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Abstract.
This essay is dedicated to examining the next art-historical period of world culture, Modern I (1890s-1920s), which inaugurates the era of the same name. This period is generally characterized by a transition from the Classical era to Modern art, thus prompting an analysis of its key manifestations with an emphasis on the evolutionary processes at play. For instance, some of the most vivid manifestations were observed within the culture of the Silver Age (a concept whose application extends to numerous phenomena in both Russian and international art). Key characteristics of this period include: a sense of decline, the end of an era, accompanied by an elegiac and tragic mood, and the motif of old age. This was often juxtaposed with a counter-movement celebrating dawn, spring, vitality, and themes of youth. Other notable aspects include the flourishing of Expressionism and the emergence of a new aesthetic, an “anti-aesthetic”. The unfolding of the heroic spirit at the beginning of the 20th century gave rise to various tendencies: the portrayal of strong, courageous heroes; descriptions of urbanized existence born from life in large cities; the archaization of images; recourse to the heroes of ancient myths; and the embodiment of ideas of mass and revolutionary heroism. The transition from the Silver Age to the Industrial Age can be traced through the development of Art Nouveau and the emergence of constructivism. The dawn of the new century was marked by significant “anti-lyricism”, yet the emotional-lyrical element manifested all the more powerfully (e.g., operatic verismo, the poetry of the Silver Age). Equally prominent tendencies included both a quest for beauty and spirituality in all their manifestations, and a protest against the aesthetics of the Silver Age and classical principles in general, which in some cases led to simplification and schematism. The aspiration to penetrate the very essence of phenomena by dissecting them into their minutest components spurred the development of Cubism and other “futuristic” movements. Overall, the author traces how art was fragmented between waning Classicism and nascent Modern. However, an equally significant body of work consisted of pieces that organically blended enduring traditions with new trends in varying proportions.
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