The article actualizes the philosophical and culturological understanding of expert-analytical activity, considered as a special type of intellectual activity and a social technology in demand by society. The author defines the content of culturologist’s expert-analytical activity. It is represented not only as a multidisciplinary work of a universal specialist versed in many areas of cultural creativity, but also as a research work of a culturologist capable of reaching the level of broad theoretical generalizations. The author proposes a typology of expert-analytical activities of culturologists, which includes more than ten directions — from the examination of cultural values, legal expertise, evaluation of projects and programs to the humanitarian and linguoculturological expertise. There is identified a group of factors influencing the algorithm and the quality of the examination conducted by researchers. The article reveals the meaning of the context and characteristics of the socio-cultural situation in achieving the effectiveness of results. The author focuses on substantiating the goal-setting and the levels of expediency of invoking expert procedures and analytical work. There is raised the question of creating expert teams (cognitive communities) for the purpose of scientific analysis, discussion and ranking of socio-cultural issues for strategic decision-making as a process of choosing from potential alternatives. The article shows that the basis of the expert community’s communicative model includes not only the procedures for obtaining knowledge, methods of transmitting and exchanging information, but also the demonstration of meanings that set conceptual filters for discussion processes in order to obtain objective and full-fledged ideas about the object of expertise. In turn, the involvement in the reflection process provides a critical assessment and stimulates the experts to their own interpretation and decision-making. There is raised the question of the need for teaching critical thinking and professional training of expert culturologists.

The article explores the evolution of the architectural style and artistic and aesthetic features of the first Moscow power plants (Georgievskaya (1888), Raushskaya (1897) and Tramvainaya (1907)) during the period of active industrial development at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The article aims to identify trends in the pre-revolutionary industrial architecture of Moscow, as well as to supplement the history of architecture with new information about the architecture of power plants.

The main advantage of the article is a comprehensive art history research of the power plants’ architecture, undertaken for the first time. The author compares the Russian practice with the design experience in Europe and the USA and examines the issues of historical modernizations and modern reconstructions of objects. There are applied the methods of comparative and typological analysis, as well as the art criticism method of stylistic analysis. The article establishes that there was a gradual transition from the “brick” style to the functional design method in industrial architecture: new buildings were characterized by a reduction in decor, the use of metal trusses, an increase in the area of glazing and its use as an expressive component. The results of the research show that, by the example of the first Russian power plants’ architecture, it is possible to trace the formation of industrial practices in the country and analyze the prerequisites of the GOELRO Plan, subsequently developed by the avant-garde architects. Nowadays, the power plants, being significant architectural monuments, remain an important part of the urban infrastructure, often acquiring a new format of life after revitalization: Raushskaya is the oldest operating plant in Russia, and Georgievskaya and Tramvainaya continue their existence as cultural spaces. The study of the heritage of industrial architecture helps to determine the historical and cultural value of the buildings around us, which is necessary for their preservation.

This article is devoted to the allegorical still life of the Baroque era. There is carried out its analysis mainly on the material of the type “Vanitas Vanitatis”, which is a kind of peak of this genre. Using the theoretical constructions of W. Benjamin and G. Deleuze, the author analyzes the still life as a genre that has its own logic, topology, temporality, collapsing into a plot, and a very peculiar “syntax”. In addition, the article outlines the contours of the “life world” that makes this unique artistic phenomenon possible. The author considers still life as a kind of theater of things. The things depicted in it coexist in various ways, sometimes attracting each other, interlocking and forming constellations (eros), sometimes, on the contrary, lining up in opposition, the elements of which reject and simultaneously activate each other (agon), but never in the form of separate objects. An old still life should not only be viewed, but also read and solved. It is a complex text, the semantic unit of which is a thing filled with new conventional meanings. This is what makes it possible to talk about a still life as an allegory. The article reveals that allegory is not just one of the ways of signification, but is a tool of cognition that allows you to see something familiar and usual in the most unexpected perspective, expanding the scope of what is viewed in culture. This fully applies to the old still life, which manifests not only the finest nuances of the Baroque world with its emerging disturbing temporality, but also the mood of the there-being of Self from hope to melancholy. The specificity of this text lies in the representation of a still life in the perspective of philosophical anthropology, that is, from the point of view of its proportionality to a certain type of person. The result of the analysis carried out is the conclusion that the main condition for the possibility of an allegorical still life is the desolate, devoid of self-identity, but demanding existence and capable of becoming an event Self in a world that is rapidly losing its sacred and symbolic shells.

The relevance of the article is determined by the fact that drawings by Gustave Doré, one of Mstislav Dobuzhinsky’s favorite artists, reproduced in various publications, have never been the object of special research as artistic sources of this artist’s works.

The scientific novelty of this article lies in the fact that it is the first attempt to analyze the influence of Doré’s drawings on Dobuzhinsky’s works. The author applies a complex method that combines a source analysis of the artist’s memoirs and letters and a comparative formal analysis of his works with Doré’s works. The article compares the pictorial motifs in Dobuzhinsky’s drawings with similar motifs in Charles Dickens’ novels “The Old Curiosity Shop” and “Little Dorrit”. These works by Dickens, as well as the motifs that could have attracted Dobuzhinsky’s attention in them, were identified on the basis of an analysis of the artist’s letters. The article reveals that a significant influence on Dobuzhinsky’s works “Barbershop Window” (1906), “Vilna. Nocturnal Scene” (1910), “A Night in St. Petersburg” (1924) and the etching “Roofs” (1901) was rendered by Doré’s drawings “Whitechapel. A Hiding Place”, “Bluegate Fields in Shadwell” and “Over London — by Rail”, made for the book “London. A Pilgrimage” by W.B. Jerrold. The author also finds that Doré’s drawing “Inside the Docks” from this publication influenced Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva’s woodcut “Tackles” (1917). The article identifies the books with illustrations by Gustave Doré, based on which Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Alexandre Benois became acquainted with this artist’s work.

The article discusses graphic cycles of Russian artists based on the works of the Belgian writer, playwright and philosopher Maurice Maeterlinck. This author’s enormous influence on the Russian culture of the Silver Age, alas, did not find an adequate and full-fledged embodiment in book graphics; however, it was reflected in several significant works of such prominent artists as S.Yu. Sudeikin, N.K. Roerich, B.I. Anisfeld, V.V. Spassky. In addition to belonging to the stylistic searches of Art Nouveau, their works on the themes of Maeterlinck’s plays are brought together by the desire for a symbolic and associative interpretation of the original source, the ability to use all the elements of the book ensemble to reveal its meaning.

The tradition of graphic interpretation of M. Maeterlinck’s stories and images was outlined in the 1910s, but then it was interrupted for several decades. Book artists began to show interest in the writer’s work again only in the 1970s. Illustrators of the late 20th — early 21st centuries focused their attention on the playwright’s most famous work in Russia — “The Blue Bird” fairy play. They tried various ways of its pictorial interpretation — from a purely realistic one (B.A. Dekhterev) to those much more stylized, openly grotesque (E.A. Silina, V.I. Tsikota), from attempts to strictly follow the spirit and letter of the original source (S.A. Kovalenkov) to free improvisations on the topic proposed by the author (G.A.V. Traugot, B.P. Sveshnikov, I.Yu. Oleinikov). The article notes the relevance of such dissimilar readings of the famous play, the value of their simultaneous presence in the book culture.

The name of Michael Chekhov is firmly associated with the expression “genius of the Russian stage. In his theoretical work “On the Technique of Acting”, M. Chekhov outlined the main components of acting, where one of the most striking and effective elements was the “psychological gesture”. However, the isolation of the empirical part of Chekhov’s legacy, due to the actor’s move abroad, creates the problem of interpreting the theory. So, in an effort to master the principle of working with the “psychological gesture”, many modern actors take liberties in interpreting methodological techniques, without taking into account the practical clarifications formulated by the master while working abroad.

The article analyzes little-known and popular examples of the “psychological gesture” that appear in the theatrical literature of the Russian and foreign periods of M. Chekhov. There is considered the experience of working with this tool of the great actor’s direct students. The material for the study is the transcription of a video recording of the practical seminar of M.A. Chekhov’s friend and colleague G.S. Zhdanov, made by A.A. Kirillov, and the transcript by I.Yu. Promptova. The comparison of the documents and evidence makes it possible to systematize information about the “psychological gesture”, clarify the essential nuances formulated and transmitted by M. Chekhov to his students “from hand to hand” during the period of his working abroad, and warns against erroneous interpretation of the theory. The considered examples empirically confirm the capability of using the gesture to activate the actor’s imagination, to reveal the speaker’s psychology, to emotionally concentrate on the meaning of a word, a line, a phrase, a monologue. The article shows that the PG is intended for the actor to work on the text during the rehearsal period; it can awaken feelings and will in the actor’s soul, helps in finding the undertones, contributes to a deep penetration into the content of the role’s text, and affects the sounding speech.

M. Chekhov’s search in the field of interaction between psychology, gesture and speech has been confirmed by recent studies. Thus, modern linguistics has scientifically supported the intuitive guesses of the great actor, proving that the gesture reflects the cognitive processes of the speaker.

The article aims to clarify the content of the concept of “alternative book publishing” taking into account the historical retrospective, as well as to consider the formation of the terminology used in studying the development of this phenomenon in Russia. An analysis of scientific literature shows that the definition of “alternative” began to be used by Russian scientists in relation to printed works and publishing activities in the post-Soviet period against the background of the cardinal socio-political transformations taking place in the country. The term “alternative press” came into scientific usage to define the late 1980s—1990s press that was not controlled by the state, was in opposition and expressed public dissent. The researchers who introduced this term into the scientific community described it as a phenomenon of the transition period. In the first post-Soviet decade, the concept of “alternative book publishing” appeared and became widely used to refer to non-state, independent book publishing of the new stage of Russian history. However, according to the author, this term is also applicable to earlier historical periods, since publishing activities, alternative to the state book publishing, have a deep tradition in Russia. This paper offers an interpretation of the concept of “alternative book publishing” in relation to different stages of national history. The author traces the formation of the terms that characterize this phenomenon and reveals their content in different historical periods.

The article is devoted to the work of the Russian poet of the first wave of emigration Viktor Andreyevich Mamchenko (1901—1982), reflected in his foreign publications in Russian. Returning the name of this author, now half-forgotten in his homeland, to culture and introducing him into literary circulation, the article is the first attempt to reveal the originality of V.A. Mamchenko’s creative thought, based on the poet’s religious, philosophical and moral searches. The object of the research is the foreign publications of V.A. Mamchenko’s artistic works in individual books and almanacs published in France and identified from the catalogs of leading Russian libraries (the Russian State Library, the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad). The memoires and reviews of V.A. Mamchenko’s contemporaries served as auxiliary material for the study. The article reveals the key milestones in the poet’s biography, which contributed to the formation of his creative style. There is traced the evolution of V.A. Mamchenko from the futuristic tendencies of the early period to the “high tongue-tie” and dissolution in the landscape of the middle and late periods of his creativity. There are identified the main moral-philosophical, God-seeking, religious and mystical categories, which were incorporated in the works of V.A. Mamchenko, who had been developing them for half a century. One of the key categories is conscience, which, according to V.A. Mamchenko, unites moral, philosophical and religious principles, permeating all the milestones of his work. Particular attention is paid to the individual works of V.A. Mamchenko — articles, poems, poetry cycles — as the most structured by the poet. Their chronological examination and comparison in the context of the main categories highlighted by the poet (hero, God, fear, death, conscience, awakening) allow to observe the vector nature of V.A. Mamchenko’s creativity, presented as an illustration of the soul’s path (the movement of the hero’s love) to God, where conscience acts as an accompanying inner core and compass.

The article is devoted to the Chinese period of creative activity of the Russian composer-emigrant A.N. Tcherepnin (1899—1977). The propaganda of the ideas of synthesis of national music with modern Western compositional technique, conducted by Tcherepnin in China from 1934 to 1937, was of great importance for the development of Chinese musical culture. This article, for the first time, specifies many details of Tcherepnin’s activities in East Asia. There is given the exact chronology of all his four trips to China. The article provides an overview of his creative and pedagogical achievements, as well as family circumstances associated with each of these trips. The authors highlight the first composers’ competition in the history of China, organized on the initiative of Tcherepnin; the establishment of a publishing house promoting the works of Chinese authors; the concert, educational and pedagogical work in Shanghai and Beijing. The article concludes about the reasons why the composer went to China and stayed in this country for a long time. In addition to making a concert tour, a general interest in Chinese culture and a love interest for the future wife (as noted in previous studies), family problems related to the composer’s stepdaughter were of no small importance. There is provided biographical information about Tcherepnin’s relatives who played an important role in the history of his stay in China: Louisine Weekes, his first wife; Li Hsien Ming (Ming Tcherepnin), second wife; Camilla Horvat (Benois), aunt of Alexander Nikolayevich. The article tells about the creation history of the works written by Tcherepnin in China. On the basis of the study, there are revealed certain personality traits of Tcherepnin that led to such an impressive result of his musical and educational activities in China.

The period of the 1960s—1970s was the heyday of the Soviet ballet theater. At that historical stage, a whole generation of innovative choreographers worked in many theaters of the USSR, and their work was based on loyalty to traditions and willingness to present their own vision of the ballet theater development. The article addresses the past of the Soviet ballet theater and examines the early period of creativity of G.G. Malkhasyants (1937—2008), one of the choreographers of the sixties. The author reconstructs the ballet “Memory” — one of his early performances, staged at the Voronezh Opera and Ballet Theater in 1973. The performance was the opener of the One-Act Ballet Evening. The second performance was “Carmen Suite” by G. Bizet — R. Shchedrin, and the final of the Evening was “Naughty Ditties” by R. Shchedrin. The purpose of the reconstruction of the ballet, which has left the stage and does not have a video recording, is to determine the context of the era during which the performance was staged, and to recreate the very image of the performance.

G.G. Malkhasyants’ creativity has hardly been studied; scientific work in this direction has just begun. For the first time, the article uses materials from the choreographer’s family archive — newspaper reviews, pre-premiere and premiere reports, photos from rehearsals and performances, handbills and announcements of performances. The relevance of their introduction into scientific circulation lies in the need to analyze the works of innovative choreographers of the second half of the 20th century, in particular — to reconstruct performances that have left the stage and do not have a video recording.

In the 1970s, G.G. Malkhasyants put into practice his own idea and understanding of the staging process in choreography and developed various choreographic techniques and directing principles. His work reflects the continuity of the generation of choreographers of the 1960s in relation to the ballet theater of the 19th — first half of the 20th century and proves the need to rely on traditions and achievements of choreographers of the past. Considering G.G. Malkhasyants’ creative searches and experiments, it is possible to trace the main trends in the development of the Russian ballet theater of the second half of the 20th century. The study helps to understand the prospects for the modern choreographic art development.

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