Russian Art and Culture

New Blog on Teaching Russian History

2012-03-06T05:26:00.002-08:00

Blog on Teaching Russian History by Karl Qualls

I would like to announce a new blog on the teaching of Russian history:

http://blogs.dickinson.edu/teachinghistory/

Each month 2-3 scholars will discuss how they teach a particular topic in survey courses and seminars. The intent is to generate discussion on methods, resources, and more. Suggestions for topics or contributors please contact Karl Qualls at quallsk[at]dickinson.edu

New posts and updates will also be announced via Twitter: @prof4russia

This month's theme is teaching the Gulag with guest authors Steven Barnes and Wilson Bell.

This blog was founded by Karl Qualls, Associate Professor of Historyat Dickinson College.

Karl has received the Constance and Rose Ganoe Memorial Award for Inspirational Teaching, Gamma Sigma Alpha National Honor Society Professor of the Year, and Student Senate Professor of the Year.

He is the author of numerous articles and chapters, including a chapter in the textbook Russia and Western Civilization: Cultural and Historical Encounters (M.E. Sharpe, 2003) written in collaboration with his colleagues at Dickinson College. He is also author of the monograph From Ruins to Reconstruction: Urban Identity in Soviet Sevastopol after World War II (Cornell, 2009).

He teaches Russian, German, Italian, and eastern European histories, as well as courses on European dictators, urban history, historical methods, the Holocaust, and more.

LECTURE: Utopias of the Russian Avant-garde

2012-03-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

Thu 22nd March 2012 – 7.30pm
Discussion
Utopias of the Russian Avant-garde
TEN CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN ART: IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY LECTURE SERIES
Language: In English
VIEW THE WHOLE LECTURE SERIES

Panel discussion
John Milner, Professor at the Courtauld Institute.
Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, Curator at the Tate Modern.
Dr. Maria Kokkori, Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute.
Chaired by Dr. Robin Aizlewood, Director of UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

Tickets: £7, conc. £5 (Friends of Pushkin House, students and OAPs)
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/utopias-of-the-russian-avant-garde

Copernicus Films: Russian Theatre Film Project

2012-03-02T02:00:00.001-08:00

THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE – REVOLUTION OR RENAISANCE: SERIES OF SIX FILMS

New Arts Documentary Film "Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre" from Copernicus Films

Finally, after much tweaking and adjusting, the documentary film “Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre” has been released on DVD after a successful launch and premiere at the Barn Theatre of the Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.

The film, about the life and work of the Russian theatre director Stanislavsky was completed with the cooperation of the Stanislavski Centre in the UK.

Making use of the extensive archive of The Stanislavski Centre the film explores the main precepts of Stanislavsky's theories. The film features interviews with Jean Benedetti and Anatoly Smeliansky of The Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT), two of the foremost authorities working in the field of Stanislavsky studies.

“Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre” attempts to highlight Stanislavsky’s humanism, arising from his background and how his views were formed by the social context into which he was born, and his subsequent difficulties in developing his system during a time when the avant-garde tendencies of theatre and the avant-garde itself appeared to devalue the human in culture.

After a decade working in the film and television industry in the UK, Michael Craig travelled to Moscow in 1995 to make films and write where he has lived and worked ever since. He made the first documentary film in the series "Alexander Rodchenko and the Russian Avant-garde" in 1999 which premiered at the Milan International Film Festival (MIFF) and was shown on British Television. From here he embarked on series of films about the Russian Avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s:

The "Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre" can be found on Amazon on DVD or check www.copernicusfilms.com for more detailed information about the film and distribution: or e-mail: copernicusfilms@yahoo.co.uk.

http://www.copernicusfilms.com/

CFP: 32nd Annual Slavic Forum U of Chicago 2012

2012-03-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

Call for Papers for the 32nd Annual Slavic Forum 2012

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at The University of Chicago is excited to announce our upcoming graduate student conference, the 32nd Annual Slavic Forum. This year’s conference will focus on comparative inquiries in Eastern European and Slavic cultures, in the spirit of comparative studies of history, literature, and linguistics. This year the conference will take place on May 11th-12th, 2012 and will consist of formal panels and a keynote lecture.

We invite abstracts for individual papers, 20 minutes in length, from Master’s or Ph.D. students in Slavic studies and related fields, including linguistics, literature, history, gender studies, art history, music, theater arts, film, as well as any other disciplines related to the topic of the conference. The Slavic Forum committee will organize panels following the acceptance of papers to the conference. Papers accepted to the 32nd Annual Slavic Forum will be published in an electronic collection of working papers from the conference. A style sheet will be distributed following the acceptance of papers to the conference and authors will be given a chance to revise their papers and include comments from the conference prior to publication.

The deadline for all abstract proposals is March 16th, 2012. Please send a brief abstract (300 words or less) and a short bio to slavicforum@gmail.com. Examples and references are not included in the word count. Please include your name and affiliation at the top of the abstract but not in the body, so that we may make them anonymous for refereeing and easily identify them afterwards. All abstracts will be refereed and participants will be notified by the end of March.

Please also note any equipment that might be needed for the presentation. The Slavic Forum committee will strive to meet all equipment needs, but cannot make any guarantees due to budget limits.

For more information refer to Slavic Forum's website:
http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/theslavicforum

ENB: Beyond Ballets Russes

2012-03-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

English National Ballet - Beyond Ballets Russes - Programme 1
VISITING COMPANY
L’après-midi d’un faune, Faun(e), Firebird, The Rite of Spring

“Ballet is powerful, in beauty and horror, as this outstanding programme demonstrates”
The Daily Telegraph

English National Ballet celebrates the legacy of the Ballets Russes with performances inspired by some of the troupe’s great works. Ballets Russes productions were collaborations with major choreographers, composers, artists and dancers of the time including Pavlova, Picasso, Debussy, Chanel, Matisse, Nijinsky and Stravinsky.

This programme sees the World Premiere of a new Firebird choreographed by young British choreographer George Williamson with designs by David Bamber. David Dawson’s Faun(e) which was described as “rapturous” by The Sunday Times, is performed alongside Dawson’s inspiration, Nijinsky’s L’après-midi d’un faune which caused huge controversy at its premiere with its hauntingly beautiful Debussy score. The finale is MacMillan’s magnificent reworking of the visceral The Rite of Spring.

ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET - BEYOND BALLETS RUSSES - PROGRAMME 1
VISITING COMPANY
THU 22 MAR 12 - TUE 27 MAR 12
6 PERFORMANCES REMAINING

http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?itemid=1788

Contemporary Fine Arts at 16TH LINE, Rostov on Don in Russia, March 1

2012-02-28T02:00:00.000-08:00

New art venue in Rostov-on-Don (RU), opens on March 1, 2012.
First show featuring Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin with works by:
Marc Brandenburg
Michael Kunze
Sarah Lucas
Jonathan Meese
Tal R
Anselm Reyle
Gert & Uwe Tobias

March 1 to April 15, 2012
16TH LINE
Rostov- on- Don 16th Line 7a
South Federal District
Russia 344019
www.16thline.ru

Thursday, March 1: Opening: 7 pm
After the opening of Perm Museum of Contemporary Art in 2008 and the young Art Biennale of Yekaterinburg in 2010, another new Russian art project is being established. Founded as a private initiative in 2009, 16th Line project in Rostov-on-Don, the largest city in the South Federal Region of Russia, is drawing international contemporary art lovers' attention. In cooperation with leading international galleries and under the direction of Tatyana Provorova, 16th Line aims at expanding the international art market in the South Federal Region of Russia.

The 16TH LINE centre for contemporary art was initiated by private collector Evgeny Samoylov. The new 4-story building - located on the name giving "Line 16" in the city's historic districts - offers more than 300sq space for public art exhibitions. Next to the gallery rooms, the 16TH LINE complex features a gourmet restaurant as well as an exclusive shop for art books and design objects. As part of each exhibition, 16TH LINE organizes a series of lectures and master classes created for the general public, moderated by top curators, artists and art professionals.

"16TH LINE is not only a new venue for art enthusiasts and collectors in the Rostov region", says project initiator and international spokeswoman Maria Sigutina: ‚"In Rostov-on-Don we have created an exciting new venue for presenting the latest positions of contemporary art. Here, we want to establish a solid basis for the international art market. Hand in hand with each of our highend exhibitions, we are offering a broad art educational programme to the public. With our team here and Berlin-based Russia expert Volker Diehl, who supervises the project, we see a unique opportunity to bring high-end art works to the region."

For the first exhibition, opening March 2012, 16TH LINE presents over twenty works put together by Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin representing some of their most significant artistic positions. As Mark Gisbourne, author and Berlin art expert puts it in the accompanying catalogue: "... the work expression is a clue in itself, since much of the work exhibited by CFA revolves around systems and theories of expression and creative performance. This is to say in general that it is less conceptually based and more perceptually grounded. It naturally follows that many of its artists are painters who extend the pictorial role of perception rather than that of immediate conceptual abstraction. The distinction is the desire to create an affect rather than just an intellectual effect."

With works by Marc Brandenburg, Michael Kunze, Sarah Lucas, Jonathan Meese, Tal R, Anselm Reyle and Gert & Uwe Tobias the opening show lays the foundation for the high quality and profiled choices of the 16th LINE art programme, presenting highly aesthetical yet intellectually challenging works. Spanning painting, mixed-media works, drawings, sculptures and photography, the show offers a broad yet focused view on some of the most interesting artists today.

SAVE-THE-DATE
Opening of 16TH LINE's next show: April 19, 2012

Galerie NEU presents:
Kai Althoff | Andreas Slominski | Birgit Megerle | Cosima von Bonin |
Claire Fontaine | Cerith Evens | Daniel Pflumm
info@galerievolkerdiehl.com
www.galerievolkerdiehl.com

Mussorgsky at Metropolitan Opera, NYC: Khovanshchina

2012-02-27T02:00:00.002-08:00

Khovanshchina
Approximate running time 4 hrs. 10 min.
Mussorgsky's sweeping epic, set during the reign of Peter the Great, is back on the Met stage for the first time in more than a decade. Olga Borodina and Ildar Abdrazakov lead an all-star Russian cast, conducted by Kirill Petrenko.

SYNOPSIS
Moscow, late 17th century. The death of the young Tsar Fyodor III. has left Russia with a crisis of succession. Supported by Prince Ivan Khovansky, commander of the streltsy guards, Fyodor’s sickly brother Ivan and his half-brother Peter (later the Great) have been installed as joint rulers, with their older sister Sophia acting as regent. Sophia has allied herself with Prince Vasily Golitsyn, a powerful courtier and liberal politician, who is also her lover

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Production: August Everding
Set Designer: Ming Cho Lee
Costume Designer: John Conklin
Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler
Choreographer: Benjamin Millepied

INTERMISSIONS
Noon performances: at approx.
12:50 pm and 3 pm

7 pm performances: at approx.
7:50 pm and 10 pm

7:30 pm performances: at approx.
8:20 pm and 10:30 pm

Performance Dates/Tickets and Info
http://www.metoperafamily.org/opera/khovanshchina-mussorgsky-tickets.aspx?utm_source=mail2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Untitled_2_22_112

Courtauld Summer School: Russian Art 1863-1932 with Dr Natalia Murray

2012-02-27T02:00:00.001-08:00

Summer School 2012
A variety of week-long intensive art history courses at one of the word’s leading Institutes for the study of art history and conservation. Open to everyone over the age of 18.

Course 9:Russian Art 1863-1932: Innovations, Influences and the Roots of Modernity
Dr Natalia Murray
9 - 13 July 2012 (£435)

Image: Léon Bakst, La Sultane Bleue. A costume sketch for the ballet Schéhérazade. 1910, watercolour on paper, collection of Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky.

This course will examine the history of Russian art in all its diversity from the first artists’ rebellion against St. Petersburg’s almighty Art Academy in 1863, the blossoming of arts in Russia’s Silver Age, and the upsurge of avant-garde art to its subsequent disappearance after 1932, when Socialist Realism became the only artistic style permitted in the Soviet Union. We will look at the cultural as well as geographical boundaries of Russian art, and its contact with developments in European art as well as the shifts of cultural context, which often occurred through emigration, cultural export, exhibitions, publications, and collaborations. The complex nature of the Russian avant-garde, its origins and roots, will be examined throughout the course. We will also look at traditional Russian art and icons and their influence on the Russian avant-garde and will discuss the works of Repin, Serov, Benois, Bakst, Somov, Vrubel, Malevich, Tatlin, Kandinsky, Filonov, Rodchenko, Chagall, Popova, among others. Lastly, we will examine the influence of political changes in Russia under Stalin on the fate of Russian art. Visits include the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ballets Russes drawings and stage designs); the Naum Gabo archive at Tate Britain; Tate Modern and The Courtauld Gallery.

Lecturer’s Biography
Dr Natalia Murray was born in St Petersburg, where she studied Art History for five years at the Academy of Arts. In 1995 Natalia won a place at the State Hermitage Museum to study for her Doctorate, also in Art History. From 1997 to 2006, she organized exhibitions of contemporary Russian art in London and has completed the first biography of one of the most influential Russian art critics, Nikolay Punin (due to be published in 2012). In the last five years Natalia has been giving lectures on 20th- century Russian Art at The Courtauld Institute of Art.

For further details and to book, contact:
Short Courses, The Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
T: 020 7 848 2678; E: Short.courses@courtauld.ac.uk

CONF: Design without Frontiers: Interdisciplinarity & Collaboration in Soviet Art, Architecture & Design at Cambridge Uni, 20-21 Sept

2012-02-27T02:00:00.000-08:00

Design without Frontiers: Interdisciplinarity and Collaboration in Soviet Art, Architecture and Design

Thursday, 20 September 2012 to Friday, 21 September 2012
Location: CRASSH and Cambridge University Library

Conveners

Dr Rosalind P Blakesley (History of Art/Pembroke College)
Dr Emma Widdis (Slavonic Studies/Trinity College)
Mel Bach (Cambridge University Library)

Conference Summary

Creative practice in Soviet Russia was marked by unprecedented emphasis on collaborative endeavour, reaching across disciplinary boundaries. Architects, poets, painters and designers were united in formal and informal collaborative networks, leading to innovative design collectives, and to a unique erosion of any lasting divisions between architectural, graphic, textile, theatre, and urban design. This conference - a collaboration between Cambridge University Library and the departments of History of Art and Slavonic Studies - will investigate the roots and legacies of these collaborative networks in order to shed light on the circulations, interconnections, and dialogue between different designers and modes of design. This is a vital part of the history of the Soviet avant-garde, and of its legacy; it has the potential to offer new perspectives on the history of 20th-century design.

The conference complements a major exhibition at Cambridge University Library of items from the Catherine Cooke Collection, a world-class assemblage of books, periodicals, posters, plans, photographs, and ephemera relating to Russian and Soviet art, architecture, urban planning, and design. With presentations on individual items in the Cooke collection, as well as papers from an international and interdisciplinary line-up of speakers, it will explore the actual conditions that created and supported collaboration by looking back to the Silver Age and forward to the late Soviet and post-Soviet period, as well as re-examining the Soviet avant-garde.

Please note: Speakers for the conference will be invited, so there is no call for papers.

FREE CONF: Russia(n) in Global Context: Uni of Leeds, 9 March

2012-02-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Friday 9 March 2012 at the University of Leeds:
The University of Leeds presents a one-day workshop on the theme of
"Russia(n) in the Global Context". This event is intended to explore
approaches and methodologies for repositioning Russia and Russian Studies in
the age of globalisation. We are particularly interested in but not limited
to such questions as: To what extent is it appropriate to move beyond
hitherto existing paradigms of examining Russia such as Russia vs the West?
Is the concept of Russia in transition from the Communist era still
applicable? What new forms of research engagement can we utilise to study
Russia(n) in the global context?

The workshop will comprise morning panels and an afternoon round table,
followed by the launch of the Leeds Russian Centre and a wine reception.
The morning panels will bring together experts in Russian Studies that will
debate the future of the field from the perspective of different academic disciplines. The afternoon round table will focus on the Russian presidential elections and offer reflections on the impact of the election on the global economy, politics, media and culture.

Further information and programme will be posted on our website
www.leeds.ac.uk/russian by 15 February 2012.
Confirmed speakers include: Birgit Beumers (U Bristol), Stephen Coleman (U
Leeds), Nancy Condee (U Pittsburgh), Christopher Dent (U Leeds), Julian
Cooper (U Birmingham), Simon Dixon (UCL), Marina Frolova-Walker (U
Cambridge), Luke Harding (The Guardian), Stephen Hutchings (U Manchester),
Lara Ryazanova-Clark (U Edinburgh), Vera Tolz (U Manchester), Sarah Wilson
(Courtauld Institute).

The event is free to attend but places for the morning panels are limited
and strictly on a first-come first-served basis. Please notify us of your
intention to attend by Friday 17 February.
Contact Sarah Hudspith s.f.hudspith@leeds.ac.uk 0113 3433290.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Dr Sarah Hudspith
Director of Russian
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
UK
0113 3433290
s.f.hudspith@leeds.ac.auk

Internship in Moscow & tutors sought

2012-02-22T02:00:00.001-08:00

Carfax Private Tutors
http://www.carfax-tutors.com/ international educational consultancy company. Is looking for an intern for the Academic year Sep 2012 - June 2013.
This internship can either be offered to year abroad students or as a graduate internship. The internships available for the coming academic year are for the offices in Moscow, St Petersburg and Monaco.
The intern will take on the role of Academic Administrator, a job which requires office skills, organisation and good knowledge of the working language.
Carfax also has tutoring vacancies
Contact Kate Hope
k.hope@carfax-tutors.com

Russian Art Gallery Internship in London

2012-02-22T02:00:00.000-08:00

Organization: Annely Juda Fine Art
Date Needed: 12/03/2012
City: London
Primary Category: Art/antiques/jewellery trade
Type of Position: Internship
Description & Details
Annely Juda Fine Art represents contemporary British, European and International artists. The gallery also exhibits masters of the 20th century avant-garde, specialising in Russian constructivism.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and efficient intern who wishes to gain valuable entry-level experience in a commercial gallery.

How to Apply / Contact
Gallery Internship
Part time position, 3 months commencing in mid-March

Contact: ajfa@annelyjudafineart.co.uk

To apply please email your CV and a covering letter describing why you would be suitable and why you would like to fulfil this internship position.

Online Petition: Cultural Heritage Research in EU Framework Programme HORIZON 2020

2012-02-21T02:33:00.000-08:00

In the proposal of the European Commission for the 8th EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, HORIZON 2020, cultural heritage has been omitted completely, thus taking away all the funds previously available for research in this field. This decision has serious consequences, since the whole basis for the conservation of cultural heritage in Europe will be eliminated, probably for many years to come.

Against this background, members of the Focus Areas Cultural Heritage (FACH) of the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) have taken action for an online petition to be addressed to the European Parliament and the European Council in order to plead strongly for the inclusion of cultural heritage research in HORIZON 2020.

In signing this letter, the European cultural heritage research community request the EU to acknowledge fully its responsibilities, now and in the future, to put cultural heritage research back high on its agenda and to address the topic appropriately in the next Framework Programme.

Please support this petition with your vote to ensure further promotion of cultural heritage research:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cultural-heritage-research_8th-framework-programme/

Mayakovsky & Kundera: Socially Engaged Writing by Hind Essoussi

2012-02-20T02:00:00.000-08:00

On the temptation of preaching: Socially engaged writing in the work of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Milan Kundera

The genre of “socially engaged writing” is one whose boundaries are not easily demarcated. Some writers, like Vladimir Mayakovsky, have overtly embraced the role of the artist-in-society and proudly donned the cape of “the agitator, the rabble-rouser”(1). Others, like Milan Kundera, refuse to be formulated by single definitions, instead striving to retain “moral ambiguity”(2) and “the essence of the novel as an art”(3).

The concept of “art for art’s sake” is beautiful, but undeniably fragile. The purely aesthetic essence of a piece can rarely be extracted from its wider context, without losing meaning. Whether or not Kundera chooses to be labelled as “socially engaged”, his philosophy cannot be isolated from Prague, Bohemia and his changing world. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting illustrates the subconscious submersion of the artist in the social and political reality surrounding him. Placed alongside Mayakovsky’s poems Back Home and At the Top of my Voice, it also illustrates the difference in the philosophies of two great writers of different generations, within the socialist system. In effect, the difference is between two kinds of realism – “socialist” and “magical”.

Socialist realism was art with an agenda. Conceived under Stalin, it made use of mass media to “educate” the public about the merits of communism – a kind of institutionalised preaching. As part of Rosta, Mayakovsky schooled himself in making verse accessible to “the planet’s proletarian”(4). Accordingly, he adopted the coarse, simple language of the streets. The stream of topical verse that ensued flowed onto agitational posters that covered the streets of Moscow.

Magical realism is harder to define. Perhaps it is best described as a portrayal of realistic events, infused with a dream-like quality. When the lines of reality and fantasy are thus blurred, the author’s own opinion is obscured. While true of most of his works, the time-frame and setting of events in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is such that Kundera’s view of the yoke of communism inevitably seeps into the text.
Mayakovsky grew up while the communist vision still held the promise of utopia. He joined Lenin’s Social-Democratic Party at age fifteen, and after being imprisoned for his revolutionary activities, emerged with a desire to “create socialist art”(5). The concept of art as an instrument of change first manifested itself in the movement of Russian Futurism. Along with Burliuk, Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh - members of Hylaea - Mayakovsky launched A Slap in the Face of Public Taste. The following is an extract from their 1913 manifesto:
“We order that the poets’ rights be revered:
· To enlarge the scope of the poet’s vocabulary with arbitrary and derivative words (Word-novelty).
· To feel an insurmountable hatred for the language existing before their time”(6).

This strongly worded piece serves as a precursor for the ones that followed when it comes to style; ideology and its imposition; and – as the emphatic italics suggest - the absolute conviction that the authors are justified.

Although futuristic concerns did not dominate his work, the glory of mechanization was an important theme in soviet life and hence in Mayakovsky’s poetry. Back Home describes how the artist takes pride in his “machine parts”, in being a
“Soviet
factory,
manufacturing happiness.”
Written in 1925 after a trip to America, the land that the USSR looked upon as both rival and model, his yearning for his homeland is evident. It is not without a dramatic sense of martyrdom that he “plunge(s) into communism”, but his exhilaration is palpable. This stems from his passion for socialism and the desire to share it, by employing various artistic techniques. The powerful rhythm and uneven staircase structure, for instance, became a trademark symbol capturing a raw energy. While it gives the verse a fragmented effect, the jagged edges of the fragments create a sharp visual effect.

Yet, there is an extravagance and superfluity to this energy. The use of hyperbole in this concise form is designed to catch attention – like a caricature. Moreover, there is a note of superiority not quite in keeping with the spirit of communism. Mayakovsky cannot help but take pride in his talent and his place in “poetry’s skies”. Condescension aside, Back Home illustrates Mayakovsky’s view of the writer’s role. He feels as much a part of the soviet state apparatus as the proletarian and wishes to set goals parallel to the Five-Year-Plans.

Ideological writing is exactly the sort from which Kundera sought to detach himself. Although initially a Marxist, Kundera never entirely conformed to the tenets of socialist realism. Drawing inspiration from Freud, Mahler, Beethoven, Kafka, the young Kundera evolved his own philosophy about how Marxism could be presented to the world. He was interested in the experience of the individual and believed that it was through this medium that “the communist dogma (could be made) more palatable”(7).

However, all kinds of dogma soon became unpalatable to him. He could not endure a Manichean view of the world, believing that no absolute statements could hold forever. “When you believe in something literally”, he wrote, “You will turn it into absurdity through your faith”(8).

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting refers to the wave of optimism that lifted those with faith in communism, and his disassociation from them. While he watches them “dancing in a ring” with the distance of objectivity, he does not pronounce judgement. He understands the joy of being part of the ring and the headiness of passion, if not its blindness. “They had wings” and, by virtue of his nuanced vision, “(he) would never have any”(9).

Kundera did not want to be labelled as a political writer because he primarily considered himself an artist and story-teller. He found the dissemination of messages through art particularly distasteful. However, his own experience of the political events in Czechoslovakia could not be removed from his consciousness; it often formed a backdrop for his novels. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting refers to a time when “intellectual” became an expletive, and people “revolted against their own youth”(10). It draws upon the cyclical nature of history; revolutions are conducted and ideologies are created with the best of intentions, but somewhere along the way the vision is lost. Those who sense the distortion of the vision then try to retrace their steps in a process Kundera calls “Stalking a Lost Deed”(11). The Prague Spring of 1967, whereby Dubcek introduced liberal reforms, may have been one manifestation of the “stalking” process. Traditionally, however, it doesn’t work. The dogmatists intervene or, in the case of Czechoslovakia, the Russians invade.

Kundera sought to establish that even the reign of the dogmatists cannot last. The world is in a constant state of flux. To believe in something literally is to ascribe permanence to it, which is ultimately a delusion. The lasting reality is that of personal experiences and human relationships. Mirek, Tamina, the student, Kundera – each one is “as much a rewriter of history as the Communist Party, all political parties, all nations, all men”(12).
The novel’s protagonists all have independent lives that do not intersect, but each one has a presence and a role in the universe like each “note in a magnificent Bach fugue” (13). By drifting in and out of their lives, Kundera replicates the variations of a musical masterpiece in his literature. This creates the surreal quality that characterises magical realism. He does not attempt to explain the supernatural elements in their experiences and, through his authorial reticence, lets metaphor and reality overlap. The open-endedness of the stories, reminiscent of Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, allows Kundera to introduce ideas while escaping allegations of preaching.

This is not to say that he does not make any strong statements. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is a novel “about forgetting and Prague, about Prague and the angels”(14). Through the beauty of the language, the reader feels pathos for a nation forgetting its culture and identity under repressive communism. There is obvious resentment in the reference to communist leader Gottwald, and overwhelming irony when he mentions his treading of the same balcony as Kafka. Indeed, irony that forms the cornerstone of Kundera’s literary philosophy. It provides perspective, so that the self-importance of all leaders, writers, and adherents of dogma is eclipsed by the cruel comedy of Fate.

Irony helps us understand the references to laughter and “angels”(15). According to Kundera, there are two kinds of laughter: of demonic or angelic origin. The former acknowledges the futility of existence, while the latter is simply an imitation by those who do not fully understand the Divine Joke. Irony also governs the misunderstandings between people who view the same situation differently and will never have access to each other’s minds. Mirek and his girlfriend, for instance, will never know the other’s personal, apolitical reasons for fidelity or infidelity to the communist cause - nor will the rest of the world.

Finally, the clarity of vision that comes from understanding life’s irony removes the need for kitsch. For Kundera, of all “aesthetic evil(s)”, kitsch, “the beautifying lie”,(16) is among the most serious. Beauty lies in originality, and in the struggle to lay bare the world in all its ugliness. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting does not attempt to cloak the grittiness of existence. The stripping of privacy in communal life is represented by brutal, graphic imagery on a metaphorical island. Tamina lives like a somnambulist, forgetting the love she held dear and learning to submit silently to abuse. In the end, death is the only escape from the “children’s” totalitarian state.

“Kitsch” is one of the many points of conflict between the artistic philosophies of Kundera and Mayakovsky. As the “irrepressible bard of the Russian Revolution”, the glossing over of reality was one of Mayakovsky’s main strategies while constructing agitprop. He was widely considered to have potential that could have extended far beyond “communist kitsch”. The constant extolling of the socialist system also helped him create a certain level of self-delusion. Among the last pieces written before his suicide, At the Top of my Voice reflects the internal conflict of a painfully idealistic man.

Addressed to posterity, the poem attempts to validate and “expound those times and (the poet)”. Never does he overtly express doubt; what filters through is a sense of frustration at suppressed creativity. Mayakovsky is not unaware of the irony of life; there is a subtle wryness underlying
“Agitprop
sticks
in my teeth too.”
There is a yearning too for immortality, which he sacrifices at the altar of his cause. As in Back Home, he decides that his verses will be weighed for their utility on the scales of time. This is diametrically opposed to what Kundera, the disciple of the Aesthetic, hoped to achieve. Mayakovsky confers the status of weapons on words, wanting them to be seen as part of the process that eliminated hunger, “prostitution”, “tuberculosis”. Clasping the utopic vision of the “far communist future”, Mayakovsky wants the “pointed lances of (his) rhymes” to contribute towards a tangible difference. To this notion of holding the reins of life, Kundera may have responded with a sardonic grin; he left Mayakovsky’s circle of angels to join the “falling” existentialists(17).

Kundera’s anti-deterministic attitude is why his work lacks the urgency of Mayakovsky’s explosive verse. They simply have different views of the transformative power of literature. While Mayakovsky rejects the “theory of distance” and the concept of waiting for “conditions to ripen” (18) before writing, Kundera embraces it in his measured, retrospective writing. While Mayakovsky strives to transplant esoteric poetry in plebeian soil, Kundera frowns at the oversimplification of art when used as a means to an end. Perhaps Mayakovsky’s tone is self-righteous and his presentation of the system inexcusably one-dimensional. However, the poet found it difficult to come to terms with Stalin’s bloody purges and enforcement of collectivisation. Despite his personal misgivings, Mayakovsky remained committed to the ideals of Marxism in spirit. After all, message-oriented literature leaves little room for a balanced handling of the other side.
It is interesting to see how far the two accounts of socialism and views of art overlap with each other. Mayakovsky’s contempt for the Professor’s “erudition overwhelming” accords with Kundera’s version of events. It also hints at how people and concepts were dismissively “airbrushed…out of history” by the tools of propaganda (19). The glorification of
“socialism
built
in battle”
is in keeping with the violent enforcement of game rules when it came to the children of the island.
This is not to belittle Mayakovsky’s stature as an artist. His work represents an epoch of radical change in Russian history as well as literature. Despite his muted disillusionment, At the Top of my Voice encapsulates the dynamism of revolution and the reinvention of poetry to reach the masses. This is illustrated by the short, effective phrases; the colloquial language; the onomatopoeic
“Tara-tina, tara-tine,
tw-a-n-g...”
Although Kundera and Orwell may not have appreciated discarding classical language in favour of Newspeak, Mayakovsky elevated word-novelty to an art form (20). In The Art of the Novel, Kundera defined beauty as being “the suddenly kindled light of the never-before-said”. Through originality, Mayakovsky brings beauty to the most unglamorous concepts. Their motivations may have differed, but Mayakovsky and Kundera similarly attached importance to everyday life. For Mayakovsky, being a “champion of boiled water” is a necessary part of the many factors determining the course of history (21). For Kundera, the random patterns of the universe are illustrated through ordinary individual experiences. “Tanks are mortal, pears eternal”(22).

The written word is the by-product of the presumption that someone is going to be interested in what is being communicated; thus, all writers are inherently self-important. Evidently, volatility in society inevitably breeds a reaction from artists of the time, and hence social engagement. However, while all writers have opinions, it is not necessary that they attempt to impose them through overt preaching. Mayakovsky adopted a hectoring tone out of perceived necessity, in order to communicate the message of Marxism. Kundera has a definite stance on the “desert of organised forgetting” (23), but at the same time understands that communism’s children are “not all that bad” (24). The former added a new dimension to literature through his bold, purpose-driven and deliberately simple style; the latter did so by being ambiguous and deliberately complex. Ironically, in their individual ways, the ultimate ambition of both artists seems to be to “bring together the extreme gravity of the question and extreme lightness of the form”.(25) Perhaps the distinction in their creative philosophies is just a question of different kinds of laughter.

Hind Essoussi is currently reading History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her interdisciplinary research interest explores the ways in which art has historically been used for political purposes in an international relations context. This paper is an abridged version of her dissertation at the London School of Economics in 2009.

Notes
(1) Vladimir Mayakovsky, At the top of my voice (1930)
(2) Milan Kundera and Linda Asher, The Art of the Novel (2003), pg 139
(3) Kundera, The Art of the Novel, pg 139
(4) Mayakovsky, At the top of my voice
(5) Mayakovsky, Autobiography (1923)
(6) Vladimir Mayakovsky, David Burliuk, Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (1913)
(7) Jan Culik, Milan Kundera
(8) Kundera, Laughable Loves (1999)
(9) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1999), pg 68
(10) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg 13
(11) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 9
(12) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 22
(13) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 8
(14) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 165
(15) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 61
(16) Kundera, The Art of the Novel, pg. 135
(17) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 68
(18) http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv9n2/mayakovsky.htm
(19) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 3
(20) Orwell, 1984 (1949)
(21) Mayakovsky, At the Top of my Voice
(22) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 29
(23) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 159
(24) Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, pg. 185
(25) Nora Griffin, Life is short, reading is long (2007)

Russian folk festival at Trafalgar Square, 26th Feb

2012-02-17T02:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone’s invited to Trafalgar Square on Sunday 26 February to celebrate the Russian folk festival of Maslenitsa.
Marking the end of winter, Maslenitsa combines a Russian Orthodox religious celebration with an older pagan festival welcoming the arrival of spring.
This family event features a marquee for children, dance, theatre, and music performances from across Russia. There will also be bustling bazaar selling Russian handicrafts and souvenirs, and stalls where you can sample authentic Russian dishes, such as blini (pancakes).
Maslenitsa is organised by Ensemble Productions with support from the Mayor of London.
This is just one of the many free and exciting events the Mayor is presenting in the run up to a summer like no other and beyond. From Big Dance to St Patrick's Day, SURPRISES, a series of one-off events and SHOWTIME, bringing entertainment to every corner of London town, there really will be something for everyone.
Be the first to find out what's happening. Sign up for updates at: www.molpresents.com.

Maslenitsa
26 FEBRUARY 2012 13:00
Location: Trafalgar Square

http://www.london.gov.uk/event-meeting/2012/feb/maslenitsa

RUSSIAN FESTIVAL MASLENITSA IN LONDON

2012-02-16T05:12:00.000-08:00

Say goodbye to winter with Vodka and pancakes, music and song at the London Maslenitsa Festival a traditional Russian festival to welcome the spring that takes place across London from 19 – 26 February 2012. The London Maslenitsa Festival is the largest celebration of Russian culture, art, music and food anywhere outside Russia.

The Maslenitsa celebration is a centuries old Russian tradition that bids farewell to the bitter winter months and welcomes the beginning of the spring. It also marks the last feast before Lent in the Russian Orthodox calendar, when rich foodstuffs must be used up before the Lenten fast; just like Shrove Tuesday in the UK, the traditional Maslenitsa meal is a Pancake but served with a Russian twist: instead of the usual lemon and sugar, Malenitsa pancakes, or Blinis are served with Caviar and Vodka.

The London Maslenitsa Festival will bring venues across the city to life with a week of performances, food, exhibitions and events that will transport this important celebration of Russian culture to the heart of London. Highlights include a fashion show from leading and up-and-coming Russian designers at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a children’s production performed by the renowned Moscow State Gogol Theatre at Shaftesbury Theatre, and master-classes with celebrity Russian Chefs exploring authentic Russian cuisine, including the quintessential Maslenitsa delicacy: the Blini.

The events build to the climax of the Festival, 26 February - the day of Maslenitsa itself - when Trafalgar Square will be transformed into a bustling bazaar offering traditional Russian foods, handicrafts and souvenirs and original art from contemporary Russian artists. At the same time performances from some of Russia’s most acclaimed dance, theatre, folk, pop and jazz artists will entertain the audience from the Festival’s main stage. Entrance is FREE.

London’s Maslenitsa Festival takes place at the same time as Maslenitsa festivals across Russia including Moscow’s Red Square. Londoners will able to exchange traditional Russian Maslenitsa greetings with Muscovites via giant video screens that will connect both Festivals taking place a thousand miles apart.

London’s Maslenitsa Festival has been created in cooperation with the Mayor of London, the Greater London Authority and The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, and is supported by Moscow City Government.
http://www.maslenitsa.co.uk/

For sale: Russian Revolutionary Journals 1912-1923

2012-02-14T02:00:00.001-08:00

A set of 5 Journals written in scripted German in Russia during the Revolution period 1912-23 is available for purchase.

Set includes original supporting materials photos, documents etc.& translated 400 pages of the 1500 also included.

Any interest in dealing this material is welcomed.

Call ARTHUR PAVLATOS at 717-293-8141 or email RARTHUR978@AOL.COM

CONF: SOAS Eurasia Research Programme on 18 Feb in London announced

2012-02-14T02:00:00.000-08:00

Second Annual Interdisciplinary

Eurasia Research Conference

School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS

Russell Square, London

Jointly organized by The Eurasian Studies Society (TESS) and New Research on Central Asia and Caucasus (NRCAC)

Conference Chairs: Sevket Akyildiz (SOAS) & Gaigysyz Jorayev (UCL)

Contact e-mail: eurasiasocietyuk@gmail.com

Venue: Room G2, SOAS, Russell Square, London

Saturday 18 February 2012, (Starts at 9.00- ends at 17.00pm)

* * *

Programme

Welcome (Dr. Sevket Akyildiz, SOAS)

Panel 1- [9.05- 10.50]
- Identity, Culture and Anthropology
Chair: Dr. Otambek Mastibekov, Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, London

Diana Ibanez (PhD Candidate, SOAS, London)

Taloq or ‘Fast Track Divorce’: Subjectivity, Personhood, and Mexican Soap Operas in Kulob, Southern Tajikistan

Bolant Yeskarauly (PhD Candidate, Leicester University)

Kazakhness and Kazakhstanshipness in the 21st Century

Rebecca Beardmore (PhD Candidate, UCL)

The Past is Another Country: Reflections on Conducting Archaeology in the Post-Soviet, Multinational, Nation-state of Kazakhstan

Diana Kudaibergenova (PhD Cambridge University)

National Identity in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Soviet Legacy and Primordialism Post-1991
Coffee Break [10.50-11.10]
Panel 2 – History [11.10-12.50]
Chair: Katherine Hughes, PhD Candidate, SOAS

Dr. Elena Paskaleva (Leiden University, Holland)

The Bibi Khanum Kosh in Samarqand: Its Mongol and Timurid Architecture

Stefan Peychev (PhD Candidate, University of Illinois).

Capital Cities and Imperial Ideology in Eurasia, 1200-1500

Nourmamadcho Nourmamadchoev (PhD Student, SOAS, London)

Soviet and Post-Soviet Sources on Mughal – Tajik Historiography

Barakatullo Ashurov (PhD Student, SOAS, London)

Sogdian Texts from Sogdiana: Eighty Years Ago and Now
Lunch Break [12.50-13.30]
Panel 3 – [13.30- 14.50] Migration & Social Development
Chair: Sultonbek Aksakolov, PhD Candidate, SOAS

Bogumil Terminski (PhD Candidate, University of Warsaw/Geneva)

Environmentally Induced Migrations: Theoretical Frameworks and Current Challenges

Gulzat Botoeva (PhD Candidate, Essex University)

Social and Economic Conditions of Drug Production in Kyrgyzstan

Zamira Dildorbekova (Exeter University, UK)

The Dynamics of Islam and Modernity in Tajikistan
Coffee Break [14.50-15.10]
Panel 4 – [15.15-16.50] International Relations & Politics
Chair: Zayra M Badillo Castro, PhD Candidate, SOAS

Cyrus Ki Yip Yee (PhD Candidate, SOAS)

China’s New Administration in the Inner Asian Frontiers in the Late Qing Period 1901-11

Timothy Alexander Nunan (PhD Candidate, Oxford University)

Soviet Development Thought, the ‘Central Asian Consensus’, and Soviet Afganovedeniie. c. 1953-1991

Dr. Filiz Katman (Istanbul Aydın University)

New Great Game, South Caucasus and NATO

Aijan Sharshenova (PhD Candidate, Leeds University)

Democracy Promotion in Central Asia: the European Union’s Strategy Towards Kyrgyzstan
Closing Remarks: Dr. Gül Berna Özcan, Royal Holloway, University of London

http://eurasiastudies-society.com/submitted-papers-2011/

Conference Sponsors -

Arcadia University,

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,

Royal Holloway, University of London.

————–

Post event dinner at 19:00 PM Sofra Restaurant, Covent Garden, London.

http://www.sofra.co.uk/sofra_coventgarden.htm £17.00 per person (payable on the night).

Nukus & Savitsky: The Desert of Forbidden Art by Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen

2012-02-13T02:00:00.001-08:00

The Savitsky collection at the Nukus Museum has been steadily gainingattention in the Western world over the last couple of years. It is said to beone of the most significant collections of Russian avant-garde art outside ofRussia and is ‘second only to that at the Russian Museum’. Situated inKarakalpakstan – part of Uzbekistan, a Central Asian republic of the formerSoviet Union – it attracts visitors from all over the world. However, various issueshave divided opinion as to the future of the museum, including the quantity andquality of the works, their origins, the remoteness of the location, and the presentstate of the collection.

Igor Vitalievich Savitsky

1915-1984

Karakalpak Museum of Arts, Nukus

Selected and introduced to the museum by Igor Savitsky between the late1950s and his death in 1984, the collection consists of 90,000 items andincludes paintings, works on paper and sculptures, as well as examples of the appliedarts and antiquities. While the applied arts section represents Karakalpakhistory, the fine arts section is mostly Russian. However, there is also alarge number of works created by Uzbek artists who received training fromRussian artists living in Central Asia during the early twentieth century.

The museum presents a very unusual slice of the cross-cultural historyof the former Soviet Union; from its inception, through the years of the toughestrepressions, and its later thaw and stagnation, culminating in perestroika. Itshows not only the artistic history of one place, but a cultural exchangebetween Russia and Central Asia which was only possible within the political structureof the Soviet Union. Here Moscow stood at the centre, Uzbekistan at theperiphery, and Nukus in so remote a position that even the steely grip of thecentral powers could not reach it with its full strength.

Resting between the forbidden and the official, Nukus managed to satisfyboth those in power and those against it for decades. The key reason for thissuccess was the personal nature of the relationships that Savitsky developedwith the artists and the authorities. The current keeper of the collection and directorof the Museum since Savitsky’s death, Marinika Babanazarova, is following inhis footsteps with her diplomacy and her dedication.

In 2011 London was the location for two events associated with the NukusMuseum. One was the UK premier of a documentary film and the other a booklaunch. The film shown on the 27^th of May was The Desert of Forbidden Art by Tchavdor Georgiev and Amanda Pope.Organised by Samuel D. Omans, the screening was followed by a panel discussion betweenDr. Alisher Ilkamov (The Open Society Foundation/SOAS),Professor Sarah Wilson (The Courtauld Institute of Art), and myself. Both admirers of the museum and those who were encountering this gem forthe first time watched the film, filling the room to capacity. The film tellsthe story of Savitsky’s collection through interviews conducted withdescendants of the artists, the staff of the museum and former party officials.

The Desert of Forbidden Art centers onthe collection of the Russian and Uzbek avant-garde. Romantically dramatised,the story of Satvitsky and current state of the museum are interlinked andquestions of maintenance and safeguarding are raised. According to the film thecurrent Uzbek government offers only reluctant support to this museum because althoughthe museum attracts international attention it does not constitute a collectionof Uzbek art. The museum and its treasures are shown to be in an alarmingcondition with the only hope for their future preservation being the dedicationof the museum director and staff.

The director wasthe central focus of the second event relating to the museum that took place inLondon. On the 9^th of November Pushkin House organised a book launchof Marinika Babanazarova’s publication IgorSavitsky: Artist, Collector, Museum Founder (Silk Road Publishing House,2011), which is available in both Russian and English. Exploring the life ofthis extraordinary man, the 72-page-book also includes a list of all theartists, both Russian and Uzbek, represented in the collection, as well aslisting a number of works held for each and fourteen colour illustrations.

It is widelyagreed that the Nukus Museum possesses a significant art collection, yet only afew publications exist in relationto it. The two most notable catalogues were both publishedoutside of Uzbekistan. The first is LesSurvivants des Sables Rouges: Art russe du Musée de Noukous, Ouzbekistan, 1920-1940 (les editions L’Inventaire/ConseilRegional Basse-Normandie, 1998). The second one is Ildar Galeev, ed., Венок Савицкому. Живопись, рисунок, фотографии, документы (Галеев Галлерея, Клуб Коллекционеров Москвы, 2011), which was published in conjunction with an exhibition atthe Galeev Gallery in Moscow.

These publicationsare graced with detailed texts devoted to exploring Savitsky as a collector andartists as the creators of the early twentieth-century avant-garde. Both arelavishly illustrated, the former with photographs of works from the Nukus Museumand the latter with examples of other works created by the same artists.

The works that comprisethe collection were saved from potential loss or destruction. This has put theartists represented in a rather unusual position; on the one hand their art isknown and admired, yet on the other they have not gained the same fame andrecognition as some of their contemporaries whose works were either stored inmuseums in the Russian centre, such as museums in Moscow and St Petersburg, ortaken abroad. Without a broad exposure culturally, dedicated exhibitions andpublications some of the names of the artists represented in the collection areknown by only a few experts on Russian and Central Asian art.

The collectionincludes works by over one hundred artists, including Pavel Benkov, NadezhdaBorovaia, Robert Falk, Nadezhda Kashina, Nikolai Karakhan, Elena Korovai,Mikahil Kurzin, Ruvim Mazel, Alexander Nikolaev (Usto-Mumin), Lubov Popova,Alexander Shevchenko, Ural Tansykbaev, Viktor Ufimcev and Alexander Volkov. Twopaintings by Alexander Volkov were successfully sold during the Russian artweek in London, one at Christie’s and another at MacDougall’s; the extent ofinternational recognition for Volkov’s works is just now starting to becomeapparent.

Another form ofinternational recognition, support and dedication comes from the Friends of theNukus Museum, a group of individuals interested in keeping the collectionalive. Having existed informally since the 1990s and formally since 2001, it isthe main source of outside backing for the museum. Another support group is setup on facebook under the name ‘The Savitsky collection (Nukus, Uzbekistan)’.

Nukus is located closeto the Aral Sea, the rapid shrinking of which has become a natural disaster ofglobal import. In order to avert an artistic disaster and the loss of a trulysignificant cultural monument, the Nukus collection also needs to survive andevolve.

Further information:

http://www.savitskycollection.org/

www.desertofforbiddenart.com

http://www.lidf.co.uk/event/the-desert-of-forbidden-art/

http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events-archive/igor-savitskyartist-collector-museum-founder

http://www.facebook.com/groups/48346084078/

AliyaAbykayeva-Tiesenhausen is an art historian specializing in twentieth-centuryand contemporary Central Asian art. In 2010 she completed her doctoraldissertation ‘Socialist Realist Orientalism? Depictions of Soviet Central Asia,1930s-1950s’ at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Panel discussion on Russian art at Pushkin House: The Wanderers" to "The War" Group

2012-02-13T02:00:00.000-08:00

Thu 23 February 2012 – 7.30pm
Discussion at Pushkin House, London
The Art Community as Territory of Freedom in Russia: Evolution from "The Wanderers" to "The War" Group
TEN CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN ART: IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY LECTURE SERIES
Language: In English
VIEW THE WHOLE LECTURE SERIES

Repin 'Barge Haulers on the Volga' (1872)

Panel Discussion
David Jackson. Professor of Russian and Scandinavian Art Histories, University of Leeds
Elena Zaitseva, independent curator and an art critic
Andrey Shabanov, researcher at the Courtauld Institute
Chaired by Sarah Wilson, Professor, The Courtauld Institute

Since the emergence of the Realists in the 1860’s, avant-garde artists in Russia have been seeking independence as well as mechanisms for operating in society that were more up-to-date then those provided by existing art institutions. One of the most radical examples was ‘Artel’ that was formed in 1860’s in order to organize the economics of an art group according to the ideas of socialism, in a complete contradiction to the political and economical system in Russia at the time. The conflict between avant-garde art communities and art institutions in Russia has always been strong and has often served as a base for aesthetic programmes, as it was in the case of Moscow Conceptual School in 1970’s – 1980’s as well as the ‘Voina’ group today. Discussion explores different ways of self-organization of artists, the artistic output of those and their perception in the society.

Со времени появления первых реалистов 1860-х в России художники стремились, с одной стороны, к независимости, а с другой – искали способы взаимодействия с обществом, более современные, чем те, что предлагались существующими институтами.Так, Артель Ивана Крамского была исключительной попыткой организации работы по социалистическим принципам в условиях капиталистического системы. Конфликт авангардных художественных группировок с арт-институтами в русском искусстве всегда оставался особенно острым и часто служил основой для эстетической программы. Примером этому может служить московская школа концептуализма, а также современная группа молодых художников “Война”, которая неустанно провозглашает, что создает не-искусство. Дискуссия исследует различные способы самоорганизации художников в России, их связь с художественным результатом и ответ на них со стороны общества.

Tickets: £7, conc. £5 (Friends of Pushkin House, students and OAPs)
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/the-art-community-as-territory-of-freedom-in-russia-evolution-from-the-wanderers-to-the-war-group

Call for book proposals: Nationalisms Across the Globe series

2012-02-11T02:00:00.001-08:00

Peter Lang would like to invite book proposals for the series
Nationalisms Across the Globe
Series Editors:
Dr Tomasz Kamusella
Dr Krzysztof Jaskulowski

Although in the 1980s the widely shared belief was that nationalism had become a spent force, the fragmentation of the studiously non-national Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in the 1990s into a multitude of successor nation-states reaffirmed its continuing significance. Today all extant polities (with the exception of the Vatican) are construed as nation-states, and hence nationalism is the sole universally accepted criterion of statehood legitimization. Similarly, human groups wishing to be recognized as fully fledged participants in international relations must define themselves as nations. This concept of world politics underscores the need for open-ended, broad-ranging, novel and interdisciplinary research into nationalism and ethnicity. It promotes better understanding of the phenomena relating to social, political and economic life, both past and present.

This peer-reviewed series publishes monographs, conference proceedings and collections of articles which open new approaches to nationalism and ethnicity or focus on interesting case studies. For more information, please contact Christabel Scaife, Commissioning Editor, Peter Lang Ltd,
c.scaife@peterlang.com.

CONF: Legacies of Russian Avant-Garde at Columbia, 24-25th Feb

2012-02-11T02:00:00.000-08:00

Conference: Legacies of the Russian Avant-Garde

The Harriman Institute, Columbia University

Friday, 24 February 2012–Saturday, 25 February 2012

Room 1501, International Affairs Building

This conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, poets, and artists, to re-examine the story of the Russian avant-garde. The panels, talks, and screenings will treat seminal and lesser-known works from a wide range of media, including literature, the visual arts, architecture, dance, film, and theater. Key issues to be explored will be the formation of the historical avant-garde; its appropriation by both official and dissident culture; avant-garde theory; and the Russian avant-garde’s dissemination abroad. By examining the seemingly paradoxical "traditions" of the avant-garde, we hope to raise broader questions about art practice and the cultural heritage of the twentieth century.

Participants: Arnold Aronson (Columbia), John Bowlt (USC), Svetlana Boym (Harvard), Devin Fore (Princeton), Boris Gasparov (Columbia), Nina Gourianova (Northwestern), Boris Groys (NYU), Tim Harte (Bryn Mawr), Valentina Izmirlieva (Columbia), Dragan Kujundzic (U of Florida), Mark Lipovetsky (U of Colorado at Boulder), Ronald Meyer (Columbia), Nicoletta Misler (Istituto Universitario Orientale), Catharine Nepomnyashchy (Columbia)

Eugene Ostashevsky (NYU), Harsha Ram (Berkeley), Masha Salazkina (Concordia), Yuri Shevchuk (Columbia), Nariman Skakov (Stanford), Tatiana Smoliarova (Columbia), Rebecca Stanton (Columbia), Malynne Sternstein (U of Chicago), Cristina Vatulescu (NYU), Matvei Yankelevich (Ugly Duckling Presse).

The Harriman Institute at Columbia University is the oldest academic institution in the United States devoted to the study of the countries of the former Soviet Union, East Central Europe and the Balkans. Their mission is to serve our large and diverse community at the university and beyond by supporting instruction and dialogue, sponsoring vibrant, multidisciplinary events that bring together their extraordinary resources of faculty, students, and alumni. Most importantly, they are committed to training the next generation of regional specialists to play leadership roles in setting the academic and scholarly agenda, making policy and challenging accepted truths about how we study our rapidly changing world.

Conference Program- download PDF

http://www.harrimaninstitute.org/MEDIA/02124.pdf

FINAL WEEK: Antiquities from Ukraine: Golden Treasures and Lost Civilizations

2012-02-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Museum of Russian Art exhibition of exquisite gold and ceramic relics dating from the Neolithic age to the Byzantine era unearthed in present-day Ukraine closes on Feb 19 . Over the ages, the territory of Ukraine has been a major trade route where objects from many eras and civilizations have been found.

The exhibition’s storyline follows a chronological sequence, starting with the Trypilian culture dating back to 5,400 BC. Pottery decorated with red and black paints, sacred symbols, as well as temple models and animal sculptures, will be on display. The lost world of this sophisticated matriarchal society comes to life in the fascinating figurines of the Great Goddess and in the highly stylized patterns decorating Trypillian earthenware.

Gradually displacing the agricultural Trypillians were the nomadic Scythians of the Ukrainian steppe, who are known for their beautiful stylized animal-shaped ornaments. The fertile soil of the region attracted Greek settlers as early as the 7^th century BC. Greek presence lasted well into the Hellenistic period (around the 2^nd century BC), represented here by a dazzling array of bronze sculpture, exquisite gold jewelry, extraordinary rhytons (drinking cups partially in the shape of a ram), black-slip pottery, and amphorae.
Rome’s influence reached the Black Sea—and the shores of Ukraine—as early as the 1^st century BC. We see Roman presence reflected in art forms that blend traditions from both Greek and Roman worlds. Among the items on display are bright red and orange pottery, transparent glass, bronze and silver vessels, and jewelry incorporating precious stones, filigree, granulation and inlays.

The exhibition ends with treasures from the Byzantine Empire, the ancient Slavic state of Kyivan Rus’, and various steppe nomads, spanning the 5^th through the 13^th centuries AD. Utensils, relics, chalices, kolts, pendants, rings, bracelets and necklaces provide an idea of the array of objects used by the inhabitants of medieval Ukraine.
“TMORA has previously featured art from various regions of the former Soviet Union including Estonia and Central Asia, and now we’re pleased to offer visitors insights into Ukraine,” said museum Director Brad Shinkle.

This exhibit is presented by the Foundation for International Arts & Education of Bethesda, Maryland in cooperation with the The Museum of National Cultural Heritage PlaTar in Kiev, Ukraine, the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council and with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.
http://tmora.org/exhibition/golden-treasures-and-lost-civilizations-antiquities-from-ukraine/

Russian Art Workshops Teach Toronto About Russian Folk Art

2012-02-09T02:00:00.000-08:00

Russian Art Workshops Teach Toronto About Russian Folk Art

Participants learn how to create bizarre authentic folk art on wood

Launched in 2011, Russian Art Workshops is a privately-owned company dedicated to the preservation and education of Russian folk art. The unique cause strives to help folk arts survive in today's high-tech, hectic lifestyle.

“It is a great opportunity to learn about Russia trough crafts and traditional folk art,” the site, www.RussianArtWorkshops.com, states.

Website visitors can register online for workshops that teach how to create artworks related to the country and introduce to people the rich culture of Russia through folk music, food and crafts.

Upon visiting the vast online resource, people will learn about the world-famous Matryoshka doll. These wooden dolls that are nestled into one another have a century-long history. The Russian Art Workshops teaches people how to paint a blank piece of wood transforming it into the cherished and bizarre piece of art. Along with matryoshka painting workshops The Russian Art Workshops provides master-classes for other painting techniques on wood such as Polhov-Maidan and Gorodets. Folk painting courses will be also available in the near future.

“Throughout the workshop, students will be listening to traditional Russian music, and there will be a demonstration of a few steps from a traditional Russian “matryoshka dance”, the site explains.

The materials fees for the hands-on workshops are incorporated in the cost of the classes. Complimentary tea, coffee and sushki (a traditional Russian tea bread) are provided during the workshops.

On Russian Art Workshops website online visitors can watch an interesting video that demonstrates carving a nesting doll. On this video people can see that the production of blank wooden dolls needs a lot of skills and patience. After the workshops participants will learn that painting the dolls is no less laborious work.

The workshops take place every week on Saturdays and Sundays in Toronto at Yong and Sheppard location. For more information and to register for the workshops, visit www.RussianArtWorkshops.com.

UCL Slavonic School sponsors Early Career Fellowship 2012

2012-02-08T02:00:00.002-08:00

The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) will be
sponsoring applications for the Leverhulme Trust's Early Career Fellowship
competition in 2012. This is an excellent opportunity for early career
researchers to access substantial and prestigious funding.

SSEES offers the largest UK concentration of research in the history,
economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, culture, literature and
languages of Central, Eastern and South-East Europe and Russia. You can
learn more about us on our web pages at <http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/>
http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/

Guidelines for the Leverhulme's ECF scheme are accessible here:
<http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/ECF/ECF.cfm>
http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/ECF/ECF.cfm
Proposals should be sent to Mrs Maria Widdowson, SSEES Assistant Director
(Finance & Administration), <mailto:m.widdowson@ucl.ac.uk>
m.widdowson@ucl.ac.uk ***no later than February 19th***. These should be
written on the Leverhulme Trust application form (link above).

A SSEES panel will review and rank proposals received by that date. There
will then be time and support available to work on the successful full
proposals selected to go forward.

If you have questions about the process, please address these to Mrs Maria
Widdowson. Professor Simon Dixon (Arts & Humanities) simon.dixon@ucl.ac.uk,
or Professor Slavo Radosevic (Social Sciences),
<mailto:s.radosevic@ucl.ac.uk> s.radosevic@ucl.ac.uk will be happy to advise
on matters pertinent to the research field.

BBC: Putin, Russia and the West

2012-02-08T02:00:00.001-08:00

Vladimir Putin, after eight years as president of Russia and four more as prime minister, is stubbornly holding onto power. He has announced his intention to return as president and declared his party the winner in parliamentary elections that are widely seen as fraudulent. In Moscow 100,000 protesters have taken to the streets in the largest demonstrations since Putin took office.

Putin began his career as a KGB spy but when he became president, he made himself a valued ally of the West. How did he do it? And what made Washington and London turn against him?

This four-part series is made by Norma Percy and the team at Brook Lapping with a track record for getting behind closed doors with multi-award-winning series like The Death of Yugoslavia, The Second Russian Revolution, and Iran and the West. For the first time Putin's top colleagues - and the Western statesmen who eventually clashed with him - tell the inside story of one of the world's most powerful men.

In this episode, George W Bush meets Putin in June 2001 and declares he looked him in the eye and 'got a sense of his soul'. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice recall their discomfort. But Rice, the only Bush adviser in the private talks, reveals that, three months before 9/11, Putin gave Bush a prophetic warning about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban. After 9/11, Putin describes how he convinced his shocked colleagues that Russia should align with the West. Sergei Ivanov, Russian's defence minister, tells how the Taliban secretly offered to join forces with Russia against America.

Broadcast on BBC Two, 9:00PM Thu, 19 Jan 2012
Available on BBC iplayer until
9:59PM Thu, 16 Feb 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b3hkm/Putin_Russia_and_the_West_Taking_Control/

Russian Master Leonid Steele celebrates his 90th birthday with cover of an American Magazine

2012-02-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

For Leonid Steele, a painter often called “a living legacy to the art of the Soviet Union”, holding in his hands a fresh February issue of the respected art magazine “Fine Art Connoisseur” marks a very special moment. As one of the leading practitioners of the Russian School of the Soviet Period known as “Socrealism” he had his share of public recognition in the Soviet Union throughout his long career there from the 1950s to 1980s. Residing in Los Angeles since 1990, he is now experiencing a fresh wave of recognition by the young generation of artists in his new home in America.

As the world once again faces anxiety and uncertainty, Leonid has an important lesson to share from his remarkable life story and through his art aptly reflecting his tumultuous times. Born in Ukraine, he lived through the great famine of 1933, known in Russian and Ukrainian as “golodomor,” and considered by some a deliberate act of communism and one of the genocides of the 20th century. Later he survived a severe concussion in the Great Patriotic War (WWII). As a true individual within the Soviet art world, he never yielded his stubborn creative spirit to the hammer of the Soviet bureaucratic system.

A graduate of the venerated Leningrad Repin Art Institute, (formerly the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts), he is one of the masters of what became known in the West as Soviet Impressionism of the 1950s – early 1960s, and one of the pioneers and leading masters of the Severe Style of the 1960s.

As a painter, Steele is significant and quite unique in both showcasing the strongest aspects of this important school, as well as in continuously pushing its boundaries. His career is a life-long lab of stylistic development in search of the most powerful expression for his major works. He managed to preserve his innate need to “keep going” and to achieve recognition by the public while perfectly willing to pay the price if necessary for daring to succeed on his own, outside the expected steps of “going through the ranks” or favors of government-appointed official art-bureaucracy -- something that the tightly controlled bureaucratic system could not afford to forgive for its own survival.

“What my Dad had to go through to pay for his stubborn individualism and what the bureaucratic art system of the Soviet Union had put him through are quite staggering by comparison with the friendly spirit of camaraderie in the American art world. Yet the rewards of speaking with his powerful works directly to the viewers thirsty for a liberating sense of truthfulness about their lives in a totalitarian pressure cooker were also immense” says his son Alexey Steele, a noted LA painter in his own right.

The vast collection, now under the care of Alexey, represents a look – rare in its completeness -- at the inner workings of an important practitioner of this school. “The core, most important works are really of such a unique level that they shall eventually belong to important public institutions”, says Alexey Steele. Lots of works, including some of the important early works in the collection, are also badly in need of some serious restoration, which will take sizable funds. To this end, Alexey is planning to make some works available without “commercializing” them via the official website www.leonidsteele.com

Managing to preserve and nurture his individual spirit and artistic freedom, Leonid Steele became one of the early pioneers of the Severe Style, a powerful visual language that combined a strong figurative backbone of academic tradition with a laconic language of simplified forms, resulting in such major works as “The Land” and “The Family”.

This tenacious creative force not only did not fade with age, but it seems to have become a hidden fountain of youth for Steele as today he paints with just as much passion and energy as ever, still turning out some amazing works. Perhaps the most fascinating of them are his portrait studies, deeply striking in freshness and truthfulness of character rendition. Enormously forceful, each based on an hour or hour and a half live sitting from his LA-Russian friends, people of the former Soviet Union and the last remaining members of remarkable generation. And what an amazingly faithful devotion to his characters...these are the same people he painted in the 50s, 60s, 70s, but now he paints them in LA, all bearing a remarkable sense of wisdom, strength and completeness of a long journey. Till the end, the Master remains faithful to portraying his now aging and so quickly disappearing truly great generation that survived and persevered through the hard roads and turns of the turbulent 20th century.

Celebrating Leonid’s 90th birthday crystallizes the importance of inviting a serious look at the cultural significance of this unique era as a whole, in its complete picture, and finally bridging the historic divide along the Western Modernism – Eastern Realism fault line.

So what’s the main secret the old Russian Master has to share with young talents of our time? “Going all the way and no matter what” is the only road to the glistening mountain of any true art.
http://www.leonidsteele.com

Russian Renaissance at Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna by curator Vasilina Verdi

2012-02-07T02:00:00.002-08:00

Russian Renaissance

Opening 17 January 2012, 7 p.m.
18 January - 25 February 2012

Click here for the exhibition catalogue

AES+F, Vladimir Anselm, Alexander Brener & Barbara Schurz, Bulnygin, Blue Noses, Kirill Chelushkin, Sergey Chilikov, Ivan Gorshkov, Rina Grinn, Dimitry Gutov, Polina Kanis, Anastasia Khoroshilova, Oleg Kulik, Lena Lapschina, Victoria Lomasko / Anton Nikolaev, Anatoly Osmolovsky, PG Group, Victor Ribas

Curators
Hans Knoll, Vasilina Verdi

We use the term Renaissance to define the well-known European art-movement. If we combine this term with the adjective «Russian», we get a super-complicated semantic construction. Let us see, what it means…

According to the eminent literary critic Dmitry Likhachev, the Russian Renaissance «was only prepared, but for some reasons wasn't materialized in time and acquired long-term, diffuse nature». So we could trace Renaissance in any historical period of Russia from 15th century till now. For example, Nikolay Berdyaev proclaimed the beginning of the XX century as a starting point for the national «spiritual renaissance», expressed in the human's struggle for «the spiritual culture liberation from the yoke of social utilitarianism». We all know what was the result of this ideological battle from «The Internationale» hymn: «This is the eruption of the end/ Of the past let us make a clean slate/ Enslaved masses, stand up, stand up/ The world is about to change its foundation». In 1922 Nikolay Berdyaev was deported from Russia on the board of the legendary «philosophers’ steamer»(1) - the conception of Renaissance was definitely changed in Russia.

AES+FLiberty, 1996, 245 x 347,5 cm
Print auf Plane, courtesy: Knoll Galerie Wien

During the years of Perestroika, the punk-band «The Stupids» shook the country with the new, post-international hymn, named "Russian Renaissance". The song refrain was about Russian “big bad guys” who will sooner or later wake up from their sweet lethargy and show Europeans and the democrats what exactly a real “Russian renaissance” means. The at first glance absurd word usage illustrated new contextual opportunities for this phrase: as a metaphor of awakening and blossoming of something, as a kind of mental disease diagnosis, as something very spontaneous and frustrating and finally, as something on the edge of vulgarity (as a pathetic title for the porcelain dinner set). Russian Renaissance – is something beautiful in ugly surroundings with any hope for salvation.

Starting with the post-perestroika period and another crash of reality, a nation once again plunged into the search for the delirious idea of the rebirth of Russia. On this occasion, the media compared the country with a patient who is more alive than dead and is in urgent need of resuscitation. But whether the team of rescuers was not very skilled, or the patient was too ill, for some reason, instead of healing, the country has acquired a number of clinical complications and chronic diseases.

These medical metaphors accurately describe the nowadays state of Russia, which sleeps in coma, like a beautiful bride in the fairy tale of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The enchanted country is waiting in a beautiful crystal coffin for her rescuer – Prince Yelisey. However, besides the fabulous bride, in a crystal sarcophagus rests another Russian "Snow White", the leader of the world proletariat and communism godfather – Vladimir Lenin. And perhaps, in anticipation of the destiny kiss, too...

There are many different «Russias» - the Tzar time Russia, the Soviet’, the Putin’s etc. And every time we talk about the Renaissance or rebirth, the question arises: what kind of country you are going to revive, to whom is it necessary to give the invigorating kiss and the rejuvenating apple? And for many years political and cultural forces are deciding what should be Russia.
In this complicated and extremely dramatic situation artists, visionaries and culture protagonists cannot stay aside. Everyone is trying to solve this burning question for himself.

The Austrian curator and gallery-owner Hans Knoll, who is researching and monitoring the Russian art scene and its market for the past ten years, saw the situation differently than we do from here. He studied it objectively and in terms of rational European approach (in comparison with irrational Russian). A number of important issues have not escaped Knoll’s attention, which for our internal situation-of-searching-the-Great-Russian-national-idea seemed unimportant. The absence of a normally working art market, long-term goals for players of art, evident migration of creative people from Russia to Europe, as well as the phenomenon of the Russian oligarchs, depleting the world's auction houses, and of course the political situation – all these things are also involved in the process of "Russian Renaissance". And will somehow finally influence the result.

Gorshkov O.TBuntstift, Blau Grüen auf Papier, 2010
30 x 41.5 cm

The famous group "Blue Noses", positioning themselves as representatives of so-called Siberian art. In Russian context it means – wild Siberian men or savages with fine taste and encyclopedic art-knowledges. The typical carnival personages, who turn the world into ridiculous theatre of absurd. They could mix all Russian brands from vodka and salted cucumbers to Malevich and Russian avant-garde. For this show Blue Noses derived the formula of Russian national idea in the form of a glamorous, brilliant, made of Swarovski crystals Mausoleum with the soul of Lenin inside, which tosses and finds no rest. What a great contamination of Marxist ideas with theories of Freud!

Anatoly Osmolovsky, known for his conceptual view, refers to the basic symbol of Russian culture - black bread. In a homespun texture of bread he finds the objectivity of classical Russian icons, the incomprehensibility of the divine and features of biblical bread.

Vladimir Anselm is known for his studies of the totalitarian regimes artefacts. At the same time, like other artists of his circle (Vladimir was one of the inhabitants of a legendary art squat in Moscow), he pays much attention to the phenomenon of death and destruction in all forms. Anselm deals with the aesthetics of the charred, lost past. This motif of mourning, burial, what we call in Russia "the mother-earth", is presented in many works of this author. Several years ago, the artist emigrated from Russia to Germany.

AES + F are one of the most "western" groups in the Russian art scene. The artists exist organically in the global art context and freely operate on the values of Western society. Many images in AES + F works do literally refer to the paintings of the Renaissance. The main themes are: conflict of civilizations, mass culture, transgression, war and death, cultural differences and the futurology.

The art-group Vojna (Russian for «war») is forbidden in Russia now. All group members are under court investigation. They are forced to hide from the FSB. This "popularity" of the group started after a series of art-activities that openly criticized the modern regime. The last straw in a conflict between the power and the Vojna was the city-performance "A Dick Held Prisoner at the FSB", in which the artists have painted a giant penis graffiti on the drawbridge in St. Petersburg. Despite the group's activity is taboo, today it is definitely the most popular art group in Russia. The manifesto of the group is echoed the best ideas of the Renaissance – every human being has right for freedom of thought and creativity.

Vasilina Verdi
Art-historian, co-curator of «Russian Renaissance»

(1) philosophers’ steamer - the unofficial name for Lenin's political campaign, when more than 160 intellectuals (teachers, doctors, students, priests etc.) with «wrong» political views, were sent out from country

http://www.brotkunsthalle.com/current.html

2012 Summer Research Laboratory at Russian Centre, Uni of Illinois

2012-02-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

2012 Summer Research Laboratory ADVANCE YOUR RESEARCH. ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. June 11-August 3, 2012 http://www.reeec.illinois.edu/http://www.reeec.illinois.edu/srl/

The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center (REEEC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers scholars an extensive opportunity to advance their research and careers through the Summer Research Lab (SRL). The program provides access to the University Library and an opportunity to consult the expert librarians of the Slavic Reference Service <http://www.library.illinois.edu/spx/srs.html> (SRS). Graduate students and junior scholars have the chance to participate in specialized workshops and programming current with area studies' trends.

Grants are available but are restricted by U.S. Department of State funding regulations. Please consult the website for housing and travel grant eligibility: http://www.reeec.illinois.edu/srl/grants/

The application is available online at: https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/8191108

Junior Scholars Training Workshops 2012

The JSTWs offered by REEEC during the summer are an excellent opportunity to advance academically and professionally. Workshops are moderated by well-respected experts in their field, and the topics covered are on trend with current area studies research.

Russian Museum goes to Antarctica

2012-02-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

Antarctica is to get its first museum thanks to Russia.
Authorities have decided to open up a branch of the Russian Museum at the Novolazarevskaya base on the Antarctic continent.
It’ll be the closest museum to the South Pole, and serves a population of 70 in the summer months.
The sailing vessel Mir will be the venue for the multi-media project which will become the museum’s 100th virtual branch.
It’s all aimed at promoting Russian art in remote regions of Russia, and the world. There are already 99 branches in places like China, India, Greece and Belgium, but this is the furthest from home.
The virtual museum allows visitors to explore the rich heritage of Russia through films and educational materials.
http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/russian-museum-goes-antarctica-077/

Summer Program: Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute

2012-02-03T02:00:00.000-08:00

Summer Program: Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute (CESSI) University of Wisconsin-Madison June 18-August 10, 2012 creeca.wisc.edu/cessi

The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) and the Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are proud to announce the second annual Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute, CESSI, to be held at UW-Madison from June 18-August 10, 2012.

In summer 2012, CESSI will offer intensive courses in beginning and intermediate Kazakh, Tajik, Uyghur, and Uzbek. With sufficient enrollment, other Central Eurasian Turkic languages could also be offered. Please contact the CESSI program coordinator if you are interested in a language not listed above. Scheduling of all courses is contingent upon enrollment. Please apply to CESSI as early as possible to help ensure that your class will be offered.

CESSI 2012 will also feature lectures (in English) on Central Eurasian history and culture and a rich program of cultural events and field trips related to the countries of Central Eurasia. Information and application materials are available on the CESSI Web site: creeca.wisc.edu/cessi

The deadline for admission and the fee remission grant is April 16, 2012. The application deadline for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships at UW-Madison is February 15, 2012. More information about UW-Madison FLAS fellowships is available at: flas.wisc.edu

CESSI is a joint initiative of 16 U.S. Department of Education-funded National Resource Centers at 10 U.S. universities, along with Nazarbayev University (Astana, Kazakhstan).

For further information about CESSI 2012, please contact Nancy Heingartner, CESSI program coordinator, cessi@creeca.wisc.edu, 1-608-262-3379

Feb upcoming Russian events in USA by Taryn Jones

2012-02-02T03:00:00.000-08:00

Here are a few events and exhibitions taking place in the USA for the month of February. Enjoy!

February 3 – Boston

“Take it to the Curator” at the Museum of Russian Icons
Cost: $5 per object. Objects will be viewed on a walk-in, first-come, first-serve basis between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. This program takes place on the first Friday of every other month throughout the year.
Icon specialist Frank Ford will be available to provide visitors with information about the region, date, and subject matter of their icons. Monetary evaluations will not be given.
Mr. Ford converted to Orthodoxy in 1974 and has been an avid collector of Russian icons since then. He has taken courses at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and also has learned much from the well known icon expert Fr. Panteleimon, the Abbot of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, Mass.
When: 11 am- 2 pm
Where: The Museum of Russian Icons
Telephone: 978.598.5000

Feburary 11 – New York

Pavel Lembersky

Join the Dweck Center for another installment of their Russian Literary Series. This month’s guest is Pavel Lembersky.
Lembersky is the author of two collections of prose, River #7 and The City Of Vanishing Spaces. He presents his first novel Aboard the 500th Jolly Echelon, which was published last year to warm critical acclaim. This event is in Russian.
When: 4pm
Where: Central Library, Dweck Center
Telephone: 718.230.2222. Limit two tickets per person, must RSVP.

Feburary 14 – DC

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with the defeat of Napoleon and a vodka tasting? Join Hillwood as we kick off our special exhibition, The Style that Ruled the Empires: Russia, Napoleon and 1812, with a party that will include wine, roses, hors d’oeuvres, and, of course, vodka. Explore the Empire Style that spread with Napoleon’s army and influenced fashion and the decorative arts across a continent.
When: 6pm – 9 pm
Where: Hillwood House Musuem
Telephone: 202.686.5807

February 23 – New York

From "My Father Evgeni"

Join the Dweck Center for another installment in the Russian film series. This month’s presentation is “My Father Evgeny.”
Filmmaker Andrei Zagdansky and his father Evgeny both lived a life in cinema, working for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studio. In 1992, when Andrei left the Ukraine for America, they communicated by letters, sharing impressions between two continents. Drawing upon that correspondence and beguiling footage from Soviet archives, Andrei creates an intimate portrait of a family living through dramatic changes. This film is in Russian with English subtitles.
When: 7 pm
Where: Central Library, Dweck Center
Telephone: 718.230.2222

February 23 – DC

The trademark style of the Imperial Porcelain Factory

The Glamorous Age of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna
Join Dr. Ekaterina Khmelnitskaya of the State Hermitage Museum at Hillwood House Museum as she discusses the daughter of Peter the Great, Empress Elizabeth, and her reign over one of the most brilliant pages in the artistic history of Russia. The lecture will explore the Empress�s founding of the Imperial Porcelain Works in 1744 and the spectacular pieces of table decoration that enhanced the balls, dinners, masquerades, concerts, and firework displays that made the Russian Court an eternal festival. $20, $10 for members and $7 for college students.
When: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Where: Hillwood House Musuem
Telephone: 202.686.5807

Ongoing exhibitions

Opening February 14 – DC

Special Exhibition: The Style that Ruled the Empires: Russia, Napoleon and 1812
Known in Russia as the Patriotic War, the defeat of Napoleon in 1812 is still a cause of celebration in Russia. Join Hillwood as we explore the national pride that launched the production of exquisite decorative arts commemorating this great military victory.
Where: Hillwood House Musuem
Telephone: 202.686.5807

On until March 10 – New York

Behind the Porous Curtain

One of Anatoly Pronin's works featured in "Behind the Porous Curtain"

Behind the Porous Curtain, curated by Regina Khidekel, showcases 18 works by Anatoly Pronin. These works capture the Soviet period of artistic inspiration of the 1970s, as the post-Stalin thaw opened a pathway through the iron curtain for modern Western art and culture to enter the Soviet Union. Most of Pronin’s photographs were shot behind the theater curtain, capturing the private and almost intimate world of rehearsals with iconic figures such as George Balanchine, Roland Petit, Laurent Terzieff, and Marcel Marceau.
Where: Harriman Atrium, 2th floor IAB, 420 West 118th Street
Cost: Free

On until March 10 – New York

Sound of Silence: Art During Dictatorship

From "Sound of Silence: Art During Dictatorship"

Sound of Silence: Art During Dictatorship brings together nine of the most active young artists from Belarus, and their video, posters, paintings and installations created in solidarity with popular protests against the December 2010 rigged election and state-sanctioned crime that unfolded in its aftermath.
Where: EFA Project Space, 323 W39th Street, betw 8th and 9th Avenues, 2nd Floor
When: 12pm – 6 pm, Wednesday-Saturday
Cost: Free

On until March 25 – New York

Underground: Russian Photography 1970s-1980s

Boris Mikhailov's "Greetings from Gorky", featured in Nailya Alexander Gallery's exhibition

Nailya Alexander Gallery is pleased to announce “Underground: Russian Photography 1970s-1980s,” an exhibition of some forty vintage gelatin silver prints by Boris Smelov (1951, Leningrad -1998, St. Petersburg), Boris Mikhailov (b. 1938, Kharkov), Yuri Rybchinsky (b. 1935, Brdiansk), Alexander Lapin (b. 1945, Moscow), Nikolai Bakharev (b. 1946, Novokuznetsk), Gennady Bodrov (1958, Solntsy -1999, Kursk), Vladimir Kuprianov (1954-2011, Moscow), Igor Moukhin (b. 1961, Moscow), Andrey Chezhin (b. 1960, Leningrad), and Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962, Leningrad).
Where: Fuller Building, 1 East 57th Street, Suite 704
When: 11am – 6pm, Tuesday-Saturday
Cost: Free

http://artinrussia.org/february-events/
Copyright: Art in Russia, The School of Russian and Asian Studies

Taryn Jones graduated in 2008 from the University of Victoria (Canada) with her BA in history and anthropology. During that time, she also studied Russian and art history, and was heavily involved with the university’s Russian Studies course union. In January 2012, she will begin her studies at the University of British Columbia in a double Master’s program in library and archival science. Taryn’s specific artistic interests are the Wanderers, Socialist Realism and photography.

Art in Russia is a student-powered project dedicated to educating English-speakers about achievements in the arts made in Russia and countries of the former USSR. Art in Russia facilitates and encourages students to study art at home and abroad as part of a study abroad program. Art in Russia is hosted and sponsored by The School of Russian and Asian Studies.

Princeton Uni hosts Onegin Project, Feb 9-18

2012-02-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

From February 9-18, Princeton University will be the site of three major events centered on the banned dramatization of Alexander Pushkin’s literary masterpiece Eugene Onegin presented in collaboration by the Lewis Center for the Arts, Department of Music, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and the Program in Dance.

The “Onegin Project” will include two productions of the Prokofiev/Krzhizhanovsky adaptation banned by the Stalinist regime in 1936 beginning with a world premiere musical and dance dramatization featuring the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Glee Club and Princeton Ballroom Dance Club in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on February 9, 2012 at 8 p.m. and continuing with the world premiere of the theatrical production with performance of the full script and music presented by the Program in Theater at the Lewis Center for the Arts from February 10 to 18, 2012.

The two productions are presented under the auspices of an international conference, “After the End of Music History,” in honor of the eminent musicologist Richard Taruskin. For more information: princeton.edu/arts/oneginproject.

Title of Event: Eugene Onegin
Dates: Thursday, February 9 World Premiere concert with full orchestra, dance and chorus;
February 10 - 18, 2012 World Premiere theatrical performance of full script with chamber music
Time: 8:00 pm all performances
Locations: Concert – Richardson Auditorium
Theatrical production - Marie and Edward Matthews ’53 Acting Studio, Lewis Center for the Arts at 185 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ
Price: Concert $25/$10 students; theater performance $15/$10 students and seniors
http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2012/01/25/time_off/entertainment_news/doc4f2084d6cff6b572071943.txt

Alexander Rodchenko at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome

2012-02-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

Aleksandr Rodchenko was undoubtedly one of the main generators of this creative and intellectual season, reflecting the spirit and the mythical aura.
Design, theater, painting, film, graphics and photography are subject areas in which the exceptional talent of this fascinating figure artist was confronted, opening up new creative paths for the subsequent development of each of them.

Alexander Rodchenko Portrait of mother (1924)

It was in 1924 that Rodchenko concentrated its main focus on photography, with the result of producing a vigorous change.
From a simple mean of recording reality, photography became a medium for dynamic representation of intellectual constructs, introducing principles of constructivist ideology.
The "Method Rodchenko," which included the use of diagonal compositions, progressive blurs, turned with time into a repertoire of "rhetorical devices" available to those artists who, by adopting the language of constructivism, believed in the possibility of a better transformation of the world's civilization.

Lilya Brik in Alexander Rodchenko’s poster for the Soviet publisher Gosizdat, 1924

Mostra organizzata da Moskow House of Photography Museum

A cura di Olga Sviblova

11 ottobre 2011 - 8 gennaio 2012 http://www.palazzoesposizioni.it/MediaCenter/FE/CategoriaMedia.aspx?idc=544&explicit=SI

EXHIBITION: Deineka Aleksandr (1899-1969) Avant-Garde for the Proletariat

2012-01-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

This is the first exhibition in Spain to present the work of the Russian artist Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) and by extension the historical period from which it was borne. With the aim of presenting both in a twofold context: the end of the avant–garde and the advent of socialist realism. This comprehensive retrospective is to date the largest devoted to Deineka outside Russia: over 80 works on view are completed by a broad yet detailed selection of magazines, posters, books, documents, objects, and works by other Russian avant–garde artists, some 250 works and documents.

Las trabajadoras textiles, 1927 (Galería Estatal Tretyakov, Moscú)

In 1985, a time when the Soviet regime was still in power, the Fundación Juan March organized an exhibition titled The Russian Avant–Garde, 1910–1930. Ludwig Museum and Collection, the first show in Spain to display art works by the Russian avant–garde. In the past 23 years, various exhibitions devoted to the leading figures of this movement–among them, Kazimir Malevich (1993), Aleksandr Rodchenko (2001), and Liubov Popova (2004)–have been staged at the Fundación, including the recent Total Enlightenment: Conceptual Art in Moscow, 1960–1990, held in 2008. This show brought together the work of a number of Soviet artists such as Ilya Kabakov, Erik Bulatov, Vitalii Komar and Aleksandr Melamid. Straddling both concept art and their own particular style of Soviet pop art, these artists focused on and raised issues regarding Soviet culture during the Stalin era, from his rise to power following Lenin's death in 1924 to his death in 1953.

La defensa de Petrogrado, 1928 (Museo Estatal de las Fuerzas Armadas)

These exhibitions therefore addressed two moments in Russian history: the great experiment that was the Russian avant–garde in the years preceding the Stalin era and the unofficial and decidedly postmodern form of Soviet art that emerged a decade after Stalin's death. In order to complete this historical overview, it became obvious that the interval between both periods, a defining moment in the history of modern Russia, deserved our attention. And so, Soviet revolutionary art and art produced during the Stalin era, in particular, are at the core of the present exhibition.

Deineka's straightforward painterly style coupled with the ambivalence—or ambiguity—of his art and persona serve as a representative example. The artist received his formal training at institutions traditionally influenced by avant–garde art and formed part of the last remaining constructivist groups (such as October and OST). Because of this, and in spite of his commitment to the revolution and the formation of a socialist state, he was accused of adhering to formalism.

The exhibition also presents a selection of magazines, posters, books, documents, objects, and works by other Russian avant–garde artists–with a special focus on their revolutionary output–that mirror the “ambivalent” and “ambiguous” quality of Deineka’s art and career. Presented together, these works expose a unique, coherent (and unexplored) set of relationships between socialist realism and the Russian avant–garde.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969)
Avant-Garde for the Proletariat
October 7, 2011 – January 15, 2012

http://www.march.es/arte/madrid/exposiciones/aleksandr-deineka/

St Petersburg Ball 2012 in London, 4th Feb

2012-01-28T02:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday 4th February 2012, 7:30pm - 2:00am

Dress: White Tie or Period Costume.

High quality costumes for hire at:The National Theatre.

The Landmark Hotel, Marylebone.

Tickets £165

The 2012 St Petersburg Ball in aid of Friends of Russian Children incorporated in the Children's Burns Trust, helping burn injured children and their families. They promise an evening of excitement and extravaganza under the patronage of HH Princess Olga Romanovand Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor which will include a Champagne and Vodka Reception, a sumptuous dinner, period dancing to the music of the Coldstream Guards and an exciting programme of entertainment.

They are also holding Dance Practices where you can learn the dances, meet fellow guests and enjoy yourself.

Dance Practice evening: 7-9.30 pm at St. Joseph's Church Hall, Brompton Oratory, Knightsbridge. (Nearest Tube South Kensington):

THURSDAY 26th JANUARY 2012(with food)

Contact: The Social Courier at rula01@yahoo.com Ticket Applications. Charity Commission registered No: 1082084

http://www.stpetersburgball.com/

Useful research link: 'The Face of Russia' from PBS

2012-01-27T02:00:00.000-08:00

Who are the Russian people? How have they expressed their character and inner conflicts in their art and culture? And, as Russia’s long-awaited democracy develops, how will the Russian people redefine themselves culturally, spiritually, and politically?

Timeline
Experience Russian culture and history through an interactive timeline from 850 A.D. to present day with hundreds of images, movies and audio tracks.

The Series
Learn about the PBS series and the people behind it with biographies, location maps, program summaries, air dates, and indexes to the interviews and artwork from the series.

Reference
Explore Russia and Russian culture within this section which includes a glossary, bibliography, media index, Web links and lesson plans.

This section contains information for those who would like to learn more about Russia and Russian culture. The Glossary provides definitions of Russian words used in The Face of Russia television programs. The Bibliography and the Web links list additional sources of information, including maps and works of art. For teachers there are Lesson Plans for elementary through high school grades. And finally, for a bit of added interest, visitors can view the Cyrillic alphabet and find out about its origins.

Russian Life magazine is the 41-year-old monthly magazine on Russian culture, history, travel and life. Published in English for Russophiles around the world, Russian Life is full of great color photography and intriguing feature stories—it is “a monthly trip to the heart of Russian reality.” Sample stories online and/or subscribe (which also automatically enters you in a drawing for a free round-trip ticket to Russia on Lufthansa!).

The June/July 1998 issue contains an article on Ferapontova and the frescoes of Dionysus, which are featured in the Interactive Timeline of The Face of Russia website.
Visit our web-site at http://www.rispubs.com.

Forums
Connect with others to discuss topics inspired by the series and the site in the Viewer’s Forum at PBS.

http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/intro.html

University of Pittsburg recruiting for PhD in Russian culture

2012-01-24T02:00:00.000-08:00

Pitt Slavic invites applications to its program, which provides a full range of courses, with an emphasis on Russian cultural studies. The department has supported recent dissertations on Soviet postmodernist culture, culture of the Belomor Canal, post-Soviet philosophy, the Soviet anekdot, television serials, and Thaw cinema. All PhD recipients in the past twelve years have received academic job offers or prestigious post-doctoral fellowships, including from Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Stanford Humanities Center, and University College London.

In addition to extensive training and mentoring; PhD students participate regularly in international conferences at a relatively early stage; they may help organize the annual Russian Film Symposium (http://www.rusfilm.pitt.edu ); or edit the Department's journal, Studies in Slavic Cultures (http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/sisc/). Alongside their primary study, graduate students also typically obtain MA or PhD certificates in several interdepartmental programs:
. Cultural Studies (http://pitt.edu/~cultural/)
. Film Studies (http://www.pitt.edu/~filmst/)
. Russian and East European Studies (http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/crees/)
. Women's Studies (http://pitt.edu/~wstudies)
By the time they receive their PhD, many students will have obtained teaching experience in culture, cinema, language, and literature courses in both team-taught and stand-alone formats.

A new PhD in Slavic/Film Studies offers an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental degree that stresses the history, theory, and aesthetics of international cinema, video, television, and new media. While the student will earn a PhD in Film Studies (granted by the Film Studies Program), he or she will also be a full member of Slavic, fulfilling its requirements (many of which will overlap). Interested students should submit applications simultaneously to Slavic and the Film Studies PhD program at http://www.english.pitt.edu/graduate/phd_film.php.

Financial aid (non-teaching fellowships and teaching assistantships) is available to qualified applicants. Applications will be accepted until 1 February. Applications must be submitted electronically athttps://app.applyyourself.com/?id=up-as. For more information about academic programs, faculty, students, alumni, application procedures, and deadlines see http://www.slavic.pitt.edu.

In case of questions, please write to: Christine Metil, Administrator,slavic@pitt.edu; Prof. Nancy Condee, Director of Graduate Studies,condee@pitt.edu; Prof. David J. Birnbaum, Chair, djbpitt@pitt.edu.

Prof. N. Condee, Director
Global Studies Center (NRC Title VI)
University Center for International Studies
University of Pittsburgh
4103 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
+1 412-363-7180
condee@pitt.edu
www.ucis.pitt.edu/global

Henry Moore exhibition at the Kremlin

2012-01-23T02:00:00.002-08:00

The Henry Moore Foundation is delighted to be taking a specially selected exhibition to the Kremlin Museums, Moscow, in February 2012. Many important works including Moore's Bird Basket have never been shown in Russia before.
The exhibition is organised by The Henry Moore Foundation and The Kremlin Museums in collaboration with the British Council.
The Kremlin's Assumption Belltower and Patriarch's Palace will be host to a selection of sculptures, drawings and tapestries from the Foundation collection, supplemented by key loans from both public and private collections. It will be a rare chance to see three of Moore's stunning large-scale tapestries outside Perry Green, his former home.

Detail of Bird Basket (1939)

The exhibition will span Moore's career, from early carvings in stone, wood and marble, through drawings and tapestries to later iconic sculptures of the 1980s.

There will be a catalogue including newly commissioned texts from Dawn Ades, Chris Stephens, Jeremy Lewison, and Anita Feldman as well as an interview with Mary Moore, the artist's daughter, who talks about her Russian mother's relationship with her father, and her influence on his life and work

The Kremlin continues to be the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. Located on the banks of the river Moskva, adjacent to Moscow's famous Red Square and overlooking St. Basil's Cathedral, the site is also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The British Council and The Kremlin Museums are running a series of events and activities venues related to the Moore exhibition, including a full series of lectures, and education activities for schoolchildren. A competition for older children and students, based on Roche Court's innovative programme 'ARTiculate' will invite participants to speak in public on their favourite works. The competition will be judged by the Director of the Kremlin Museums, Dr Elena Gagarina.

http://www.henry-moore.org/pg/exhibitions/moore-at-the-kremlin

Call for Sublime: From "Last Day of Pompeii" to Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

2012-01-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Tue 31 January 2012 – 7.30pm
Lecture/Talk, Pushkin House, London
Call for Sublime: From "Last Day of Pompeii" to Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
by Ilia Dorontchenkov
TEN CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN ART: IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY LECTURE SERIES
VIEW THE WHOLE LECTURE SERIES

Carl Briollov’s The Last Day of Pompeii (1833)

This lecture covers almost hundred years of Russian art: from its first masterpiece which rejoined provincial Russian school with European Romantic mainstream and was accepted as an important social event in Russia – Carl Briollov’s The Last Day of Pompeii (1833) to the triumphal Drang nach Westen of Russian Modernism – Serge Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons (1910s). Between these milestones a whole range of important phenomena will be presented – sentimental images of Russian peasants of Alexei Venetsianov and Romantic Utopia of spiritual transfiguration in Alexander Ivanov’s Appearance of Christ to the People (1837-58). Art of the Itinerants will be discussed as the most radical Realist movement in Europe and the phenomena which still shapes Russians’ understanding of art. Vasilii Surikov’s historical machines will be paralleled to Leo Tolstoy’s philosophy of history and Isaac Levitan’s landscapes seen through the lenses of Chekhov’s psychological analysis. Finally, the World of Art movement will be discussed as a major cultural turn in the development of Russian national culture on its way to avant-garde.

Ilia Dorontchenkov, Professor and Chair at the Department of Art History, European University of St. Petersburg and Professor at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Academy of Fine Arts)

Tickets: £7, conc. £5 (Friends of Pushkin House, students and OAPs)
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/call-for-sublime-from-last-day-of-pompeii-to-diaghilevs-ballets-russes

Useful Links for Researchers of Russian Art

2012-01-16T02:00:00.000-08:00

Academia Rossica
http://academia-rossica.org/en/academia-rossica
Archipenko Foundation
http://www.archipenko.org/
Association of Art Historians
http://www.aah.org.uk/
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
http://www.aseees.org/
Bauhaus Archive
http://www.bauhaus.de/
British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies
http://www.basees.org.uk/
Cold War Daily
http://paper.li/nickblackbourn/1302724386
College Art Association
http://www.collegeart.org/
Courtauld Institute of Art
http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/institute/index.shtml
Durham University
http://www.dur.ac.uk/education/undergraduate/open_modules/
Fulbright in Russia
http://www.fulbright.ru/
Naum Gabo
http://www.naum-gabo.com/
Guggenheim Museum
http://www.guggenheim.org/
Harvard Art Museums
http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/
Hermitage Museum
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/
Institute of Modern Russian Culture, USC
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/IMRC/
International Chamber of Russian Modernism
http://www.incorm.eu/
Kandinsky Library
http://bibliothequekandinsky.centrepompidou.fr/medias/medias.aspx?INSTANCE=INCIPIO
Museum of Modern Art
http://www.moma.org/
Newcastle University
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/combined/honours/subjects/historyart.htm
Pompidou Center
http://www.centrepompidou.fr/
Pushkin House
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en
Pushkin Museum
http://www.museum.ru/gmii/defengl.htm
Russian Art and Culture
http://russianartandculture.blogspot.com/
Russian Art and Culture on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Russian-Art-and-Culture/
RusArtCulture on Twitter
http://twitter.com/RusArtCulture
Russian Avant-Garde Gallery
http://www.russianavantgard.com/index.html
Russia Info-Centre
http://www.russia-ic.com/culture_art/
Russian State Museum
http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/home/
Slavonic and East European Review
http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Journals/seer.html
Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies
http://www.scrss.org.uk/
Tate Modern
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
The J. Paul Getty Museum
http://www.getty.edu/museum/
Transnational Modernisms Research Cluster
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arthistory/research/tmrc.html
UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/
University of Bristol
http://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/current/pgrdirectory/historyofart.html
Yale University Art Gallery
http://artgallery.yale.edu/
Zimmerli Art Museum
http://www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu/

Walters Art Museum announces Russian enamels bequest- finest pieces from U.S. private collection

2012-01-11T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has announced the gift of enameled Russian silver bequeathed by Jean Montgomery Riddell. This collection is comprised of more than 260 objects from the 17th through early 20th centuries. Riddell, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 100, was a Washington, D.C. patron of the arts. Her collection was internationally recognized and ranked as the finest of its kind in the United States. Although she was particularly interested in Moscow enamels of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, her bequest also includes important additions to the Walters holdings of works from the firm of Carl Fabergé in St. Petersburg.

“We are honored that the Walters has been entrusted with this extraordinary collection of Russian enamels,” said Walters Director Gary Vikan. “Jean Riddell believed that with our existing holdings of russian art and our commitment to past exhibitions in the field, the Walters would make a great home for her collection.”

Firm of Pavel Ovchinnikov, Russian (Moscow), Tankard, 1888–96, silver gilt, filigree and plique-á-jour enamel, Bequest of Mrs. Jean M. Riddell, 2010, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Among Jean Riddell’s admirers was Susan Kaplan Jacobson of Leo Kaplan Ltd., whose family firm was for many years a major purveyor of Moscow enamels. In particular, she remembers Mrs. Riddell for her unassuming manner, which belied her wealth, and her varied interests, including flying airplanes.

Likewise, Paul Schaffer of the venerable New York firm of A La Vieille Russie, which traces its roots to Kiev in 1851, fondly recalls Jean Riddell’s visits. “Her achievement as a collector was truly exceptional. She was focused in her objectives and with her keen mind and rare determination, she assembled the premier collection of Russian enamels in the country.”

Moscow silversmiths employed a range of enameling techniques seen in the Riddell Collection, but their most distinctive method was filigree—a variation on cloisonné in which twisted wires rather than flat strips of metal are used to separate the colors. The wires project from the surfaces rather than lying flat as in cloisonné. Often the sections within the wires were filled with enamel painted in different colors, another distinctive trait known as “shaded enamel.”

Riddell used the funds that she had inherited from her grandfather John Wildi, the first producer of evaporated milk, to support the National Ballet Company and the Paul Hill Chorale in Washington, D.C. She had studied with Thomas Benton at the Arts Students League in New York and later met her husband, Richard J. Riddell, at the American Embassy in Budapest where her father, John Montgomery, served as Franklin Roosevelt’s ambassador to Hungary from 1933 to 1941. Jean Riddell became interested in Russian enamels in 1966 when she inherited some examples from her husband.

To share these new acquisitions with the public in the future, the Walters is developing an exhibition for spring 2015, which will also tour. Currently there are 12 pieces on view on the 4th floor of the Centre Street Building. Highlights include a filigree enamel tankard inspired by a 17th-century Turkish prototype from the Kremlin Armory and a beaker with remarkable plique-à-jour enamel—a design outlined in metal and filled with colored enamels without a backing, creating a stained glass effect.

http://thewalters.org/about/
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=52537&b=russian%20art

CFP: Association for Slavonic & East European Studies 2012

2012-01-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

CFP for ASEEES 2012 convention Individual paper proposals deadline: 12/16 Panel/roundtable proposal deadline: 1/16/2012
CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR 2012 CONVENTION

The 2012 ASEEES Annual Convention will be held at the New Orleans Marriott on Nov. 15-18, 2012. The Call for Proposals is currently open.

INDIVIDUAL PAPER PROPOSALS: The deadline for individual paper proposals is December 16, 2011, 5:00 pm US EST.

Do not submit an individual paper proposal for a paper that is already part of an organized panel, and do not submit a proposal if you are presenting any paper on any other proposed panel.

A conference participant can present only one paper at the conference, and can appear on the program no more than twice.

PANEL/ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS: The deadline for panel/roundtable submissions is January 15, 2012 (exact time: January 16, 2012, 12:01 am US PST).

Forms are available at www.aseees.org and should be mailed to Wendy Walker, Convention Coordinator, 66 Tyler Road, Weston, MA 02493 or submitted online.
Please note that we cannot accept faxed proposals.

Affiliate groups note: Requests for a meeting room at the convention are also due January 15, 2012 (exact time: January 16, 2012, 12:01 am US PST).
Affiliate groups may only request one meeting room at the convention.

http://www.aseees.org/convention/cfp2012.html.

EXHIBITION: Alexey Morozov at State Russian Museum, St Petersburg

2012-01-09T02:00:00.002-08:00

ANTOLOGIA
An exhibition of artworks by Alexey Morozov

December 15, 2011 - January 16, 2012
The State Russian Museum. Marble Palace
St. Petersburg, Russia
Exhibition curator: Alexander Borovsky

From December 15, 2011 to January 16, 2012 the State Russian Museum presents “ ANTOLOGIA ” - the first museum exhibition by Alexey Morozov, one of Russia’s most interesting artists of the 21 st century generation. On display in the Marble Palace will be about 60 pieces, including paintings, sculpture and graphics. Some are completely new, while others are already well-known.

“ ANTOLOGIA ” is the artist’s largest exhibition ever held, and which he sees as a reflection on Pax Romana, a long period of relative peace in the first and second centuries BC that allowed Greco-Roman culture to became a foundation of modern Western civilization. "Morozov develops his own poetics (in fact, an attitude to the Classics) with far-reaching goals,’’ said Alexander Borovsky, head of contemporary art at the State Russian Museum. ``His are ambitious goals, and it is interesting that we learn one main thing: the reason for the vitality of the Hellenistic world as art, as an attitude to life, and etc.’’

Morozov believes that European civilization must more often refer to the past, and revisit its positions towards allegory, myth and historical scenes in order to discover a new meaning. The art of Alexey Morozov proves that classical forms have not died, and that traditions and innovations may well coexist.

ALEXEY MOROZOV (born 1974) was born in Uzbekistan, and graduated from the Moscow State Academic Surikov Art Institute (workshop of Lev Kerbel). In 1999 he went to the south of France to study classical sculpture and French terracotta. A year later, Morozov began collaboration with the artist Timur Novikov, the founder of the New Academy of Fine Art movement. In 2003 Morozov had two solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg: in D-137 Gallery – “Craft Deco_classic” and in the New Academy – “Craft Deco_academic”. In Moscow his work has been shown in group exhibitions, and he is represented by Triumph Gallery. Morozov lives and works in Moscow and Bologna.

For more information please contact Alexey Morozov's international press agent, John Varoli PR: www.johnvarolipr.com

Freelance Art Writers: Contribute to Russian Art and Culture

2012-01-09T02:00:00.001-08:00

Russian Art and Culture is a new website and blogfocused on Russian art and culture in the UK. The site was created in responseto the successful ‘Cultural Exchange: Russia and the West’ conference at theUniversity of Bristol last year. The aim is to create an ongoing forumfor discussion of Russian art and culture.

We publish articles, interviews with curators and reviewsof recent exhibitions and publications. The website allows academics, curators,researchers and interested members of the public the opportunity to read aboutthe latest developments in Russian art, theory and criticism. It is also a hub forinformation on interesting related events such as exhibitions and lectures.

Russian Art and Culture is looking for contributorsto the site to write articles relevant to Russian art and culture. Please joinother leading cultural experts and commentators and write a post.Reviews should be 400-500 words long and articles up to 2000 words. If youwould also like to publish news of an event then please do get in touch. Thewebsite also publishes notices of call for papers, academic conferences, studydays, exhibitions and sales.

The website currently has 4,000 hits a month andreaders in 12 countries including the UK, Germany, USA and Russia. If you areinterested in contributing an article and sharing your recent research with ourreaders then please get in touch.

Contactthe editor at theodora@theodoraclarke.co.uk

http://www.russianartandculture.blogspot.com/

Art Historians: Public Speaking Workshop (AAH), 9th Feb, London

2012-01-07T03:24:00.000-08:00

‘Public Speaking Workshop for Art Historians’
9th February 2012, 10-5pm
Association of Art Historians, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ.

Clear, effective and professional communication skills are absolutely essential to any aspiring academic. This workshop will focus on how to communicate your research more effectively, whether you are a seasoned presenter who feels there is room for improvement or a complete beginner at public speaking. Participants will learn and practice techniques of voice projection, controlling speed and tone, and methods of connecting with the audience in lecture theatres or seminar rooms. Speakeasy, a public-speaking training organisation, is offering a one-day workshop on the art of public speaking for art historians. Organised by an academic and a professional actor, the Speakeasy Workshop is specifically developed for art historians at the start of their career. Drawing on professional acting skills and techniques, our one-day course addresses the following issues:

How to be an effective communicator in the lecture theatre, the seminar room or in the conference hall?
How to get your message across, keep your audience engaged and actually enjoy the experience
Voice projection, posture, body language and how to calm your nerves?
Different modes of communication: how to lead seminars, chair conferences and conduct a Q&A
Techniques for presenting, how to deliver complex ideas and personalise your style of delivery
Methods of communication: how to use PowerPoint, present a poster and ‘how to think on your academic feet’?

Owing to the interactive nature of the workshop, numbers are limited to 25. Book now to avoid disappointment.

Course requirements: All attendees are required to bring a printed copy of 150 words on/about their research- this could be part of a chapter or paper. Please also make sure that you wear loose comfortable clothing.

Cost: Fee includes refreshments and a course pack. Lunch is not included, but there are a number of sandwich bars in the area.

AAH Concessionary Members: £40.00; AAH Members: £53.00 ; Non-AAH Members: £65.00. Book online now via http://www.datawareonline.co.uk/aah/Default.aspx?tabid=71&EventId=187.

This event is organised by the Independents Committee of the AAH and is open to all.

EXHIBITION: Last week of Kandinsky's 'Painting with White Border' at Guggenheim NYC

2012-01-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

October 21, 2011–January 15, 2012
Vasily Kandinsky’s canvas, Painting with White Border (Bild mit weissem Rand, May 1913) was inspired by a trip the artist took to Moscow in fall 1912. Upon his return to Munich, where he had been living intermittently since 1896, Kandinsky searched for a way to visually record the “extremely powerful impressions” of his native Russia that lingered in his memory. Over a period of five months, he explored various motifs and compositions in study after study, moving freely between pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and oil. After he produced at least 16 studies, Kandinsky finally arrived at the pictorial solution to the painting: the white border. In his seminal 1911 treatise Über das Geistige in der Kunst. Insbesondere in der Malerei (On the Spiritual in Art: And Painting in Particular), Kandinsky wrote that the color white expresses a “harmony of silence . . . pregnant with possibilities.”

Vasily Kandinsky, Painting with White Border (Bild mit weissem Rand), May 1913 (detail). Oil on canvas, 140.3 x 200.3 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift 37.245 © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

This focused exhibition, co-organized with the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., brings the Guggenheim’s final version of the painting from May 1913 together with twelve related drawings and watercolors and one major oil sketch, and features the results of an extensive conservation study of the Guggenheim and Phillips paintings. The study unearthed a previously unknown landscape painting beneath the surface of the Phillips’s Sketch I forPainting with White Border (Moscow) (Skizze für Bild mit weissem Rand [Moskau], 1913). A rare glimpse into Kandinsky’s creative process, Kandinsky’s Painting with White Border reveals the gradual and deliberate way the artist sought to translate his ideas into a bold new language of abstraction.

Kandinsky’s work is a cornerstone of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s collection. The museum’s founder, industrialist Solomon R. Guggenheim, began acquiring Kandinsky’s paintings—including Painting with White Border—as early as 1929, and today the Guggenheim’s holdings of his work are among the most extensive in the world.
This exhibition is supported by a grant from the Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation.
—Tracey Bashkoff, Curator, Collections and Exhibitions
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view/kandinskys-painting-with-white-border

Russian Art Group Claims Attack on Police Van, Moscow

2012-01-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

A spokesman for the radical art collective Voina on Monday announced that its members had broken into a St. Petersburg police station on New Year’s Eve and used gasoline bombs to incinerate a police vehicle used to transport prisoners as “a gift to all political prisoners of Russia.” Amateur video posted online showed a figure tossing lighted objects under a large vehicle, which was then engulfed in flames and spewed smoke into the night sky.

The St. Petersburg police responded skeptically to the Voina claims, releasing a statement that described the fire damage to the vehicle as “insignificant” and noting that there were similar rumors of arson after a fire in August that forensics specialists determined had been caused by a short circuit.

Voina, which was founded by a Moscow philosophy student in 2005, won a contemporary art award sponsored by Russia’s Ministry of Culture for a 2010 work that consisted of a 210-foot penis painted on the roadway of a St. Petersburg drawbridge, which rose to point at the offices of the F.S.B., the state security service. Its members went on to a project they called “Palace Revolution,” in which teams of men ran up to parked police cars and flipped them over, in what they described as a protest against police corruption.

The group’s activities dropped off in 2010 after two of its leaders were arrested on serious hooliganism charges; both men were released last spring on bail, with the assistance of $20,000 donated by the British street artist known as Banksy. The charges, which could bring seven-year sentences, still stand. A third member has been in detention on vandalism charges since taking part in a protest on Dec. 6 and is on a hunger strike, Aleksei Plutser-Sarno, the group’s spokesman, said by e-mail.

All day, liberals bickered online over whether the arson attack on the police vehicle constituted “pure art,” as one commentator put it, or, as another maintained, “an act as idiotic as voting for United Russia,” the ruling party.

Andrei V. Yerofeyev, a prominent intellectual who has championed Voina in the past, said he thought that the group had helped awaken a more activist spirit in the Russian populace, and that it should move away from radical political acts like the burning of the police vehicle.

“The goal of art is deeper than activism,” he said. “They have carried out their assignment.”

A version of this article by Ellen Barry appeared in print on January 3, 2012, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Russia: Artists’ Group Claims That It Burned a Police Vehicle.

Footage in the link below shows the performance

http://video.yandex.ru/users/russianrevolution2012/view/1/#hq

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/world/europe/russian-art-group-voina-claims-attack-on-police-van.html?_r=1

Postdoc Researcher: "Choices of Russian Modernisation"

2012-01-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english/institute/vacancies.html

Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies The Aleksanteri
Institute is affiliated with the University of Helsinki and operates as a
national centre of research, study and expertise pertaining to Russia and
Eastern Europe, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. The
institute co-ordinates and promotes co-operation and interaction between the
academic world, public administration, business life and civil society in
Finland and abroad.

The Aleksanteri Institute's research project Constructing Russian Identity
in the Media: Between the History of WW II and the Future of Europeanness
(CRIM) is currently seeking a

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
for a fixed term from 1 February 2012 to 31 December 2012.

CRIM is a part of the new multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence (CoE)
"Choices of Russian Modernisation", coordinated by the Aleksanteri Institute
and funded by the Academy of Finland for the period 2012-2017. CRIM is also
a part of the multidisciplinary research project Memory at War, which
consists of five research teams from five countries, coordinated by the
University of Cambridge.

The project welcomes innovative applications focusing on the multiple
relations between contemporary Russian media and/or public discussions and
"The Great Patriotic War". Media discussions may include new media, in
addition to more traditional print and electronic media, as well as various
media actors and events. Public discussions may include discussions about
memorial sites, monuments, museums, etc. These subjects can be approached,
for example, from studies ranging from social memory, to the political use
of history, national identity, and media practices. Approaches to the topic
could raise questions such as, "How are transnational dimensions of
contemporary media linked to the construction of a "local" Russian national
identity and political culture within "The Great Patriotic War"? or "How do
various nationally important themes, related to Russia's WWII, define the
limits for their public discussion in the media?"

According to the regulations of the University of Helsinki, the appointee
must hold a doctoral degree and have the ability to conduct independent
scientific research as well as possess the teaching skills required for the
position.

According to the Government Decree on Universities, postdoctoral researchers
are required to be competent in the language in which they provide tuition
(i.e., in Finnish or Swedish). However, foreign citizens, foreign-born
Finnish citizens or citizens who have not been educated in Finnish or
Swedish can be exempted from this requirement without a separate
application.

The successful candidate is expected to have excellent skills in written and
oral English, as well as have a good command of the Russian language. In
addition, the candidate should have a proven capability to publish in
scientific journals, have excellent analytical and methodological skills,
and be able to work both independently and as part of a team.

The salary is based on the salary system of Finnish universities (YPJ); in
this case based on level 5 of the demands level chart for teaching and
research personnel. In addition, a salary component based on personal
performance will be paid.

Applications should be written in English and include:
- a 1-2 page cover letter summarizing the applicant's motivation
to join the team
- research plan (max. 5 pages)
- CV (max. 3 pages) and
- list of publications (max. 3 pages)

Applications should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file to
aleksanteri [at] helsinki.fi.
The application deadline is 13.1.2012 at 15.45 local Helsinki time.

For more information, please contact Markku Kangaspuro (tel. +358 9 19123650
or +358 50 5223393 or by -email markku.kangaspuro [at] helsinki.fi), or
visit the websites http://blogs.helsinki.fi/crim-project/ and
http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english/projects/constructing.htm.

Socialist Realisms in Rome. Soviet Painting 1920-1970

2011-12-21T02:00:00.000-08:00

Socialist Realisms. Soviet Painting 1920-1970 is perhaps the best exhibition on this movement that takes place outside Russia. Will take place between October 11th and January 8th, 2012 at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.

The exhibition is a chronology of the development of Soviet painting. Since its start, still during the Russian Civil War to the Brezhnev era, Socialist Realisms is a journey into one of the cultural movements that caused more impact in the twentieth century.

Boris Kustodiev 'The Bolshevik' (1920), The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Socialist realism was an instrument of Soviet power, but their artistic quality is indisputable. It was both an alternative to contemporary art and a break with the past to create a new art while looking in the mirror of classic arts.

The exhibition occupies seven galleries that trace the history of a style with greater depth and variety of what was wanted to see at times. A key movement to understand art and the twentieth century.

A cura di Matthew Bown, Evgenija Petrova, Zelfira Tregulova
11 ottobre 2011 - 8 gennaio 2012

http://www.palazzoesposizioni.it/MediaCenter/FE/CategoriaMedia.aspx?idc=550&explicit=SI

Politics in Post-Soviet Space: Fellowships at Harvard University

2011-12-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

The Davis Center Fellows Program at Harvard University is now accepting applications for 2012-2013.
http://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/research_programs/fellowships.html

The Fellows Program brings together scholars at early and later stages in their careers to consider a common theme spanning the social sciences and humanities. The program is coordinated by faculty from across Harvard University whose research interests include aspects of the selected theme.

In 2012-2013, the Fellows Program will be coordinated by Professors Tim Colton (Government) and Serhii Plokhii (History).
The theme for 2012-2013 is "Imperial Legacies and International Politics in the Post-Soviet Space." Areas to be explored under this theme include history, identity issues, security, political economy, and regime building in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries of the region. Other topics of interest include social and cultural factors such as migration, public health, religion, organized crime, environmental degradation, popular culture, and the mass media.

In addition to pursuing their own research, Fellows will participate in a bi-weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that will explore the theme.
Papers will be presented by the visiting Fellows, Harvard faculty, and invited outside speakers. For more detailed information on the Fellows Program, and opportunities to apply for regional, postdoctoral, and senior fellowships, please visit the Davis Center web site, http://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu.

Note that scholars whose work does not address the annual theme may still apply for fellowships at the Davis Center; their applications will receive full consideration.

Types of Awards
The Center offers three types of fellowships: Postdoctoral, Senior, and Regional. The maximum stipend amounts for these awards are detailed below. Scholars with outside or sabbatical funding who wish to be in residence at the Davis Center in 2012–2013 should apply using the fellowships application and indicate that they do not require Davis Center funding. If selected, they will join the Center as Postdoctoral, Senior, or Regional Fellows.

Postdoctoral Fellowships
For junior scholars who will have completed the Ph.D. or equivalent by September 2012, but no earlier than September 2007 (less than five years).
Stipend of up to $38,000.
Citizens of all countries may apply.

Senior Fellowships
For senior scholars who have already made a significant contribution to the field.
Applicants will have completed the Ph.D. or equivalent prior to September 2007 and hold a full-time academic appointment.
Stipend of up to $26,000 to bring salary to full-time level. In certain situations, if the stipend and the applicant's sabbatical pay are insufficient to cover necessary costs, the Davis Center may be able to provide additional funds.
Citizens of all countries may apply.

Regional Fellowships
For advanced scholars, policymakers, journalists, and other specialists.
Stipend of up to $46,000.
Citizens of Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus may apply.
Scholars may apply to be in residence for one full academic year or a minimum of one semester.

The deadline for 2012–2013 fellowship applications is January 9, 2012.
Online info session, Thursday, December 1, 2 p.m. EST
Register by emailing Robyn Angley at rangley@fas.harvard.edu by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30.

Sacred Russian Castings: Exhibition of Cast Metal Icons & Crosses

2011-12-20T02:00:00.000-08:00

Sacred Russian Castings: An Exhibition of Cast Metal Icons and Crosses
Oct. 15, 2011 - January 7, 2012

The Museum Of Russian Icons will present the acclaimed Hollingsworth collection of Russian metal icons and crosses, which chronicles the entire history of the Russian Orthodox Church from the 11th C. to the 19th C.

The holy objects on view in Sacred Russian Castings are of a kind once readily found in even the humblest homes of Russia, as well as its grand churches and public shrines. The exhibit includes more than 100 sand-cast and enameled metal icons and crosses, some set in painted icon panels.

Metal icons were immensely popular in Russia in past centuries. For Orthodox Russians, icons were relic-like objects directly linked to the spiritual world and to the holy figures they depicted. They were seen as comforters, powerful guardians and helpers that could bring rain, cure diseased cattle, ward off fires and heal physical ailments.

The icons on view in Sacred Russian Castings are part of a collection assembled by Gary Hollingsworth, an art restorer based in Florida who has been collecting religious art for the last 30 years. According to Hollingsworth, “Each icon has a story—a history associated with the particular subject. Many of these original stories have been embellished by miracles associated with praying before the image. Each icon holds hundreds of stories we will never know. Every time a child was born, or there was an illness in the family, a war, or a famine, the family would cluster around the icons, praying and asking for help or giving thanks.”

Sacred Russian Castings chronicles the history of the Russian Church through these sacred objects.

.
Museum of Russian Icons203 Union Street, Clinton, Massachusetts 01510 • Telephone/ 978-598-5000 • FAX/ 978-598-5009

http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/sacred_castings_exhibition.html

Harvard University: Master's degree offered in Russian studies 2012-2013

2011-12-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

Master's Degree in Regional Studies: Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (REECA) Harvard University
Master's Degree in Regional Studies: Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (REECA)
Harvard University

The REECA Master’s program can help jump-start your career in academia, government service, NGO management, or the private sector. This two-year, interdisciplinary program allows you to:

• Study with some of the world’s top scholars working on the region
• Gain a nuanced understanding of history and current affairs
• Build proficiency in Russian and other regional languages
• Take courses at Harvard professional schools
• Tap into the Harvard alumni network

Apply by December 31, 2011 to begin studies during 2012-2013.

http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/programs_of_study/regional_studies-russia_eastern_europe_and_central_asia.php

Upcoming events in NY and Boston: Russian Folk Songs & Soviet photography

2011-12-17T02:00:00.000-08:00

December 17 – Boston

Saint Petersburg's Famed Men's Ensemble

The Museum of Russian Icons in Boston hosts the Saint Petersburg Men’s Ensemble singing “Russian Sacred and Folk Songs.”

The St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble was founded in 2003 to popularize Russian folk songs and secular and ecclesiastic compositions. Its members are Kirill Sokolov, Evgeny Vischnevsky, Vadim Smantser, Alexander Gogol, and Alexander Korbakov. They regularly perform internationally and will be giving their second concert at the Museum of Russian Icons. Limited seating.

December 17, 2011 Tickets: $12 members, $15 non-members. Advance purchase recommended at (978) 598-5000.

December 18 – NY

Brooklyn’s Central Library and Dweck Center hosts a discussion of Soviet dissidents and photographs by Irene Caesar.

Pavel Litvinov and Tomas Venclova, two among the most prominent members of the Soviet dissident movement, analyze the impact of the movement on the development of the Russian state, its legacy and the current political climate in Russia. They are joined by Irene Caesar, a photographer who presents her recent series of portraits of the Soviet dissidents.

Ongoing throughout December

Untitled work by Ivan Lebedev

The Museum of Russian Art in Jersey City hosts a temporary exhibition of Moscow photographer Ivan Lebedev’s works.

Runs from Thursday, December 8, through December 30, 2011. Located at the Museum of Russian Art (MoRA) Opening Reception: Friday, December 9th from 5pm to 8pm The exhibition will be open Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 3pm to 7pm. It will be closed December 24th to the 26th.

http://artinrussia.org/december-2011-events/

.

News: Malevich Arts Centre planned for Moscow by Sophia Kishkovsky

2011-12-16T02:00:00.000-08:00

An arts centre dedicated to Kazimir Malevich, the pioneering modernist and the founder of suprematism, is being planned following a chance encounter in a field in Nemchinovka, near Moscow, between a Russian avant-garde enthusiast on a search for Malevich’s grave and a German investment banker concerned about Russia’s international image. Malevich made work and developed his theories on art in Nemchinovka, and it was where he wanted to be buried.

Malevich was buried in a field, which is threatened by developers, in Nemchinovka, near Moscow. Right, the proposed design for one of Malevich's Architektons, on which the new arts centre would be based

Aleksandr Matveyev, a physicist who has spent decades researching Malevich’s legacy, and Moscow-based fund manager and Nemchinovka resident Jochen Wermuth, have united to raise funds for the centre and oppose developers building a housing complex on the site.

“I noticed him [Matveyev] one day digging in the field behind my house,” says Wermuth, who moved to Russia in the 1990s and worked with the Russian government during the period of economic reform. Matveyev, who became interested in Malevich’s connection to the village while working with a Soviet youth organisation, was looking for the artist’s grave.

The burial site, under an oak tree on the edge of Nemchinovka and marked with a white cube with a black square designed by his close friend and fellow suprematist Nikolai Suetin, was destroyed during the second world war. In 1988, as the Soviet era was ending, an adjacent site was designated as a memorial and a white cube with a red square was installed. Until recently, the local authorities insisted that it was the actual grave. Malevich devotees try to gather at the second site every year on 23 February to mark the artist’s birthday. But the site is within the gates of an exclusive housing complex and access is tricky.

When Wermuth learned that he lives on “sacred” artistic territory, he donated $30,000 in support of the search for Malevich’s grave (Matveyev had already used up the funds he had raised by selling his home). The artist’s last resting place was finally found in a field on a former farm collective that is now a construction site being developed by property company Rondo. Matveyev and his assistant, Andrei Yanovsky, keep guard at the burial spot to make sure it is not destroyed by excavation equipment.

Wermuth has now launched a scheme to raise millions of dollars to create a Malevich Foundation, or Centre for the Russian Avant-Garde on the spot. He says that, as a Russian artist of Polish descent, Malevich “was an early global citizen”, who returned to Russia, unlike Chagall and Kandinsky, and was “buried in a field he loved and that inspired him, rather than in a proper graveyard because he stood by his beliefs”.

Wermuth envisions a centre with “studios, a theatre, a convention centre and hotel and possibly a school for the local children as well as [facilities] for university students.” Matveyev says the goal is to build a centre based on one of Malevich’s “Architektons”, his seminal abstract skyscraper constructions, including a telescope for viewing Jupiter.

“This place needs to be marked, so that people can gather,” says Vitaly Patsyukov, a curator at the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow, who is also working on the project. “In Russia today there is a problem with the absence of historical memory.” Russian appreciation of Malevich, who died in Leningrad in 1935, vanished almost completely when the Soviets rejected the radical ideas of the avant-garde and replaced them with a tightly controlled socialist realism aesthetic.

Nemchinovka, where Sofia Rafalovich—Malevich’s second wife—had a family home, was a favourite retreat for Malevich and the pre-revolutionary intelligentsia in general. It still has a grand pre-revolutionary train station. “It was an incredible time,” says Matveyev, referring to Malevich’s meetings there with friends such as film-maker Sergei Eisenstein and artist Ivan Kliun. “This powerful burst [of creativity] right before and after the revolution determined the course of world art,” he says.

John Bowlt, the director of the Institute of Modern Russian Culture at the University of Southern California, suggests that the project might serve as a research centre to combat fakes that plague the Russian avant-garde market. In the meantime, however, Matveyev takes a more mystical view. “It’s as if Malevich is directing this from above,” he says.

This article was first published in The Art Newspaper by Sophia Kishkovsky on December 15th, 2011.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Campaign-to-build-Malevich-centre-by-artist-s-grave/25160

PhD applications open for Slavic Langagues & Literatures, Uni of Kansas

2011-12-15T05:22:00.000-08:00

The Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures at the University of Kansas invites applications for its MA and PhD Programs.

At the MA level, KU SLL provides students with foundational knowledge (major literary periods and genres, structure and function of Slavic languages, disciplinary methodologies, control of writing and research strategies, and appropriate language capacity). Students may choose to focus on Russian, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, or Polish languages and cultures.

At the PhD level, KU SLL encourages students to engage in deep study of their particular intellectual interests in the areas of Russian Literature, Slavic Linguistics, Language Pedagogy, or Culture (interdisciplinary studies, Russian intellectual history, Slavic folklore), under the direction and close mentorship of our faculty.

For information about KU's graduate programs, admission information, and a list of interdisciplinary themes in which the faculty have particular strength, go to:
http://www2.ku.edu/~slavic/academics/graduate/

For information about faculty profiles, go to:
http://www2.ku.edu/~slavic/people/index.shtml

To ensure consideration for financial aid, applicants should submit their materials online by 15 January 2012.

For additional information, contact:
Dr. Maria Carlson
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
mcarlson@ku.edu

EXHIBITION: Contemporary Russian Art in NYC

2011-12-14T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Pursuit of Excellence: an Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Art
November 29 - December 20, 2011

The Pursuit of Excellence: an Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Art showcases the work of talented Russian artists whose astounding creations will stir the minds and the hearts of all those who embrace the vitality and wonder that defines these works of art. Courageously facing the reality of the world, yet presenting an inspiring view of what it could be, these artists will leave their mark on all who view their work.

Featured Artists
Ivan Erastov | Dmitri Freund | Tamara Grizjuk | Eugeniya Infelicina | Igor Nelubovich | Igor Petrov | Valery Zharkih | Mikhail Zhirmunsky

About the Gallery
Miki Stiles, MFA, Agora Founder
The late Miki Stiles, MFA established Agora Gallery in 1984 to provide an opportunity to artists who are entering the New York art market. As an artist she faced many hardships while attempting to exhibit her art and wanted to help her fellow artists in their struggle.

Ms. Stiles was a visionary who founded the gallery on the principle that all artists, particularly emerging artists, are in need of enhancing their artist biographies/CV through gallery representation and exhibitions, in order to advance their artistic careers.

Today Agora Gallery is a fine art gallery located in the heart of New York City’s Chelsea art galleries district, close to the Chelsea Museum of Fine Art and the DIA Center for the Arts (map and directions). The gallery is famous for showcasing a spectacular array of talented artists from around the world and around the corner, and for providing quality and original art to a discerning collector base.

Agora Gallery is dedicated to serving both artists and collectors, and offers a wide spectrum of art programs, including:

Exhibitions - A dynamic schedule of collective and annual fine art exhibitions, open to the public and featuring the work of our talented artists.
The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition – an annual fine art competition with entries from around the world that are juried by experienced prominent art experts and museum curators. The gallery introduces the juror-selected artists to the New York Art scene, through an exhibition promotional activities both online and in print.

ARTisSpectrum Magazine – a bi-annual fine art magazine that is distributed to museums, galleries, art institutions and art schools around the world. It provides artists, collectors, museums, galleries, art organizations and enthusiasts with access to the work of internationally talented emerging and mid-level artists as well as feature articles, reviews and interviews.

Social Media Initiatives – as part of its commitment to bringing information to artists, Agora Gallery runs an artists' blog, which offers advice for artists, up to date news of Agora Gallery exhibitions and events, and stories from all over the art world. Artists and collectors also stay in touch with the gallery on the Agora Gallery facebook page and are provided with the latest news via the gallery's Twitter feed, @Agora_gallery.

Art-Mine.com – one of the most comprehensive resources available worldwide to locate fine art for sale from emerging and established artists.
You are invited to learn more about Agora Gallery's experienced and knowledgeable staff or view photos of the gallery.

http://www.agora-gallery.com/ExhibitionAnnouncement/Pursuit_11_29_2011.aspx

JOB: Russian art expert & bilingual interns sought for London auction house

2011-12-13T02:00:00.001-08:00

MacDougall's is a rapidly expanding firm, with competitive pay and a generous bonus scheme. MacDougall Auctions is the only fine art auction house to specialise exclusively in Russian art. Sales take place twice a year during London's Russian week, in June and November/December. It was the first international auction house with a representative in Moscow and is still the only one with a representative in Kiev.

In 2010, MacDougall's Russian art sales generated more than 25 million GBP. Highlights included an early masterpiece by Ivan Shishkin, sold for more than 1.8 million GBP. MacDougall's continues to make exciting sales in 2011, such as Boris Kustodiev's Portrait of Irina Kustodieva, sold for more than 1.8 million GBP.

Since its inaugural auction in 2004, MacDougall's has become one the three main international auction houses holding specialised Russian art sales. We regularly handle masterpieces by the most significant and sought-after Russian artists, including Boris Kustodiev, Ivan Shishkin, Nicholas Roerich, Ilya Repin and Ivan Aivazovsky, among many others.

Working with leading Russian art experts, MacDougall's offers its clients the best advice possible. We hold regular exhibitions in Moscow and Kiev, nurturing close relationships with collectors of Russian art. Current opportunities include:

Russian Art Expert
Expert in 19th and 20th Century or Contemporary Russian Art. Fluent Russian, good English. French an advantage. Knowledge of current market prices.

Russian Speaking Auction Administrator
Requires knowledge of auction accounting or art shipping procedures, plus fluent Russian and English and strong Excel and other computer skills.

Bilingual Interns
Paid temporary and permanent positions available for university students and graduates with fluent Russian and English and with an interest in art. UK working rights and Excel and Word skills required.

NO PHONE CALLS OR POSTED APPLICATIONS PLEASE
For all positions please send e-mail with CV to: personnel@macdougallauction.com

Please list 'Russian Art and Culture' as the jobsite when applying for these roles.
http://www.macdougallauction.com/employment.asp

EXHIBITION: Malevich at Annely Juda Fine Art

2011-12-13T02:00:00.000-08:00

27 October - 22 December 2011
Annely Juda Fine Art is pleased to present this exhibition of works by Francois Morellet and Kasimir Malevich. Francois Morellet's first solo-exhibition at Annely Juda Fine Art was in 1977 and Kasimir Malevich's work has been included in our first Non-Objective World exhibition in 1970 and in many since then.

Kazimir Malevich 'Three Suprematist Compositions' (1913-1915)

The exhibition includes recent works by Morellet, which reflect his interest in Kasimir Malevich's Suprematist works. The three Sous-Prmatisme works in this exhibition use the three Suprematis motifs of circle, square and cross. These works are made of white neon tubes and are essentially white on white. The Negatif series plays on Malevich in a different way. The works all include a black spare and white neon tubes with the neon tubes positioned in different angles and juxtaposed to the black square.

Kazimir Malevich 'Steps' (1931)

We are delighted to include a major painting by Kasimir Malevich Black Square, which has been kindly lent to us by the State Museum of Contemporary Art - Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki in Greece. Also in this exhibition is a selection of 13 drawings by Malevich.

Born in 1879 to Polish parents and died in 1935 in Leningrad, Kasimir Malevich is one of the first abstract artists of the twentieth century. Painter, draftsman, sculptor and theorist, he was the creator of an artistic movement which he named "Suprematism." His works are present in the collections of many major museums worldwide.
http://www.annelyjudafineart.co.uk/artists/malevich/malevich.htm