It is our pleasure to present to your attention these Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2020).

Our 4th International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education was held at the State Institute for Art Studies on August 27-28, 2020. The Conference gathered the representatives from the research institutions, arts and humanities universities and museums of Russia, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, China, Romania, Ukraine and Japan. Joining their research findings is guaranteed to enrich the reader with a whole range of essential scientific observations, to enable him/her to view the main objectives of Art Studies (in particular, fundamentally applicable and enlightening ones) from different perspectives.

Current humanities research methods are characterized by deepening and broadening of views on the theory and history of art, arts education, examining of separate artifacts within the context of esthetic aspirations, social events, trends in psychology and spiritual life. When it comes to art, time and again, a researcher’s mind tries to reconsider everything there was and everything there is.

The Institute for Art Studies sees the present collection as a high rostrum from which the scientists of most various fields present their convictions, standpoints and concepts. The breadth of the tasks addressed in this collection is reflected in its title and structure including four sections which have united the works of the theorists and historians of various forms of art (music, theater, fine arts, decorative and applied arts, architecture and screen arts), as well as philosophers, culture researchers, professors from arts and humanities universities and post-graduate students. Their analysis, evaluations and conclusions concerning both general problems, and separate aspects of studying art do not always concur. The plurality of art-related viewpoints corresponds to the diversity of creative manifestation of the essence of the one Infinite.

The 4th International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education was jointly organized by State Institute for Art Studies (Russia), Chinese National Academy of Arts (China), International Science and Culture Center for Academic Contacts (Russia) and Zhengzhou Yingchun Conference Planning Co., Ltd. (China)

ICASSEE 2020 has received 248 manuscripts, each paper was peer-reviewed by three experts, and 113 submissions have been selected for publication. The editorial board of this collection has been seeking to keep intact the individuality of the author’s opinion expressed in each article, as well as the distinctiveness and novelty of concepts, while letting the reader generate new ideas and search for meaning in dialogue with the researchers. Let us express our gratitude to all the participants of ICCESSH 2020 for their valuable contribution to the work of the Conference. We would also like to thank everyone who worked hard to organize the Conference and prepare the Proceedings for publication. And we especially thank Atlantis Press for our long-term collaboration.

The Organizing Committee of ICASSEE 2020