North Caucasus problems of Russian-European orientalism of late 18 - early 20 centuries: genesis, structure, semantics in the aspect of the history of regional artistic culture

The question of the genesis of Russian orientalism can’t be considered out of historical context of Russian statehood in Modern age. The subject of study is meant among such concepts and phenomena as rossika, Bysantinism, education project. This fact allows to see the specifity of tasks and functions of the art in the interrelation with aesthetic and artistic, political, historic and cultural processes of the time.Attention to the North Caucasus topic in the art of the end of XVIII century arises indirectly because of research tasks, which are closely related with political pretensions of the empire on the possession of the territories.The specific of the orientalism is determined by its object and optics, which serves as the conscious attitude, ideology. This ideology defines an observer’s position in respect of the object. At the same time, when you try to define an exact of what or who is the subject of attention in the explication process of orientalism, you can see the transition of the sense, because the perception and the image of the other are the content of an observer’s consciousness. They largely detect themselves in it, which is especially true for reflective attitude of Romanticism.The ethnography stands out in the species and genre-thematic structure of the considered artistic phenomenon. It is provided in the register of graphics and paintings from typical-costume genre, life-description genre, views of natural landscape to the expression of ethnotypology and ethnosocial processes. Besides the ethnography there is pictorial chronicle of journalistic trend, which is focused on the fixing of strategic facilities, military scenes, official meetings. North Caucasus topic is presented in the next genres of painting: landscape, portrait, historical and battle painting, panoramic art. Genre composition of Caucasian motive was spread in indoor sculpture, there were also created figurative and typological portraits of the highlanders.