Evolution of national system of aesthetic education

The authors of the article consider the main historical stages of the evolution of national system of artistic-aesthetic education with the aim to identify its distinctive features. Historical-pedagogical analysis of this system corresponds to the research of characteristic features of the development of aesthetic culture of Russian people and identification of natural connections and mutual influence of these two processes from ancient times till now. Thus, for example, the authors make the analysis of features characteristic for public consciousness of eastern Slavs in the pagan epoch (associativity, flexibility, polysemy etc.). These features of public consciousness correspond to traditional methods of education based on domination of public interests in the period. The authors analyze cardinal changes of public consciousness of inhabitants of Ancient Russia after they had adopted the orthodox culture: basics of religious outlook have been gradually formed instead of mythological outlook. It leads to the development in Russia of new spheres of creative activities (stone building, monumental and easel painting, book production, literary creativity etc.). From that time it is possible to speak about the origin of national system of aesthetic education (training of professional artists, formation of the first art schools and of methodical system of training painters). At the same time, characteristic feature of our ancestors’ outlook is combination of Christian and pagan elements, what allows to speak about the uniqueness of Ancient Russian culture. The period of revival of Russian culture in the 14 th - 15 th centuries is marked by the appearance of new aesthetics based on the high spirituality and artistic perfection. Since the 16 th century, secular elements have gained strength in Russian culture, especially in the 17 th century when the medieval paradigm of public consciousness definitively collapsed. From the 18 th century the culture of Russia is divided into two streams - "secular" based on European cultural values and "Old Russian" (folklore).