; so that its creation and method of use meet the interests of the advanced classes and contribute to socio-cultural progress. Unlike formalist aestheticians, who view creativity primarily only as the construction of new forms and structures, Marxist aestheticians proceed from the fact that heuristic work in art is characterized by the creation of new social values within the framework of such structures.

Artistic creativity is inseparable from the development of cultural heritage, from which the artist spontaneously or consciously selects traditions that have a progressive meaning and correspond to his individuality. Creativity, on the one hand, presupposes the acceptance and development of certain traditions, on the other hand, the rejection of some of them, their overcoming. The creative process is a dialectical unity of creation and negation. The main thing in this unity is creation. The preaching of self-directed destruction, characteristic of many theorists of decadence and modernism, turns into pseudo-innovation, draining the creative potential of the artist. In order to move forward in art without repeating anyone, you need to know well the achievements of your predecessors.

In terms of socio-gnoseological creativity is a figurative reflection of the objective world, its new vision and understanding by the artist. It also acts as an actualization of the artist’s personality and life experience. Self-expression, subjective in nature, is not opposed to the objective, but is a form of its reflection in a work of art. In this case, this self-expression turns out to be simultaneously an expression of generally valid, popular and class ideas.

Freedom of imagination, fantasy and intuition, breadth of outlook, the desire for a comprehensive knowledge of existence are necessary components of creativity. At the same time, the artist also needs self-restraint in the selection and interpretation of life material, concentration and selectivity of attention, strict discipline of the mind and heart. A holistic artistic image, in which the creative process results, is born only when the artist is able to see and deeply comprehend what is natural and typical through life situations and the facts of his own biography. In this capacity, artistic creativity acts as creativity according to the “laws of beauty” (K. Marx).

Creativity in art is the creation of something that reflects the real world surrounding a person. Divided into types in accordance with the methods of material embodiment. Creativity in art is united by one task - serving society.

Classification

The modern system of dividing art, as well as those associated with it, involves three separate categories.

The first group includes types of art that are perceived visually. These include:

Arts and crafts creativity.
The art of architecture.
Creativity in the visual arts.
The art of sculptural images.
Painting.
Art photography as a form of creativity.

The second group includes types of art of a long-term nature. This:

Fiction as a vast layer of culture, consisting of numerous creative methods for creating works.
Music in all its diversity as a reflection of creative processes in art.

Some types can be correlated with each other, as, for example, a musical opera is synthesized with literature when creating a libretto.

The third group consists of spatio-temporal types of creativity, perceived both visually and aurally:

Theater arts.
The art of choreography, musical, ballet.
Film art.
Genre of circus performance.

Creativity in the art of individual forms

A comprehensive artistic picture cannot be created from one type of art. Even such academic forms as painting or sculpture require additional means - the paintings must be placed in a beautiful frame, and the sculpture must be properly lit.

Therefore, a fairly wide field arises for the use of various creative processes in art, some may be fundamental, others auxiliary, but in any case, both will be useful. Examples of creativity in art can be given endlessly. There are several gradations here, but they all obey one general formulation: great art requires high standards of creativity, smaller cultural categories are content with a lower creative level.

The situation is different in the field of science. A low level of professionalism is absolutely unacceptable there. and art are incomparable things. Science does not forgive mistakes, and art can turn any relative shortcomings into good.

Talent and technology

Creativity in the art of small forms, such as small plastic arts in the arts and crafts or stage sketches in the theater, does not require high professional training. To succeed in this kind of creativity, it is enough to have a certain talent and master the technologies for making artistic products or have the ability for theatrical productions. In literature, to write a short story or essay, you don’t have to be a writer, it’s enough to have good taste and be able to express your thoughts competently.

One of the areas of culture where a person can successfully apply his creative potential is the artistic value of folk arts and crafts products can be quite high if masters of their craft work. In addition to masterfully making crafts, you must first select the right material, and only an experienced craftsman can handle this task.

Utility

Creativity in the arts of a decorative and applied artist is the creation of artistic household objects. As a rule, these products belong to folklore, regardless of whether they are used for their intended purpose or placed as exhibits at an exhibition. Natural materials are used in the manufacture of decorative items: bone, stone, wood, clay.

The methods of processing raw materials are also relatively simple - it is manual work using simple tools, and the technical techniques used today have come to the modern world from the distant past.

Local affiliation

Folk arts and crafts, which form the basis of decorative and applied arts in Russia, are distributed by region, each type belongs to a specific area:

bone carving - Kholmogory, Khotkovo;
embroidery - Vladimir gold embroidery;
metal art products - scarlet silver of Veliky Ustyug;
- Pavlovo Posad shawls;
lace weaving - Vologda, Mikhailovskoe;
Russian ceramics - Gzhel, Skopino, Dymkovo toy, Kargopol;
picturesque miniatures - Palekh, Mstera, Kholui;
wooden carvings - Bogorodskaya, Abramtsevo-Kudrinskaya;
wood painting - Khokhloma, Gorodetskaya, Fedoskino.

Sculpture

The art of creating relief sculptures has its roots in the Middle Ages. Sculpture as a fine art embodies the real world in artistic images. The materials used to create sculptures are stone, bronze, marble, granite, wood. In particularly large-scale projects, concrete, steel reinforcement, and various plasticized fillers are used.

Sculptural sculptures are conventionally divided into two types: relief and three-dimensional three-dimensional. Both are widely used to create monuments, monuments and memorials. Relief sculptures, in turn, are divided into three subtypes:

bas-relief - low or medium relief image;
high relief - high relief;
counter-relief - inset image.

Each sculpture can be classified and categorized as easel, decorative, or monumental. Easel sculptures are, as a rule, museum exhibits. They are located indoors. Decorative ones are placed in public places, parks, squares, and garden plots. always stand in frequently visited public places, in city squares, central streets and in close proximity to government institutions.

Architecture

Utilitarian architecture appeared about four thousand years ago, and began to acquire signs of artistry shortly before the Nativity of Christ. Architecture has been considered an independent art form since the beginning of the twelfth century, when architects began to erect Gothic buildings in European countries.

Creativity in the art of architecture is the creation of buildings that are unique from an artistic point of view. A good example of creativity in the construction of residential buildings can be considered the projects of the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi, which are located in Barcelona.

Literature

Spatiotemporal varieties of art are the most sought-after and popular categories accepted in society. Literature is a type of creativity in which the fundamental factor is the artistic word. Russian culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries knew many brilliant writers and poets.

The creativity in the art of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the great Russian poet, was extremely fruitful; during his short life he created a number of immortal works in poetry and prose. Almost all of them are considered masterpieces of literature. Some are included in the list of brilliant creations of world significance.

Lermontov's creativity in art also left a noticeable mark. His works are textbook, classical in essence. The poet also died early, at the age of twenty-six. But he managed to leave behind an invaluable legacy, masterpiece poems and many poems.

The brilliant Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol left his mark on Russian literature of the nineteenth century. The writer lived and worked during the heyday of Russian society. Art in Gogol's works is represented by many highly artistic works included in the Golden Fund of Russian culture.

Choreography and ballet

The art of dance originated in Rus' in ancient times. People first began to communicate in the language of dance during holiday celebrations. Then the dances took the form of theatrical performances, and professional dancers and ballerinas appeared. At first, the dance floor was the stage of a booth or the arena of a circus tent. Then studios began to open, in which both rehearsals and ballet performances took place. The term “choreography” has come into use, which means “the art of dance.”

Ballet quickly became a popular form of creativity, especially since dancing was necessarily accompanied by music, most often classical. The theater audience was divided into two camps: lovers of dramatic or opera performances and those who prefer to watch a dance performance on a theater stage with musical accompaniment.

Film art

The most popular and widespread form of art is cinema. Over the last half century it has been replaced by television, but millions of people still go to cinemas. What explains such a high demand for cinema? First of all, the versatility of this art form. Any literary work can be filmed, and it will become even more interesting in a new reading. Ballet performances, popular science stories - all this can also be shown to moviegoers.

There is a whole industry of film production, the basis of which is made up of major film studios, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and several others. All major film production companies are located in Hollywood, a special area of the American city of Los Angeles. Hundreds of smaller film studios are scattered around the world. “Dream Factory” is what world cinema is called, and this is a very accurate definition.