Department of General Art History

The department's program of study includes a series of courses on the history of foreign art, which envelop all phases of development of worldart culture, from primitive art to modern art: "art of the Ancient East," "Art of Ancient Greece" (N.M.Nikulina), "art of Ancient Rome" (I.I.Tuchkov), "Early Christian Art. Art of Byzantium" (O.S.Popova, A.L.Rastorguev), "Western European Art of the Middle Ages" (O.S.Popova, A.L.Rastorguev), "Art of India, the Far East and Southeast Asia", "Art of Islamic countries" (E.A.Serdyuk), "Renaissance Art" (V.N.Grashchenkov, V.P.Golovin), "Western European Baroque and Classicism" (V.N.Grashchenkov, M.T.Sokolova, F.V.Zanichev, E.A.Efimova, V.N.Bodrova), "19th century Western European Art" (V.S.Turchin, M.T.Sokolova), "20th century Western Art" (V.S.Turchin) and also the theoretical disciplines: "Introduction to Art History" (M.A.Reformatskaya, A.L.Rastorguev, S.S.Vaneyan), "Methodology of Art History" (V.N.Grashchenkov), "Theory of Art" (S.S.Vaneyan). With the majority of the indicated courses, seminars are also held. The seminar "Exposition and Analysis of Monuments of Art", lecture course and practical course on the technicalities of fine art (A.S.Zaitsev), lecture course and practical course on painting restoration (V.V.Zverev) occupy an important place in the department's plan.

The department annually offers 12-15 special lecture courses on a broad spectrum of problems on the history of foreign art. Over the last three years, students have been offered the following special courses: "the culture and art of the Ancient world" (N.M.Nikulina), "Antique art of the Northern Black Sea region" (G.I.Sokolov), "Christian art of the Near East" (O.S.Popova), "Byzantine Iconography" (A.M.Lidov), "Byzantine numismatics" (M.N.Butirsky), "Iconography of medieval architecture" (S.S.Vaneyan), "Iconography in art of the late middle ages" (A.L.Rastorguev), "East Asian art in the Middle Ages" (E.A.Serdyuk), "the world of the artist in the early Italian Renaissance" (V.P.Golovin), "An Italian villa in the Renaissance era: sources and traditions" (I.I.Tuchkov), "Western European and Russian decorative-applied art from the end of the 17th to the 20th century" (A.F.Shklyaruk), "problems of 17th century Dutch painting" (V.N.Bodrova), "Spanish sculpture of the 17th and 18th centuries" (F.V.Zanichev), "Baroque architecture in central Europe" (G.K.Smirnov), "classical traditions in French art from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment" (E.A.Efimova), "basic concepts of art" (E.E.Kikodze), "theory and history of architectural restoration in Russia" (A.S.Zaitsev), "restoration of easel paintings" (V.V.Zverev).

The following proseminars are regularly offered in the department: "culture and art of the Ancient world", "Art of the Far and Near East", "Byzantine iconography", "iconography in the Western European middle ages", "Problems of Western European art from the Renaissance to Neoclassicism", etc.

The basic directions of the department's academic work includes the development of problems of universal art history from antiquity to present day. V.N.Grashchenkov is a renowned expert on art of the Italian Renaissance. V.S.Turchin studies art of the era of romanticism in Russia and in Western Europe, and also modern art life of the West. O.S.Popova researches connections between Byzantine, Balkan and Old Russian art. The circle of academic interests of A.L.Rastorgueva includes iconography of medieval art in Western Europe. E.A.Serdyuk investigates the correlations between Indian and Far Eastern art. N.M.Nikulina is engaged in studying many ancient civilizations. V.P.Golovin and I.I.Tuchkov develop issues of the era of the Renaissance. The academic specialization of F.V.Zanichev is Spanish art of the 17th century, and E.A.Efimova - French art of the 16th through 18th centuries.

The department's staff members publish the results of their research in numerous articles and also in monographs. Over the last 10 years they have issued the monographs of G.I.Sokolov "Etruscan Art" (1990); V.P.Golovin "Michelangelo" (1990); I.I.Tuchkov "Classical Tradition and Art of the Renaissance" (1992); N.M.Nikulina "Art of Ionia and Achaemenids of Iran" (1994); V.N.Grashchenkov "A Portrait in Italian Painting of the Early Renaissance" (1996); O.S.Popova "Asceza and Transfiguration" (Milan, 1996); G.I.Sokolov "Art of the Bosphorus Empire" (1999); V.P.Golovin "From Amulet to Monument" (1999) etc.

The department supports close academic ties with various international centers. Its teachers have repeatedly appeared at conferences and have given lectures in Italy, Germany, the USA, Holland, and India.