What period of Russian literature is called the Silver Age. "Silver Age" of Russian poetry. The state of society in the last years of the Russian Empire

About the Silver Age

Poets and writers of the 19th century gave Russian literature a big impetus in development: they brought it to the world level and created works that are still considered the most basic in the history of Russian literature. This age was called the Golden Age; it ended by the beginning of the 20th century. However, literature itself continued to strive forward and took on more and more new forms, and the Silver Age followed the Golden Age.

Definition 1

The Silver Age is a conventional name for a period in the development of Russian poetry, characterized by the emergence of a large number of poets and poetic movements who were looking for new poetic forms and offered new aesthetic ideals.

The Silver Age can be safely called the heir to the Golden Age. Poets of the late 19th - early 20th centuries relied on the works of A.S. Pushkin and the poets of the Pushkin circle, as well as the work of F.I. Tyutcheva, A.A. Feta and N.A. Nekrasov.

If there are practically no questions regarding the definition of the chronological framework of the Golden Age, then the boundaries of the Silver Age are still blurred. Most literary critics agree that this milestone in the history of Russian poetry begins at the turn of the 80-90s of the XIX century, however, when it ends is a moot point. There are several points of view:

• Some researchers believe that the Silver Age ended with the outbreak of the Civil War (1918);
• Others believe that the Silver Age ended in 1921, when Alexander Blok and Nikolai Gumilev died;
• Still others are of the opinion that the Silver Age was interrupted approximately after the death of Vladimir Mayakovsky, that is, at the turn of the 1920-1930s.

Remark 1

It is important to understand that if the concept of the Golden Age is applicable to both poetry and prose, then speaking of the Silver Age, we are talking exclusively about poetry. The name "Silver Age" this era received by analogy with the name of its predecessor.

The poets of this era boldly experimented with literary forms and genres, creating absolutely unique works that have no analogues in the history of Russian literature. The work of these authors formed such areas of poetry as symbolism, futurism, acmeism, imaginism and new peasant poetry. Many researchers say that the poetry of the Silver Age, in view of the historical events unfolding at that time in Russia, was distinguished by an acute crisis of faith and a lack of inner harmony.

The most famous poets of the Silver Age are Anna Akhmatova, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Yesenin, Alexander Blok, Marina Tsvetaeva, Ivan Bunin.

Symbolism

Symbolism was the first trend born in the Silver Age. He was the very product of the crisis that engulfed the Russian Empire. However, its formation big influence had another crisis - the crisis of European culture. The leading minds of the late 19th century reviewed in their works all existing moral values, criticized the direction of social development and were strongly fascinated by the philosophy of idealism.

Definition 2

Symbolism is a direction in art, which was characterized by a craving for experiments, a desire for innovation and the use of symbolism.

Russian Symbolists, horrified at the sight of the collapse of populism in their country, abandoned the tendency of poets of Pushkin's circle to raise acute social issues in their works. The Symbolists turned to philosophical problems. At first, Russian symbolism imitated French symbolism, but very soon acquired its own unique features.

Russian symbolism was distinguished by the absence of any single poetic school. Even in French symbolism, one cannot find such a huge variety of styles and concepts that symbolism was distinguished in Russia.

All subsequent directions were somehow influenced by symbolism. Someone directly inherited his postulates, and someone, criticizing and denying symbolism, in any case began his development with an appeal to him.

The origins of Russian symbolism were the so-called "senior symbolists": Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, Valery Bryusov, Alexander Dobrolyubov, Konstantin Balmont. Their followers, "junior symbolists", were Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely and others.

Acmeism

Acmeism as a direction became the direct heir of symbolism, it stood out from it and became a separate trend, opposing its progenitor.

Definition 3

Acmeism - literary direction, which proclaimed the cult of concreteness and "substantiality" of the image.

The formation of acmeism is associated with the activities of the poetic organization "Workshop of Poets", and Nikolai Gumilyov is considered the founder of this direction.

Acmeists were Anna Akhmatova, Sergei Gorodetsky, Osip Mandelstam, Mikhail Zenkevich and others.

Acmeists believed that the purpose of art is to ennoble a person. In their opinion, poetry had to artistically process the imperfect phenomena of the surrounding reality and transform them into something better.

Remark 2

For the Acmeists, art was valuable in itself (art for the sake of art).

Futurism

Despite all the eccentricity and brightness of the poetry of symbolism and acmeism, it is futurism that is considered a kind of quintessence of novelty and originality of the Silver Age.

Definition 4

Futurism (from Latin futurum - "future") - the name of the avant-garde movements that developed in the 1910s and 20s in Russia and Italy. In other words, futurism is "the art of the future"

Futurists were interested not so much in the content of poems as in their form. Futurist poets proposed not to preserve the established literary traditions and cultural stereotypes, but to destroy them. Russian futurism was distinguished by rebelliousness, anarchism, expression of the mood of the crowd, experiments with rhyme and rhythm.

The creators of Russian futurism are considered to be members of the Gilea literary and artistic association, which included Velimir Khlebnikov, Elena Guro, Vasily Kamensky, Vladimir Mayakovsky and others. It was "Gilea" in 1912 that issued the manifesto "Slap in the Face of Public Taste", in which it called for abandoning attachment to the creations of the past.

Inside itself, futurism was divided into several groups, developing this direction in parallel with each other:

• Egofuturism, led by Igor Severyanin. It existed for a relatively short time;
• Cubo-futurism, to which the members of the Gilea belonged;
• Poetry Association "Mezzanine of Poetry", created by ego-futurists;
• Futuristic group "Centrifuge".

New peasant poetry

The genre of peasant poetry was formed in the middle of the 19th century. Some poets of the Silver Age developed and transformed this direction, creating "new peasant poetry".

Definition 5

New peasant poetry is a conditional direction of Russian poetry, which united the poets of the Silver Age with peasant origins.

The most famous representative of this trend is Sergei Yesenin.

The poets belonging to this trend did not form any literary association, only later they were identified in this category by literary critics, since all these poets in their work turned to the theme of rural Russia and connection with nature.

Imagism

Imaginist poets believed that the purpose of artistic creativity is to create an image. Imagists, like almost all the poets of the Silver Age, were distinguished by rebelliousness and outrageousness.

Futurism had a great influence on the formation of Imaginism. The starting point of Imagism is considered to be 1918, in which the organization "Order of Imagists" was created.

Anatoly Mariengov and Vadim Shershenevich are considered the founders of imaginism.

Late XIX - early XX centuries. - a period that went down in history under the name of the Silver Age of Russian culture. This was most clearly manifested in Russian poetry, literature and art. N. A. Berdyaev called this rapid rise in all areas of culture the “Russian cultural renaissance”.

The state of society in the last years of the Russian Empire

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. Russia's development was extremely uneven. Huge successes in the development of science, technology, and industry were intertwined with the backwardness and illiteracy of the vast majority of the population.

The 20th century drew a sharp line between “old” and “new” culture. The First World War further complicated the situation.

Culture of the Silver Age

At the beginning of the 20th century, critical realism remained the leading trend in literature. At the same time, the search for new forms leads to the emergence of completely new trends.

Rice. 1. Black square. K. Malevich. 1915.

The creative elite saw World War I as an omen of the imminent end of the world. The themes of world cataclysms, sadness, melancholy, uselessness of life are becoming popular.

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Many poets and writers, indeed, very plausibly predicted the future Civil War and the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Briefly about the Silver Age of Russian culture, the following table tells:

Table “Silver Age of Russian Culture”

Rice. 2. Heroic lope. V. M. Vasnetsov. 1914.

In the era of the Silver Age, Russian theater and ballet achieve great success:

• In 1898, the Moscow Art Theater was founded, headed by K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.
• "Russian Seasons" abroad with the participation of A. P. Pavlova, M. F. Kshesinskaya, M. I. Fokin became a real triumph of Russian ballet.

Rice. 3. A. P. Pavlova. 1912

Silver age in world history

The Silver Age was of great importance for the development of world culture. Russia has proved to the whole world that it still claims to be a great cultural power.

Nevertheless, the era of the “cultural renaissance” was the last conquest of a collapsing Russian Empire. The October Revolution put an end to the Silver Age.

What have we learned?

The golden age of Russian culture at the end of the 19th century was replaced by the Silver. This era, which lasted until October 1917, was marked by the emergence of a huge number of brilliant figures of culture and art. The cultural conquests of the Silver Age are highly respected throughout the world.

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The Silver Age is the era of modernism, captured in Russian literature. This is the period when innovative ideas captured all spheres of art, including the art of the word. Although it lasted only a quarter of a century (starting from 1898, ending around 1922), its legacy is the golden ford of Russian poetry. Until now, the poems of that time do not lose their charm and originality, even against the background of modern creativity. As we know, the works of the Futurists, Imagists and Symbolists became the basis of many famous songs. Therefore, in order to understand the current cultural realities, it is necessary to know the primary sources that we have listed in this article.

The Silver Age is one of the main, key periods of Russian poetry, covering the period of the late XIX - early XX centuries. Disputes about who first used this term are still going. Some believe that the "Silver Age" belongs to Nikolai Avdeevich Otsup, a well-known critic. Others are inclined to believe that the term was introduced thanks to the poet Sergei Makovsky. But there are also options regarding Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev, a famous Russian philosopher, Razumnikov Vasilyevich Ivanov, a Russian literary critic, and the poet Vladimir Alekseevich Piast. But one thing is certain: the definition was coined by analogy with another, no less important period - the Golden Age of Russian literature.

As for the time frame of the period, they are arbitrary, since it is difficult to establish the exact dates for the birth of the Silver Age of poetry. The beginning is usually associated with the work of Alexander Alexandrovich Blok and his symbolism. The end is attributed to the date of the execution of Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov and the death of the previously mentioned Blok. Although echoes of this period can be found in the work of other famous Russian poets - Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam.

Symbolism, Imagism, Futurism and Acmeism are the main currents of the Silver Age. All of them belong to such a direction in art as modernism.

The main philosophy of modernism was the idea of ​​positivism, that is, hope and faith in the new - in a new time, in a new life, in the formation of the newest / modern. People believed that they were born for something high, they have their own destiny, which they must fulfill. Now culture is aimed at eternal development, constant progress. But all this philosophy collapsed with the advent of wars. It was they who forever changed the worldview and attitude of people.

Futurism

Futurism is one of the directions of modernism, which is an integral part of the Russian avant-garde. For the first time, this term appeared in the manifesto "Slap in the face of public taste", written by members of the St. Petersburg group "Gileya". It included Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vasily Kamensky, Velimir Khlebnikov and other authors, who were most often called "budetlyane".

Paris is considered the ancestor of futurism, but its founder comes from Italy. However, it was in France in 1909 that Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's manifesto was published, skimping on the place of this trend in literature. Further, futurism "came" to other countries. Marinetti has shaped attitudes, ideas and thoughts. He was an eccentric millionaire, most of all fond of cars and women. However, after the accident, when the man lay next to the pulsing heart of the engine for several hours, he decided to sing the beauty of an industrial city, the melody of a rumbling car, the poetics of progress. Now the ideal for man was not the surrounding natural world, but the urban landscape, the noise and roar of the bustling metropolis. The Italian also admired the exact sciences and came up with the idea of ​​composing poetry using formulas and graphs, created a new “ladder” size, etc. However, his poetry turned out to be something like another manifesto, a theoretical and lifeless rebellion against old ideologies. From the point of view of artistry, a breakthrough in futurism was made not by its founder, but by the Russian admirer of his discovery - Vladimir Mayakovsky. In 1910, a new literary trend comes to Russia. Here it is represented by the four most influential groups:

• Moscow group "Centrifuge" (Nikolai Aseev, Boris Pasternak, etc.);
• The previously mentioned St. Petersburg group "Gileya";
• Petersburg group "Moscow Egofuturists" under the control of the publishing house "Petersburg Herald" (Igor Severyanin, Konstantin Olimpov, etc.);
• Moscow group "Moscow ego-futurists" under the control of the publishing house "Mezzanine of Art" (Boris Lavrenev, Vadim Shershenevich, etc.).

Since all these groups had a huge influence on futurism, it developed heterogeneously. There were such offshoots as egofuturism and cubofuturism.

Futurism influenced not only literature. He also had a great influence on painting. Feature such canvases are a cult of progress and a protest against traditional artistic canons. This trend combines the features of cubism and expressionism. The first exhibition took place in 1912. Then in Paris they showed pictures that depicted various means of transportation (cars, planes, etc.). Futurist artists believed that technology would take the lead in the future. The main innovative move was an attempt to depict movement in statics.

The main features of this trend in poetry are as follows:

• the denial of everything old: the old way of life, the old literature, the old culture;
• orientation to the new, the future, the cult of change;
• feeling of imminent change;
• creation of new forms and images, countless and radical experiments:
• the invention of new words, speech turns, sizes.
• desemantization of speech.

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (1893-1930) is a famous Russian poet. One of the greatest representatives of futurism. He began literary experiments in 1912. Thanks to the poet, such neologisms as “nate”, “hollow-shtanny”, sickle” and many others were introduced into the Russian language. Vladimir Vladimirovich also made a huge contribution to versification. His "ladder" helps to correctly place accents when reading. And the lyrical lines in the creation “Lilichka! (Instead of a letter) "became the most poignant love confessions in the poetry of the 20th century. We have discussed it in detail in a separate article.

The most famous works of the poet include the following examples of futurism: the previously mentioned "", "V.I. Lenin", "", poems "I get out of wide trousers", "Could you? (Listen!) ”,“ Poems about the Soviet passport ”,“ Left March ”,“ ”, etc.

Mayakovsky's main themes include:

• the place of the poet in society and his purpose;
• patriotism;
• glorification of the socialist system;
• revolutionary theme;
• love feelings and loneliness;
• purposefulness on the way to a dream.

After October 1917, the poet (with rare exceptions) was inspired only by revolutionary ideas. He sings of the power of change, the Bolshevik ideology and the greatness of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

Igor Severyanin

Igor Severyanin (1887 - 1941) is a famous Russian poet. One of the representatives of egofuturism. First of all, he is known for his outrageous poetry, where his own personality is sung. The Creator was sure that he was a pure incarnation of genius, so he often behaved selfishly and arrogantly. But that was only in public. In ordinary everyday life, Severyanin was no different from others, and after emigrating to Estonia, he completely “tied up” with modernist experiments and began to develop in line with classical poetry. His most famous works are the poems "!", "Nightingales of the monastery garden", "Classic roses", "Nocturne", "A girl was crying in the park" and the collections "The Thundering Cup", "Victoria regia", "Zlatolira". We have covered it in detail in another article.

The main themes of Igor Severyanin's work:

• technical progress;
• own genius;
• the poet's place in society;
• love theme;
• satire and scourging of social vices;
• politics.

He was the first poet in Russia to boldly call himself a futurist. But in 1912, Igor Severyanin founded a new, own trend - ego-futurism, which is characterized by the use of foreign words and the presence of a sense of "selfishness".

Alexey Kruchenykh

Alexey Eliseevich Kruchenykh (1886 - 1968) - Russian poet, journalist, artist. One of the representatives of Russian futurism. The creator became famous for bringing “zaum” into Russian poetry. “Zaum” is an abstract speech, devoid of any meaning, which allows the author to use any words (strange combinations, neologisms, parts of words, etc.). Aleksey Kruchenykh even issues his own “Declaration of the abstruse language”.

The most famous poem of the poet is “Dyr bul schyl”, but there are other works: “Reinforced concrete weights - at home”, “Left”, “Rainforest”, “In the gambling house”, “Winter”, “Death of the artist, “Rus” and others.

The main themes of Khlebnikov's work include:

• the theme of love;
• the theme of the language;
• creation;
• satire;
• food theme.

Velimir Khlebnikov

Velimir Khlebnikov (1885 - 1922) - a famous Russian poet, one of the main figures of the avant-garde in Russia. He became famous, first of all, for being the founder of futurism in our country. Also, one should not forget that it was thanks to Khlebnikov that radical experiments began in the field of “creativity of the word” and the previously mentioned “zaumi”. Sometimes the poet was also called "the chairman of the globe." The main works are poems, poems, superstories, autobiographical materials and prose. Examples of futurism in poetry include:

• "Bird in a cage";
• "Vremysh - reeds";
• "Out of the bag";
• "Grasshopper" and others.

For poems:

• "Menagerie";
• "Forest longing";
• “Love comes like a terrible whirlwind”, etc.

Super stories:

• "Zangezi";
• "War in the Mousetrap".
• "Nikolai";
• “Great is the day” (Imitation of Gogol);
• "Cliff from the future".

Autobiographical materials:

• "Autobiographical note";
• "Answers to the questionnaire of S. A. Vegnerov."

The main themes of V. Khlebnikov's work:

• the theme of the revolution and its glorification;
• the theme of predestination, rock;
• connection of times;
• the theme of nature.

Imagism

Imagism is one of the currents of the Russian avant-garde, which also appeared and spread in the Silver Age. The concept originated from English word"image", which translates as "image". This direction is an offshoot of futurism.

Imagism first appeared in England. The main representatives were Ezra Pound and Percy Wyndham Lewis. Only in 1915 did this trend reach our country. But Russian Imagism differed significantly from English. In fact, only the name remained from it. For the first time the Russian public heard the works of Imagism on January 29, 1919 in the building of the All-Russian Union of Poets in Moscow. It provides that the image of the word rises above the idea, the idea.

For the first time the term "Imagism" appears in Russian literature in 1916. It was then that Vadim Shershenevich's book "Green Street ..." was published, in which the author announced the emergence of a new trend. More extensive than futurism.

Just like Futurism, Imagism influenced painting. The most popular artists are: Georgy Bogdanovich Yakulov (avant-garde artist), Sergey Timofeevich Konenkov (sculptor) and Boris Robertovich Erdman.

The main features of Imagism:

• dominance of the image;
• extensive use of metaphors;
• content of the work = development of the image + epithets;
• epithet = comparisons + metaphors + antithesis;
• poems perform, above all, an aesthetic function;
• one work = one figurative catalogue.

Sergey Yesenin

Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895 - 1925) - a famous Russian poet, one of the most popular representatives of Imagism, an outstanding creator of peasant lyrics. we described in an essay about his contribution to the culture of the Silver Age.

During his short life, he managed to become famous for his outstanding creativity. Everyone read his heartfelt poems about love, nature, the Russian village. But the poet was also known for being one of the founders of Imagism. In 1919, he, along with other poets - V.G. Shershenevich and A.B. Mariengof - for the first time told the public about the principles of this trend. The main feature was that the poems of the Imagists can be read from the bottom up. At the same time, the essence of the work does not change. But in 1922, Sergei Alexandrovich realized that this innovative creative association was very limited, and in 1924 he wrote a letter announcing the closure of the Imagist group.

The main works of the poet (it should be noted that not all of them are written in the style of Imagism):

• “Goy you, Russia, my dear!”;
• "Letter to a woman";
• "Hooligan";
• “You don’t love me, you don’t regret ...”;
• "I have one fun left";
• Poem "";

The main themes of Yesenin's work:

• theme of the Motherland;
• the theme of nature;
• love lyrics;
• longing and spiritual crisis;
• nostalgia;
• rethinking the historical transformations of the 20th century

Anatoly Mariengof

Anatoly Borisovich Mariengof (1897 - 1962) - Russian imaginist poet, playwright, prose writer. Together with S. Yesenin and V. Shershenevich, he founded a new direction of avant-garde - imaginism. First of all, he became famous for his revolutionary literature, since most of his works praise this political phenomenon.

The main works of the poet include such books as:

• "A novel without lies";
• "" (1991 a film adaptation of this book was released);
• "Shaved Man";
• "Immortal Trilogy";
• "Anatoly Mariengof about Sergei Yesenin";
• "Without a fig leaf";
• "Showcase of the Heart"

To poems-examples of Imagism:

• "Meeting";
• "Jugs of Memory";
• "March of revolutions";
• "Hands with a tie";
• "September" and many others.

Themes of Mariengof's works:

• revolution and its chanting;
• the theme of "Russianness";
• bohemian life;
• socialist ideas;
• anticlerical protest.

Together with Sergei Yesenin and other Imagists, the poet participated in the creation of issues of the magazine "Hotel for Travelers in Beauty" and the book "Imagists".

Symbolism

- a trend headed by an innovative image-symbol that replaced the artistic one. The term "symbolism" comes from the French "symbolisme" and the Greek "symbolon" - a symbol, a sign.

France is considered to be the ancestor of this direction. After all, it was there, in the 18th century, that the famous French poet Stéphane Mallarmé united with other poets to create a new literary movement. Then the symbolism "migrated" to other European countries, and already at the end of the 18th century it came to Russia.

First this concept appears in the works of the French poet Jean Moréas.

The main features of symbolism include:

• dual world - division into reality and the illusory world;
• musicality;
• psychologism;
• the presence of a symbol as the basis of meaning and idea;
• mystical images and motives;
• reliance on philosophy;
• cult of individuality.

Alexander Blok

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880-1921) is a famous Russian poet, one of the most important representatives of symbolism in Russian poetry.

The block belongs to the second stage of development of this trend in our country. He is a "junior symbolist", who embodied in his works the philosophical ideas of the thinker Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov.

The main works of Alexander Blok include the following examples of Russian symbolism:

• "On the railway";
• "Factory";
• “Night, street, lamp, pharmacy…”;
• "I enter dark temples";
• "The girl sang in the church choir";
• "I'm scared to meet you";
• "Oh, I want to live crazy";
• poem "" and much more.

Blok's themes:

• the theme of the poet and his place in the life of society;
• the theme of sacrificial love, love-worship;
• the theme of the Motherland and understanding of its historical fate;
• beauty as an ideal and the salvation of the world;
• the theme of the revolution;
• mystical and folklore motifs

Valery Bryusov

Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov (1873 - 1924) - Russian symbolist poet, translator. One of the most famous representatives of the Silver Age of Russian poetry. He stood at the origins of Russian symbolism along with A.A. Block. The success of the creator began with the scandal associated with the monostich "Oh, close your pale legs." Then, after the publication of even more defiant works, Bryusov finds himself at the epicenter of fame. He is invited to various secular and poetic evenings, and his name becomes a real brand in the art world.

Examples of symbolist verses:

• "Its end";
• "In the past";
• "Napoleon";
• "Woman";
• "Shadows of the Past";
• "Mason";
• "Tormenting gift";
• "Clouds";
• "Images of Time".

The main themes in the work of Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov:

• mysticism and religion;
• problems of personality and society;
• departure to a fictional world;
• the history of homeland.

Andrey Bely

Andrey Bely (1880 - 1934) - Russian poet, writer, critic. Just like Blok, Bely is considered one of the most famous representatives of symbolism in our country. It is worth noting that the creator supported the ideas of individualism and subjectivism. He believed that symbolism represents a certain worldview of a person, and not just a trend in art. He considered the language of signs to be the highest manifestation of speech. The poet was also of the opinion that all art is a kind of spirit, the mystical energy of higher powers.

He called his works symphonies, including "Dramatic", "Northern", "Symphonic" and "Return". Famous poems include: “And the water? The moment is clear ... "," Asya (Azure is pale), "Balmont", "Madman" and others.

Themes in the poet's work are:

• the theme of love or passion for a woman;
• struggle against petty-bourgeois vulgarity;
• ethical and moral aspects of the revolution;
• mystical and religious motives;

Konstantin Balmont

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont (1867 - 1942) - Russian symbolist poet, literary critic and writer. He became famous for his "optimistic narcissism". According to the famous Russian poet Anninsky, he raised the most important philosophical questions in his works. The main works of the poet are the collections “Under the Northern Sky”, “We Will Be Like the Sun” and “Burning Buildings” and the well-known poems “Butterfly”, “In the Blue Temple”, “There is not a day that I do not think about You ...”. These are very illustrative examples of symbolism.

The main themes in the work of Balmont:

• the sublime place of the poet in society;
• individualism;
• the theme of infinity;
• questions of being and non-being;
• beauty and mystery of the surrounding world.

Vyacheslav Ivanov

Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov (1866 - 1949) - poet, critic, playwright, translator. Although he survived the heyday of symbolism much, he still remained true to his aesthetic and literary principles. The creator is known for his idea of ​​Dionysian symbolism (he was inspired by ancient greek god fertility and wine by Dionysus). His poetry was dominated by ancient images and philosophical questions posed by ancient Greek philosophers like Epicurus.

Ivanov's main works:

• "Alexander Blok";
• "The ark";
• "News";
• "Scales";
• "Contemporaries";
• "Valley - temple";
• "The Sky Lives"

Topics of creativity:

• the secret of natural harmony;
• the theme of love;
• the theme of life and death;
• mythological motives;
• true nature of happiness.

Acmeism

Acmeism is the last trend that made up the poetry of the Silver Age. The term comes from the Greek word "acme", which means the dawn of something, the peak.

As a literary manifestation, acmeism was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. Beginning in 1900, young poets began to gather in the apartment of the poet Vyacheslav Ivanov in St. Petersburg. In 1906-1907 a small group broke away from everyone and formed a "circle of young people". He was distinguished by the desire to move away from symbolism and form something new. Also, the literary group "Workshop of Poets" made a great contribution to the development of acmeism. It included such poets as Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, Georgy Adamovich, Vladimir Narbut and others. The workshop was headed by Nikolay Gumilyov and Sergey Gorodetsky. After 5 - 6 years, another part separated from this group, which began to call themselves acmeists.

Acmeism is also reflected in painting. The views of such artists as Alexandre Benois (“Marquise’s Bath” and “The Venetian Garden”), Konstantin Somov (“The Mocked Kiss”), Sergei Sudeikin and Leon Bakst (all of whom were part of the art group of the late 19th century “The World of Arts”) were similar to the views of acmeist writers. In all the pictures we can see how modern world opposed to the world of the past. Each canvas is a kind of stylized decoration.

The main features of acmeism:

• rejection of the ideas of symbolism, opposition to them;
• return to the origins: connection with past poets and literary movements;
• the symbol is no longer a way to influence / influence the reader;
• the absence of everything mystical;
• connection of physiological wisdom with inner world person.
• Striving for simplicity and ultimate clarity of the image, theme, style.

Anna Akhmatova

Anna Andreevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966) - Russian poetess, literary critic, translator. She is also a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. As a talented poetess, the world recognized her in 1914. It was in this year that the collection "Rosary" was released. Further, her influence in bohemian circles only increased, and the poem "" provided her with scandalous fame. In the Soviet Union, criticism did not favor her talent, mainly her fame went underground, to samizdat, but the works from her pen were copied by hand and learned by heart. It was she who patronized Joseph Brodsky in the early stages of his work.

Significant creations include:

• “I learned to live simply, wisely”;
• “She clenched her hands over a dark veil”;
• “I asked the cuckoo…”;
• "Grey-eyed king";
• "I'm not asking for your love";
• “And now you are heavy and dull,” and others.

Poetry themes include:

• the theme of conjugal and maternal love;
• the theme of true friendship;
• the theme of Stalinist repressions and the suffering of the people;
• the theme of the war;
• the place of the poet in the world;
• reflection on the fate of Russia.

Basically, the lyrical works of Anna Akhmatova are written in the direction of acmeism, but sometimes there are manifestations of symbolism, most often against the background of some kind of action.

Nikolay Gumilyov

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev (1886 - 1921) - Russian poet, critic, prose writer and literary critic. At the beginning of the 20th century, he was already part of the “Workshop of Poets” already known to you. It was thanks to this creator and his colleague Sergei Gorodetsky that acmeism was founded. They spearheaded this pioneering separation from the general group. Gumilyov's poems are understandable and transparent, they do not contain pomposity and zaum, so they are still rehearsed and played on stages and music tracks. He speaks simply, but beautifully and sublimely about complex feelings and thoughts. For his connection with the White Guards, he was shot by the Bolsheviks.

The main works include:

• "Giraffe";
• "The Lost Tram";
• “Remember more than once”;
• "From a bouquet of a whole lilac";
• "Comfort";
• "The escape";
• "I laughed at myself";
• "My Readers" and much more.

The main theme of Gumilyov's poetry is overcoming life's failures and obstacles. They also touched upon the philosophical, love, military theme. His view of art is curious, because for him creativity is always a sacrifice, always an anguish, to which you surrender without a trace.

Osip Mandelstam

Osip Emilievich Mandelstam (1891 - 1938) - a famous poet, literary critic, translator and prose writer. He is the author of original love lyrics, dedicated many poems to the city. His work is distinguished by a satirical and clearly oppositional orientation in relation to the current authorities at that time. He was not afraid to touch on topical issues and ask uncomfortable questions. For his caustic and insulting "dedication" to Stalin, he was arrested and convicted. The mystery of his death in the labor camp remains unsolved to this day.

Examples of acmeism can be found in his works:

• Notre Dame;
• “We live without feeling the country under us”;
• "Insomnia. Homer. Tight sails…”;
• Silentium;
• "Self-portrait";
• “The evening is gentle. Twilight is important…”;
• "You smile" and much more.

Themes in the work of Mandelstam:

• the beauty of Petersburg;
• the theme of love;
• the place of the poet in public life;
• the theme of culture and freedom of creativity;
• political protest;
• poet and power.

Sergei Gorodetsky

Sergei Mitrofanovich Gorodetsky (1884 - 1967) - Russian poet - acmeist, translator. His work is characterized by the presence of folklore motifs, he was fond of folk epos and ancient Russian culture. After 1915 he became a peasant poet, describing the customs and life of the village. While working as a war correspondent, he created a cycle of poems dedicated to the Armenian genocide. After the revolution, he was mainly engaged in translations.

Significant works of the poet, which can be considered examples of acmeism:

• "Armenia";
• "Birch";
• cycle "Spring";
• "Town";
• "Wolf";
• “My face is a hiding place of births”;
• "Remember, the blizzard came";
• "Lilac";
• "Snow";
• "Series".

The main themes in the poems of Sergei Gorodetsky:

• the natural splendor of the Caucasus;
• the theme of the poet and poetry;
• Armenian genocide;
• the theme of the revolution;
• the theme of the war;
• love and philosophical lyrics.

Creativity of Marina Tsvetaeva

Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) is a well-known Russian poetess, translator, prose writer. First of all, she is known for her love poems. She also tended to reflect on the ethical aspects of the revolution, and nostalgia for the old times was traced in her works. Perhaps that is why she was forced to leave the country of the Soviets, where her work was not appreciated. She knew other languages ​​brilliantly, and her popularity spread not only to our country. The talent of the poetess is admired in Germany, France and the Czech Republic.

The main works of Tsvetaeva:

• "Come, you look like me";
• “I will win you back from all lands, from all heavens ..”;
• "Homesickness! For a long time…";
• “I like that you are not sick with me”;
• "I would like to live with you";

The main themes in the work of the poetess:

• theme of the Motherland;
• the theme of love, jealousy, separation;
• theme of home and childhood;
• the theme of the poet and his significance;
• the historical fate of the fatherland;
• spiritual relationship.

One amazing feature Marina Tsvetaeva is that her poems do not belong to any literary movement. All of them are outside any direction.

The work of Sofia Parnok

Sofia Yakovlevna Parnok (1885 - 1933) - Russian poetess, translator. She gained fame thanks to a scandalous friendship with the famous poetess Marina Tsvetaeva. The fact is that communication between them was attributed to something more than friendly relations. Parnok was also awarded the nickname "Russian Sappho" for her statements about the right of women to non-traditional love and equal rights with men.

Main works:

• "White Night";
• “In a barren land no grain can grow”;
• “Not yet spirit, almost not flesh”;
• "I love you in your space";
• "How bright the light is today";
• "Divination";
• "The lips were too tight."

The main themes in the work of the poetess are prejudice-free love, spiritual connection between people, independence from public opinion.

Parnok does not belong to a certain direction. All her life she tried to find her special place in literature, not tied to a particular trend.

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The Silver Age is not a chronological period. At least not only the period. And this is not the sum of literary movements. Rather, the concept of "Silver Age" is appropriate to apply to the way of thinking.

Atmosphere of the Silver Age

At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, Russia experienced an intense intellectual upsurge, which was especially pronounced in philosophy and poetry. Philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (read about him) called this time the Russian cultural renaissance. According to Berdyaev's contemporary Sergei Makovsky, it is Berdyaev who also owns another, more well-known definition of this period - the "Silver Age". According to other sources, the phrase "Silver Age" was first used in 1929 by the poet Nikolai Otsup. This concept is not so much scientific as emotional, immediately evoking associations with another short period in the history of Russian culture - with the "golden age", the Pushkin era of Russian poetry (the first third of the 19th century).

“Now it is difficult to imagine the atmosphere of that time,” Nikolai Berdyaev wrote about the Silver Age in his “philosophical autobiography” “Self-Knowledge”. - Much of the creative upsurge of that time was included in the further development of Russian culture and now is the property of all Russian cultured people. But then there was an intoxication with a creative upsurge, novelty, tension, struggle, challenge. During these years, many gifts were sent to Russia. It was the era of the awakening of independent philosophical thought in Russia, the flowering of poetry and the sharpening of aesthetic sensibility, religious anxiety and quest, interest in mysticism and the occult. New souls appeared, new springs were discovered creative life, saw new dawns, combined the feeling of decline and death with the hope of the transformation of life. But everything happened in a rather vicious circle ... "

The Silver Age as a period and way of thinking

The art and philosophy of the Silver Age were distinguished by elitism and intellectualism. Therefore, it is impossible to identify all the poetry of the late XIX - early XX century with the Silver Age. This is a narrower concept. Sometimes, however, when attempting to determine the essence of the ideological content of the Silver Age through formal features (literary movements and groupings, socio-political subtexts and contexts), researchers mistakenly confuse them. In fact, within the chronological boundaries of this period, the most diverse phenomena in origin and aesthetic orientation coexisted: modernist movements, poetry of the classical realistic tradition, peasant, proletarian, satirical poetry ... But the Silver Age is not a chronological period. At least not only the period. And this is not the sum of literary movements. Rather, the concept of the “Silver Age” is appropriate to apply to the way of thinking, which, being characteristic of artists who were at enmity with each other during their lifetime, ultimately merged them in the minds of their descendants into some kind of inseparable galaxy that formed that specific atmosphere of the Silver Age that Berdyaev wrote about. .

Poets of the Silver Age

The names of the poets who made up the spiritual core of the Silver Age are known to everyone: Valery Bryusov, Fyodor Sologub, Innokenty Annensky, Alexander Blok, Maximilian Voloshin, Andrei Bely, Konstantin Balmont, Nikolai Gumilyov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Igor Severyanin, Georgy Ivanov and many others.

In its most concentrated form, the atmosphere of the Silver Age was expressed in the first decade and a half of the twentieth century. It was the heyday of Russian modern literature in all its diversity of artistic, philosophical, religious searches and discoveries. The First World War, the February bourgeois-democratic and October socialist revolutions partly provoked, partly shaped this cultural context, and partly were provoked and shaped by it. Representatives of the Silver Age (and Russian modernity in general) sought to overcome positivism, reject the heritage of the "sixties", denied materialism, as well as idealistic philosophy.

The poets of the Silver Age also sought to overcome the attempts of the second half of the 19th century to explain human behavior by social conditions, environment, and continued the traditions of Russian poetry, for which a person was important in itself, his thoughts and feelings, his attitude to eternity, to God, to Love are important. and Death in the philosophical, metaphysical sense. The poets of the Silver Age, both in their artistic work and in theoretical articles and statements, questioned the idea of ​​progress for literature. For example, one of the brightest creators of the Silver Age, Osip Mandelstam, wrote that the idea of ​​progress is "the most disgusting kind of school ignorance." And Alexander Blok in 1910 stated: “The sun of naive realism has set; it is impossible to comprehend anything outside of symbolism. Poets of the Silver Age believed in art, in the power of the word. Therefore, for their creativity, immersion in the element of the word, the search for new means of expression is indicative. They cared not only about the meaning, but also about the style - the sound, the music of the word and complete immersion in the elements were important for them. This immersion led to the cult of life creation (the inseparability of the creator's personality and his art). And almost always in connection with this, the poets of the Silver Age were unhappy in their personal lives, and many of them ended badly.

A new stage in the development of Russian culture is conditionally, starting from the reform of 1861 to the October Revolution of 1917, called the "Silver Age". For the first time this name was proposed by the philosopher N. Berdyaev, who saw in the highest achievements of the culture of his contemporaries a reflection of the Russian glory of the previous "golden" eras, but this phrase finally entered the literary circulation in the 60s of the last century.
The Silver Age occupies a very special place in Russian culture. This contradictory time of spiritual searches and wanderings significantly enriched all kinds of arts and philosophy and gave rise to a whole galaxy of outstanding creative personalities. On the threshold of a new century, the deep foundations of life began to change, giving rise to the collapse of the old picture of the world. The traditional regulators of existence - religion, morality, law - could not cope with their functions, and the age of modernity was born.
However, sometimes they say that the "Silver Age" is a Western phenomenon. Indeed, he chose as his guidelines the aestheticism of Oscar Wilde, the individualistic spiritualism of Alfred de Vigny, the pessimism of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche's superman. The "Silver Age" found its ancestors and allies in the most different countries Europe and in different centuries: Villon, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Novalis, Shelley, Calderon, Ibsen, Maeterlinck, d'Annuzio, Gauthier, Baudelaire, Verhaarn.
In other words, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries there was a reassessment of values ​​from the standpoint of Europeanism. But in the light of the new era, which was the exact opposite of the one that it replaced, the national, literary and folklore treasures appeared in a different, brighter than ever light. Truly, it was the most creative era in Russian history, a canvas of greatness and impending troubles of holy Russia.

Slavophiles and Westernizers

The liquidation of serfdom and the development of bourgeois relations in the countryside exacerbated the contradictions in the development of culture. They are found, first of all, in the discussion that has engulfed Russian society and in the formation of two trends: "Western" and "Slavophile". The stumbling block, which did not allow the disputants to reconcile, was the question: in what way is the culture of Russia developing? According to the "Western", that is, bourgeois, or it retains its "Slavic identity", that is, it preserves feudal relations and the agrarian character of culture.
The “Philosophical Letters” by P. Ya. Chaadaev served as the reason for highlighting the directions. He believed that all the troubles of Russia were derived from the qualities of the Russian people, which, allegedly, are characterized by: mental and spiritual backwardness, underdevelopment of ideas about duty, justice, law, order, and the absence of an original “idea”. As the philosopher believed, "the history of Russia is a" negative lesson "to the world." A. S. Pushkin gave him a sharp rebuke, saying: “I would not want to change the Fatherland for anything in the world or have a different history than the history of our ancestors, such as God gave it to us.”
Russian society was divided into "Slavophiles" and "Westerners". The “Westerners” included V. G. Belinsky, A. I. Herzen, N. V. Stankevich, M. A. Bakunin, and others. The “Slavophiles” were represented by A. S. Khomyakov, K. S. Samarin.
The "Westerners" were characterized by a certain set of ideas, which they defended in disputes. This ideological complex included: the denial of the identity of the culture of any people; criticism of the cultural backwardness of Russia; admiration for the culture of the West, its idealization; recognition of the need for modernization, "modernization" of Russian culture, as a borrowing of Western European values. The Westerners considered the ideal of a European to be a businesslike, pragmatic, emotionally restrained, rational being, distinguished by “healthy egoism”. Characteristic of the "Westerners" was also a religious orientation towards Catholicism and ecumenism (a fusion of Catholicism with Orthodoxy), as well as cosmopolitanism. According to their political sympathies, the "Westerners" were Republicans, they were characterized by anti-monarchist sentiments.
In fact, the "Westerners" were supporters of industrial culture - the development of industry, natural science, technology, but within the framework of capitalist, private property relations.
They were opposed by the "Slavophiles", distinguished by their complex of stereotypes. They were characterized by a critical attitude towards the culture of Europe; its rejection as inhumane, immoral, unspiritual; absolutization in it features of decline, decadence, decay. On the other hand, they were distinguished by nationalism and patriotism, admiration for the culture of Russia, absolutization of its uniqueness, originality, glorification of the historical past. "Slavophiles" associated their expectations with the peasant community, considering it as the guardian of everything "holy" in culture. Orthodoxy was considered the spiritual core of culture, which was also considered uncritically, its role in the spiritual life of Russia was exaggerated. Accordingly, anti-Catholicism and a negative attitude towards ecumenism were asserted. The Slavophiles were distinguished by a monarchist orientation, admiration for the figure of the peasant - the owner, "master", and a negative attitude towards the workers as a "ulcer of society", a product of the decomposition of its culture.
Thus, the "Slavophiles", in fact, defended the ideals of an agrarian culture and occupied a protective, conservative position.
The confrontation between "Westerners" and "Slavophiles" reflected the growing contradiction between agrarian and industrial cultures, between two forms of ownership - feudal and bourgeois, between two classes - the nobility and capitalists. But the contradictions within capitalist relations, between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, were also implicitly aggravated. The revolutionary, proletarian direction in culture stands out as an independent one and, in fact, will determine the development of Russian culture in the 20th century.

Education and enlightenment

In 1897 the All-Russian population census was carried out. According to the census, in Russia the average literacy rate was 21.1%: for men - 29.3%, for women - 13.1%, about 1% of the population had higher and secondary education. AT high school, in relation to the entire literate population, only 4% studied. At the turn of the century, the education system still included three stages: primary (parochial schools, public schools), secondary (classical gymnasiums, real and commercial schools) and higher education (universities, institutes).
In 1905, the Ministry of Public Education submitted a draft law "On the introduction of universal primary education in the Russian Empire" for consideration by the II State Duma, but this draft never received the force of law. But the growing need for specialists contributed to the development of higher, especially technical, education. In 1912, there were 16 higher technical educational institutions in Russia, in addition to private higher educational institutions. The university admitted persons of both sexes, regardless of nationality and political views. Therefore, the number of students increased markedly - from 14,000 in the mid-1990s to 35,300 in 1907. Higher education for women also received further development, and in 1911 the right of women to higher education was legally recognized.
Simultaneously with Sunday schools, new types of cultural and educational institutions for adults began to operate - work courses, educational workers' societies and people's houses - original clubs with a library, an assembly hall, a tea shop and a trading shop.
Education has been greatly influenced by the development periodicals and book publishing. In the 1860s, 7 daily newspapers were published and about 300 printing houses were operating. In the 1890s - 100 newspapers and about 1000 printing houses. And in 1913, 1263 newspapers and magazines were already published, and in the cities there were approximately 2 thousand bookstores.
In terms of the number of published books, Russia ranked third in the world after Germany and Japan. In 1913, 106.8 million copies of books were published in Russian alone. The largest book publishers A.S. Suvorin in St. Petersburg and I.D. Sytin in Moscow contributed to the familiarization of the people with literature, releasing books at affordable prices: Suvorin's "cheap library" and Sytin's "library for self-education".
The educational process was intense and successful, and the number of the reading public increased rapidly. This is evidenced by the fact that at the end of the XIX century. there were about 500 public libraries and about 3 thousand zemstvo folk reading rooms, and already in 1914 in Russia there were about 76 thousand different public libraries.
An equally important role in the development of culture was played by "illusion" - cinema, which appeared in St. Petersburg literally a year after its invention in France. By 1914 in Russia there were already 4,000 cinemas, which showed not only foreign, but also domestic films. The need for them was so great that between 1908 and 1917 more than two thousand new feature films were made. In 1911-1913. V.A. Starevich created the world's first three-dimensional animations.

The science

The 19th century brings significant success in the development of domestic science: it claims to be equal to Western European science, and sometimes even to be superior. It is impossible not to mention a number of works by Russian scientists that led to world-class achievements. D. I. Mendeleev in 1869 discovers the periodic system of chemical elements. A. G. Stoletov in 1888-1889 establishes the laws of the photoelectric effect. In 1863, the work of I. M. Sechenov "Reflexes of the brain" was published. K. A. Timiryazev founded the Russian school of plant physiology. P. N. Yablochkov creates an arc light bulb, A. N. Lodygin - an incandescent light bulb. AS Popov invents the radiotelegraph. A.F. Mozhaisky and N.E. Zhukovsky laid the foundations of aviation with their research in the field of aerodynamics, and K.E. Tsiolkovsky is known as the founder of astronautics. P.N. Lebedev is the founder of research in the field of ultrasound. II Mechnikov explores the field of comparative pathology, microbiology and immunology. The foundations of the new sciences - biochemistry, biogeochemistry, radiogeology - were laid by V.I. Vernadsky. And it's far from full list people who have made an invaluable contribution to the development of science and technology. The significance of scientific foresight and a number of fundamental scientific problems posed by scientists at the beginning of the century is only now becoming clear.
The humanities were greatly influenced by the processes taking place in the natural sciences. Scientists in the humanities, like V.O. Klyuchevsky, S.F. Platonov, S.A. Vengerov and others, fruitfully worked in the field of economics, history, and literary criticism. Idealism has become widespread in philosophy. Russian religious philosophy, with its search for ways to combine the material and spiritual, the assertion of a "new" religious consciousness, was perhaps the most important area not only of science, ideological struggle, but of the whole culture.
The foundations of the religious and philosophical Renaissance, which marked the "Silver Age" of Russian culture, were laid by V.S. Solovyov. His system is an experience of the synthesis of religion, philosophy and science, “moreover, it is not the Christian doctrine that is enriched by him at the expense of philosophy, but, on the contrary, he introduces Christian ideas into philosophy and enriches and fertilizes philosophical thought with them” (V. V. Zenkovsky). Possessing a brilliant literary talent, he made philosophical problems accessible to wide circles of Russian society, moreover, he brought Russian thought to the universal spaces.
This period, marked by a whole constellation of brilliant thinkers - N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, D.S. Merezhkovsky, G.P. Fedotov, P.A. Florensky and others - largely determined the direction of development of culture, philosophy, ethics, not only in Russia, but also in the West.

spiritual quest

During the "Silver Age" people are looking for new grounds for their spiritual and religious life. All sorts of mystical teachings are very common. The new mysticism eagerly sought its roots in the old, in the mysticism of the Alexander era. As well as a hundred years earlier, the teachings of Freemasonry, flocks, the Russian schism and other mystics became popular. Many creative people of that time took part in mystical rites, although not all of them fully believed in their content. V. Bryusov, Andrei Bely, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, N. Berdyaev and many others were fond of magical experiments.
Theurgy occupied a special place among the mystical rites that spread at the beginning of the 20th century. Theurgy was conceived “as a one-time mystical act, which should be prepared by the spiritual efforts of individuals, but, having taken place, irreversibly changes human nature as such” (A. Etkind). The subject of the dream was the real transformation of each person and the whole society as a whole. In a narrow sense, the tasks of theurgy were almost understood in the same way as the tasks of therapy. We also find the idea of ​​the need to create a "new man" in such revolutionary figures as Lunacharsky and Bukharin. A parody of theurgy is presented in the works of Bulgakov.
The Silver Age is a time of opposition. The main opposition of this period is the opposition of nature and culture. Vladimir Solovyov, a philosopher who had a great influence on the formation of the ideas of the Silver Age, believed that the victory of culture over nature would lead to immortality, since "death is a clear victory of meaninglessness over meaning, chaos over space." In the end, theurgy also had to lead to victory over death.
In addition, the problems of death and love were closely connected. “Love and death become the main and almost the only forms of human existence, the main means of understanding it,” Solovyov believed. The understanding of love and death brings together the Russian culture of the "Silver Age" and psychoanalysis. Freud recognizes the main internal forces that affect a person - libido and thanatos, respectively, sexuality and the desire for death.
Berdyaev, considering the problem of gender and creativity, believes that a new natural order must come, in which creativity will win - "the sex that gives birth will be transformed into the sex that creates."
Many people sought to break out of everyday life, in search of a different reality. They chased after emotions, all experiences were considered good, regardless of their sequence and expediency. The lives of creative people were rich and filled with experiences. However, the consequence of this accumulation of experiences often turned out to be the deepest emptiness. Therefore, the fate of many people of the "Silver Age" is tragic. And yet, this difficult time of spiritual wandering gave rise to a beautiful and original culture.

Literature

Realistic trend in Russian literature at the turn of the 20th century. continued L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, who created his best works, the theme of which was the ideological search of the intelligentsia and the "little" man with his daily worries, and young writers I.A. Bunin and A.I. Kuprin.
In connection with the spread of neo-romanticism, new artistic qualities appeared in realism, reflecting reality. The best realistic works of A.M. Gorky reflected a broad picture of Russian life at the turn of the 20th century with its inherent originality. economic development and ideological and social struggle.
At the end of the 19th century, when, in an atmosphere of political reaction and the crisis of populism, part of the intelligentsia was seized by moods of social and moral decline, decadence became widespread in artistic culture, a phenomenon in the culture of the 19th-20th centuries, marked by the rejection of citizenship, immersion in the sphere of individual experiences. Many motifs of this trend became the property of a number of artistic movements of modernism that arose at the turn of the 20th century.
Russian literature of the early 20th century gave rise to remarkable poetry, and the most significant trend was symbolism. For symbolists who believed in the existence of another world, the symbol was his sign, and represented the connection between the two worlds. One of the ideologists of symbolism D.S. Merezhkovsky, whose novels are permeated with religious and mystical ideas, considered the predominance of realism main reason the decline of literature, and proclaimed "symbols", "mystical content" as the basis of the new art. Along with the requirements of "pure" art, the Symbolists professed individualism, they are characterized by the theme of "elemental genius", close in spirit to Nietzsche's "superman".
It is customary to distinguish between "senior" and "junior" symbolists. "The Elders", V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, F. Sologub, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, who came to literature in the 90s, a period of deep crisis in poetry, preached the cult of beauty and free self-expression of the poet. "Younger" symbolists, A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov, S. Solovyov, put forward philosophical and theosophical quests.
The symbolists offered the reader a colorful myth about a world created according to the laws of eternal beauty. If we add to this exquisite imagery, musicality and lightness of style, the steady popularity of poetry in this direction becomes understandable. The influence of symbolism with its intense spiritual quest, captivating artistry of a creative manner was experienced not only by the acmeists and futurists who replaced the symbolists, but also by the realist writer A.P. Chekhov.
By 1910, "symbolism had completed its circle of development" (N. Gumilyov), it was replaced by acmeism. The members of the group of acmeists were N. Gumilyov, S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, V. Narbut, M. Kuzmin. They declared the liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the “ideal”, the return to it of clarity, materiality and “joyful admiration of being” (N. Gumilyov). Acmeism is characterized by a rejection of moral and spiritual quests, a penchant for aestheticism. A. Blok, with his inherent heightened sense of citizenship, noted the main drawback of acmeism: "... they do not have and do not want to have a shadow of an idea about Russian life and the life of the world in general." However, the acmeists did not put all their postulates into practice, this is evidenced by the psychologism of the first collections of A. Akhmatova, the lyricism of the early 0. Mandelstam. In essence, the acmeists were not so much an organized movement with a common theoretical platform, but a group of talented and very different poets who were united by personal friendship.
At the same time, another modernist trend arose - futurism, which broke up into several groups: "Association of Ego-Futurists", "Mezzanine of Poetry", "Centrifuge", "Gilea", whose members called themselves Cubo-Futurists, Budutlyans, i.e. people from the future.
Of all the groups that at the beginning of the century proclaimed the thesis: “art is a game”, the Futurists most consistently embodied it in their work. In contrast to the symbolists with their idea of ​​"life-building", i.e. transforming the world with art, the Futurists emphasized the destruction of the old world. Common to the futurists was the denial of traditions in culture, the passion for form creation. The demand of the Cubo-Futurists in 1912 to "throw Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy from the steamboat of modern times" became notorious.
The groupings of acmeists and futurists that arose in polemics with symbolism turned out to be very close to him in practice in that their theories were based on an individualistic idea, and the desire to create vivid myths, and predominant attention to form.
There were bright individualities in the poetry of that time that cannot be attributed to a certain trend - M. Voloshin, M. Tsvetaeva. No other era has given such an abundance of declarations of its own exclusivity.
A special place in the literature of the turn of the century was occupied by peasant poets, like N. Klyuev. Without putting forward a clear aesthetic program, they embodied their ideas (the combination of religious and mystical motives with the problem of protecting the traditions of peasant culture) in their work. “Klyuev is popular because he combines the iambic spirit of Boratynsky with the prophetic tune of an illiterate Olonets storyteller” (Mandelstam). With peasant poets, especially with Klyuev, S. Yesenin was close at the beginning of his journey, combining in his work the traditions of folklore and classical art.

Theater and music

The most important event in the social and cultural life of Russia at the end of the XIX century. was the opening of an art theater in Moscow in 1898, founded by K. S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. In staging plays by Chekhov and Gorky, new principles of acting, directing, and design of performances were formed. An outstanding theatrical experiment, enthusiastically received by the democratic public, was not accepted by conservative criticism, as well as representatives of symbolism. V. Bryusov, a supporter of the aesthetics of a conventional symbolic theater, was closer to the experiments of V.E. Meyerhold, the founder of the metaphorical theater.
In 1904, the theater of V.F. Komissarzhevskaya, whose repertoire reflected the aspirations of the democratic intelligentsia. Director's work of E.B. Vakhtangov is marked by the search for new forms, his productions of 1911-12. are joyful and entertaining. In 1915, Vakhtangov created the 3rd studio of the Moscow Art Theater, which later became the theater named after him (1926). One of the reformers of the Russian theater, the founder of the Moscow Chamber Theater A.Ya. Tairov strove to create a "synthetic theater" with a predominantly romantic and tragic repertoire, to form actors of virtuoso skill.
The development of the best traditions of the musical theater is associated with the St. Petersburg Mariinsky and Moscow Bolshoi Theaters, as well as with the private opera of S. I. Mamontov and S. I. Zimin in Moscow. The most prominent representatives of the Russian vocal school, world-class singers were F.I. Chaliapin, L.V. Sobinov, N.V. Nezhdanov. Ballet theater reformers were choreographer M.M. Fokin and ballerina A.P. Pavlova. Russian art received worldwide recognition.
Outstanding composer N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov continued to work in his favorite genre of fairy-tale opera. The highest example of realistic drama was his opera The Tsar's Bride (1898). He, being a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the composition class, brought up a whole galaxy of talented students: A.K. Glazunov, A.K. Lyadov, N.Ya. Myaskovsky and others.
In the work of composers of the younger generation at the turn of the 20th century. there was a departure from social issues, increased interest in philosophical and ethical problems. This found its fullest expression in the work of the brilliant pianist and conductor, the outstanding composer S. V. Rachmaninoff; in the emotionally intense, with sharp features of modernism, the music of A.N. Scriabin; in the works of I.F. Stravinsky, which harmoniously combined interest in folklore and the most modern musical forms.

Architecture

The era of industrial progress at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. revolutionized the construction industry. Buildings of a new type, such as banks, shops, factories, railway stations, occupied an increasing place in the urban landscape. The emergence of new building materials (reinforced concrete, metal structures) and the improvement of construction equipment made it possible to use constructive and artistic techniques, the aesthetic understanding of which led to the approval of the Art Nouveau style!
In the work of F.O. Shekhtel, the main development trends and genres of Russian modernity were embodied to the greatest extent. The formation of style in the work of the master went in two directions - national-romantic, in line with the neo-Russian style and rational. The features of Art Nouveau are most fully manifested in the architecture of the Nikitsky Gate mansion, where, abandoning traditional schemes, an asymmetric planning principle is applied. The stepped composition, the free development of volumes in space, the asymmetric protrusions of bay windows, balconies and porches, the emphatically protruding cornice - all this demonstrates the principle of assimilation of an architectural structure to an organic form inherent in Art Nouveau. In the decoration of the mansion, such typical Art Nouveau techniques as colored stained-glass windows and a mosaic frieze with floral ornament encircling the entire building were used. The whimsical twists of the ornament are repeated in the interweaving of stained-glass windows, in the pattern of balcony bars and street fences. The same motif is used in interior decoration, for example, in the form of marble staircase railings. The furniture and decorative details of the interiors of the building form a single whole with the general idea of ​​the building - to turn the living environment into a kind of architectural performance, close to the atmosphere of symbolic plays.
With the growth of rationalistic tendencies in a number of Shekhtel's buildings, features of constructivism were outlined - a style that would take shape in the 1920s.
In Moscow, the new style expressed itself especially brightly, in particular in the work of one of the founders of Russian Art Nouveau, L.N. Kekusheva A.V. Shchusev, V.M. Vasnetsov and others. In St. Petersburg, Art Nouveau was influenced by monumental classicism, as a result of which another style appeared - neoclassicism.
In terms of the integrity of the approach and the ensemble solution of architecture, sculpture, painting, decorative arts, modern is one of the most consistent styles.

Sculpture

Like architecture, sculpture at the turn of the century was freed from eclecticism. The renewal of the artistic and figurative system is associated with the influence of impressionism. The features of the new method are “looseness”, unevenness of texture, dynamism of forms, permeated with air and light.
The very first consistent representative of this direction P.P. Trubetskoy, abandons the impressionistic modeling of the surface, and enhances the overall impression of oppressive brute force.
In its own way, monumental pathos is alien to the wonderful monument to Gogol in Moscow by sculptor N.A. Andreev, who subtly conveys the tragedy of the great writer, the "fatigue of the heart", so consonant with the era. Gogol is captured in a moment of concentration, deep reflection with a touch of melancholy gloom.
The original interpretation of impressionism is inherent in the work of A.S. Golubkina, who reworked the principle of depicting phenomena in motion into the idea of ​​awakening the human spirit. Women's images, created by the sculptor, are marked by a sense of compassion for people who are tired, but not broken by life's trials.

Painting

At the turn of the century, instead of the realistic method of directly reflecting reality in the forms of this reality, there was an assertion of the priority of artistic forms that reflect reality only indirectly. The polarization of artistic forces at the beginning of the 20th century, the controversy of multiple artistic groups intensified exhibition and publishing (in the field of art) activities.
Genre painting lost its leading role in the 1990s. Artists in search of new themes turned to changes in the traditional way of life. They were equally attracted by the theme of the split of the peasant community, the prose of stupefying labor, and the revolutionary events of 1905. The blurring of boundaries between genres at the turn of the century in the historical theme led to the emergence of the historical genre. A.P. Ryabushkin was not interested in global historical events, but in the aesthetics of Russian life in the 17th century, the refined beauty of ancient Russian patterning, and emphasized decorativeness. Penetrating lyricism, a deep understanding of the originality of the way of life, characters and psychology of the people of pre-Petrine Russia marked the best canvases of the artist. Historical painting by Ryabushkin is a country of ideal, where the artist found rest from the "lead abominations" of modern life. Therefore, the historical life on his canvases appears not as a dramatic, but as an aesthetic side.
In the historical canvases of A. V. Vasnetsov we find the development of the landscape principle. Creativity M.V. Nesterov was a variant of a retrospective landscape, through which the high spirituality of the characters was conveyed.
I.I. Levitan, who brilliantly mastered the effects of plein air painting, continuing the lyrical direction in the landscape, approached impressionism and was the creator of the “conceptual landscape” or “mood landscape”, which has a rich range of experiences: from joyful elation to philosophical reflections on the frailty of everything earthly.
K.A. Korovin is the brightest representative of Russian impressionism, the first among Russian artists who consciously relied on the French impressionists, more and more departed from the traditions of the Moscow school of painting with its psychologism and even drama, trying to convey this or that state of mind with music of color. He created a series of landscapes, uncomplicated by either external plot-narrative or psychological motifs. In the 1910s, under the influence of theatrical practice, Korovin came to a bright, intense manner of painting, especially in his favorite still lifes. With all his art, the artist affirmed the inherent value of purely pictorial tasks, he forced to appreciate the “charm of incompleteness”, the “etude” of the pictorial manner. Korovin's canvases are a "feast for the eyes".
The central figure in the art of the turn of the century is V.A. Serov. His mature works, with impressionistic luminosity and dynamics of a free stroke, marked a turn from the critical realism of the Wanderers to "poetic realism" (D.V. Sarabyanov). The artist worked in different genres, but his talent as a portrait painter, endowed with a heightened sense of beauty and the ability for sober analysis, is especially significant. The search for the laws of artistic transformation of reality, the desire for symbolic generalizations led to a change in the artistic language: from the impressionistic authenticity of paintings of the 80s and 90s to the conventions of modernity in historical compositions.
One after another, two masters of pictorial symbolism entered Russian culture, creating an exalted world in their works - M.A. Vrubel and V.E. Borisov-Musatov. The central image of Vrubel's work is the Demon, who embodied the rebellious impulse that the artist himself experienced and felt in his best contemporaries. The art of the artist is characterized by the desire to pose philosophical problems. His reflections on truth and beauty, on the lofty purpose of art, are sharp and dramatic, in their characteristic symbolic form. Gravitating towards the symbolic and philosophical generalization of images, Vrubel developed his own pictorial language - a broad stroke of "crystal" form and color, understood as colored light. Paints, sparkling like gems, enhance the feeling of a special spirituality inherent in the works of the artist.
The art of the lyricist and dreamer Borisov-Musatov is a reality turned into a poetic symbol. Like Vrubel, Borisov-Musatov created in his canvases a beautiful and sublime world, built according to the laws of beauty and so unlike the surrounding one. The art of Borisov-Musatov is imbued with sad reflection and quiet sorrow with the feelings that many people of that time experienced, “when society was thirsting for renewal, and very many did not know where to look for it.” His style developed from impressionistic light and air effects to a pictorial and decorative version of post-impressionism. In Russian artistic culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. the work of Borisov-Musatov is one of the most striking and large-scale phenomena.
The theme, far from modernity, "dreamy retrospectivism" is the main association of St. Petersburg artists "World of Art". Rejecting the academic-salon art and the tendentiousness of the Wanderers, relying on the poetics of symbolism, the "World of Art" searched for artistic image in the past. For such a frank rejection of modern reality, the "World of Art" was criticized from all sides, accused of fleeing into the past - passeism, decadence, anti-democratism. However, the emergence of such an artistic movement was no accident. The World of Art was a kind of response of the Russian creative intelligentsia to the general politicization of culture at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. and excessive publicity of the fine arts.
Creativity N.K. Roerich is drawn to pagan Slavic and Scandinavian antiquity. The basis of his painting has always been a landscape, often directly natural. The features of Roerich's landscape are connected both with the assimilation of the experience of the Art Nouveau style - the use of elements of a parallel perspective to combine in one composition various objects that are understood as pictorially equivalent, and with a passion for the culture of ancient India - the opposition of earth and sky, understood by the artist as a source of spirituality.
B.M. Kustodiev, the most gifted author of the ironic stylization of the popular popular print, Z.E. Serebryakova, who professed the aesthetics of neoclassicism.
The merit of the "World of Art" was the creation of highly artistic book graphics, prints, new criticism, extensive publishing and exhibition activities.
Moscow participants of the exhibitions, opposing the Westernism of the "World of Art" with national themes, and graphic stylism with an appeal to the open air, established the exhibition association "Union of Russian Artists". In the bowels of the Soyuz, a Russian version of impressionism and an original synthesis of the everyday genre with the architectural landscape developed.
The artists of the Jack of Diamonds association (1910-1916), having turned to the aesthetics of post-impressionism, fauvism and cubism, as well as to the techniques of Russian popular print and folk toys, solved the problems of revealing the materiality of nature, constructing a form with color. The initial principle of their art was the assertion of the subject as opposed to spatiality. In this regard, the image of inanimate nature - still life - was put forward in the first place. The materialized, "still life" beginning was also introduced into the traditional psychological genre - the portrait.
"Lyrical Cubism" R.R. Falka was distinguished by a peculiar psychologism, subtle color-plastic harmony. The school of skill, passed at the school with such outstanding artists and teachers as V.A. Serov and K.A. Korovin, in combination with the pictorial and plastic experiments of the leaders of the "Jack of Diamonds" I.I. Mashkov, M.F. Larionova, A.V. Lentulov determined the origins of Falk's original artistic style, a vivid embodiment of which is the famous "Red Furniture".
Since the mid-10s, futurism has become an important component of the visual style of the Jack of Diamonds, one of the techniques of which was the “montage” of objects or their parts taken from different points and at different times.
The primitivist trend associated with the assimilation of the style of children's drawings, signs, popular prints and folk toys manifested itself in the work of M.F. Larionov, one of the organizers of the Jack of Diamonds. Both folk naive art and Western expressionism are close to the fantastically irrational canvases of M.Z. Chagall. The combination of fantastic flights and miraculous signs with everyday details of provincial life on Chagall's canvases is akin to Gogol's stories. The unique work of P.N. Filonov.
The first experiments of Russian artists in abstract art date back to the 10s of the last century; V.V. Kandinsky and K.S. Malevich. At the same time, the work of K.S. Petrov-Vodkin, who declared a continuity with ancient Russian icon painting, testified to the vitality of the tradition. The extraordinary diversity and inconsistency of artistic pursuits, numerous groupings with their own program settings reflected the tense socio-political and complex spiritual atmosphere of their time.

Conclusion

The "Silver Age" was precisely the milestone that predicted future changes in the state and became a thing of the past with the advent of the blood-red 1917, which unrecognizably changed people's souls. And no matter how today they wanted to assure us of the opposite, it all ended after 1917, with the beginning civil war. There was no "Silver Age" after that. In the twenties, inertia (the heyday of imagism) continued, for such a wide and powerful wave as the Russian “Silver Age” was, could not move for some time before collapsing and breaking. If most of the poets, writers, critics, philosophers, artists, directors, composers were alive, whose individual creativity and common work created the Silver Age, but the era itself ended. Each of its active participants was aware that, although people remained, the characteristic atmosphere of the era, in which talents grew like mushrooms after rain, came to naught. There was a cold lunar landscape without atmosphere and creative individualities - each in a separately closed cell of his creativity.
An attempt to "modernize" culture, associated with the reform of P. A. Stolypin, was unsuccessful. Its results were smaller than expected and gave rise to new controversy. The increase in tension in society was faster than the answers to emerging conflicts were found. Contradictions between agrarian and industrial cultures were aggravated, which was expressed in the contradictions of economic forms, interests and motives of people's creativity, in the political life of society.
Deep social transformations were required in order to provide scope for the cultural creativity of the people, significant investments in the development of the spiritual sphere of society, its technical base, for which the government did not have enough funds. Patronage, private support and financing of significant public and cultural events did not save either. Nothing could fundamentally change the cultural face of the country. The country fell into a period of unstable development and found no other way out than a social revolution.
The canvas of the "Silver Age" turned out to be bright, complex, contradictory, but immortal and unique. It was a creative space full of sunshine, bright and life-giving, longing for beauty and self-affirmation. It reflected the existing reality. And although we call this time the “silver” and not the “golden age”, perhaps it was the most creative era in Russian history.

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