Abstract
In the course of his collaboration with GAKhN, whose task was to create a systemic ‘scientific’ theory of art, Losev undertook a systematic interpretation of German classical aesthetics as the historical presupposition for his own Christian, Platonist doctrine of art conceived as a dialectical universe comprising totalizing connections at all levels. This interpretation was concealed in a masterful way within the ‘Commentaries’ to Dialektika khudožestvennoj formy. Independently of the significant results achieved by this revival of the classical tradition, Losev’s mythologized theory of art called forth a critical reaction on the part of his GAKhN colleagues and brought to light some of the broader theoretical attitudes present among GAKhN’s collaborators.
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Notes
Gosudarstvennaja Akademija khudožestvennykh nauk [GAKhN]—the State Academy for the scientific study of art—was founded in 1921 in Moscow, Until 1925 it as named the Russian Academy for the scientific study of art [RAKhN]. It comprised three departments: a department of mathematical physics (psychology) as well as departments of philosophy and sociology. In addition there sections for literature, music, theatre, painting, architecture, and graphics. In the spring of 1929, GAKhN was reorganized, that is, in fact disbanded, In 1930 it became the State Academy for the theory of art.
Cf. the project’s site http://dbs.rub.de/gachn/.
That for GAKhN this was a genuine line of development and not a niche for marginal figures is evident from the invitation extended to Berdjaev, Vyšeslavcev, V. Ivanov, and Frank.
References are to Losev (1995).
This is clear from the fragments of the unwritten Istorija estetičeskikh učenij, as well as Istorija antičnoj estetiki, Estetika Vozroždenija, Problema simvola i realisticeskoe iskusstvo, Estetika prirody, Problema khudožestvennogo stilja.
The materials to which I refer are being prepared for publication in the context of the aforementioned Bochum project; cf. note 2 above.
References
Dunaev, A. G. (1991). Losev i GAKhN (issledovanija arkhivnykh materialov i publikacija dokladov 20-x gg.). In A. F. Losev (Ed.), Losev i kul’tura XX veka: Losevkie čtenija. M.
Losev, A. F. (1995). Forma, stil, vyraženie. M.
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Translated from the Russian by E.M. Swiderski.
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Dobrokhotov, A. GAKhN: an aesthetics of ruins, or Aleksej Losev’s failed project. Stud East Eur Thought 63, 31–42 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-010-9131-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-010-9131-x