At present, cardinal shifts are taking place due to the changing phase of civilization development and a whole complex of global problems faced by mankind. Technology and the emerging challenges require post-industrial development of society, new meanings and values, and the design of the future, while both the management apparatus and the cultural sphere are lagging behind, seeking to use the mechanisms and standards of industrial society.

The key to solving these problems is a new paradigm of cultural development. It is based on the triad of ratio – emotio – intuitio: not an opposition, but a deep connection between natural science and humanitarian cultures. Instead of the repetitiveness of investigated phenomena and averages typical of modern science, the emphasis is on paradoxical, unique, surprising entities that change our relationship to the world and our place in it. There is a need for redundancy, originality, paradoxicality, which is more characteristic of art than of science. This path was foreseen by V.I. Vernadsky, the time of his ideas has come.

In the article these problems are comprehended from the standpoint of the theory of self-organization or synergetics, as well as general ideas about time. Speaking in the language of Greek myths, to Chronos and Cyclos we should add Kairos, the god of the happy moment and luck, indicating the favorable moment when one should act to achieve success and transformation.

The article presents the author’s concept of institutionalization of Russian philosophical and cultural research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). The peculiarities of its creation and implementation are set by the direction of development, which characterizes the process of transformation of Russian universities into world-class project-research universities. The Institute is an innovative interdisciplinary project, which comprehensively carries out both fundamental research, expert-analytical, project-educational work, and educational activities in the broad subject area of Russian humanities research. This article introduces the scientific community to the main goals and objectives of a large institutional project in the field of research on the intellectual history of Russia, modern Russian studies, philosophy of Russian history and culture, philosophy of Russian literature and art, as well as the forms and directions of work and thematic content of the planned research center. In the medium term, the projected Institute is positioned as a scientific and expert-analytical platform, forming actual knowledge about Russia and influencing the intellectual process in Russia and abroad. It acts as a significant link in the scientific and educational ecosystem of a modern university, an example of which is the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The planned theoretical result, on the one hand, is the development of new methodological approaches in the study of spiritual, cultural and intellectual heritage of Russia, on the other hand – the enrichment of the tools of philosophy and cultural studies in their interaction with the methodology of other humanities. Justifying the practical significance of the project, the author believes that such an organizational model allows combining the academic level of research in the cultural history of Russia and the history of thought with the analysis and expertise of current socio-cultural processes and value transformations taking place in Russian society.

Scientific libraries are active social institutions that promptly respond to the challenges of the external environment, changing preferences of readers and users, their needs for different library, information, socio-cultural demands in online and offline spaces, for self-realization of creative and educational potential. Among scientific libraries a special place is occupied by regional universal scientific libraries (RUSL), which take an active part in the formation of educational, cultural, scientific and economic potential of their territories; ensure the creation of a unified regional information and library space; provide services to the population taking into account regional needs and specifics of the region’s development. The projects reflected in the “IFLA Bank of Ideas”, “Library Creativity Bank”, on the Library Map of the World, in the final materials of the All-Russian contests of library innovations, international contests of marketing projects of IFLA libraries, and in the professional press testify to the innovative practice of the RUSL. The results of the analysis of the websites of 50 regional universal scientific libraries of Russia (the main innovators in library services in the regions) are presented, the purpose of which was to identify the problems of reflection of library and information and other services in the web space. The study analyzed free and paid services offered in online and offline modes and ranked their most common types. The results showed gaps in the presentation of library and information and other services on websites (lack of a unified approach to the presentation of services by type and a complete list of all library and information and other services, difficult search for paid services, lack of a section “Services” and visual support for the provision of additional services, etc.), as well as showed a panorama of opportunities to better reflect them for different categories and segments of users. It is concluded that the solution of the above problems will allow public libraries to raise the level of awareness of users and demonstrate the fullest range of stationary, non-stationary and remote services provided on a paid and free basis.

The article is devoted to the construction of the concept of “textile as a type of decorative and applied arts” in Russian art history. An accurate and fully formulated definition helps to build a coherent scientific theory. The need to develop a theory of textiles is long overdue, due to its significant role in the life of society. The difficulties of definitions of textiles as an object of research are related to its interdisciplinary nature and the need to take into account all qualitative characteristics. In the course of the work we analyzed groups of domestic and translated bibliographic sources: reference editions, works of theorists and historians of decorative and applied arts and art textiles. It has been revealed that domestic publications have not yet formulated a universal concept of textile, which would reflect its essential qualities. The methodological argumentation, with the help of which definitions are constructed, has not yet been applied to textiles as a type of decorative and applied arts. In order to form a universal concept, we propose to turn to the proven methodological tools of the method of two-level triadic decoding of categories of the theory of dynamic information systems, which has already shown its heuristics in different fields of knowledge. Identification, comprehension and structuring of fundamental aspects of textile as a kind of decorative and applied arts in the course of consistent application of this method allowed us to formulate the following definition: textile as a kind of decorative and applied arts in the format of dynamic information system is an object or a set of objects of a certain purpose (utilitarian, symbolic, decorative), made of fiber (natural, artificial, synthetic) by means of technology (manual, industrial). The full definition of the category expands and deepens the formal-logical definition that existed earlier in the scientific literature. The present study allowed not only to construct a conceptual apparatus, but also to identify the main categories of the definition, to designate the elements and subsystems of the phenomenon for a more detailed study and formation of the theory of textiles.

The article is devoted to the tradition of publishing engraved biblical albums in Russia (17th — early 20th centuries), made by Russian engravers after the prototypes of European engravings or after author’s drawings by graduates of the Russian Academy of Arts. Illustrated collections on the subjects of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament based on drawings by Russian artists — A.E. Egorov, A.A. Agin, M.N. Koshelevskaya, V.S. Kryukov, V.D. Fartusov — are considered. The source material for the work were copies from large collections of graphic art: the isofond of the Russian State Library, the Museum of Christian Art “Church-Archaeological Study” of the Moscow Theological Academy and the Sergiev Posad State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve, which are first introduced by the author into the scientific turnover.

At present, Western European illustrated Bibles are widely studied by specialists in various fields of scientific knowledge as a large-scale phenomenon of book culture. The ways of penetration and distribution of foreign editions in the Moscow state are studied; the search, accounting and description of copies in domestic library collections are carried out; marginalia on the pages of albums and captions to images are investigated; techniques, biographies of masters, stylistics of works and methods of copying foreign samples in Russian artistic practice are studied. At the same time, the tradition of publishing Russian illuminated Bibles, created by analogy with foreign ones, remains poorly studied.

Pre-revolutionary catalogues of Russian illustrated editions contain descriptions of Bible albums of the first half of the 19th century, while the vast array of illustrated printed matter of the second half of the century has not yet been systematised and catalogued.

The purpose of this study is to partially fill this lacuna, to restore the chronology of the appearance of the first domestic folio Bibles, and to present an overview of lithographed editions of pictures of the Sacred History of the Old and New Testament of the second half of the 19th century.

In recent decades there has been a reassessment of 19th century church culture. Consideration of the outstanding monuments of mural painting allows us to draw a conclusion about the outstanding character of the art of the Russian province. The relevance of the study of murals is connected with the total destruction of rural churches. The painting of the refectory in 1893 in the Annunciation Church in the village of Knyazhevo organically fits into the artistic context and continues the tradition of church monumental painting of the Bezhetsky region. On the example of the main cycle of subjects based on “The Beatitudes” the engravings-samples from the Bible by Christoph Weigel (1695) and compositions from various churches of Bezhetsky district are considered. Although engravings played a significant role, they did not hinder the independent development of art. The article analyses various variants of reproduction of graphic prototypes in mural painting. An assumption is made that local masters had a hitherto unknown prototype based on Weigel’s engravings. Archaic prototypes were organically combined with more modern ones, both Russian and foreign. Eclecticism stylistics, professionalism of masters and a powerful local school allowed combining different directions into a single whole. Paintings were created in accordance with the forms of architecture. Ornamental design helped to organically arrange compositions on walls and vaults. The artistic culture of the Bezhetsky region proved to be so stable that it allowed to recycle recognisable prototypes and demonstrate a wide range of pictorial means for many decades until the end of the 19th century. For the first time, the author’s diagram of the mural arrangement of the refectory is published.

The article is devoted to the problem of revising assessment of the work of the outstanding British engraver and publisher Thomas Bewick. Traditionally, it is considered in the context of the general history of engraving development, mostly not connected with either animalistics or scientific editions. In this regard, T. Bewick’s works of artistic significance belong to natural-scientific illustrations and are used in popular science editions. The erroneous assessment of his works is associated with a widespread stereotype in which scientific illustration is considered as something of low artistic value. The purpose of this research is to study the genesis of T. Bewick’s creativity by analyzing his main works. Of particular interest is the research of the artistic features of woodcut technique, which, thanks to T. Bewick, has found a new life. It is traced the evolution of the engraver’s work from his early period to mature one. The complexity of Bewick’s talent is noted not only as an engraver of book illustrations, but also as an engraver of bookplates. The characteristic of the technique of cutting a design into hardwood cut across is given, the innovative methods thanks to which Bewick has brought this type of an engraving to a new level of book illustration are revealed. Based on the memoirs of Bewick, the author traces the history of the creation of his main books — “A General History of the Quadrupeds” and “A History of British Birds”. It is noted that illustrations by G. Buffon and H. White served as additional sources for “A History of British Birds” despite the use of his own sketches. The author analyses the illustrations and engravings from these books, which are kept in the collections of the Research and Scientific Department of Rare Books (Museum of Book) of the Russian State Library. The structural features of the brief descriptions of “A General History of the Quadrupeds” are considered. Particular attention is paid to the style of the vignettes, which present an integral part of Bewick’s creative credo. Such features of Bewick’s illustrations as realism, as well as the depiction of humorous genre scenes and jokes are revealed. The author notes that at a late stage of Bewick’s art work he rarely uses black cross-hatching, using instead combinations of the wide fields and carefully engraved white spots. The most essential features of Bewick’s engraving are revealed: the principle of “white line”, hatching with crossed and parallel lines, creation of halftones with very thin strokes and tiny dots. It is emphasized that although Bewick’s illustrations have been published in popular scientific publications, they have influenced the development of scientific illustration through their highly artistic execution. It is concluded that woodcut technique allowed to simulate the volume of an image by means of a white stroke.

Due to the lack of studies on the history of the literary circle of the Nikolaev Engineering School, this article is the first to examine its creation and functioning. The aim is to analyze the main forms of activity of the literary circle of this military-educational institution. In order to achieve this goal, data from the annual reports of the Nikolaev Engineering Academy and the school for the academic years 1906—1912 and other pre-revolutionary printed sources were collected. The results obtained show that a positive role in the organisational, library, publishing and methodological assistance to the circle was played by the command of the academy and the school, teaching, administrative and drill staff (N.A. Kryukov, F.I. Zubarev, V.V. Yakovlev, N.N. Polilov, V.F. Naidenov, etc.). This study has expanded the idea of the pedagogical activity of the famous Russian literary scholar, bibliographer, pedagogue F.A. Vitberg, who created the Literary Circle for the Junkers of the Nikolaev Engineering School, revealing for the first time this new page of its life, about the musical creativity of C.A. Cui, who wrote music on the poems of the cadets and successfully combined the composition of musical works with the teaching of military engineering. The names of the pupils of the school who took an active part in its fruitful activity during the mentioned period are established. The beginning of the literary activity of cadet B.V. Zhirkovich, who later connected his fate with literature and became famous as a satirical writer under the pseudonym I.K. Prutkov, is outlined. A brief characteristic of some works published in the “Collection of Literary Circle” No. 1 (St. Petersburg, 1907) and No. 2 (St. Petersburg, 1909) is given. The contents of both issues are presented.

The theme of the sea in traditional Chinese painting is associated with the last decades of the development of the country’s artistic life, in particular with painting on the theme of the sea and ocean. The aim of the study is to determine the peculiarities of the embodiment of the image of the sea element in Chinese painting of the Middle Ages as a basis for the development of the marina genre in modern art. In the works of masters of the Song (960—1279), Yuan (1271—1368) and Ming (1368—1644) dynasties one can notice the repetition and interpretation of those “formulas” used by painters in medieval China. Such “formulas” are the established ways of depicting water surfaces with pen and ink, formed during the Song dynasty and developed in the Yuan and Ming eras until the seventeenth century. Particular emphasis is placed on the systematization of schemes for the embodiment of the sea in different states in Ma Yuan’s work, their sources, and how they were embodied and transformed by painters in subsequent periods. The use of schemes for depicting water made it possible to achieve the effect of dynamism. This was conditioned, among other things, by the specificity of artistic tools and materials used by masters, who had in their arsenal scarce artistic means. The artists endeavoured to invent and form their own method of execution for each theme. The article has theoretical and practical value. It supplements the history of the development of landscape painting in ancient China by analysing the origin and formation of the previously little-studied motif, which in the space of Chinese painting of the 20th — 21st centuries has taken a strong position.

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