Russian Art of the 19th Century in the Works of V.V. Stasov and A.N. Benois — Features of Interpretation

At the beginning of the 20th-century, two outstanding national art historians wrote theoretical works on Russian fine art of the 19th century. The studies of Vladimir Stasov and Alexander Benois, the leaders of the art movements, sharpened the problem of the relationship between realist art and the new nascent art. This study has the purpose of determining the specifics of the methodology and of identifying the common points of convergence between the aesthetic ideas of the two nineteenth-century art historians Stasov and Benois. The method of this research is based on historiographical and cultural-historical analyses. An attempt will be made to identify the specifics of the interpretation of nineteenth-century art, based on a consideration of fundamental works and critical articles on the history of Russian fine art.