Title of the article:

“RED CORNER”: SEMANTIC INTERPRETATIONS IN THE URBAN INTERIOR OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Author(s):

Alla L. Usanova

Sergey M. Budkeev

Information about the author/authors

Alla L. Usanova — DSC in Arts, Associate Professor, Altai State University, Dimitrova St., 66, 656049 Barnaul, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4815-2658. E-mail: alla_leo@mail.ru

Sergei M. Budkeev — DSc in Arts, Associate Professor, Altai State University, Dimitrova St., 66, 656049 Barnaul, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8948-1696. E-mail: lwlm@yandex.ru

Section

History of Arts

Year

2020

Volume

Vol. 58

Pages

pp. 278-288

Received

November 27, 2019

Date of publication

December 28, 2020

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2020-58-278-288

Index UDK

72.01

Index BBK

85.128(2)6

Abstract

In the early 1990s, the return of religious consciousness led to a revival of interest in religious culture and norms of behavior. The appearance of icons and holy images in the interior was often accompanied by a violation of ethical standards at their placement. Analysis of a representative space in the domestic urban interior of the first half of the twentieth century in the context of historical processes allows us to determine its artistic significance and to reveal semantic transformations of the concepts “red corner” and “place of honor”. According to patriarchal tradition, home iconostasis, located in the so-called “red” corner (opposite to the entrance of the house), is the center in all respects: sacred, ritual, and artistic — aesthetic. Changes in the way of life, traditions and conditions of urban inhabitants (middle class, urban peasants) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are associated with economic and political events in the country. The influx of population into the cities aggravated the housing problem and caused the spread of new forms of mass urban housing: tenement houses, workers' dormitories, while industrial revolution contributed to the erosion of estate boundaries in interior design, subject filling and spatial orientation of dwelling`s representative part. During the anti-religious campaign, the Soviet government massively banished the images of saints from the visible space of a private dwelling, yet, making use of the sacred essence and moral significance of the shrines location, it produced manipulations for changing the meaning: “red corners” are an indispensable attribute of administrative and public interiors and hostels. The phrase “red corner” is filled with a new ideological meaning, whereas the meaning of this memorial space remains its moral and spiritual education connotations. Since the mid-1930s, with the beginning of mass housing construction, stimulation of consumer demand by the state began to shape artistic and everyday traditions in the interior of the Soviet standard dwelling. Spatial organization of the new townsman`s dwelling differed little from interiors of the peasant hut. A visible (front) part of the interior (the front corner), still acted as a semantic center of the dwelling, performing representative functions. However, the object complex (bookcase with books, radiotracks, reproductions of paintings, etc.) located in the visible area begins to represent the level of tenant`s cultural claims, while the decoration (lace and embroidered napkins) emphasizes strengthening of its prestigious status for the dwelling`s interior. Thus, a retrospective analysis of semantic content of the concept of “red corner”, including its historical and artistic context, allows us concluding that the subject-spatial organization of the dwelling not only reflects the person's idea of the world, but serves as a visible indicator of spiritual, moral, ideological and cultural transformations of society.

Keywords

place of honor, dwelling, Soviet city interior.

References

1 Russkaia mysl' i rech'. Svoe i chuzhoe. Opyt russkoi frazeologii. Sbornik obraznykh slov i inoskazanii [Russian thought and speech. One`s own and someone else's. Experience of Russian phraseology]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia Akademii nauk, M. I. Mikhel'son, 1912. Vol. 2. 1148 p. (In Russian)

2 Rossiiskii gumanitarnyi entsiklopedicheskii slovar' [Russian humanitarian encyclopedia]. Moscow, Gumanitarnyi izdatel'skii Tsentr VLADOS: Filologicheskii fakul'tet SPbGU Publ., 2002. Vol. 2. 720 p. (In Russian)

3 Goncharov Iu. M. Ocherki povsednevnoi zhizni gorozhan Sibiri vtoroi poloviny XIX – nachala XX v. [Essays on everyday life of Siberian citizens in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries]. Barnaul, Izdatel'stvo AltGU Publ., 2014. 348 p. (In Russian)

4 Ivanova N. A., Zheltova V. P. Soslovno-klassovaia struktura Rossii v kontse XIX – nachale XX veka [Class structure of Russia in the late 19th – early 20th century]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2004. 574 p. (In Russian)

5 Anokhina L. A., Shmeleva M. N. Byt gorodskogo naseleniia srednei polosy RSFSR v proshlom i nastoiashchem. Na primere gorodov Kaluga, Elets, Efremov [Life of the urban population of the middle zone of the RSFSR in the past and present. On the example of the cities of Kaluga, Yelets, Efremov]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1977. 360 p. (In Russian)

6 Kirichenko E. I. Russkaia arkhitektura 1830–1910-kh gg. [Russian architecture of the 1830–1910s]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1982. 399 p. (In Russian)

7 Putevye zapiski K. F. Kar'ialainena [Travel notes of K. F. Karjalainen]. Iugra, 1996, no 3, pp. 20–21. (In Russian)

8 Kiselev I. Kartiny, dushniki, sonetki. Obshchaia tipologiia i zakonomernosti oformleniia sten v inter'ere XIX v. [Paintings, dushniki, sonnets. General typology and patterns of wall design in the interior of the 19th century]. Mir muzeia, 1993, no 2, pp. 42–44. (In Russian)

9 Zabelin I. E. Dnevniki. Zapisnye knizhki [Diaries. Notebooks]. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo Sabashnikovykh Publ., 2001. 384 p. (In Russian)

10 Svavitskii N., Sher V. Ocherk polozheniia rabochikh pechatnogo dela v Moskve (po dannym ankety, proizvedennoi O-vom rabochikh graficheskikh iskusstv v 1907 godu) [An essay on the situation of printing workers in Moscow (according to a questionnaire issued by the graphic arts workers ' Union in 1907) ]. St. Petersburg, RTO, Tipo-litografiia Shredera Publ., 1909. 53 p. (In Russian)

11 Vagin V. V. Russkii provintsial'nyi gorod: kliuchevye elementy zhizneustroistva [Russian provincial city: key elements of life]. Mir Rossii, 1997, no 4, pp. 53–88. (In Russian)

12 Baiburin A. K. Zhilishche v obriadakh i predstavleniiakh vostochnykh slavian [Housing in the rites and representations of the Eastern Slavs]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1983. 188 p. (In Russian)

13 Russkaia izba. Illiustrirovannaia entsiklopediia [Russian hut. The illustrated encyclopedia]. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo Publ., 1999. 416 p. (In Russian)

14 Alekseeva-Beskina T. I. Sotsiogenom v sotsiokul'turnoi dinamiki goroda. Gorod v protsessakh istoricheskikh perekhodov. Teoreticheskie aspekty i sotsiokul'turnye kharakteristiki [Socio-genome in the socio-cultural dynamics of the city. The city in the process of historical transitions. Theoretical aspects and socio-cultural characteristics]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2001. 156 p. (In Russian)

PDF-file

Download