How to find your individual style? How an individual image is born and who can be considered stylish - Elena Trukhina rules how to and how not to wear things with a national character.

You can listen to what Lyubov Mikhailovna says endlessly, and now you can endlessly re-read it. Outlined the first lecture of the course “I am a creator”. I want to say that immersion in the material and awareness of what you hear is qualitatively different after the work done.
I really hope that soon it will be possible to get acquainted with the methodology of Lyubov Mikhailovna in her published books, the publication of which she spoke at the preparatory classes. In the meantime, for myself and, I hope, for my associates, I am posting a hint - a method of multi-stage deep perception of works of art and the surrounding world, the authorship of which belongs entirely to the incomparable Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova http://popova-art.livejournal.com/ :

The first is careful, focused consideration. to capture the nuance. Don't think, but see.

The second is an attempt to respond with the body. Not on the structure, at least on individual elements of the structure: lines (linear or picturesque structure), color spots / color / contrast, texture / surface character, rhythms. One cannot learn to respond to the structure, it is too complex and invisible, its perception is always intuitive. But this skill can be formed as a result of systemic experience of perception of individual elements of structures.

Third - an attempt to capture the feeling. A feeling that should be tied up inside as a result of a bodily response.

Fourth - you need to name this feeling. We need to find a word. Moreover, the word must be nuanced, the word must express exactly this feeling, this very shade of feeling. And for this you need to have a rich vocabulary. Thought is expressed only in words.

Correctly asked questions can help in the multi-stage process of perception:
What structure elements do I see?
a) line (solid or fractional? nervous or calm? tender or passionate? energetic or sluggish? rocaille or baroque? flexible?). Remember that the nature of the line depends on the nature of the movement of the artist's hand, which in turn depends on the state of the artist's body, the nature of his sensual experience at that moment.
b) color spot (rigidly outlined, graphic or with soft transitions, picturesque? colors are warm or cold?) / color (built on similarity or contrast? If on contrast, is the contrast hard or soft? Remember that a color spot does not exist by itself , but only surrounded by other color spots) Remember that the nature of the stroke depends on the consistency of the paint (liquid or thick, with or without solvent), on the brush (on its size, on the stiffness / softness of the bristles)
c) surface texture
d) composition (where is the center of the composition)? Proportions?
e) rhythms (horizontal or vertical? latent rhythms or explicit rhythms?)

What happens to the body when I see the individual elements of the structure?
a) What about the spine? (Straightens or curls?)
b) What about breathing? (Is the breath deep or shallow? Confused rhythm - a tense rhythm or a measured rhythm? Inhalation-exhalation is sharp or soft? Long or short? Ragged or calm breathing?)
c) What about the muscles? (are they twitching? are they tense? are they swelling because the blood is rushing?)
d) What about blood flow? (is there a lot of blood pulsing in the body? or is the pulsation subtle and imperceptible?)
e) What about the bones?
e) What about the tendons?

What feeling is born inside? What emotion?

Techniques that can help you perceive a work of art:
- Find yourself inside the considered work of the picture.

Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova, Candidate of Art History,
author of the method of development of creative abilities.

Hello!

My name is Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova.

Reading courses on the history of fine arts in higher educational institutions, I tried to find answers to important questions for me: how to teach to perceive art, and not be limited to ready-made art history formulas? how to help students move away from superficial judgments about works of art and teach them to respond to the feeling, emotion, thought embedded in the work by the artist?

Opening the way for my students to a deep appreciation of art gave me true joy. At some point, I realized that by teaching this, I was essentially teaching creativity, because the questions I was trying to answer were related to its inner nature. Working with students, I was convinced that my teaching methods not only open the works of famous artists for them, but also expand their own creative abilities, take them to a new level of artistic activity. I came to the conclusion that creative activity is subject to certain patterns. This is how the training program and the method of developing creative abilities were conceptualized, which formed the basis of the educational process of my Studio.

I was born in the city of Armavir, Krasnodar Territory. In 1979 she graduated from the Department of Art History of the Faculty of History of Leningrad University. Petersburg gave me not only myself, but also a meeting with bright monuments of art in its numerous museums, with the treasures of its libraries.

After graduating from the university, I worked as a research assistant-custodian of the funds of the Chernihiv State Architectural and Historical Reserve. My attention was drawn to the Ukrainian folk icon, which at that time was little studied, but which, I am sure, has world artistic significance. The result of my research was the dissertation "People's Icon of the Left-Bank Ukraine of Modern Times", which I defended in 1985.

In Moscow, I worked as a senior researcher at the Research Institute of the Art Industry, went on expeditions to the Volga region, which I loved, where I studied the modern existence of folk art, tried to make a contribution to its revival and preservation.

At the same time, my teaching career began. I taught at the Moscow State Pedagogical University, at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, at Moscow State University, at the Moscow Institute of Technology, at the Institute of Fashion, Design and Technology. She gave training courses (“History of European Fine Art”, “Russian Folk Art”, “Structure of the Artistic Form of a Visual Image”, “Artistic Image in the Fashion of the 20th Century”, “Leading Fashion Houses of the 20th Century”), conducted seminars (“Perception of Fine Art ”, “Biblical plots in Russian and Western European fine arts”).

In the 1990s, another sphere of my interests was formed: I advised a number of leading companies in Moscow on issues of corporate style and image.

But my main business was the Studio for the development of creative abilities.

To be stylish, to express oneself, to find one's "zest" - this is what almost every person is striving for now. How can this be achieved? How to find your unique style? About all this, as well as how to develop a sense of style in yourself, how an individual image is born and who can be considered a stylish person, we talk with a professional in this field - Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova.

How to find your individual style?

When fashion changes so rapidly, and what was bought yesterday becomes unfashionable tomorrow, more and more people come to the conclusion that their own style is more important than fashion. To be stylish, to express oneself, to find one's "zest" - this is what almost every person is striving for now. How can this be achieved? How to find your unique style?

Magazines and books give us tons of style advice. Wear this with this one, and then with that one, choose your colors according to the color type, and styles - according to the table. But for some reason, these generally correct elements do not add up to that stylish image that will distinguish you from the crowd ...

And the thing is that typical advice does not fit well with your unique personality. In order to create your own style from the book, this book should be written just for you! And it was written by a specialist who can not only judge superficially (after reading a couple of books on style, almost everyone can), but can look deeper, see your true essence. And only then, having correlated the internal and external, he will find the key to your style, to your image.

About how to become such a specialist, how an individual image is born and who can be considered a stylish person, we talk with an amazing master - Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova. For many Moscow stylists, image makers and designers, this is a significant name, a symbol of exceptional skill in creating a stylish image, as well as a teacher who revealed their creative abilities and became a guide to the world of art.

So, dear friends, I present to you my interlocutor: Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova- Candidate of Art History, author of the methodology for creating a stylish image, head of the Studio for the Development of Creative Abilities.

Osinka: Lyubov Mikhailovna, individual style is a fashionable category, but rather mysterious. What is a person's style?

Lyubov Mikhailovna: A person's style is an expression of a bright personality. You can't be stylish and not be a bright personality. You can't live a boring, standard life and be stylish. People often live exactly the same as their neighbors, and for some reason they are convinced that with such a life you can be stylish. Style is a natural, organic continuation of the essence of man, and the essence of a bright, unique. Therefore, style seems to sprout from the human core, just as naturally as a swollen grain sprouts in good earth. You can't be stylish on the outside and not stylish on the inside.

Photo. Sophia Loren.

In addition, individual style in external expression is an artistic image. And the artistic image is an internal, immanent feature of a work of art. That is style is always art. Therefore, individual style is a mandatory manifestation of the artistic capabilities of the individual, therefore, it requires certain knowledge in the field of art. It is necessary to realize that style is formed at a certain, rather high, cultural level of a person.

Osinka: Please give examples of stylish people. What makes them stylish?

L. M.: I have selected for you photos of stylish women. Look at the respect with which their difference is given to individuality: the external cold and secret heat of Marlene Dietrich, the trepidation of Audrey Hepburn, the naturalness of Sophia Loren, the free flight of Maya Plisetskaya. Photographers by means of photography managed to make their style manifest, visible.

A classic example of a tragic search for style: I suffered, tried, spent money on clothes, jewelry, furs, and all in vain. She called herself a "hairy potato". There is so much desperation in this! But she passionately loved music, she played the violin herself, read poetry, but she failed to express this inner self in a full-fledged visual image. Why? Lacked artistic skill, artistic taste, sense of style. And here is a meeting with director Sternberg, the film "The Blue Angel". And it becomes not just stylish, but a symbol of style! How did it happen? What and how did Sternberg have to change in a provincial actress?

For me, one of the most striking examples of a stylish person was and remains Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya. In her style there is nothing artificial, superficial, not peculiar to her. Flight and energy are still preserved in her appearance. But this originality of hers did not manifest itself so immediately and so clearly. And this could be said about all our heroes. Look at their photos in their youth. The style, as it were, grew in them as the personality was formed.

What makes people stylish? Their life, their creative attitude to life, their meetings, their environment. These are always bright personalities. They are different, and they appreciate this originality.

It is important to find yourself! This is the beginning of the birth of a person's style. Individual style is always a manifestation of personality and a manifestation of creativity, regardless of the type of activity. I am often asked: can there be stylish people, for example, in business, in politics, or in science? Of course yes! And I have met them in my life. Many of them would probably be surprised if they were called stylish. After all, they hardly thought about style. They lived a vibrant life, and they had enough culture to express themselves appropriately, that is, artistically, outwardly.

Academician V.Ya. Propp, a philologist, author of the famous work "The Morphology of a Fairy Tale", is certainly a stylish person. His life, his brightly characteristic appearance with a sharp beard, a semi-military tablet instead of a briefcase - everything is solid, organic, despite a certain negligence, and, perhaps, thanks to it.

Osinka: Why are there so few stylish people?

L. M.: The reason is that one person does not often combine the originality of personality and knowledge, moreover, practical skills in the field of artistic creativity. Hence the blind imitation. It is blind precisely because a person lacks the culture to understand that this image, although it is fashionable and stylish, may be in itself, but has a very distant relation to it. Often there is no desire to understand yourself. So it turns out that the dress screams about one thing, the lady's face whispers about another, and the bag creaks about a third!

Osinka: Lyubov Mikhailovna, please give examples of obvious stylistic miscalculations?

L. M.: I often see: a girl in high heels, "at the parade", and next to her a young man almost in a tracksuit. I note that modern fashion favors a mixture of different styles, but this requires exceptional skill. This can also be seen at social gatherings. The elegant appearance of a lady is often dissonant with the appearance of her companion: a baggy jacket, a blue-striped shirt.

The pair must be in the same style space. If there is appropriate knowledge, taste, and different stylish images are used, then they should be woven into one story: they seem to cling to each other, like a puzzle, complementing each other and emphasizing something important. and his wife, an actress Vanessa Paradis are always pleasantly surprised. They are not just organic next to each other, but each time it is a new fascinating story, told with a subtle taste and fully consistent with their personality.

Look at the photos of this couple. Please note that Johnny is wearing a tuxedo, but there are not shoes on his feet, as one might expect, but boots with thick soles, and on his head there is a felt hat with a rather high, not at all classic, crown. Johnny, as it were, laughs at himself, over the pretentious tuxedo. And Vanessa is very organic next to him: she resembles a disheveled bird with wet feathers. In her image, Johnny's mockery has turned into a warm smile, and this enhances Vanessa's touchingness.

Here, imagine, I see Vanessa in a classic white dress, straight, without details, of medium length. Suddenly, something happens to Vanessa, something changes in her condition, and the dress begins to flow down in tiers of flounces. And immediately, Johnny responds to this emotion, and his short-cropped hair grows urgently, falling in a careless forelock. Touching, funny and a little sad. Try to mentally comb your forelock: no style, no history.

What is the secret of the fourth image? The classic of Vanessa's black jacket is reflected in Johnny's round glasses, somewhat ridiculous in their extreme conventionality. The images come to life. Such images are not invented. They are seen in the imagination, and are seen already ready.

Osinka: But then, is the style achievable for ordinary people?

L. M.: If we understand by "ordinary" people standard people, then no. If, however, to reveal and preserve its originality, and not to be an automaton, then style can be accessed by everyone. In any case, this is what we should all strive for. Searching for your style means searching for yourself: what do you like, where would you like to work, who would you like to see next to you. And, note that this will not always coincide with conventional wisdom.

Look at the female images of different eras. Art teaches to see and appreciate the diversity of femininity. In Botticelli, this is an image of poetic melancholy. Titian has the luxury of life-affirming sensuality. In the rock image of Fragonard - flirtatious playfulness. The lady with the fan in Velazquez's painting is austerity, dignity and piety.

In the image of Proserpina - tragic sensuality with a touch of barely perceptible poison. Rene Notgaft on Kustodiev's canvas is the embodiment of female intellect. The image of Countess Carpio on the canvas of Francisco Goya, somewhat reminiscent of a fragile insect, remains mysterious and inaccessible. In Gabriel Rossetti's sumptuous Pre-Raphaelite Monnet, the romantic tradition overlapped with echoes, as if memories, of the Baroque: its sensuality is aggressive, and therefore dangerous. They are different. And everyone is wonderful.

Photo. D.G.Rossetti. Monna Vanna.1866.

Art forms a personality, helps to find oneself. And at the same time, it forms the skill of perceiving an artistic image. But a stylish appearance is always an image.

That's why comprehend the art. And remember that knowing the biographies of artists, directors, knowing what baroque and rococo, Italian neorealism is, listing all the surrealists in French literature is important, but this is not yet knowledge of art. After all, these are all facts of artistic culture. Art is an artistic image. And to know art is to be able to comprehend the artistic image. Style is always an image, and an image born in the space of art.

Osinka: What would you advise to start your journey to comprehend art?

L. M.: Refer to the books of Boris Robertovich Vipper ("Introduction to Fine Arts"), Tatyana Valeryanovna Ilyina ("History of Art. Western European Art", "Domestic Art").

BR Vipper is a recognized classic of Russian art history. T.V. Ilyina is a professor at the department of art history at St. Petersburg University. Her books contain basic information on the history of fine arts. In addition, you will find lists of additional literature in them. Popular books by Lev Lyubimov are useful.

And in parallel, be sure to get acquainted with the works of art themselves in museums, at exhibitions, on various trips. There is a lot to see! Choosing illustrations, I tried to ensure that you see how diverse the world of art is, how much it can suggest, wake up in a person. All images on the last page can be enlarged. Take advantage of this.

Now try to perceive, for example, painting "Vase with flowers". Dive into this bouquet. Do not hurry. Respond with feeling to each flower. Look at the heavy peony, the velvety twilight iris, the cool tulip. Feel them. Why is this bouquet so unevenly lit? Do not rush to answer! First, respond with a feeling, and then look for answers.

Maybe you want to see real fresh flowers, and you will see them in a different way, under different lighting and environment? After all, each flower has its own favorite lighting and its own space: timid morning, thickening twilight or a bright day. What flower and what kind of lighting is yours? Where is your family space?

Pay attention to how the works are described in the annotations to the photo: author, title, year of creation, material, size, where it is stored. For example, Andrea Mantegna. Parnassus. 1497. Tempera on canvas. 150x192 cm Louvre. Paris. Such a description of the work is not accidental: it helps to enter the space of art. Pay attention to where the work is stored. Let for someone it will be the beginning of acquaintance with museum collections.

Note that the paintings were painted not only on canvas, but also on wood. And they were not always painted with oil paints, but also with tempera, and using the encaustic technique, that is, with wax paints, when the coloring pigment was diluted in heated wax. Ask yourself if the solvent (wax in encaustic, chicken yolk in tempera, and oil are all solvents) affects the inner meaning of the artistic image, and if so, how and why?

Art helps to see the diversity of the world, its wealth, its inconsistency, its beauty. Your perception is refined, your imagination develops, and gradually, imperceptibly even for yourself, a sense of style is developed.

It is important that you have the opportunity to constantly look through well-published art albums, where the illustrations are adequate to the original. Unfortunately, in many editions, instead of, for example, the mustard color of the original, you see bright lemon, and instead of deep cherry - dirty brown. Therefore, it is important that the items you purchase the books were well published: Illustrations should be crisp, not blurry, and color should match the original. Therefore, I recommend purchasing books from Taschen / Rodnik, AST and Astrel publishing houses, which are distinguished by high quality printing.

Do not forget that education should be systematic: You cannot jump over three steps. First acquire the necessary minimum, with which you can later read and understand Heinrich Wölfflin, move on to more complex issues.

What is style?
- How does the structure of the baroque image differ from the structure of the rock image?
- And what is it - the structure of the artistic image?
- Which fabric pattern will best convey the light, changeable, coquettish, rock movement, and which one is sharp and energetic, baroque?
- What color, that is, the ratio of color spots, should I choose if I want to convey joy in a somewhat impudent, kitsch-baroque spirit?
- Which composition will convey a complex feeling of mixed anxiety and timid joy (which, of course, is more common in the space of romanticism), and which one will convey unshakable confidence and strength (which is closer to the Romanesque style)?

These questions should not be terra incognito for you. You need to avoid wandering in the dark, you need to be able not to reinvent the wheel. But the most important thing: look, touch, listen, feel, in a word - live creatively!

Make the space of art become kindred for you, so that you are welcomed and loved there, so that each color spot tells you its story, and the character of the line reveals hidden secrets. Vermeer of Delphi will teach you to see the beauty of color, Botticelli - to respond to the character of the line, Goya will allow you to see the birth of romanticism. Art will reveal the origins of creativity of the brightest fashion designers of the 20th century - Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Vivienne Westwood.

Osinka:Lyubov Mikhailovna, thank you very much for the informative conversation! What would you wish to the readers of Osinka?

L. M.: Finding your style is fun. You become more mature, more whole, more active. Your life becomes deeper. Therefore, look for yourself, do not retreat in case of failures.

And further. Live in art.
Along the way, you will find your true individual style. And this is the only possible way.

From the editor. On this page you will see a photo series, selected by Lyubov Mikhailovna, where each image can be opened on a separate page in the maximum available size.

To the question of what we are doing here and)) Natasha and I came across this interview on the Internet more than a year ago and at one time we were very hooked. To call it our manifesto would perhaps be too loud, especially since the moped manifesto is not ours. But we agree very much with a lot of things here) For example, with the fact thatthat it's hard to be stylish with an empty head,Whatyou can and should work on your style, that you need to grow up to style ... At least it happened to us - we became interested in style while working on Ph.D. dissertations, and not skipping school, as they sometimes write to us) In general, strongly recommended to everyone who wandered into this community in search of something, and not the wrong door.

And the thing is that typical advice does not fit well with your unique personality. In order to create your own style from the book, this book should be written just for you! And it was written by a specialist who can not only judge superficially (after reading a couple of books on style, almost everyone can), but can look deeper, see your true essence. And only then, having correlated the internal and external, he will find the key to your style, to your image.

About how to become such a specialist, how an individual image is born and who can be considered a stylish person, we talk with an amazing master - Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova. For many Moscow stylists, image makers and designers, this is a significant name, a symbol of exceptional skill in creating a stylish image, as well as a teacher who revealed their creative abilities and became a guide to the world of art.

So, dear friends, I present to you my interlocutor: Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova - Candidate of Art History, author of the methodology for creating a stylish image, head of the Studio for the Development of Creative Abilities.

Osinka: Lyubov Mikhailovna, individual style is a fashionable category, but rather mysterious. What is a person's style?

In addition, individual style in external expression is an artistic image. And the artistic image is an internal, immanent feature of a work of art. That is, style is always art. Therefore, individual style is a mandatory manifestation of the artistic capabilities of the individual, therefore, it requires certain knowledge in the field of art. It is necessary to realize that style is formed at a certain, rather high, cultural level of a person.

Osinka: Give examples of stylish people, please. What makes them stylish?

Marlene Dietrich is a classic example of a tragic search for style: she suffered, tried, spent money on clothes, jewelry, furs, and all in vain. She called herself a "hairy potato". There is so much desperation in this! But she passionately loved music, she played the violin herself, read poetry, but she failed to express this inner self in a full-fledged visual image. Why? Lacked artistic skill, artistic taste, sense of style. And here is a meeting with director Sternberg, the film "The Blue Angel". And it becomes not just stylish, but a symbol of style! How did it happen? What and how did Sternberg have to change in a provincial actress?

For me, one of the most striking examples of a stylish person was and remains Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya. In her style there is nothing artificial, superficial, not peculiar to her. Flight and energy are still preserved in her appearance. But this originality of hers did not manifest itself so immediately and so clearly. And this could be said about all our heroes. Look at their photos in their youth (a selection of photos is below, illustrations 5-8). The style, as it were, grew in them as the personality was formed.

Marlene Dietrich, Maya Plisetskaya

Audrey Hepburn

True style matures gradually, because the issue of individual style is a matter of development!

Osinka: Why are there so few stylish people?

Osinka: Lyubov Mikhailovna, please give examples of obvious stylistic miscalculations?

The pair must be in the same style space. If there is appropriate knowledge, taste, and different stylish images are used, then they should be woven into one story: they seem to cling to each other, like a puzzle, complementing each other and emphasizing something important. Johnny Depp and his wife, actress Vanessa Paradis, are always a pleasant surprise. They are not just organic next to each other, but each time it is a new fascinating story, told with a subtle taste and fully consistent with their personality.

Look at the next photo. Johnny is dressed according to the laws of the classics, and Vanessa, it would seem, is just a tastefully dressed young woman. But there is something in this pair that makes the look stop and the feeling respond. What? And how did it happen?

Osinka: But then, is the style achievable for ordinary people?

L. M.: If we understand by "ordinary" people standard people, then no. If, however, to identify and maintain their originality, and not be an automaton, then the style can be accessible to everyone. In any case, this is what we should all strive for. Searching for your style means searching for yourself: what do you like, where would you like to work, who would you like to see next to you. And, note that this will not always coincide with conventional wisdom.

Osinka: Lyubov Mikhailovna, how do you come to style?

L. M.: Modern man wants to have everything at once. It is important to realize that a truly stylish person is not a mask, but a certain stage in human development. In addition, we must remember that the formation of an individual style is not a craft process, but a creative process: after all, as a result, a one-of-a-kind, inimitable image is formed. Art plays a huge role in this process.

Look at the female images of different eras (see the photo row below: ill. 13-20). Art teaches to see and appreciate the diversity of femininity. In Botticelli, this is an image of poetic melancholy. Titian has the luxury of life-affirming sensuality. In the rock image of Fragonard - flirtatious playfulness. The lady with the fan in Velazquez's painting is austerity, dignity and piety.

Art forms a personality, helps to find oneself. And at the same time, it forms the skill of perceiving an artistic image. But a stylish appearance is always an image.

Therefore, comprehend the art. And remember that knowing the biographies of artists, directors, knowing what baroque and rococo, Italian neorealism is, listing all the surrealists in French literature is important, but this is not yet knowledge of art. After all, these are all facts of artistic culture. Art is an artistic image. And to know art is to be able to comprehend the artistic image. Style is always an image, and an image born in the space of art.

Osinka: What would you advise to start your journey to comprehend art?

L. M.: Refer to the books of Boris Robertovich Vipper ("Introduction to Fine Arts"), Tatyana Valeryanovna Ilyina ("Art History. Western European Art", "Domestic Art").

And in parallel, be sure to get acquainted with the works of art themselves in museums, at exhibitions, on various trips. There is a lot to see! Choosing illustrations (see the photo series at the end of the publication: ill. 21-52), I tried to ensure that you see how diverse the world of art is, how much it can suggest, wake up in a person. All images on the last page can be enlarged. Take advantage of this.

And now try to perceive, for example, the painting "Vase of Flowers" (ill. 25, photo on the right). Dive into this bouquet. Do not hurry. Respond with feeling to each flower. Look at the heavy peony, the velvety twilight iris, the cool tulip. Feel them. Why is this bouquet so unevenly lit? Do not rush to answer! First, respond with a feeling, and then look for answers.

Pay attention to how the works are described in the annotations to the photo: author, title, year of creation, material, size, where it is stored. For example, ill. 28: Andrea Mantegna. Parnassus. 1497. Tempera on canvas. 150x192 cm Louvre. Paris. Such a description of the work is not accidental: it helps to enter the space of art. Pay attention to where the work is stored. Let for someone it will be the beginning of acquaintance with museum collections.

Art helps to see the diversity of the world, its richness, its inconsistency, its beauty. Your perception is refined, your imagination develops, and gradually, imperceptibly even for yourself, a sense of style is developed.

It is important that you have the opportunity to constantly look through well-published art albums, where the illustrations are adequate to the original. Unfortunately, in many editions, instead of, for example, the mustard color of the original, you see bright lemon, and instead of deep cherry - dirty brown. Therefore, it is important that the books you purchase are well-published: the illustrations must be clear, not blurry, and the color must match the original. Therefore, I recommend purchasing books from Taschen / Rodnik, AST and Astrel publishing houses, which are distinguished by high quality printing.

Do not forget that education must be systematic: you cannot jump over three steps. First acquire the necessary minimum, with which you can later read and understand Heinrich Wölfflin, move on to more complex issues.

* What is style?
* How does the structure of the baroque image differ from the structure of the rock image?
* And what is it - the structure of the artistic image?
* Which fabric pattern will best convey the light, changeable, coquettish, rock movement, and which one is sharp and energetic, baroque?
* What color, that is, the ratio of color spots, should I choose if I want to convey joy in a somewhat impudent, kitsch-baroque spirit?
* Which composition will convey a complex feeling of mixed anxiety and timid joy (which, of course, is more common in the space of romanticism), and which one will convey unshakable confidence and strength (which is closer to the Romanesque style)?

These questions should not be terra incognita for you. You need to avoid wandering in the dark, you need to be able not to reinvent the wheel. But the most important thing: look, touch, listen, feel, in a word - live creatively!

Osinka: Lyubov Mikhailovna, thank you very much for the informative conversation! What would you wish to the readers of Osinka?

L. M.: Finding your style is fun. You become more mature, more whole, more active. Your life becomes deeper. Therefore, look for yourself, do not retreat in case of failures.

And further. Live in art.
Along the way, you will find your true individual style. And this is the only possible way.
***

I have an absolutely amazing friend - Lyubov Mikhailovna Popova. Of course, I call her Lyubochka, but this is only between us girls. For everyone else, she is only Lyubov Mikhailovna, moreover, she is usually pronounced with awe and respect, bordering on adoration. Such love among students for Lyubov Mikhailovna arose from the fact that her lectures, and teaching in general, are at an incredible intellectual level. The School of Style founded by her is a child of great love and understanding of everything that is invested in the concept of "style". I did not study with Lyubov Mikhailovna, but I attended her lectures, where I was amazed not only by her knowledge and logical following of the artist's style, but also by the artistry with which she lectures.
You know, it happens that you give to a person without getting anything in return? Lyuba and I always have only mutual contact: she inspires me with her reasoning, I share my conclusions.
Here I post "for starters" a piece of the most beautiful post by L.M. Popova, published in the community of her School.

"Master Class. Transformation as a way to style

The stylist creates worlds. And therefore it is somewhere there, next to God.
It is clear that it is impossible to get there of your own free will.
That is why I perceive the professional skills of a stylist as a GIFT.
But a gift that is not given to everyone. This is a gift for a passion for art.

I decided to post some of the materials of my training courses.
Today we will talk about transformation as the only possible way to a stylish look.

Training a stylist, no matter what area he works in (stylish interior, photography, individual image of a person), requires an obligatory comprehension (comprehension, and not just knowledge) of great historical styles.
Firstly, it is a support in the work of a professional: there is no need to reinvent the wheel. And secondly, in the process of learning, a FEELING OF STYLE is developed, without which there is no stylist.
Large historical styles are classics, baroque, rococo, classicism, romanticism, religious and symbolic style direction. They were called large because they most often cover all or the most characteristic types of art for a given period.

When you get acquainted with the work of artists of certain styles, you get the impression that they lived on different planets. So in the Baroque era, the world was rich in natural gifts: the shops were bursting with various living creatures, and the interiors were buried in flowers. The sheer size of many Baroque architectural structures suggests that Baroque people enjoyed spending time in public filling these colossal spaces. The women were notable for their bodily splendor, and the men, although rude, were remarkably healthy. Getting into the baroque world, you seem to be infected with energy, a somewhat rough cheerfulness: you push, passionately squeeze in your arms, cuddle with your magnificent breasts and laugh out loud.