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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.65.05.1
How to Cite:
Mykulanynets, L., Zhyshkovych, M., Bassa, O., & Ksondzyk, O. (2023). The artist’s biography in the postmodernism
epoch. Amazonia Investiga, 12(65), 10-19. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.65.05.1
The artist’s biography in the postmodernism epoch
Біографія митця в епоху постмодернізму
Received: March 27, 2023 Accepted: May 26, 2023
Written by:
Lesia Mykulanynets1
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6346-6532
https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/CAH-2772-2022
Myroslava Zhyshkovych2
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3432-2641
Oksana Bassa3
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2158-2516
Olena Ksondzyk4
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-3266
Abstract
The objective of the article is to analyze the
genesis and age transformation of the artist’s
biography; to distinguish the role of a creative
personality’s chronicle in the late 21st century; to
justify its significant role implementing the
anthropological concepts of the period. Research
methodology: systemic – by comprehensive
solution of the research issues with the
involvement of science and methodological
elaborations of humanitarian study; culture
studies – by identifying the mutual relations
between public and spiritual processes; historical
– by the grasp of the specifics of the chronicle’s
establishment and development; comparative –
by comparing the biographies of various
centuries; analytical – by considering sources in
accordance with the publication issue; theoretical
generalization – by summarizing the research
results. The article is dedicated to considering the
artist’s biography of the Postmodernism epoch.
The Postmodernism synthesized elaborations of
the preceding eras and on that basis altered the
established views on the chronicle’s essence. The
genre obtains new functions, i.e. communicative,
civilizational, synergetic, etc.; it reveals the era’s
controversies having occurred due to the lack of
moral ideals, ethics and aesthetics canons and
personified leaders. The key task of the
biography is realizing the macrocosm structure
1
PhD in Arts, Associate professor of preschool and special education department of Mukachevo State University, Mukachevo,
Ukraine.
2
PhD in Arts, Professor, Head of Department Solo singing, Lviv M. Lysenko National Music Academy, Lviv, Ukraine.
3
PhD in Arts, Associate professor, Head of Department of PianoAccompaniment, Lviv M. Lysenko National Music Academy, Lviv,
Ukraine.
4
Senior lecturer of Department of of Piano Accompaniment, Lviv M. Lysenko National Music Academy, Lviv, Ukraine.
Mykulanynets, L., Zhyshkovych, M., Bassa, O., Ksondzyk, O. / Volume 12 - Issue 65: 10-19 / May, 2023
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through recognizing the microcosm of a non-
ordinary profile.
Key words: biography, master, the
Postmodernism, historical epochs, European
culture.
Introduction
The 21st century was marked by transformation
of nearly all the spheres of an individual’s vital
activity. The society encountered humanistic
issues focused on preserving the European
civilization’s identity, confirming its
elaborations; solving complicated
anthropocentric requirements; seeking the
further pathways of homo sapiens. One of the
solutions of the aforementioned problems is the
involvement into cooperative spiritual
recollections, individual achievements of unique
profiles having identified the social evolution
vector by their vital creativity. Within this
context, it is important to study and to interpret
the master’s chronicle, i.e. the genre capturing a
personality’s ontology given through the prism
of historical events and the key concepts of the
era.
Within the development of biography studies,
researchers distinguish the epochs
chronologically coinciding with the cycles of
human development Various ideas, public
requirements implemented via personified texts
illustrate social structure and individual concerns
embarrassing the world’s community at a certain
stage of being. The analysis of global
biographical science background demonstrates
the ratio of miscellaneous factors, such as the
following: describing a prominent person’s being
and the grasp of their philosophy; reflecting the
paradigmatic basics of the century;
implementation of their postulates in artistic
opuses; reflection of cultural heritage of the
preceding historical epochs.
The new challenges of the 21st century update the
study of the Postmodernism master’s chronicle,
as the beliefs of the abovementioned era have
become the foundation of shaping the
contemporary civilization period. Nowadays,
scholars research diverse sense and disciplinary
aspects of its structuring and entity in order to
obtain epochal experience contributing to solving
current philanthropic questions.
The objective of the article is to analyze the
genesis and age transformation of the artist’s
biography and to reveal its functions in the
course of interpreting anthropological ideas of a
certain epoch; to distinguish the role of a creative
personality’s chronicle in the late 21st century; to
justify its significant role implementing the
anthropological concepts of the period.
Literature review
Contemporary European view captures a burst of
personified research. Ukrainian scholars
accomplish their studies within the context of
forefront global tendencies. Thus, national
biographic study investigates multifaceted
dimensions of the chronicle discourse. The
creative aspect of the genre was observed by
V. Bondarchuk (2017), V. Datsenko (2021),
V. Klymychuk & Moisiienko Ya.V. (2007),
O. Muratova (2020), L. Mykulanynets (2022a)
and some others; culture study – by
V. Menzhulin (2011), L. Mykulanynets (2015),
O. Popovych (2011), M. Tymoshenko (2020),
S. Tyshko (2019) and some others; literature
study – by Iu. Marinesko (2014), L. Reva (2009),
O. Kharytonenko (2017) and some others; artistic
– by I. Akinshyna (2020), T. Cherkashyna
(2015); scientific – by U. Hrab (2016),
S. Liashko (2013), M. Minakov (2015),
O. Onufriienko (2011) and some others;
intellectual – by V. Andreiev (2011),
V. Vashchenko (2009), V. Levchenko (2016) and
some others.
Understanding the notion of biography acquires
significant importance within the Postmodernism
period. The abovementioned era transformed
nearly all the spheres of human practice, and that
influenced the personality’s chronicle being
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integrated in various fields of humanitarian
knowledge. A. Aleksentseva-Timchenko, &
A. Melnikov (2020) interpret it as a sociological
research tool; N. Dichek (2016) – as a
polyculture dialogue means; O. Ilchenko (2021)
distinguishes the content and the principles of its
implementation in historical and pedagogical
studies; L. Mykulanynets considers the
fundamental Postmodernism categories (2017),
their embodiment within the master’s biography
(2022b), etc.
While summarizing the key ideas of the analyzed
research, it is worth mentioning the following:
nowadays, the existing types of biography were
investigated to a certain extent, as well as its
social functions, interaction with anthropological
genres, etc. However, the master’s chronicle of
the late 20th century alongside with
prognosticating the ways of its further
development require detailed mastering.
Methodology
Systemic – by comprehensive solution of the
research issues with the involvement of science
and methodological elaborations of humanitarian
study; culture studies – by identifying the mutual
relations between public and spiritual processes;
historical – by the grasp of the specifics of the
chronicle’s establishment and development;
comparative – by comparing the biographies of
various centuries; discourse – by revealing the
approaches of recognizing the essence of the
aforementioned genre; biographic – by the
analysis of being of the profiles referring to
certain epochs; analytical – by considering
sources in accordance with the publication issue;
theoretical generalization – by summarizing the
research results.
Results and discussions
Biography is the oldest genre of European
civilization having emerged in the Antiquity
period (approximately in the 5th – 4th centuries
B. C.). Its first patterns did not describe a certain
individual, but they introduced a generalized type
of a personality and revealed their dominating
characteristics. At the stage of chronicle
formation, emphasizing the moral, socially
significant qualities of a character and presenting
the human ideal were specific.
The extended biographical opuses occur within
the Hellenistic period, i.e. narrations containing
information on the profiles of a definite polis. As
usual, they were prominent colonels, monarchs,
artists (poets, philosophers, nomadic singers,
etc.). The feature of such patterns is the lack of
reference to documental sources, as the artworks
demonstrated their authors’ outlooks and
revealed social requirement for an ideal
personality instead of depicting the issue object
reasonably.
The founder of the biography within the
contemporary idea of the definition was an
ancient Greek philosopher, Plutarch. In his work,
“Comparative biographies”, he formulated the
laws of their composition having become a stage
for the European philanthropic tradition; i.e. the
description contained the data concerning the
individual’s origin, their family members; the
youth years, life stages and death were being
analyzed. The key methodological principle is
the reflection of the profile’s essence, the spirit
of the time, realizing the actions aimed at serving
the public well-being and not personal interests.
The following generations of the philosophers of
the era perfected the humanistic basics of the
chronicles. The latter has established itself as an
autonomous historical and literature genre. It is
characterized by the following: the synthesis of
the artistic portrayal of the profile and the
authenticity of material supply; integration of
ontological events in the general sociocultural
framework of a certain polis. The ideal of the
chronicle implemented via chronicles was
manifested by the subject being in harmony with
the macrocosm and their personal inner world,
fair, virtuous and free. The aforementioned
features illustrate the philanthropic basics of the
epoch and capture the author’s grasp of the
narration by means of literature, rhetoric and
philosophy laws.
This is the way serious awareness of biography,
interpreting it as a phenomenon able to represent
cultural temporal features are accomplished, and
these happen through a prominent person’s being
(the chronicle object), and the narrator who
demonstrates the key concepts of the century
through the prism of personal outlook, theoretic
postulates of the philosophical school he used to
belong to. The fact of chronicle characters being
the representatives of artistic elite enables
justification of the emergence of the artistic type
of the genre under consideration. The established
laws of the chronicle will be fundamental for
European civilization.
In the Middle Ages, spiritual and social trends
that transformed individual chronicles altered.
Theocentricism is known as the key outlook
principle of the era, while achieving spiritual
immortality is the ideal of a person’s existence in
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this world. Religious canons and dogmas define
the life system of those times’ humans. The
history of a personality demonstrates
philanthropic and Christian positions. They are
exposed to distinct laws: the author gives data
referring to the character’s birth, their parents;
depicts both childhood and youth period;
accentuates focus on the maturity stage of life (as
the transition to holiness has occurred at that
moment, the paradigm of existence is being
confirmed), blissful death and resurrection of
those appealing to help after the completion of
earthly path of a God’s saint.
The medium aevum postulates have intensified
the development of hagiography and altered the
chronicle content. The latter is based on
Christianity positions. Their profiles are saints,
monks and monarchs whose practice complies
with religious dogmas and demonstrates the
implementation of earthly purpose. The
characters’ images are rendered in an idealized
way, their moral perfection, and refusal from
comfort and bodily satisfaction for the sake of
eternity. The anthropological icon of the era is
the perfection through unitedness with God. The
chronicles not only manifest the opportunity of
implementing those basics, but also suggest
definite ways of achieving them.
The master’s biography within the era nearly
fades. This is connected with the anonymity of
artistic creativity (God is considered as the author
of the opuses, while the person’s mission is just
fixing them. Thus, there is lack of social
requirement of declaring the master’s ontology
and archiving the spiritual experience of a
significant church (less frequently, political)
scholar.
The Renaissance changes the world outlook
framework of European civilization. As during
the Antiquity times, the center of the Universe is
a human again; however, the Middle Ages
heritage broadens understanding of their essence,
earthly purpose and transcendental mission.
Humanism is confirmed as the key philosophic
postulate, while the ideal of the era is a universal
profile able of self-fulfillment within various
creativity manifestations. For the first time ever
in homo sapiens history, the artist occurs in the
forefront of social life, the former being the
measure of everything, the embodiment of
nobility, divine principle, pure soul, beautiful
body and the fighter for justice.
The new ideal of a personality changes its shape
and the content fulfillment of the biography. It
depicts both the appearance and the character
type. It complied with the ideals of studia
humanitis. Philanthropic works of the
aforementioned time raise the issues related to
the destiny of a certain subject. An example of
constructing such chronicles are ancient Greek
and Roman patterns being not copied, but
rendered through the writers’ reflections.
Giorgio Vasari's treatise, "The Biographies of the
Most Glorious Painters, Sculptors and
Architects" is a significant artwork and a kind of
the Renaissance personality studies culmination.
While using Plutarch's treatise as a pattern, a
philosopher formulates a unique method of
structuring the master’s chronicles being based
on thorough characteristics of the creative
manner, individual artistic style and art studies
analysis of the elaborations. It is possible to
confirm the following: within the individual
history of the master, his practical activity is
being accentuated. That is the way of the author
explicating an opus as a biography component.
The abovementioned postulate will obtain
relevance during the following epochs.
Thus, the Renaissance is represented by a large
number of chronicle patterns. Their target is
rendering a crucial, non-typical personal profile.
Material descriptions used to comprise the issue
of self-education (the grasp of philosophers’,
theologians’ theses, poetic texts by contemporary
writers) and justified the following view: an
individual evolves via making their own effort.
The era under consideration reveals a valuable
understanding of creativity practice. The
masters’ biographies start emerging, their
authors (G. Vasari, Karel van Mander, Joachim
von Sandrart, L. de Lanzi) identify the demiurge
and their technique, accentuate a unique
giftedness of the characters, notify the
significance of rendering the anthropological and
historical dimensions of the epoch.
The 17th – 18th centuries are the ongoing stage of
cultural transformation caused by scientific
revolution. Social disturbances and a boost of
science development presupposed the production
of a new type of personality - strong, free,
controversial and able of taking responsibility for
themselves and other people. A leader becomes a
character who thinks beyond the standard, the
one who is noble and capable to sacrifice for the
sake of others’ welfare.
The change of spiritual trends has determined the
specifics of constructing the artist's biography.
The latter reflects the world outlook and religious
discussions, as well as spiritual unrest of the era.
Certain dogmas of the genre are being canonized,
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i.e. the philosophers’ interest is focused from
social life facts to revealing the person’s
existence (although the public circumstances
serve as the background for unfolding the
character's ontology). While writing a text,
documentary references (critically analyzed) are
being involved; focus is given to various details
of the subject's profile. They render practical
motivation, the author's conclusions being based
on the data repeatedly reviewed and researched.
Chronicle writers aspire after realizing the inner
being, although the characters are still quite static
and idealized. A significant role is referred to
sensuality, expressiveness, metaphors, symbols,
and antitheses being used.
The Enlightenment, on the one hand,
summarized a significant period of personality
studies evolution from the antiquity to
contemporary era and identified the research
vectors; on the other hand, the scholars of the
period used their theses to lay the foundations for
its establishment as a scientific trend able of
interpreting the master’s elaborations, their daily
routines and concerns.
The 19th century is the upheaval of biography
studies presupposed by the Romanticism ideals.
The human and their intimate concerns are the
center of the world system. Transference of an
artistic personality into the historical focus
contributes to recognizing the chronicles as a
means of era cognition. The artist is being
interpreted as a spiritual leader of the society;
they fascinate with their extraordinary,
complicated and dramatic nature.
The new ideological trends of European culture
presupposed the fact of philosophers, researchers
and artists having rendered the human inner
world, the revelation of the unique, non-typical
and mysterious as the center of their research.
The awareness of the importance of the master’s
representation, focus on their psychology,
understanding the conflict between an individual
and the society, as well as interpreting the
Romanticism postulates had a significant impact
on the master’s biography.
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, who determined
the ways of personality studies progress,
appeared the central profile of the era. He was the
pioneer in suggesting the definition of
"biographical method", the content of which is
the following: in order to understand an artistic
opus, one should thoroughly study the master’s
daily routines, the range of communication,
habits, epochal circumstances, etc. According to
the philosopher, a thesis is a straightforward
reflection of its author. The suggested postulates
contributed to increasing the scientific level of
the genre, the latter treated as identical with the
master’s profile.
In the 19th century, distinct canons of chronicle
structuring were established, and the scholars of
the subsequent periods (up to nowadays) rely on
them. Among the key ones, we notify the
following: the chronicle canvas of a person's
existence is built on a detailed analysis of various
references, the contemporaries’ recollections;
great focus is given to the reflection of daily
routine; the data concerning the character’s
environs are involved in the biographical
discourse, information from the respondents
possessing high moral and ethical qualities is
integrated; the master is treated as history creator
whose practice is significant for a comprehensive
retrospection of homo sapiens ontology.
The founder of Ukrainian personality studies,
A. Valevskyi, in his thorough thesis
"Fundamentals of Biography" confirmed the
following: "biographies of the 18th – 19th
centuries are characterized by a presumption of
specular nature, which predetermined the
confidence in the absence of any transformations
or destructions within space and temporal, value-
oriented and semantic dimensions of
individuality in the course of its textual
presentations; it also demonstrates aspiring after
presenting, outlining the nomenclature of
reasoning (the environs and life circumstances)
and, via tracing, capturing the reflection of the
assumed causes on their consequences (the
character’s actions, thoughts and behavior), thus
constituting the explanation procedure"
(Valevskyi, 1993, p. 55). Therefore, the
chronicles of outstanding profiles of the
aforementioned period illustrate an innovative
understanding of human nature, implement the
philanthropic characteristics of the era, aspire
after revealing the character’s features to a full
and reasonable maximum extent and depict them
as active participants of civilizational events, etc.
The early 20th century is the Modernism epoch.
It is characterized by a public and scientific
crisis, reorientation of all the spheres of human
existence, which appeared the result of the
experienced world wars, a number of revolutions
in the leading European countries. The reaction
to the philanthropic challenges of the era was an
active evolvement of humanitarian studies
(psychology, cultural studies, philosophy,
history, sociology, etc.). It resulted in the
following: seeking new methods of personality
cognition; awareness of personality studies via
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meta-anthropology; revealing fundamental
points for understanding the subject (care,
responsibility, life, energy, etc.); the protest
against permanent aesthetic canons having
demonstrated their ineffectiveness.
The biography obtains significant popularity as
the most required genre. The ideals of the century
influenced individual’s daily life arrangement.
Various biographical research schools emerge –
psycho-biographical (based on the impact of
Z. Freud’s views), historical (Lytton Strachey),
hermeneutic (Wilhelm Dilthey), popular science,
etc. Multifaceted genre types are being
distinguished, i.e. historical, fiction, scientific,
"new", artistic, etc. Their methodological
approaches differ, but they have some common
characteristics: interest in the character’s inner
world, activity motives, creativity
manifestations, aspiring after objectivity,
reliance on the experience and the predecessors’
achievements, etc. The position of the author
being responsible for the way of representation,
the created image of the profile of the narration
is gradually being confirmed.
During the abovementioned period, philosophers
study both theoretical and historical aspects of
the master’s chronicle, as well as distinguish the
structuring criteria, study the epoch
transformations, which means that the stage of
considering the genre laws emerges. Each
research school manifest their view, but the issue
that unites them is a detailed study of private life
facts, the awareness of the artist's opus as a
biography component.
It is worth notifying that the states with a
totalitarian system promote an idealized type of
biography (its genesis takes its cue from the so-
called English Victorian chronicles of the 19th
century). Its dominant features are the following:
the canonization of the character of the narration,
the disclosure of only positive features of life
creativity (the facts of daily life characterized by
an immoral nature are being suppressed), the
identification of the significant role of a
personality for cultural development, the
reproduction of overall love and piety for the
chronicle’s profile. This approach treats an artist
as a unique individual who is important for the
society, and thus he has no right for mistake.
They are mediators of a perfect system of values,
while their opuses are a reflection of a highly
ethical way of being.
Thus, the Modernism has witnessed the further
progress of personality studies marked by the
emergence of various views on the genre, the
desire to understand its laws, to become aware of
the society’s history through the master’s
ontology and their achievements. Within the
period under consideration, the elaborations of
chronicle researchers of the preceding European
epochs of cultural development are being
synthesized, and on their basis, an innovative
methodological basis is constructed, and this
becomes the foundation for the boost of
biographical studies in the late 20th century.
The late 20th century is the Postmodernism era.
Its emergence was a consequence of the events of
the Second World War experienced by the
humanity, the crisis of humanitarian knowledge,
social consciousness transformation and seeking
innovative forms of rendering the reality. The
anthropocentric paradigm of the abovementioned
period specifically develops the achievements of
the preceding eras (through their synthesis,
collage, quotations, allusions, etc.), and instantly
comes into conflict with them, and, via revealing
controversies, constructs an ideological platform
for the further civilizational progress.
The era awareness, manifesting its holistic
picture is impossible without mastering the
master’s socio-cultural role and their ontology
being profoundly presented within the
chronicles. Existential changes have
presupposed the features of structuring,
perception by the genre recipients and altered the
semantic dominants. The crucial qualities of the
artistic biography are the interdisciplinary issue
(the authors appeal to psychology, sociology,
culture studies, philosophy, literature, and other
sciences) and syncretism (the creative
combination of miscellaneous humanitarian
knowledge suggests a new interpretation of
individual chronicles).
The integration of the achievements of
psychology contributes to the study of
personality behavior mechanisms, revealing the
specifics of shaping and evolving the talent, key
events analysis, their impact on the master’s
further daily life. Such vision enables to realize
architectonically the ongoing continuity of the
individual’s creative self-expression. The
involvement of sociological elaborations
contributes to understanding the personality’s
public position and their role in the course of
social processes (reviewing them via opuses), the
intersubjective phenomena transference. The
master exists within a certain epoch, the events
of which predetermine the world outlook,
actions, the creativity issue, etc. Therefore, the
involvement of historical achievements enhances
the reproduction of individual and corporate
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existence chronotope. The fact of the master
being an active demiurge of spiritual vicissitudes
requires introducing a culture studies approach,
where the biography object is the master’s life,
while the subject is the civilizational vertical
supplying it with ideological significance.
Philosophical postulates clarify the individual’s
ideological views; impart the genre with poly-
variability, ambiguity and uncertainty. The
chronicles are characterized by a verbal
embodiment. In the late 20th century, scholars
involved fiction, thus combining scientific
accuracy and reliability with non-ordinary
epistolary presentation.
The Postmodernism biographies exist in two
forms: the idealized one (which made a large-
scale statement in the Modernism), and the
innovative one having reflected the era’s
controversies. The latter is characterized by the
character’s dialectical portrayal, i.e.: the positive
and negative sides of their being are being
displayed with relative authorial neutrality (the
researcher gives no moral assessment of the
master’s actions and beliefs, stands for no
position of theirs, but just tries to manifest the
existence facts objectively); significant focus is
referred to intimate life, flagrant and outrageous
actions, with occasional offensive language
occurrence (high pathos is being removed in
order to depict the character as an ordinary
person, an imperfect world citizen).
Alongside with scientists, journalists, historians,
and publicists often become the master’s
chroniclers, and this affects the style and the
essential parameters of the genre. They saturate
it with the material presentation canons being
common within their field, as well as suggest a
demiurge’s non-traditional image targeted at
overwhelming and active debate. Provoking a
negative reaction is a constituent of the
Postmodernism world outlook basics, as within
the periods of neglect any reaction is precious.
However, it is worth notifying that such genre
forms are mostly inappropriate for academic art
studies representatives who deny the relevance of
interfering with the individual’s private domain.
They consider the opuses as the ones offered to
the society by the master for further discussion,
while personal life is not a public issue.
The biographies of the late 20th century
occasionally contain inaccurate data lacking a
justification for key statements; the author may
deliberately render controversial information,
unreasonably deny the established views and
authoritative opinions. The interpreters compare
antagonistic explications of the same event,
involve the quotes of persons being unfamiliar
with the profile of the biography, integrate the
journalistic investigations outcomes, etc. This
strategy forces the recipient not to perceive the
narrator as a mediator of the only precise image
of the character (removes the authority, provokes
doubt the solution of which demands intensive
research work), but to retransfer autonomously
the master's ontology out of the suggested data,
in a format convenient for them. As a result, an
infinite number of the same master’s chronicles
can be structured, and none of them claims to be
complete or reliable.
The phenomenon under consideration reflects the
Postmodernism cultural strategy, where
subjective research of the character’s life,
opinion pluralism, differentiating various
concepts, meanings, ironic treatment of any
information, etc. are important. The profile of the
explicator, on the one hand, becomes significant
and quite visible (in contrast to the preceding
eras, when the authors were trying to minimize
their presence in personalized texts to a
maximum extent). They reconsider (sometimes
deliberately) the individual’s qualities, their
concerns under certain circumstances and build
public relationship. On the other hand, the
narrator is not taken seriously, as they aspire after
no objectivity. Seeking a non-conventional
vision of a significant person is vital in their
creations.
Thus, we can observe the coexistence of
subjective and objective beginnings within the
master’s chronicles. The former is based on the
author's viewpoint. Alongside with the biography
character, the scholar’s world outlook is also
reflected, the features of autobiography
emerging. The latter presupposes rendering the
person's life story and other people's beliefs.
Nevertheless, it should be notified that
biographies project to a certain extent the key
philosophical ideas of the subject producing
them.
The Postmodernism biography performs
innovative functions. Until nowadays its key role
was the restoring the master's ontology, while
during the aforementioned period it reveals
unfamiliar facets and social roles. Implementing
communication between the master and the
public, the researcher and the artist appears to be
the leading one. While structuring the chronicle,
the author embodies universal cultural categories
(encoded within opuses, chronicle messages)
being relevant for various generations of
recipients. When decoding them under the new
epochal conditions, the individual interprets
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definite information about the character (the life
stages, artistic contacts, theses premieres, etc.),
their era (historical, public debates, creativity
canons dominance, etc.), receives "messages"
suggesting answers to contemporary issues.
Within this framework, the biography illustrates
freedom from social, age, territorial, religious
and other restrictions, enables communication
between people of various ages and engages in
the civilizational processes of the preceding
periods.
The Postmodernism epoch is the period of
creating and popularizing various myths
performing the entertainment and psychological
relaxation functions for the public. Nowadays,
the phenomenon under consideration has
integrated into nearly all the human activity
spheres, such as art, science, politics, and
synthesized with them. Myths creation as a
component of the master’s chronicle is an
expression of typical characteristics of not only
an individual’s philosophy, but also of the socio-
historical circumstances of their being.
Biographical myth is a certain profile elaborated
due to the contemporaries’ imagination and
repeatedly modified, decoded, retransferred
through the established ideals, beliefs and
philosophy of a specific epoch. Their founder
and mediator is the character (consciously - by
spreading certain personal legends, or
unconsciously - through the figurative, poetic,
verbal and sound semantic symbols of their own
masterpieces), the society, researchers and
"product consumers" of their activity.
The biography plays a significant role during the
Postmodernism epoch. It transfers not only the
chronology of the life of a non-ordinary, iconic
profile, but also "depicts" a portrait of the era and
illustrates the key anthropological challenges of
the period. The importance of the genre is also
explained by the fact of its integration in nearly
all the spheres of scientific knowledge and rising
up to the level of explaining multifaceted
philanthropic questions. Due to popular ideas,
raised issues, suggested accentuations, the
recipient learns to interpret the heritage of the
preceding centuries, to follow the evolution of
views on the personality, to obtain awareness of
solving complicated individual and civilizational
controversies.
The conducted research enables to manifest the
following: biography is one of the most
remarkable humanitarian studies genres
highlighting the specifics of representing an
individual both in history and in spiritual culture.
During each epoch, chronicles are specifically
explicated in accordance with the key
anthropological postulates, social requirements,
world outlook, dominant artistic methods and
forms, moral and aesthetic views of the author.
The Postmodernism version of the artist's
chronicles, on the one hand, synthesizes and
succeeds in evolving personality studies
elaborations from the antiquity up to the late 20th
century, and, on the other hand, it cardinally
changes the vision of the genre and its characters
by updating the methodology via
interdisciplinary approach, providing innovative
ideas and functions, thus reflecting the epoch’s
controversies.
Conclusions
The genesis of European chronicles emerged
during the Antiquity period, when it was
considered the re-transmitter of significant time
dominants. The descriptions of entity reflect an
ideal personality reaching consonance of the
intellectual, the mental and the bodily. The
Middle Ages chronicles illustrate Christ-
centricity, their characters being monks and
saints. Through their earthly existence, they
implemented eternal blessedness and spiritual
immortality. The Renaissance explicates the
center of the Universe as a creative individual
combining the moral and physical perfection. By
constructing the chronicle, the authors of those
days characterized the individuals’ opuses
alongside with the specifics of the artistic style.
The Enlightenment declares the value of the
rational type of a person being able to take
responsibility of both themselves and the society.
The master is idealized occurring strong, full of
controversy and able to sacrifice for the sake of
public well-being. The Romanticism declared the
master’s inner being as the focus of philosophical
search. Biography studies are confirmed as an
autonomous scientific trend, and the laws of
structuring the master’s ontology are elaborated.
The Modernism enhances the philosophical
constituent of an individual’s story, supplies it
with documental reliability and enriches it with
humanitarian science discoveries. The
Postmodernism synthesized elaborations of the
preceding eras and on that basis altered the
established views on the chronicle’s essence. The
philosophers of the century aspire after including
the character into linear history and explicating
them as the medium of universal ontological
senses, codes and some others. The genre obtains
new functions, i.e. communicative,
civilizational, synergetic, etc.; it reveals the era’s
controversies having occurred due to the lack of
moral ideals, ethics and aesthetics canons and
personified leaders. The key task of the
18
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biography is realizing the macrocosm structure
through recognizing the microcosm of a non-
ordinary profile.
The article under consideration reveals
perspectives for further research of the artist's
biography. The studies dedicated to the existence
of the genre in the 21st century, identifying its
most typical characteristics and recognizing
civilizational functions through the grasp of the
leading European masters’ life creativity appear
relevant.
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