A.V. Amfiteatrov as an interpreter of the art of sculpture (intermedial aspect)

The relevance of the topic is due to the need to study intermediality as an expression of the tendency to create an integral polyartistic space in the cultural system. The object of the article is intermediality in Russian and Italian culture at the beginning of the 20th century; the subject of the article is intermedial trends in Russian and Italian sculpture, as well as in art criticism of the specified period. The study is of a culturalogical nature; it uses comparative historical and biographical methods. The material of the study is texts (essays and letters) of the 1900s-1910s by famous Russian novelist, publicist, public figure A.V. Amfiteatrov (1862-1938), which are connected with the interpretation of sculpture as a type of fine art and with the assessment of the work of contemporary Russian and Italian masters. The writer pays the greatest attention to the work of sculptor S.D. Erzia (1876-1959). Talking about the personality and work of the artist, Amfiteatrov demonstrates awareness and interest in the problems of the art of sculpture, the features of its development in the general context of the cultural continuum of the 1900s-1910s. The writer verifies the artistic value of sculptural works by their connection with music, he uses in relation to them the terminology of literature and theater studies as well as musical associations. Intermediality appears in his work, on the one hand, to be a property of the works of art, he writes about; on the other hand, as the principle of their analysis and evaluation.