The concept of historical memory in the Russian graphics of the 21st century: methods of interpreting the heritage of the past
Authors:   federal state budget educational institution of higher education «Saint Petersburg State University of Culture», Arutyunyan Julia I. 
Published: January 2025

Historical memory in modern art can be embodied based on a complex system of creative approaches to the interpretation of the past. The principles of stylization of the epochs of historicism and eclecticism and postmodern citation rework the aesthetics and ideological foundations of the art of the past, subordinating the very understanding of history to modern, often anachronistic adaptation. In the art of the XXI century, the method of mastering the artistic heritage of past eras is preserved based on interpretation of styles and creative rethinking of historical realities. Aestheticization of the past, retrospectivism, passeism, which formed the aesthetics of the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, and postmodern irony give way to methods of working with the history of metamodernism, which are based on a system of polysemantic codes interpreting the past at different semantic levels. In modern art, reference to historical facts (real or imaginary) and the phenomenon of memory are often used as an artistic device, the principle of recreating history through artifacts and the use of objects of the past as markers of an era and region is mastered, including imitation of a "historical" artifact as an actual present and a playful aspect of experiencing historical realities, the past acts as a metaphor, allegory, a recognizable image. In the art of the second half of the ХХ century images of memory became one of the leading themes. The interpretation of the theme of the past and the historical concept dramatizing memory as a trauma transform images associated with the actualization of memory into a complex of identifying paradigms reproducing the system of awareness of national heritage. In modern art the understanding of the theme of individual and universal memory takes on various forms: the interpretation of the personal past in connection with global problems, remembrance that became dialogical traumatic past based on history, an appeal to past in the sense of awareness of loss, the embodiment of myth through the prism of archaic thinking, interpretation of historical objects and imitation of the authentic past by modern artists. The Library of Book Graphics in St. Petersburg in the XXI century has become an art-space for creative projects and exhibitions related to the study and representation of personal memory and historical heritage. "Columbarium" by P. Shvetsov (2004) presented at the geological exploration museum appeals to the theme of loss and environmental issues, images of disappeared animals correlate with primitive rock carvings, scientific illustration and memorial motifs in art. "Eindruck" (Impression) by A. Morozov (2009) – processing of ancient photographs, the lost images of which, with blurred contours and spots, organically fit into the rhythmic structure of the silk-screen printing sheets, imitating the natural texture of raw rough stone. "Letters of the Condemned" by A. Morozov (2010) is an acute dramatic attempt to actualize historical memory based on a polysemantic system of mythological thinking combining images of Ancient Egypt, Greco-Roman and Slavic mythology. Images of memory, the past, and history become the leitmotif of artistic practices in contemporary art.