Initiation in artistic culture: modern approaches to research

Initiation as a cult practice has practically disappeared, but continues to develop in secular cultural forms and meanings. In a broad sense, “initiation” (as the beginning of cardinal transformations, the transformation of the personality, as the transmission of cultural values) is actively used in philology, art history in questions about the specifics of creativity, the mechanism of artistic culture, and the interpretation of the artistic image. An analysis of this trend allows us to expand our understanding of the ritual nature of creativity, of the initiatory potential of artistic culture.