Philosophical and aesthetic aspect of the presentation of gender issues in the portrait genre of Russian painting of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries

The article analyzes the creative heritage of outstanding Russian artists of the second half of the XIX century, including I. N. Kramskoy, I. E. Repin and V. I. Surikov. An attempt is being made to take a gender approach to the analysis of the female portrait and its philosophical and aesthetic interpretation. Various models of femininity and their aesthetic significance are revealed. The formation of the image of a democratically progressive woman in painting is traced. The typology of some female portrait subjects in Repin’s work is considered. In the paired marital portrait of the early twentieth century, there is a tendency to transform power relations towards the dominance of women as a new model of partner harmony. The article analyzes the original aesthetics of femininity in the works ofV. I. Surikov, the leading female gender models in portraits created by the artist. The issues of the gender circle are dealt with from the point of view of philosophical and aesthetic axiology.