Lyubimova in relation to the concept of the tragic. In her article, she elaborates the views of the founders of Marxism on the concept of the tragic and holds that the founders of Marxism correlated the aesthetic category of the tragic with historical scope: it is precisely the historical concreteness indicating the social forces behind the opposite sides of an irreconcilable'contradiction that is the forte of the Marxist concept of the tragic. This cancels the need for the search for a single contradiction established once and for all, that is, for any metaphysics of the tragic. The articles, "Art—A Form of Social Consciousness" by Irina Kulikova and "World Outlook as a Basis for the Theory of Aesthetic Education" by Nikolai Kiyashchenko, deal with the theoretical aspects of Marxist aesthetics which have been repeatedly elaborated by Soviet aestheticians in the past But the article by Konstantin Dolgov on "Leonardo Da Vinci's Philosophy of Culture and Aesthetics" as a piece of practical criticism is worth appreciation. The author has traced all the factors which made Leonardo a great artist He has assessed the influence of the Sophists, Democritus, Heraclitus, Pythagoreans, Plato and Aristotle on Leonardo. He writes: "in assimilating the achievements of antiquity in the most varied spheres of knowledge, Leonardo did not simply perceive them, but passed them through the critico-analytical prism of his own intellect as it were, using them to create a firm foundation for the new culture with its vividly expressed humanist content and humanist values." The author has aptly inter-related the achievements of/Leonardo with the requirements of his age. He highlights the talent of the artist but does not neglect the impact of social conditions on Leonardo. He concludes that, "what is radically new about Leonardo's conception of humanism is primarily that it proceeds from real man, real society, real history, that he bases his humanism not only on good intentions, but on man's real inter-relations with nature and society founded on science, technology and art". He underlines the fact that "one of the most important tasks that Leonardo attempted to solve was to return the human qualities to man and make these qualities and man himself beautiful" The article, however, is more a eulogy of Leonardo than an analysis of the contradictions of his philosophy and so portrays the image of the great artist as that of a demi-god. "The Work of Art as a Process" by Anatoly Yeremeyev and "From Initial Idea to Execution" by Larisa Levchuk deal mainly with the complex creative process of a work of art in its various aspects. Towards the end of the collection we find a brilliant piece, "Some Notes on the Aesthetic Significance and Expressiveness of Colour" by Yakov Hachikyan. The author investigates the psychological and physiological effects of colours, and the role of associative connections and enhances the understanding of the aesthetic value and significance of colour. His analysis of various connections is excellent and may Journal of Arts and Ideas 95