SYMBOLISM AND PAINTING OF V. E. BORISOV-MUSATOV

This article continues the series of author’s publications in this journal, dedicated to the work of Russian symbolist artists. In this case, symbolism is considered as a “way of understanding the world” (A. Bely), acting as a universal category in the interpretation of the process of human perception of the world. The ideological doctrine of discovering ideal being through symbols, substantiated by German philosophers (A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche), being the theoretical basis for the work of intellectual artists, acquires specific interpretations of its modeling in each author’s version. Therefore, the main task of this entire series of publications is to consider the issue of the individual originality of artistic “models” of the universe, presented in their author’s diversity from the standpoint of the philosophy of symbolism. The main task of this particular article is to identify the author’s “accent” ideological positions of symbolism in the work of the famous Russian artist V. E. Borisov-Musatov. In the article, this is done by abstracting from the accepted art criticism judgments about the work of Borisov-Musatov, which have become annoying cliches that simplify the complex nature of the great master’s work. In this regard, once again, the issue of understanding the ideological meanings in the art of symbolism is actualized, the “linguistic” material of which is characterized by semantic closure, therefore the article traditionally uses the techniques of hermeneutic logic that facilitate the “reading” of deep, ideological meanings in art of a conditionally symbolic nature.