Outstanding figures of Russian culture. Moscow State University of Printing Arts

It is still quite early to determine who will be classified as outstanding people modern history, because the 21st century has just begun. But if you remember about famous personalities past times, then we can assume what the Slavic race can give to the new century.

Among the outstanding personalities of Russia there are famous statesmen and politicians, artists, composers, poets and great minds. The achievements of celebrities of past centuries are briefly described below.

Rurik- the prince of the Varangian tribes, about whom legends were made. In 862, he was invited to rule in Novgorod, with his brothers Truvor and Sineus, who became rulers of both Beloozero and Izborsk. When the brothers died, Rurik single-handedly headed Northern Rus'.

Alexander Nevskiy- legendary commander, Grand Duke land of Novgorod. An unsurpassed military leader, he managed to defeat the troops of the Teutonic and Swedish knights. Thanks to the actions of the prince, Russia began to exist as a state based on its cultural and historical traditions.

Peter I- first emperor in history Russian state, who introduced many reforms. He built a flotilla and founded the city of St. Petersburg. Expanded the territory of the country by introducing the Baltic lands into it. He was an innovator and tried to bring Russia closer to the European standards of his time.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin– theoretically substantiated and developed the socialist and communist models of society. He wrote many works on the structure of a new type of state. Known as the leader of the proletariat. The founder of the first socialist state in the world - the USSR.

Russian writers

Alexander Ostrovsky– great playwright, creator of plays:

• “Our people - we will be numbered”;
• "Dowry."

The replicas of his heroes are imbued with the subtlest psychological content. The works he wrote had a significant influence on the worldview and work of playwrights of the 19th century.

Nikolay Gogol – famous writer and playwright. His plays “Marriage”, “The Inspector General” and prose “The Overcoat”, “Viy” acquired world fame. Often the main character was chosen small man, suffering from the unfair attitude of the world towards himself. He is also the domestic progenitor of the horror genre.

Fedor Dostoevsky- a talented writer. His novels “Crime and Punishment”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, “The Idiot” and others gained worldwide fame. A subtle psychologist, he managed to completely change the tradition of describing the inner life of literary characters. Gave great importance description of the relationship between man and God in his own stories.

Lev Tolstoy– great writer with a truly Russian soul. His works “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace” are being made into films by directors from all over the world. He was convinced that only life in unity with nature will make a person happy. Was a supporter peaceful life and an opponent of all military conflicts.

Talented poets

Alexander Pushkin- a brilliant poet of the Golden Age, the founder of classical Russian poetry. Author of numerous poems and poems, as well as historical novel"Eugene Onegin". The subjects of his texts had a wide range: from love lyrics to social inequality.

Mikhail Lermontov- author of the famous poem “Hero of Our Time”. He dedicated many poems to the Caucasus, where he fought. He raised questions about the unnecessaryness of wars, about the alienated position of man. In his work he explored the impact of love on demonic nature.

Vladimir Mayakovsky- a poet who introduced futurism into Russian poetic culture. He had an unusual writing style - stepped in form. Unique poet Silver Age Russian versification, was an ardent supporter and preacher, a mouthpiece of communist ideals and worldview.

Sergey Yesenin– lyrical poet, sophisticated and sincere. At the same time, he remained a hooligan and a teenager at heart. His poetry touched on themes of love for women, the Motherland, nature, as well as personal struggle with the environment. His poems are characterized by a special melodiousness and aching poignancy.

Vladimir Vysotsky– creator of songs and poems, bard, great poet Bronze Age and just historical figure Russia. In his work he was able to summarize the socio-cultural heritage of the 20th century. His poems are permeated with sharp satire. He sang and wrote about a person’s struggle with circumstances, about the place of the individual in society and in the world.

Domestic filmmakers

Lev Kuleshov– applied editing techniques in Russian cinematography. He is the discoverer of the Kuleshov effect, where two frames of unequal content when glued together give new meaning. Thanks to his creativity, the country's best figures began to appear in films.

Sergei Eisenstein– creator of the film “Battleship Potemkin”, which later became a cult classic. A film theorist, he first began to use the technique of dynamic editing. He became the first in another matter, namely in the use of color in cinema. For example, this is how the red flag appeared in the film “Battleship Potemkin.”

Mikhail Romm– documentary film director, author scientific works, teacher at VGIK. He took extraordinary pictures:

• "Nine Days of One Year";
• "Ordinary fascism."

His works received great public response. One of the best film theorists of the mid-20th century.

Andrei Tarkovsky– he shot in an art-house style, which greatly distinguished him from other directors. His famous films “Solaris” and “Stalker” are filled with deep metaphors and pronounced personal meanings. His works are permeated with allegory and are somewhat akin to parables.

Great Artists

Andrey Rublev- famous icon painter. The founder of Russian painting. He painted many icons. His works are kept in churches, cathedrals, monasteries and art galleries. They are considered standards and samples of icon painting. The next generation of artists literally learned from his work.

Feofan the Greek- one of the best Russian artists. He was engaged in painting temples, including:

• Church of the Savior on Ilyin (Novgorod);
• Archangel Cathedral (Moscow, Kremlin);
• Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

He became famous as a noble icon painter, a deep connoisseur of iconography.

Ilya Repin – great artist, whose brushes belong to the paintings that have become famous throughout the world:

• “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan”;
• "Barge Haulers on the Volga";
• "The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan."

His works are characterized by plot and an accurate depiction of the situation. Each picture captures the climax life event. The canvases do not immediately reveal the essence. The details and feelings of the characters are very sharply drawn.

Kazimir Malevich– author of the acclaimed “Black Square”, modernist artist. I was looking for new ways to express the color spectrum in painting. His paintings contain geometric shapes and abstractions. I dreamed of finding “absolute peace” in works of art.

Composers

Pyotr Tchaikovsky – professional composer, creating music was the meaning of his life. The themes of the works are vast, each piece evokes a response from any listener. The music is imbued with lyricism, melodiousness, and elements folk motifs. His ballets “The Nutcracker” and “The Nutcracker” are performed in theaters all over the world. Swan Lake».

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov– great opera composer, based on history and fairy tales (operas “The Snow Maiden”, “Three Miracles”). I thought that musical forms will unite the listener with the true nature of the world. In his arsenal expressive means: real melody folk songs, particles of harmonies borrowed from buffoons. He was a gifted teacher and conductor.

Dmitry Shostakovich- a composer of the Soviet period who experimented a lot in music. He worked in all genres, including modern style. However, the opera Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district"The head of state, I.V. Stalin, did not approve, after which the composer was subjected to repression. Creativity was limited by “state” preferences. But the subtext of the moods and meanings of symphonies No. 5 and No. 7 is clear to every listener.

Russian scientists

Kirik Novgorodets- a 12th-century scientist who conducted research in mathematics and astronomy. A chronicler and musician, he became the creator of the first Russian scientific treatise, “The Doctrine of Numbers.” Managed to calculate the smallest time period capable of being perceived. There is an assumption that he is the author of the work “Kirikov’s Questioning”.

Dmitriy Mendeleev- a talented scientist who created the periodic table of elements and the periodic law of chemical elements. Thanks to him, Russia, which exported kerosene from America, began to import petroleum products to Europe. The scientist developed oils from waste petroleum products and came up with the idea of ​​a new method of distilling oil.

Ivan Pavlov- a person who discovered the presence of reflexes in living organisms, which changed the content of physiology and biology. Received Nobel Prize. Already dying, he described his feelings to his students so that science could study the mechanisms of human death.

Top athletes

Ivan Poddubny– Russian professional athlete, athlete, five-time champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, circus performer. For all my sports career I have never been in the place of the loser in sports competitions. He was called the “Russian hero of the 20th century.”

Garry Kasparov- World chess champion, winner of the Chess Oscars. A master of combining various tactics and strategies, which made him one of the winners in failed games. The first moves were striking in their novelty and unusualness; they were called “Kasparov’s Openings.”

Lev Yashin– the best goalkeeper of the Soviet period, goalkeeper of the last century. Olympic champion, Honored Master of Sports, champion of Europe and the USSR. The only goalkeeper to have been awarded the Ballon d'Or.

Outstanding personalities in the history of Russia of all eras, a huge contribution has been made to the world treasury of science, culture, sports and government. Many of them changed the course of history, which had a beneficial effect on the evolution of mankind.

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It replaced the Middle Ages and lasted until the Enlightenment. It is of great importance in the history of Europe. It is distinguished by a secular type of culture, as well as humanism and anthropocentrism (man comes first). Renaissance figures also changed their views.

basic information

Formed new culture thanks to changes in Europe public relations. It was especially affected by the fall of the Byzantine state. Many Byzantines immigrated to European countries, and with them they brought a huge amount of works of art. All this was unfamiliar and Cosimo de Medici, impressed, created Plato’s Academy in Florence.

The spread of city-republics entailed the growth of classes that were far from feudal relations. These included artisans, bankers, merchants, and so on. They did not take into account the medieval values ​​that were formed by the church. As a result of this, humanism was formed. This concept refers to a philosophical direction that considers a person as the highest value.

In many countries, secular scientific and research centers. Their difference from the medieval ones was their separation from the church. A big shift was made by the invention of printing in the 15th century. Thanks to this, outstanding figures of the Renaissance began to appear more and more often.

Formation and blossoming

The Renaissance came first in Italy. Here its signs began to appear back in the 13th and XIV centuries. However, it failed to gain popularity then, and only in the 20s of the 15th century was it able to gain a foothold. The Renaissance spread to other European countries much later. It was at the end of the century that this movement flourished.

The next century became a crisis for the Renaissance. The result was the emergence of Mannerism and Baroque. The entire Renaissance is divided into four periods. Each of them is represented by its own culture and art.

Proto-Renaissance

It is a transitional period from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It can be divided into two stages. The first continued during Giotto's lifetime, the second after his death (1337). The first was filled with great discoveries; during this period they created brightest figures Renaissance. The second ran parallel to the deadly plague that tormented Italy.

Renaissance artists of this period expressed their skills primarily in sculpture. Particularly noteworthy are Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano, as well as Niccolo and Giovanni Pisano. Painting of that time is represented by two schools, which were located in Siena and Florence. Giotto played a huge role in the painting of that period.

Renaissance figures (artists), in particular Giotto, began to touch upon secular themes in their paintings in addition to religious ones.

In literature, a revolution was made by Dante Alighieri, who created the famous “Comedy”. However, the descendants, admiring it, called it " Divine Comedy"The sonnets of Petrarch (1304-1374), written during that period, gained enormous popularity, and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), author of the Decameron, became his follower.

The most famous figures of the Renaissance became the creators of language. The works of these writers gained fame beyond the borders of their native state during their lifetime, and were subsequently ranked among the treasures of world literature.

Early Renaissance period

This period lasted eighty years (1420-1500). Figures of the era Early Renaissance They did not abandon the familiar recent past, but began to resort to the classics of antiquity in their works. Gradually they moved from medieval principles to ancient ones. This transition was influenced by changes in life and culture.

In Italy, the principles of classical antiquity were already fully manifested, while in other states they still adhered to the traditions of the Gothic style. Only by the middle of the 15th century did the Renaissance penetrate into Spain and north of the Alps.

In painting, first of all, they began to show the beauty of a person. Early period, mainly represented by the works of Botticelli (1445-1510), as well as Masaccio (1401-1428).

A particularly famous sculptor of that period is Donatello (1386-1466). The portrait type predominated in his works. Donatello also created a nude sculpture for the first time since antiquity.

The most important figure of that period was Brunelleschi (1377-1446). He managed to combine in his works ancient Roman and gothic styles. He was engaged in the construction of chapels, temples and palaces. He also returned elements of ancient architecture.

High Renaissance period

This time marked the heyday of the Renaissance (1500-1527). The center of Italian art was located in Rome, and not in the usual Florence. The reason for this was the newly appointed Pope Julius II. He had an enterprising and decisive character; during his time on the papal throne, the best cultural figures of the Renaissance came to court.

The construction of the most magnificent buildings began in Rome, sculptors create numerous masterpieces that are pearls of world art in our time. Frescoes and paintings are being painted that fascinate with their beauty. All these branches of art are developing, helping each other.

The study of antiquity is becoming more and more profound. The culture of that period is being reproduced with increasing accuracy. At the same time, the calmness of the Middle Ages is replaced by playfulness in painting. Nevertheless, the figures of the Renaissance, the list of which is extensive, borrow only some elements of antiquity, and create the basis themselves. Each has its own distinctive features.

Leonardo Da Vinci

The most famous figure of the Renaissance is, perhaps, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519). This is the most versatile personality of that period. He studied painting, music, sculpture, and science. During his life, Da Vinci was able to invent many things that have become firmly established in our lives today (bicycle, parachute, tank, and so on). Sometimes his experiments ended in failure, but this happened because some inventions, one might say, were ahead of their time.

Most people know him, of course, thanks to the painting "Mona Lisa". Many scientists are still looking for various secrets in it. Leonardo left behind several students.

Late Renaissance period

Became the final stage in the Renaissance (from 1530 to 1590-1620, but some scholars extend it to 1630, because of this there is constant controversy).

In Southern Europe at that time, a movement began to emerge (the Counter-Reformation), the goal of which was to restore the greatness of the Catholic Church and the Christian faith. All chanting human body were unacceptable to him.

Numerous contradictions resulted in a crisis of ideas beginning to emerge. As a result of the instability of religion, the figures of the Renaissance began to lose the harmony between nature and man, between the physical and the spiritual. The result was the emergence of mannerism and baroque.

Revival in Russia

The culture of the Renaissance influenced our country in some areas. However, its impact was limited by a fairly large distance, as well as by the attachment of Russian culture to Orthodoxy.

The first ruler to pave the way for the Renaissance in Russia was Ivan III, who during his time on the throne began to invite Italian architects. With their arrival, new elements and construction technologies appeared. However, there was no huge revolution in architecture.

In 1475, an Italian architect was involved in the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral. He adhered to the traditions of Russian culture, but added space to the project.

TO XVII century Due to the influence of the Renaissance, Russian icons acquire realism, but at the same time, artists follow all ancient canons.

Soon Rus' was able to master printing. However, it became especially widespread only in the 17th century. Many technologies that appeared in Europe were quickly brought to Russia, where they were improved and became part of traditions. For example, in accordance with one of the hypotheses, vodka was imported from Italy, its formula was subsequently refined, and in 1430 the Russian version of this drink appeared.

Conclusion

The Renaissance gave the world many gifted artists, researchers, scientists, sculptors, and architects. From a huge number of names, we can single out those that are the most famous and famous.

Philosophers and scientists:

• Bruno.
• Galileo.
• Pico della Mirandola.
• Nikolai Kuzansky.
• Machiavelli.
• Campanella.
• Paracelsus.
• Copernicus.
• Münzer.

Writers and poets:

• F. Petrarch.
• Dante.
• G. Boccaccio.
• Rabelais.
• Cervantes.
• Shakespeare.
• E. Rotterdamsky.

Architects, painters and sculptors:

• Donatello.
• Leonardo da Vinci.
• N. Pisano.
• A. Rosselino.
• S. Botticelli.
• Raphael.
• Michelangelo.
• Bosch.
• Titian.
• A. Durer.

Of course, this is just small part figures of the Renaissance, but it was these people who became its personification for many.

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February 25, 2010 year Noize MC (Ivan Alekseev) responded to an accident involving Lukoil vice-president Anatoly Barkov, which resulted in the death of two women (one of them a friend of the musician). Barkov made no statement; but the day after the accident it appeared on the Internet Noize clip MC “Mercedes 666 - Make way for the chariot”, it was watched by about 750 thousand people. And on August 31, Ivan Alekseev was detained after a concert in Volgograd, at which he called the police “animals,” and was imprisoned for ten days “for petty hooliganism.” Immediately after his release, a video for the song “10 days” was posted on the Internet, in which Noize MC told how he spent his time in prison. It was viewed by almost a million users. IN modern culture Noize MC actually plays the role of popular television, which in an accessible form talks about what is happening around and gives it its own assessment.

Marat Gelman

gallerist, director of the Perm Museum contemporary art

Over the past two years, Marat Gelman has become a symbol of successful cultural policy in the regions of Russia. In 2009, he created the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, around which a stormy cultural life: in Perm, under the auspices of Gelman and his fierce opponents (for example, the writer Alexei Ivanov), festivals, exhibitions, film and theater experiments and scandals took place. " Social activities V cultural environment is becoming more and more numerous,” noted exhibition curator and art critic Andrei Erofeev, who named Gelman among the authoritative cultural figures. - Over the year, this movement has noticeably intensified, rising from almost zero point. For example, the activity of Marat Guelman, his desire to become an alternative minister of culture is indicative: if the environment did not feed him with energy, did not give him impulses, then he would not participate in anything.”

Petr Mamonov

musician and actor, leader of the group “Zvuki Mu”

The main domestic holy fool at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, Pyotr Mamonov always personified a free person. And having played a monk, holy fool and martyr in “The Island” (2006) by Pavel Lungin, Mamonov became almost the “conscience of the nation” - a guru calling us to faith, prayer and repentance. A kind of inversion of this role was his Ivan the Terrible in “Tsar” (2009) by the same Lungin, where Mamonov equally edifyingly demonstrated what lawlessness, tyranny and abuse of power lead to in Rus'. These two roles - the merciful father Anatoly and Tsar Ivan, mired in murder - are like two sides of the Russian character, at the same time all-forgiving and merciless. And Mamonov is perhaps the only modern actor who embodies them with frightening accuracy.

Victor Pelevin

writer

In the 90s, Pelevin essentially invented and mythologized a Russia that did not yet exist. The word “Pelevinshchina” came into use as a designation for the absurd social reality of the “new Russians.” By recording this reality and finding the most fantastic explanations for it, Pelevin earned the title of the main chronicler and interpreter of our time. Our era of non-public politics especially needs such interpreters. In fact, Pelevin’s books are myths of the peoples of Russia at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, partly created, partly collected and parodied by the writer. He not only interprets our life from the most fantastic positions, he created an algorithm for such an attitude towards life and literature and gave birth to a whole generation of writers “bruised by Pelevin.”

Yuri Norshtein

cartoonist

A classic of world animation and Miyazaki’s favorite director, Yuri Norshtein finished his last cartoon - “Winter Days” - seven years ago. His other work, the film adaptation of Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” which began back in 1981, was never completed for financial reasons. Loyalty to yourself and your art, which will survive any market relations, has long turned Norshtein into one of the pillars of the creative intelligentsia. His authority is so great that fans of his cartoons decided to raise money for “The Overcoat” themselves: blogs started calling for financial assistance to the master. But, like a true intellectual, Norshtein refused this help, offering instead to organize an auction for the sale of his drawings, the proceeds from which would be used to complete the project.

Yuri Shevchuk

musician, leader of the group "DDT"

A symbol of eternally living Russian rock. “I highlight the inner freedom of Yuri Shevchuk, who asked several honest questions to Putin,” is how sociologist Daniil Dondurei explained his choice in our project. By introducing himself at the meeting between the prime minister and cultural figures as “Yura Shevchuk, musician,” he actually allowed for the very possibility of a dialogue between government and society, a conversation between two equals - the musician Yura and Prime Minister Volodya. And before that, in March, at the “Chart’s Dozen” award ceremony at the Olimpiyskiy, Shevchuk made a fiery speech about “total corruption”, about “the bastard feeding on power, in uniform, with flashing lights in their heads.” He called on musicians to return the political component to rock: “I’m not a politician, but rock is not when everything is good, but when something is bad, and we need to sing and talk about it.”

Lyudmila Petrushevskaya

writer

Over the years, Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya has become more and more multimedia. Having gained a reputation as a brilliant playwright, writing a number of scripts for cartoons, including the famous film “Tale of Tales”, captivating readers with her prose, she last years She successfully tried herself as an artist, and has also been singing songs and performing with her own cabaret for several years. But still, first of all, Petrushevskaya remains a writer, whose book “Time is Night,” published in the early 90s, largely predetermined the path of development of Russian-language literature.

Vladimir Sorokin

writer

Over the 2000s, Sorokin turned from the main enfant terrible of Russia into a living classic, whose significance and authority are not questioned even by his ideological opponents. He rewrites our reality, telling us about the past, the future, or some parallel space, but every time this story turns out to be an accurate portrait of us and our time. This portrait is not very flattering: the so-called “World of the Oprichnik” is an evil parody of the current Russian society, where all currently existing social trends are emphasized and brought to the limit.

Vasily Sigarev

film director

One of the participants in the Russian new drama, Vasily Sigarev made his film debut with the film “Top” (2009) - a story about the love of a little girl for her mother. “Volchok” became the winner of last year’s “Kinotavr”, having received almost all possible prizes - for best movie, best scenario and Best Actress. While the new drama was dealing with social conflicts, Sigarev was one of the first to decide to understand himself and made the most personal film of the past decade. It is the orientation towards own voice, no matter how strange and disharmonious it may be, determined the intonation " new wave» Russian cinema- generations of directors who are no longer so concerned about social injustice, because they inner world much more important, complex and dramatic.

Mikhail Ugarov

director and playwright, artistic director Theatre.doc

The ideologist of the new drama, Mikhail Ugarov, over the past ten years has rallied around himself an active creative group playwrights, directors and actors who disagree with traditional repertory theater and its laws. They write, stage and perform plays about modern life- about what is happening around us and with us, about today's social reality. Ugarov is one of those who introduced the fashion for active discussion of modernity in culture: in the spring he received “ Golden mask“for the play “Life is a Good Thing” based on the play by Pavel Pryazhko, with harsh swearing and an almost ancient-scale tragedy of small people - “single-celled”, as critics call them. Co-author (together with his wife Elena Gremina) of the most terrible play about today's life in Russia - “Hour Eighteen”, based on documentary evidence of the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a pre-trial detention center.

Photo: ALEXEY MAISHEV FOR “RR”; ITAR-TASS (3); DMITRY LEKAI/KOMMERSANT; OPALE/FOTOLINK(2); PHOTOXPRESS; DMITRY BELYAKOV FOR "RR"

Cultural figures are as general a concept as culture itself, and this category represents a whole philosophical topic. Culture is understood as something, on the one hand, man-made, social - as opposed to nature, on the other - as something ordered and subject to the laws of beauty - as opposed to barbarism and savagery. In this sense, the category of culture can include art, science, religion, and even sets of moral norms... however, delving deeper into the concept of culture as such, we risk completely getting lost in the philosophical and cultural “wilds,” so we will narrow our subject of research at the expense of the “state machine” and let’s see what is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture.

First of all, this is, of course, everything related to art - the Philharmonic and concert halls, drama, opera and puppet theaters, circuses, film studios, independent performing groups - orchestras, choirs and ensembles... these are all the people who work in institutions of this kind and can be called cultural figures. True, they often use a slightly different formulation - “cultural worker”, and “activist” is something more sublime... but no specific, documented difference between one and the other can be indicated.

Workers (or, if you like, figures) of culture in our country also include those who train personnel for all these organizations, and at the most basic level: musical and art schools are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, not Education... it is noteworthy that educational establishments more high level- For example, music schools and conservatories - still belong to the category of education... you can’t call it anything other than an irony of fate: after all, a student at a conservatory has much more chances to become a musician (i.e. a cultural worker) than a music school student.

But not only those who create art are considered cultural figures. This category also includes those who preserve it and present it to the general public: art galleries and other museums are also cultural institutions, and their employees are cultural workers. This concept also includes libraries (excluding those that are part of some organizations - for example, universities, in in this case we're talking about about libraries that are independent organizations).

All cultural figures - no matter how different their areas of activity may be - have one thing in common: it is relatively easy to do without them. It is no coincidence that all economic crises hit them first - for example, in the unforgettable 90s, when teachers and doctors at least tried to go on strike, cultural workers, sitting for months without wages, did not even dare to do this: after all, if you say the word, they will close ! And yet... imagine that tomorrow all theaters, art galleries and concert halls will close... then, of course, we will not die from hunger, cold and disease - but something very important will die in us, which fundamentally distinguishes us from animals. It can be said that main responsibility any cultural figure - from a guide in a provincial museum to a director Mariinsky Theater– is to make people people.

One of highest recognitions merit for such a person is the title of Honored Worker of Culture. True, there are also higher titles - Honored Artist, Honored Artist - but it is the artists who receive them, and a music school teacher can become an Honored Cultural Worker.

Turns out, modern Russia For Western world, still, country classical arts and literature, so the list does not include “ folk heroes“, but there are opera, ballet and theater figures.

Valery Gergiev, classical music

Gergiev is a symbol of Russia in the West; last year he received the iconic American Nelson Rockefeller Prize, and in October 2011 he and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra opened the season at New York's famous Carnegie Hall.

Anna Netrebko, opera

The owner of the “most expensive” soprano is best known in Germany: so much so that she is the face of both Chopard jewelry and Schwarzkopf cosmetics. CDs with her recordings are also successfully sold there - the diva has a contract with Deutsche Grammophone. But the main income of the native of Krasnodar is fees for performances (from $50,000).

Dmitry Hvorostovsky, opera

Baritone Dmitry Hvorostovsky competes with Anna Netrebko for the title of the highest paid Russian opera artist. According to experts, his performance usually costs about $70,000. Hvorostovsky performs at the most prestigious venues in the world solo concerts, and now performs in operas much less often. Hvorostovsky is best known in the USA - he tours there most often.

Ksenia Rappoport, film

For 11 years of work at the St. Petersburg Theater of Europe, Ksenia Rappoport played in all of Chekhov's main plays. She became known to the film public thanks to the series “Gangster Petersburg”, “Liquidation” and “Isaev”. The actress appeared on foreign screens five years ago, playing main role in Giuseppe Tornatore's film La Sconosciuta (The Stranger). For this work in 2007, the actress received the Italian David di Donatello Cinematography Award. In 2009, she hosted the opening ceremony of the Venice Film Festival. Over the past year, she has starred in four foreign and as many Russian films.

Boris Akunin, literature

Grigory Chkhartishvili is among the ten most published authors in Russia. The novelist is best known in Poland (contract with Europe's largest publishing house Bertelsmann) and in the USA (Random House).

Diana Vishneva, ballet

In 1994, a student of the Vaganova School won one of the main ballet awards - the Prix de Lausanne. The prize took the organizers by surprise - the medal was not available, and it had not been awarded to anyone for years. Now she is the highest paid ballerina in the world, dancing in the American ballet theater New York legendary choreographers and maintains the status of the main ballerina of our time.

Fyodor Bondarchuk, film

The son of Oscar-winner Sergei Bondarchuk (he received an American award in 1968 for the epic “War and Peace”), Fedor, unlike many of his compatriots, never worked at a Western film studio and became famous abroad only thanks to several Russian works. Rights to Bondarchuk's first directorial work "The Ninth Company" Afghan war sold for several years after its premiere in 2005. There are already applications from Western distributors to purchase the rights to distribute the film “Stalingrad” abroad, which will be released in 2013.