THE DIALECTIC OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE PORTRAYED IN ARTISTIC IMAGERY IN THE PAINTINGS OF V.M. VASNETSOV “ALYONUSHKA”
Authors:   Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafyev (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation), Dmitrieva Natalya Y. , Malyutina Tatyana V. ,   Municipal Budget Institution of Additional Education of Krasnoyarsk “Children's school of arts № 6” (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation)
Published: September 2021

The purpose of the research is a philosophical and art criticism analysis of V.M. Vasnetsov’s work “Alyonushka” in 1881, aimed at identifying its ideological essence. The methodological and theoretical foundations of the research are: the conceptual provisions of the theory of reflection By G.V.F. Gelel, the structuralist method in art studies, in particular, the semiotic approach that justifies the idea of a holistic consideration of the form and content (phenomenon and essence) of a work of art, the principle of classification of signs by C.S. Peirce. Research problem. To present the work of V.M. Vasnetsov “Alyonushka” as a complex multi – level structure of the dialectical unity of the essence (meaning) and the phenomenon (sign) – a logogram, where the logos is the cause, the creative principle that binds and holds together the essence (meaning) of the work and its sign phenomenon. In the process of creative relationship (dialogue) between the work and the viewer in the space of an artistic image, reveal the content of the three levels of the logogram of the work. Vasnetsov’s “Alyonushka”: an index level consisting of elementary cells-figures filled with paint of a certain color, an iconic level that collects index elements into a visual “image-icon”, and finally, a symbolic level that keeps the content of the index and icon statuses in the removed quality and is crystallized in the compositional formula of the work. To reflect on the meaning of the symbolism of the compositional formula of the logogram of V.M. Vasnetsov’s painting “Alyonushka” as a special kind of communication between the viewer and the work. A consistent study of the content of the index, iconic and symbolic levels of the logogram of the artistic image of V.M. Vasnetsov's painting “Alyonushka” of 1881 presents the following conclusions. The analysis of the index status of the logogram of the work revealed a complex horizontal “score” of the canvas in an even metric alternation of four layers. The image of water, earth, forest and sky in the picture in the form of wide horizontal monumental tiers embodies the universality, stability and fundamental laws of the infinite transcendent universe. The analysis of the iconic status of the logogram of the work reveals the image of a solitary, prayerful process of contemplation by the heroine of a pantheistically presented image of nature. The analysis of the symbolic level of the logogram of the painting reveals the main compositional formulas of the work as a concentrated expression of the essence of an integral artistic image. The study of the symbolism of the compositional formulas of the artistic image allows one to formulate the essence of the work of art V.M. Vasnetsov, expressed in the contemplative dialectic of the emanative movement from the infinite transcendental to the human finite and immanent movement from the finite human to the infinite absolute, represented as the ratio of the teenage girl and the surrounding pantheistic image of nature.