Archetype of «shadow» in the art of XX century

In the first part of the study, the author gives the definitions and the characteristic of the phenomenon "archetypes of the collective unconscious" and "archetype of the shadow." Archetypes are defined as stable forms of the collective unconscious, which acquire recognizable semantic and symbolic content in the particular life experience of an individual and society. Archetypes are manifested in various forms of culture through archetypal symbols. The archetype of the "shadow" is characterized as an outward projected personification of the unconscious, as a rule, negative aspects of an individual and collective psyche. Further, the limits of applicability of the archetypal approach are determined. To do this, the author refers to the analysis of such types of creativity, singled out by K.G. Jung, as a "psychological" and "visionary." The first type offers the audience the material that can be easily interpreted in terms of the life experience of the author and his environment. In contrast, the "visionary type" of creativity has nothing to do with what is familiar and intuitive to the consciousness. In this case, one cannot say that it is really the author who creates the work. Rather, he is a mere translator, passing some contents of the collective unconscious to the audience. Revealing these features, the author shows that the archetypal approach is only applicable to the analysis of "visionary" type works. In the main part of the article the author chooses as the subject of research such famous paintings masterpieces of the XX century as "The Scream" by E. Munch, "Black Square" by K. Malevich and " The Virgin Spanking the Christ Child before Three Witnesses " by M. Ernst, and offers them for the archetypal study. These works, as the author shows, are characterized by signs of "visionary" type creations and carry the vivid symbols that embody the archetype of the "shadow". The analysis of these works reveals the traits that, being the peculiarities of modern art, are also the reflection of the collective psyche of people of their time. At first sight they demonstrate the desire to show and accept something negative, repulsive, violent and frightening. The author shows how through such works the archetype of the "shadow", long repressed by Western civilization, breaks out to the social surface. Such a breakthrough, according to the author, performs a triple function: firstly, it is a figurative reflection (self-diagnosis) of the destructive tendencies of the era; secondly, through it the era brings its state to the public perception; thirdly, it reflects an attempt of the psychological imbalance compensation of the universal human psychology and culture of the XX century.

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