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Philosophy and Culture
Reference:

Trends in the study of the image of a modern man in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century

Chzhan Mai

Postgraduate student, Department of Art History and Pedagogy of Art, A.I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University

191186, Russia, Saint Petersburg, nab. Sinks, 48, room 6, room 34

zhangmai@rambler.ru

DOI:

10.7256/2454-0757.2024.4.70219

EDN:

KUURHG

Received:

24-03-2024


Published:

02-05-2024


Abstract: The subject of the study is the consideration of modern trends in the study of fine art, in particular Russian portrait and narrative painting of the beginning of the XXI century. The object is scientific works related to various fields of the humanities, namely: art history, aesthetics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, etc. Using their material, it is possible to show not only the difference in approaches to understanding the essence and role of the image of a modern person in the art process, but also to demonstrate the specifics of the artistic interpretation of this figurative system in the context of art criticism, cultural and philosophical issues. Such a study allows us to systematize existing ideas about the peculiarities of the development of anthropological subjects in the mainstream of contemporary fine art in modern Russia, to identify the main directions. The main methodological basis of the study was a systematic approach that allowed us to consider contemporary Russian art as a single system. This helped to compare the approaches of modern researchers analyzing the place and role of the human image in it. Through the postmodern paradigm of perception and interpretation of anthropological topics, to identify the essential features of the ideas of Russian scientists. Methods of art historical analysis were also used. The starting point of the research is that at the moment in Russian science there is a body of art history and cultural studies devoted to the development of contemporary art in the country. However, there are no works summarizing the existing experience of scientists and defining the main directions of scientific thought. In light of this, the scientific novelty of the article lies in expanding the understanding of the methodological apparatus necessary for the analysis of the anthropological trend in the visual arts of our time, which is a promising path for future research in this area. The most demanded conceptual philosophical and historical-cultural foundations for the analysis and solution of practical problems in the field of contemporary art in relation to the representation of the human image are identified. Empirical research material has been collected and analyzed.


Keywords:

the image of a man, contemporary art, Russian art, Anthropology, the image of a contemporary, portrait, story painting, XXI century, The art process, Art history

This article is automatically translated.

 

The focus of this research is on the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century, which is considered through a review and systematization of Russian scientific literature on the chosen topic. Of course, in the light of the ongoing processes in the space of artistic culture, it is important to clarify what is meant by "art" here. First of all, we are talking about the field of classical fine art, within the framework of which artistic and visual concepts of man have been born and transformed over the centuries. There is no doubt that this figurative system has continued its development in the field of painting, graphics and sculpture, but has been supplemented with new content, means, forms, materials and techniques of execution, interaction with other aspects of modern society, in particular technology and science. Innovations and the consequences of their influence arouse quite natural and necessary interest on the part of researchers, the main directions of which are studied in this article on individual representative examples and systematization of the artistic material presented in them.

At the beginning of the XXI century, the idea of art was already significantly different from what it was before, including with regard to the main theme – man. In many ways, the change was caused by a transformation in the understanding of what an artistic image is, including under the influence of newly appeared means of expression, such as video art, television, media art, installations, performance, etc. The result of these processes was the so-called "visual turn" in the study of art, which included the achievements and categorical apparatus of psychoanalysis, semiotics, feminism, cultural studies and poststructuralism. This made it possible to draw connecting threads between creativity and ideology, socio-cultural, economic and political factors, the perception of the world and the worldview of people of a particular era. Thus, N. Brisen, K. Moxey, M. E. Holyi and others were engaged in the reconstruction of the "history of images" and the specifics of their representation. G. Pollock, F. Jamieson, D. Wolfe proposed to consider images through the prism of the sociology of visual culture. The concept of "freedom of creativity" and the phenomenon of autonomy of the creative process were questioned by V. Benjamin, J. Baudrillard, R. Barth, J. Derrida, M. Foucault, J. Lacan, etc. There are also ideas that artists, through images, seemed to reproduce the reality that they would like to see, in many ways programming the perception of reality in their viewer, as, for example, in F. Jamison and Z. Bauman. Russian science has also changed the attitude towards the image, including of a person, as more and more studies appear that consider it as a reflection of the worldview of people of another era. Hence the great attention to the context, which is expressed through artistic and expressive means. Thus, F. K. Ragozin in his dissertation study "Semasiological aspects of portrait description in Russian art" considered the linguistic and philosophical experience of studying and describing the Russian portrait of the XVIII century, showing that the latter is perceived as an artistic idea and philosophical category, as well as as a phenomenon of everyday life [1]. Everything in the compartment, from the researcher's point of view, generates a variety of species modifications, including from the point of view of lexical semantics.

Materials on the theory and practice of modern fine art have now appeared in Russian science. Since the inception of portrait art, its main problem has been the relationship between the model and the artistic image [2]. At the beginning of the last century, the conceptual foundations of such images were studied by P. A. Florensky, V. V. Kandinsky, B. R. Wipper, and others. As noted by I. E. Danilova in Russia in the XX century, this line of creative searches for artists continued as follows: "... people depicted on canvas, we [artists, art historians, viewers] try to understand their connections and relationships, penetrate into their characters, guess the everyday destinies revealed in the appearance of the characters, in a united their collisions" [3, p. 4]. At the beginning of the last century, A. G. Gabrichevsky noted that the image of a contemporary "does not depend at all on the degree of idealization or naturalism (this is a matter of style), because it arises not from the comparison of the depicted and depicted personality, but from ... the "personal" qualities of the portrait-painting" [4, pp. 63-64]. Meanwhile, at the dawn of the XXI century, the image of a contemporary, fixed both in the portrait and in the story picture, changed, as not only the visual arts and the epoch changed, but also the very understanding of the personality and its collective image.

Contemporary art researcher V. A. Lagutenkova writes about the ongoing "convergence" of genres using the example of portrait and still life in relation to the representation of the human image. She talks about the birth of a special kind – "still life portrait" (presentation of the image through objects) and the portrait "face-off" ("without a face") as phenomena of urban culture of our century and manifestations of the "man of the crowd" [5]. As examples for the first variety, the author cites works by such artists as Ivan Lubennikov, Andrey Pashkevich, Vladimir Lyubarov, etc. In their work, still life performs a "personifying function", as it reveals socially significant themes through allegories and metaphors, which is important in an era of instability. S. M. Gracheva examines works of the portrait genre based on the material of the annual Spring exhibition of academic artists, teachers of the I. E. Repin Institute in 2013. The researcher points out that the porter genre is most interested in such artists, especially the images of historical characters and figures of art and culture of the past [6].

The attention of researchers is also attracted to issues related to individual image systems. For example, A. S. Lukinova devoted the publication to the embodiment of the image of a doctor, including from modern Russian painting based on the work of artists of Transbaikalia [7]. Several works are related to the work of representatives of the Crimean school of painting (V. Shevchuk, N. Perov, O. Grigorieva-Klimova, etc.), in particular articles by V. B. Golynsky, N. A. Perov and E. N. Alekseev. The artists of this region are characterized by a variety of artistic forms and styles of figurative solutions [8]. Certain features of this art school are also becoming the focus of research. Thus, E. N. Alekseev considers costume as a key element of the composition of a modern "Crimean" portrait, a psychological component and a role in decorative design, presentation of national traditions [9, p. 15]. S. A. Dobretsova continues the tradition of researching the work of provincial artists: from Nikolai Mylnikov to Mikhail Vladykin, as well as the modern author Elena Mukhina. Such a retrospective allows us to show how approaches to such images have changed in the understanding of Yaroslavl artists connected by a common artistic tradition and culture. The author is interested in showing how cultural features, a measure of documentary and artistic are transmitted through the image [10]. She considers the synthesis of the latter to be a feature of Yaroslavl painting and its interpretation by representatives of the human image. T. Y. Serikova notes that in the post-Soviet period there were changes in value attitudes and vectors of cultural development, which led to the disappearance of the hierarchy of genres, strict normativity of canons and stylistic unity. She also says that the synthesis of different types of art will become "one of the main ways to create works of art" in relation to the fine arts of Siberia of the XXI century [11].

Russian researchers are also studying individual varieties of embodying the image of a contemporary in the same portrait art. For example, O. V. Syamin considers a family portrait based on the material of the scientific and practical complex project "The Revival of family and ancestral traditions in modern Russia: a family portrait" [12]. She tries to determine the specifics of such a portrait, its role in the functioning of historical memory and understanding of the idea of the Motherland. K. A. Nikolaeva devotes her works to the study of family portraiture and family pictorial portrait in the aspect of the transformation of fine art and the influence of modern trends. She turns to a group or double portrait, the characters of which are united by the idea of family continuity, trying to understand the influence of the era on the artistic language of the family portrait [13].

The image of a modern child and the presentation of the theme of childhood in painting, including modern, is interesting to the researcher D. A. Abdullina. The author analyzes the specifics of the child's image in the pictorial portrait of the beginning of the XXI century, based on those works that should be considered examples of the manifestation of the classical interpretation of the genre. She identifies two lines in the development of this figurative system: the "transfer" of ideas about childhood of the past to modern children and the creation of "reduced copies of adults". She sees the reason for this in the fact that people's attitude to the phenomenon of childhood is changing, that is, they again talk about the influence of people's worldview and worldview on the image of a contemporary [14].

When talking about the art of the 21st century, it is certainly impossible to ignore the influence of digital space and media art. Thus, S. V. Anchukov compiled a comparative analysis of portrait painting in Russia and China in the light of changes in the compositional structure of such images [15]. The researcher does not give specific examples of the integration of modern technologies into the visual space of a portrait, limiting himself to describing indirect signs of transformation of the approach to the methods of representation of models.

With regard to the study of the accumulated experience of studying figurative systems in contemporary Russian art, the dissertation of the Chinese scientist Yu Wei "Images of women in painting in China and Russia" is interesting: iconography of social, emotional and gender representations of the second half of the XX - beginning of the XXI century. Visual and artistic means of expression" [16]. In it, the author, based on a comparative analysis of paintings by Chinese and Russian artists of the second half of the XX – early XXI century, embodying the most characteristic types of female images, identifies a range of relevant artistic, expressive and meaningful features. According to the researcher, they were formed under the influence of the cultural and socio-historical environment of their countries. With regard to female images in art, the author writes about the closeness in their interpretation by artists from Russia and China at the present stage, pointing to their common "lack of any rigid framework in creative concepts", "a polyphony of unique and expressive creative approaches based on experiment, rethinking tradition, subjective experience of the artist, deep reflections on the topic of modernity" [16, pp. 19-20]. She also notes that "quotations, compositional and stylistic repetitions, stylization and other methods of creative processing of the world artistic heritage of painting allow modern artists to try on the ideals of beauty of the past to a woman of our time" [16, p. 20]. Gender differences in the figurative systems of modern art are also considered by N. M. Libakova in the study "Modification of gender images in Russian culture of the late XIX – early XXI centuries" [17]. The author studies them on the basis of the cultural monuments of Krasnoyarsk, in particular the monuments of Russian fine art of the late XIX – early XX centuries. In addition to the methodological possibilities of this approach, the author pays considerable attention to the analysis of the specifics of the visualization of the female gender in the visual arts of modern Krasnoyarsk artists, pointing to the presence of a dialectical relationship between the concepts of "carnal" and "spiritual" in their representation.

A separate area of research, which raises the question of the representation of the human image, is related to research that examines the peculiarities of the relationship between art and anthropological themes in the system of spiritual values of the post-industrial and digital world. This line began since the time of V. Benjamin, who outlined the changes that were caused by the replication and reproduction of art and, as a result, led to the loss of his former "aura", originality, sublimity of the material, as well as its content. He compared modern art to the "verbal salad" of the Dadaists. At the same time, the visual practices of modernity have greatly changed the sphere of art, since now it is focused on recognition, psychological effect, mentality, internationality, collective nature of creativity, entertainment, mythologization of reality, multiplication of values, secular nature of culture, visualization possibilities, gigantomania, accessibility, simulation of classical plots [18]. And here we see another problem. It lies in the fact that the art process is significantly ahead of the human consciousness, which is not ready to accept innovative images from modern culture. Thus, V. O. Petrov in his article examines such images using the example of twentieth-century art, which arose as a result of the desire for originality through outrage. He highlights the image of "Nothing", for example, in the form of monochrome canvases in painting, hyperbolization of everyday objects, expressiveness, spontaneity, etc., which are used to translate a certain context [19]. At the same time, J. Baudrillard saw the disintegration of art into eclectic forms as "a source of new paradoxical artistic forms based on the historical experience of the development of art, the creative freedom of the artist and a new rethinking of classical aesthetic values" [20].

The representation of the human image in art as the embodiment of the value system of modern culture is considered by N. M. Goncharenko through the prism of the idea of a superman, which was born in the context of Nietzscheanism and developed under the influence of scientific and technological progress. From the researcher's point of view, such transhumanism resulted in "science art" and cyberpunk [21]. This analysis is echoed by the work of L. V. Baeva, who offers an overview of research related to the study of socio-humanitarian aspects of the process of cyborgization of society, including in the field of mass culture from cinema to computer games. She points out the danger that threatens in terms of gender transformation, demographic transition, immortalism, etc., which leads to a shift in "the ontological boundaries of human existence, the formulation of new existential problems of postpersonal identity" [22].

Contemporary art is also distinguished by its virtuality, mythological nature and the cult of fantasy. At the same time, it loses its content and normativity, since only the material, recognizable, close to physiology and machine reproduction is put at the forefront [23]. As a result, it loses the function of forming the ideals of society that would determine the future of the latter. Moreover, artistic images are replaced by a concept, that is, an idea that leads nowhere and exists by itself, being recreated not by means of fine art, but thanks to technological effects [24; 25]. Many researchers point to such a danger, especially in the context of the digitalization of culture [26; 27].

The conducted research summarizes the existing experience of research on the embodiment of the human image in modern Russian art and shows the dynamics of the process of forming a theoretical and methodological basis for further scientific research. The appearance of such research is an indicator of the ongoing turn away from the thing that prevailed in the XX century, back to the anthropological theme, but in a completely new way. Human images in modern art are considered in Russian science not only by art historians, but even more so by cultural scientists and anthropologists. They look at the phenomenon under study as a reflection of the changes that are taking place in people's lives and their understanding of themselves, especially in the light of globalization and informatization. Art and even more art criticism lags behind these processes somewhat, being unable to quickly comprehend and interpret, translate what is happening into the language of artistic and expressive means. However, it is already possible to outline certain vectors of thought development, in particular, consideration of the specifics of human representation in a cultural context, analysis of forms of artistic expression, including those created with the help of new materials and tools, for example, media technologies. More and more researchers declare the need to return the educational function to figurative art, allowing it to position the patterns and ideals of its time, participating in the formation of new generations of people of the future. As a result of the research, it became obvious that the image of a contemporary in works of art in science is now considered as the result of a systemic process of changing the artistic component, structure in works under the influence of the information age and cultural transformations.

As a generalizing conclusion about the degree of coverage of the subject field by Russian science, we note that with regard to the image of a person in the visual arts of modern Russia, a number of areas can be identified that are studied unevenly: some are quite systematically, while others are only being developed by scientists or are waiting for this, representing a kind of lacuna. Thus, the existing body of research related to the embodiment of the human image in modern art indicates that Russian researchers are mainly focused on the approach according to which the image of a person is thought of as a reflection of the worldview and worldview of the epoch, which is associated with a "visual turn". Scientists are not even considering his artistic image, but a visual one, including one expressed by specific artistic and visual means. However, modern culture and art, in particular, have a much more extensive arsenal of materials, means, forms and formats of representation, for example, new media, media art and directions of the art process that have arisen in the context of globalization and digitalization. This fact brings research out of the boundaries of art history research into the wide field of cultural studies and other disciplines. It is also important to note that, as such, no analysis of the features of depicting the image of contemporaries has been undertaken in modern art. Researchers are mainly focused on a rather narrow material, which is quite justified, since so far most of the works are limited in scope and content of the article material. Thus, interest is aroused in the work of representatives of the artistic world of certain regions, in which, for example, the portrait genre or the subject picture prevails. Now these are Crimea, Krasnoyarsk, Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg - long–standing centers of artistic life in Russia, which have their own traditions, including academic ones, which most likely determines the emphasis on realistic figurative art. Moreover, scientists do not consider them comprehensively, but through a certain angle, for example, a costume, a specific exhibition project and its subject, etc. A special place is occupied by works related to the analysis of the means of depicting representatives of one of the genders, especially women, as well as age categories, in particular the image of a child and the theme of childhood. At the same time, the issue of the specifics of the representation of the image of a modern person by means of media art and other trends of contemporary visual art has been little studied. Meanwhile, the absence of such works seems quite natural, since they do not imply the positioning of the "I" of another person, being more focused on things as objects of creative interest and the social and even political contexts behind them. If, after all, the "artist of modern art" turns to the image of a person, then through the prism of his own self-identification with a certain amount of irony and cynicism.

As a result of studying the sources and systematization of the research interests of Russian scientists on the topic chosen by the author, it should be noted that the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century is oriented towards expanding and complementing the aspects already studied. This is a completely logical evolutionary process of cumulative accumulation of knowledge, which ultimately requires generalizations at a certain stage. However, the amount of accumulated knowledge is still small for a comprehensive study, since there are entire unexplored areas of contemporary art and the places of anthropological subjects in them.

References
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The subject of the research in the article submitted for publication in the journal Philosophy and Culture, as the author reflected in the title ("Trends in the study of the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century"), is a set of research trends in the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century. Since the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century, designated by the author, is essentially the object of research, the article as a whole is devoted to the review and systematization of Russian scientific literature on the chosen topic (subject field). The lack of formalization of the research program played a cruel joke with the presented text: it looks like a brief summary of a certain body of literature. At the same time, the author does not explain to the reader what he understands by "art" (does the author include cinematography, animation, music, architecture as art, or exclude these types from it? if it excludes, then on what basis?) and what principles are the basis for the selection of literature. Does the author imply an exhaustive systematic review (in this case, where are the statistics: how many studies are devoted to the chosen topic, what is the completeness of coverage of the thematic body of literature directly in this article)? If the author is guided by the analytical review of literature, which is traditional for Russian science studies, then on what basis were the submitted dissertations selected: the rest do not deserve the author's trust? Perhaps the author sought to demonstrate certain trends in the research interest of Russian scientists using individual representative examples. Then there is a lack of transparency in the typology and classification of various research areas and, in fact, a generalizing conclusion about the degree of coverage of the subject field by Russian science: this, for example, has been studied thoroughly; it is being studied systematically; it is only being developed; and here a lag (gap) in research has been discovered, etc. The presented text shows that the author has done a lot of work on the study of sources, it remains to apply the methods relevant for such research: typology, classification, comparison, systematization. The reviewer emphasizes that without systematizing the research interests of Russian scientists on the topic chosen by the author, it is premature to talk about any trends. Individual characteristics of research interests are not trends yet. A trend (by definition) is a direction, a relatively stable direction of development. The author makes certain generalizations based on the results of the studied literature. In particular, he emphasizes the lack of comprehensive research ("most of the works are limited in scope and content of the article material"). One can agree with such a conclusion, although there are not enough arguments for it in the text (it remains likely that such a conclusion is the result of insufficient study of the required amount of literature). And yet, what kind of trend can such a fact reflect? In what direction is the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century developing? It is obvious to the reviewer that the development is aimed at expanding the various aspects studied. This is a completely logical evolutionary process of cumulative accumulation of knowledge, which ultimately requires complex generalizations at a certain stage. In this case, it would probably be advisable to assess the amount of accumulated knowledge, is it sufficient for a comprehensive generalization or not? According to the author, there are whole unexplored areas of contemporary art ("the issue of the specifics of the representation of the image of a modern person by means of media art and other trends of contemporary visual art has been little studied"). Perhaps the time for complex generalizations has not yet come? Nevertheless, on the basis of the analyzed literature, the author presents reliable conclusions. In particular, it seems to be a reasoned and interesting idea that "Russian researchers are mainly focused on the approach according to which the image of a person is thought of as a reflection of the worldview and worldview of the epoch, which is associated with a "visual turn". Scientists are not even considering his artistic image, but a visual one, including one expressed by specific artistic and visual means." It is also credible to conclude that the interest of scientists in figurative art has not been exhausted, since its ideological content remains extremely in demand today. Thus, due to the lack of a clear formalization of the research program (object, subject, problem, purpose, objectives and relevant methods), the subject of the study is disclosed somewhat one-sidedly by the author. The reviewer recommends that the author think over and present the research program in the introductory part of the article, which will strengthen the final conclusion (this has been studied, therefore such and such further prospects are revealed). The methodology of the study, as is obvious from the above, needs to be improved. It is extremely necessary to clearly define the object of research (this also applies to the concept of "art"). Otherwise, it is not clear where the author is trying to detect trends. It is necessary to justify the selection of the analyzed literature so that it becomes clear how it reflects the object of research. And of course, it is necessary to identify and classify the studied trends on specific grounds. The author justifies the relevance of the chosen topic by saying that there has been a "transformation in the understanding of what an artistic image is." We can agree with this thesis, but it needs additional explanations by type: it was this, and it became this. The scientific novelty of the work is expressed in the analysis of the presented body of literature. But the lack of an assessment of the completeness of the analyzed volume of literature or the argumentation of its sample undermines the credibility of the result achieved by the author. The style is generally scientific, although the reviewer notes that some of the author's statements are meaningless (for example: "At the beginning of the XXI century, ideas about art were already significantly different from what they were before..." — a banal uninformative statement; "newly appeared means of expression, such as video art, television, media art, installations, performance, etc." — we are talking about new means, and not about "newly appeared"; "Materials on the theory and practice of modern fine art have now appeared in Russian science" — a banality, such materials always appear and not only in Russia, another question is how relevant they are; in the statement "The conducted research summarizes the existing experience of research on the embodiment of the human image in modern Russian art and shows the dynamics of the process formation of a theoretical and methodological basis for further scientific research. The appearance of such research is an indicator of the ongoing turn away from the thing that prevailed in the XX century, back to the anthropological theme, but in a completely new way" it is not clear whether the author evaluates his research or speaks about the object under study — it should be formulated more correctly). In addition, the reviewer notes the redundancy of the phrase "image of an image" (the image of a person is the image of a person): if the author tries to express some non—trivial thought by violating the logic of the Russian language, it should be explained. In general, the structure of the article corresponds to the logic of presenting the results of scientific research, but the content of the introductory and final parts of the article, as noted above, should be methodically strengthened. The bibliography as a whole reflects some problematic field. If the author explains the expediency of the presented sample in a sufficiently reasoned manner in the introduction, then the volume of literature can be considered sufficient. The appeal to the opponents is reasonable, correct and sufficient, although the author does not enter into an open theoretical discussion with colleagues. Given the relevance of the topic, the article may be of interest to the readership of the journal "Philosophy and Culture", but needs to be finalized taking into account the comments of the reviewer.

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In the journal Philosophy and Culture, the author presented his article "Directions for the development of the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century", in which a study of modern scientific discourse devoted to human representation was conducted. The author proceeds in the study of this issue from the fact that artistic and visual concepts of man have been emerging and transformed over the centuries within the framework of classical fine art. The author notes that this figurative system continued its development in the field of painting, graphics and sculpture, but was supplemented with new content, means, forms, materials and techniques of execution, interaction with other aspects of modern society, in particular technology and science. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to consider the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century through a review and systematization of Russian scientific literature on the chosen topic. Due to the fact that the article presents a generalization of research on the topic of the human image in modern art, the entire research methodology is reduced to a review of scientific papers on the studied problem. The theoretical justification for the author was the works of such Russian and foreign researchers as N. Brisen, G. Pollock, J. Baudrillard, R. Barth, F.K. Ragozin, A.S. Lukinova, O.V. Xiamen, Yu Wei, etc. The scientific novelty of the research lies in a detailed review and systematization of diverse modern philosophical, cultural and art studies devoted to the study of human representation in art. As a result of studying the sources and systematization of the research interests of Russian scientists on the topic chosen by the author, the author comes to the conclusion that the subject field of studying the image of a modern person in the art of Russia at the beginning of the XXI century is oriented towards expanding and complementing the aspects already studied. However, from the author's point of view, the amount of accumulated knowledge is still small for a comprehensive study, since there are entire unexplored areas of contemporary art and the places of anthropological subjects in them. The research conducted by the author of the article summarizes the existing experience of research on the embodiment of the human image in modern Russian art and shows the dynamics of the process of forming a theoretical and methodological basis for further scientific research. The author concludes that the images of man in modern art are considered in Russian science not only by art historians, but even more so by cultural scientists and anthropologists. They look at the phenomenon under study as a reflection of the changes that are taking place in people's lives and their understanding of themselves, especially in the light of globalization and informatization. The image of a contemporary in works of art in science is now considered as the result of a systemic process of changing the artistic component, structure in works under the influence of the information age and cultural transformations. The existing body of research related to the embodiment of the human image in modern art allows the author to conclude that Russian researchers are mainly focused on the approach according to which the image of a person is thought of as a reflection of the worldview and worldview of the epoch, which is associated with a "visual turn". Scientists are not even considering his artistic image, but a visual one, including one expressed by specific artistic and visual means. In conclusion, the author presents a conclusion on the conducted research, which contains all the key provisions of the presented material. It seems that the author in his material touched upon relevant and interesting issues for modern socio-humanitarian knowledge, choosing a topic for analysis, consideration of which in scientific research discourse will entail certain changes in the established approaches and directions of analysis of the problem addressed in the presented article. The results obtained allow us to assert that the anthropological theme in contemporary art is of undoubted theoretical and practical cultural interest and can serve as a source of further research. The material presented in the work has a fairly clear, logically structured structure that contributes to the full assimilation of the material. An adequate choice of methodological base also contributes to this. The bibliographic list of the study consists of 27 sources, which is sufficient for the generalization and analysis of scientific discourse on the subject under study. Nevertheless, the author fulfilled his goal, obtained certain results that made it possible to summarize the material. It should be noted that the article may be of interest to readers and deserves to be published in a reputable scientific publication.