«Live portrait» of a ruler as a political representation

The term « live portrait » is introduced by the author to analyse a particular case of political communication in Russia, when the authority represents itself ritually to the people. Such a one-sided communication is called upon to demonstrate the existence of the political leader, to appease the people's anxieties. To specifically acknowledge this, three historical examples of such ritual effects are used in which the «live portraits» became tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich, leader Joseph Stalin and president Vladimir Poutine. The portrait canons highlighted by the author, act as an explanation to the rit-ual-represtative character of cases of political communication: 1) «the uniform», which schematizes the ruler prior to the live portrait; 2) the static pose as a ritual particularity of «portrait communication»; 3) a particular ruler as a «form or presentation». The core of the phenomenon of the «live portrait» is in the existence of the Representative.

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