Gakhn

an aesthetics of ruins, or Aleksej Losev's failed project

Alexander Dobrochotov

pp. 31-42

in: Edward Swiderski (ed), Fifty years of Studies, Studies in East European Thought 63 (1), 2011.

Abstract

In the course of his collaboration with GAKhN, whose task was to create a systemic "scientific' theory of art, Losev undertook a systematic interpretation of German classical aesthetics as the historical presupposition for his own Christian, Platonist doctrine of art conceived as a dialectical universe comprising totalizing connections at all levels. This interpretation was concealed in a masterful way within the "Commentaries' to Dialektika khudožestvennoj formy. Independently of the significant results achieved by this revival of the classical tradition, Losev's mythologized theory of art called forth a critical reaction on the part of his GAKhN colleagues and brought to light some of the broader theoretical attitudes present among GAKhN's collaborators.

Cited authors

Plato

Losev Aleksei