16 5 The concept of the progress of art

Aesthetic analysis of the history of artistic development in the richness and contradictory nature of its tendencies actualizes the problem of progress in art. On the one hand, the spirituality of feelings has increased in the development of history, objectifying in increasingly perfect, individually unique forms of manifestation in the artistic language of art, which testifies to the progress of art. At the same time, since each time in each truly artistic work the idea realizes itself in the perfection of the methods of its embodiment, the criterion of "better - worse" appears inappropriate, and therefore the concept of "progress" seems somewhat conditional. After all, each historical epoch embodies the idea of ​​its vitality in its own unique, inherent methods of artistic existence. Each time this perfect image, inherent to it, personifies the expedient idea of ​​vitality. However, if we take into account the increased richness of artistic language, the diversity of types and genre forms - the progress of art is unconditional. Progress is also manifested in the deepening of the psychologism of artistic creativity, conditioned by the development of the general and individual principles in the sense of the spiritual experience of mankind. It is enough to compare the epic as an earlier classical form of literature and literary forms - drama, poetry, prose. The epic reflects the idea of ​​the spiritual self-awareness of the ethnos, while literary forms - individualization of the relationship, objectified in an individually defined sense of imagery. It is in ancient art that the individual and the universal are harmoniously combined. Various types of artistry are formed: "typical" in feelings (Dionysian) and individually unique (Apollonian) principles. The connection between the individual and the universal can be traced within a specific image, containing a wealth of aesthetic qualities. Thus Apollo, personifying opposite qualities, in his manifestations unfolds them in the direction of reducing spontaneity and deepening order. His image is associated with the beginning of the creation of an aesthetic form (organization). He is recognized as the god of light and cultural life. So, if we compare the first stage, syncretic artistry and the art of the Great Styles, the progress can be traced especially clearly. The next stage is the formation of the stylistic integrity of the figurative language in individual creativity. This is a period characteristic of artistic creativity, beginning with the Renaissance. At the same time, the artist is called upon to "collect" a huge variety of manifestations of the world's vitality in the richness of its tendencies, uniting the constant and the variable, the accidental and the regular, into an essentially certain integrity as the unity of the generic and the individual and through the individual to unfold the wealth of the universal, generic principles of life. This integrity is not given as unambiguous and defined in its qualities, but is revealed as a consequence of its creation in artistic activity. Therefore, art overcomes the next stage of the ascending movement - embodying the enormous wealth of nuances of experience in the uniqueness of the perfect being of the spirit in the perfect imagery of artistic forms. At the same time, the question of the progress of art remains relevant in the context of the problems of its exhaustion, characteristic in particular for the post-modern type of creativity. Art is in a deep crisis, which, with certain interruptions, has been going on for almost a hundred years. Hegel predicted this situation in his time, explaining it by the fact that humanity moves from sensory forms of experience as less perfect to logical knowledge as a more perfect form. Despite the limitations of the system of forms of development of the human spirit proposed by the philosopher (the process is considered as a dialectical negation of the previous form of the next), within the limits of art it reveals a progressive movement in the direction of perfection of form and deepening of its content. Note that Hegel sees the direction of development of the human spirit in the direction of growth and deepening of the ability to comprehend the content of the universal in the form of concepts, that is, the transition from art to scientific knowledge. However, the question arises: is the human spirit satisfied with purely logical forms of universal existence, or in the pursuit of the fullness of vitality will it constantly turn to art in the wealth of sensory manifestations it offers, that is, will preserve itself artistically beautiful as a spiritual value. Analysis of the history of art and the patterns of its development testifies to societies moving in an ascending direction, contribute to the realization of the creative potential of the individual, including in the forms of art and, at certain stages of history, mainly in them. That is, this is the period when societies objectify the image of their vitality in subjects in the forms of beauty in art. At the same time, spiritual experience realizes itself precisely as realized beauty, that is, meaningful and embedded in perfect artistic forms.

Within the history of each people, there is a place for the unfolding of the spirit, when it roots itself in sensually perceived forms

in the natural (architecture, sculpture) and in the spiritual space of human vitality (music, poetry, painting, theatrical art). The process has certain stages of development: at the beginning it acts as the creation of the space of human life in the form of rooting in it with the help of material-sensory forms of being of imagery (architecture, sculpture). The next stage is the period of creation of spiritual space - the space of spiritual connections of the social whole in the forms of direct transmission of feelings for the creation of their spiritual coherence (music, poetry, theater, etc.). The universal and the individual in experience unfold into a consistent, coordinated unity. This is the optimal stage of creation of spiritual harmony in the forms of embodiment of its image in perfect works of art.

The destruction of this form of spiritual connections is conditioned by its exhaustion, certifying the exhaustion of this content of social experience, and consequently the ability to give birth to artistically perfect ways of its embodiment. History vividly demonstrates the process of such exhaustion in two main forms, which can be somewhat conditionally defined as: exhaustion-affirmation and exhaustion-warning. The first is the internal exhaustion of spiritual experience, which in its development has passed all stages and received completion in its logical form. These patterns are characteristic of ancient Greek culture. The spirit of the ancient Greek, having overcome the stage of wide embodiment in perfect artistic forms, entered the sphere of logical thinking and the existence of truth in concepts. However, as a consequence of the alienation of the spirit from the fullness of being, there appeared a competition of freedoms, the growth of which in subjects entailed the death of the ancient Greek civilization. At the same time, the achievements of the culture of ancient Greek society, inherited by other peoples, became a source for the development of their cultural development (Ancient Rome, Byzantium, the Arab Caliphate, Western European culture of the Renaissance). The second form of exhaustion-warning is the experience of the culture of the ancient Roman civilization. Self-establishment of the spirit here took place in forms rooted in the space of physical vitality. Having declared its rights to it and having taken root in it, the spirit dissolved in the infinity of space (wars of conquest of Ancient Rome) and exhausted itself. Thus, culture passed only the first stage, having realized itself in alienated, crudely material forms. The spirit could not form into an ideal vitality as something valuable in itself, the purpose of which would be the creation of the fullness of the connections of the social whole. Culture did not create expressive artistic forms that would saturate the space of society, feeding the world of each subject of experience.

All types of expressive art in Rome had a compilation character, were borrowed from Ancient Greece and only transformed into a new reality, but did not become a source of the formation of the spiritual world of the individual, and did not cement society into spiritual integrity. Therefore, Rome was based on force and coercion.

European civilization is closer to the ancient Greek civilization in the model of its spiritual development, because it was able to realize itself in physical space by rooting the sensually perceived image of vitality in architecture, sculpture, painting, as well as in expressive forms of art (music, poetry, theater), capable of uniting the spirit of communities into a sensually defined whole. In the spiritual space created by art, European culture was formed into a certain integrity, because in feelings they discovered the kinship of the cultures of different European peoples. As a kind of internally related whole, they revealed themselves in the wealth of nuances of the manifestation of the image of beauty in architecture, sculpture, poetry, music, theater, etc. However, this stage of culture has already passed: it is necessary to state the exhaustion of this form. The civilizational stage of the history of Western Europe is dangerous because ancient civilizations at this stage achieved self-destruction. Postmodernism is a vivid testimony to the spiritual exhaustion of European civilization, because pseudo-culture, pseudo-art, as indicated above, negatively affects both the spiritual world of a specific human personality and social life as a whole. Exhaustion of the spirit, its emptiness - revealing the exhaustion of the civilizational type of experience. Concentration on the purely functional meaning of experience threatens the existence of humanity as a bearer of the spiritual foundations of life in its moral, aesthetic, intellectual certainty - Man Beautiful.

The formative direction of the spirit is the creation of an atmosphere of nourishment of the mind and feelings with the beauty of art. Artistic creativity, therefore, is an important sphere of social activity, carries out a spiritual and unifying function. However, the creation of such an atmosphere of social life in the forms of perfect integrity in itself is really possible only on another - non-alienated type of social relations.