The Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns and the Theory of Modernism

Abstract

This paper considers issues of convergence of classical and modernist art theories on the example of the so-called Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The works of the main participants in this debate, Charles Perrault and Nicolas Boileau, are examined in the context of the theory of modernism and questions of the origin of modernist art. The aggravation of the contradictions between the two versions of the theory of classicism and, more broadly, the two concepts of modernity, led to the formation of new views on the nature of art in the era of late Louis XIV. The leader of the “Moderns,” Charles Perrault, became the founder of the rationalistic and scientistic theories of modernism, gravitating towards aestheticism, formalism, and semiotics of art. In this article, his theories are explored in connection with the modernist formalist discourse and theoretical work of Clement Greenberg. In addition, Charles Perrault’s theory of art is placed in the space of the theory of “aesthetic modernism” (aesthetic movement) and the theory of “art for art’s sake.” Particular attention is paid to the comparative characteristics of the texts of Charles Perrault, Oscar Wilde, and Julius Meier-Graefe. In turn, the works of the chief theoretician of the “ancients,” Nicolas Boileau, are studied in the context of ideas of the “conservative revolution.” From this perspective, the interpretation of the category of the sublime by Pseudo-Longinus, Boileau, and representatives of romantic culture is assessed. The author concludes that Nicola Boileau and Charles Perrault represent different equal branches of modernist discourse. At the same time, Charles Perrault managed not only to anticipate certain phenomena of the culture of modernism in his texts, but also to take important steps towards the contemporary scientific theory of art.