Socialist Realisms in Rome. Soviet Painting 1920-1970

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

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

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.

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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

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

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/

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News: Malevich Arts Centre planned for Moscow by Sophia Kishkovsky

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

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

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

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

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

Russian Avant-gardes in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Special display of the Russian avant-garde works from the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza’s Permanent Collection and from the Carmen Thyssen Collection
Location: Rooms 42 and 43, ground floor

The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza has the most important collection of Soviet avant-garde art in Spain. Coinciding with the Contemporary Art Fair ARCO 2011 (Madrid, 16 to 20 February) with Russia as Invited Country, the Museum will be showing a new installation of its holdings of the so-called “Russian avant-gardes” in Rooms 42 and 43 on the ground floor of the Palacio de Villahermosa.


In the early decades of the 20th century a unique and unprecedented cultural renaissance took place in Imperial Russia (soon to become the Soviet Union). The Russian art world sprang to life with programmatic exhibitions, passionate manifestoes and theoretical declarations, accompanied by the rise of numerous different avant-garde movements. Some were based on outside influence, such as Cubo-Futurism and Rayonism, while others were authentic creations of the new, revolutionary Russia, such as Suprematism and Constructivism.


Visitors to the Museum will have the opportunity to learn about all these movements through a group of 35 works by artists of the stature of Chagall, Larionov, Goncharova, Stepanova, Popova, Kliun, Lissitzky and Kandinsky.

Russian Avant-gardes in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections
From 15 February to 31 December 2011

http://www.museothyssen.org/pdf/exposiciones/vanguardias-rusas.pdf
http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/exposiciones_actuales

Windows on the War. Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad 1941–1945 by Anne Blood

While a little-used storage closet was being cleared out in preparation for a major ren­ovation of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Prints and Drawings in the late 1990s, a trough-like space was discovered, previously hidden behind containers. Haphazardly stored were two thick rolls and twenty-six Kraft-paper parcels containing posters by European and American artists spanning the late 1880s to the 1940s, only some of which had been accessioned. Among these were 157 window posters, produced by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) between 1941 and 1945. They had been sent to the Art Institute during the War by the Soviet-based Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS). 

After conservation and research, these TASS posters formed the basis of a major exhibition at the Art Institute (closed 23rd October), supplemented by an extensive online display that included hundreds of additional works of art not featured in the exhibition. The publication under review is the catalogue to this exhibition and the most authoritative text in the English language on TASS posters and their international distribution by VOKS during the Second World War.


Anne Blood is Assistant Editor at The Burlington Magazine, the world's leading monthly publication devoted to the fine and decorative arts.


To access the full article visit:
http://www.burlington.org.uk/magazine 
(Subscribers only)


Sign up for the Burlington Magazine newsletter at http://burlington.org.uk/magazine/1532-newsletter

LECTURE: Electric Speech: Dziga Vertov and Technologies of Sound at UCL, Dec 12th

Seminar Series 2011-2012
Mondays 5.15pm - Room 433 SSEES (16 Taviton Street), London, WC1H 0BW

12 December 2011
Prof. Lilya Kaganovsky (University of Illinois)
Electric Speech: Dziga Vertov, Esfir´ Shub and the Technologies of Sound [RCRG]


The Centre for Russian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL) exists to promote research and teaching on Russia, the former USSR and the Russian Empire. The primary aim of the Centre is to create a more distinct focus within the School for cultural, historical, linguistic, literary and social sciences research into Russia, past and present, and thereby to improve the environment for joint and individual research on Russia, including interdisciplinary and comparative approaches. The Centre aims also to promote knowledge and discussion of Russia in the broader academic community and with the public at large. Its activities enhance the quality of both postgraduate and undergraduate teaching and at the same time provide a 'home' for the many SSEES research and MA students with an interest in Russia.


Activities:
SSEES is the major centre for Russian studies in the UK. More than twenty full-time members of faculty -- language, literature and culture specialists, historians, social scientists -- devote all or most of their research and teaching to Russia. At the MA level, more than 50 students are taking Russian-based courses and/or writing their dissertations on a Russia-related topic and some 25 students are doing their postgraduate research on Russian and the former USSR, ranging from 17th-century icons to 20th-century poets, from Soviet cinema to post-Soviet politics. About 125 undergraduates are registered for degrees in Russian studies and combined degrees including Russian, with many more taking one or more courses with a Russian component, in particular politics, history and language. The Library's collection on Russia and the Former Soviet Union currently contains some 100,000 books and over 200 current periodicals and newspapers, making it one of the major resources for Russian studies in the United Kingdom.


The Centre's regular activities include the Post-Soviet Press Group which meets weekly during term-time. It also organises postgraduate Research Workshops as well as running seminar programmes: in 1999-2000 on 'The Re-writing of History in Russian Literature', 2000-2001: 'Death and Immortality in Russian Cultural History'; 2001-2002 : 'Russia in Time. Time in Russia'; 2002-3: series linked to the dates 1703 (the founding of St Petersburg) and 1903 (the founding of the Bolshevik party).


SSEES's Russian Cinema Research Group which organises seminars, talks and conferences on Russian and Soviet cinema, is also affiliated to the Centre for Russian Studies.

http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/russstud.htm

LECTURE: St Petersburg: The Splendour of Imperial Russia, Dec 15

Thu 15 December 2011 – 7.30pm
Lecture/Talk at Pushkin House, London
St Petersburg: The Splendour of Imperial Russia 
by Dr. Maria Makogonova 
TEN CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN ART: IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY LECTURE SERIES

VIEW THE WHOLE LECTURE SERIES
Dr. Maria Makogonova, Curator at The State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg and tutor at the St. Petersburg State University
English translation coming soon

Основание в 1703 году на краю цивилизованной Европы Петербурга – новой столицы России было одной из величайших реформ Петра I. Царь мечтал об идеальном городе, где все элементы согласованы друг с другом так, что образуют прекрасное целое. Этот город должен был продемонстрировать подданным Российской империи, да и всему миру, идеи иерархии, порядка и единства, выразив в архитектурных образах мощь русского абсолютизма. С самого начал здесь было новым, чуждым старым русским традициям – планировка и сады, фасады и внутреннее убранство зданий, каналы и мосты. Впервые в России строительство велось по заранее разработанным планам, образцовым проектам и строго регламентировалось. Ранний Петербург строили специально приглашенные Петром иностранные зодчие. Они знакомили Россию с архитектурой просвещенных стран Европы и представляли все национальные вариации европейского барокко и классицизма. Их сплавом и стала новая русская архитектура, которая рождалась вместе с Петербургом. Недаром, итальянский писатель, знаток искусств и путешественник Франческо Альгаротти (Francesco Algarotti) в своих Письмах о России («Lettere sulla Russia», 1759) назвал Петербург «окном, через которое Россия смотрит на Европу». 
В лекции будут освещены основные этапы в истории развития петербургского зодчества вплоть до 1910-х годов, когда была впервые осознана угроза сохранности исторического облика Петербурга, а разочарование в художественных новациях и открытие красоты архитектуры XVIII — первой трети XIX веков стало основой широкого неоклассического движения – «Петербургского ренессанса», который распространил свое влияние на всю петербургскую культуру. Вплоть до наших дней в широком общественном сознании доминирует идея преемственного эволюционного развития города как художественно завершенной системы. Так, в чем же суть «петербургского феномена»?


Мария Макогонова
Искусствовед, историк архитектуры. Заведующая научным отделом Музея истории С.Петербурга, преподаватель кафедры музейного дела и охраны памятников философского факультета СПб Университета, заслуженный работник культуры РФ. Автор публикаций и куратор серии выставок по истории петербургской архитектуры XVIII- XX (Россия, Нидерланды, Италия, Франция). Особая сфера научных интересов – ленинградская архитектура 1920-начала 1930-х годов.


Tickets: £7, conc. £5 (Friends of Pushkin House, students and OAPs)
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/st-petersburg-the-splendour-of-imperial-russia

2012 Small Grants for Russian Fulbright Alumni

The Fulbright Program in Russia is pleased to announce a small-grants competition that is open to all Russian alumni of the program. Funding for these grants comes from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. State Department, with support from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Small grants will be awarded to support short-term projects that enhance and promote the Fulbright Program in Russia. Alumni are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity in developing proposals that meet the following general guidelines:
1. The project must be outwardly focused and prominently incorporate the Fulbright name.
2. One or more alumni must be in charge of the project.
3. The grant cannot be used to fund international travel.
4. Individual projects will generally be supported up to a maximum of $1000 each including tax. The grants are approved on a rolling basis and will be paid in rubles.
5. Priority will be given to those alumni who have not received Small Grants in the last few years.


Possible projects include but are not limited to:
organizing local or regional meetings such as small conferences and round tables for Fulbright alumni and others interested in participating in the Fulbright program;
establishing local Fulbright alumni groups (Fulbright clubs);
developing interactive real or virtual on-line communities;
setting up local or regional exhibitions based on the work of Fulbright grantees;
creating methodological materials;
planning regional activities aimed at recruiting applicants for Fulbright grants;
organizing activities that promote the Fulbright vision to increase mutual understanding among the peoples of Russia and the USA.
Whenever possible, applicants are encouraged to link their projects with other Russian institutions (universities, institutes, American Centers and Corners, libraries, museums) that will allow for broader audiences.


Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but must be submitted by March 01, 2012. While funding decisions will be made on a rolling basis, all grant funds must be distributed by June 01, 2012. Applicants who have not been awarded a grant and received funding by this date will need to re-apply for the next small grant competition, which will be announced during the 2012-2013 academic year. All projects selected for funding must be completed by June 01, 2013.


Applications must be submitted via e-mail and include the following (all documents are in the attachment):


1. Small Grant Application, which consists of a Cover Page (in English) and a one-page Description of the Proposed Project (in Russian).
2. One-page Proposed Budget for the Project with a detailed list of expenditures (in Russian). Make sure to include any and all sources of cost sharing.


In some cases, the Fulbright office may request additional information before making a final decision regarding funding.


Those receiving grants will be required to submit a brief final report and account for expenditure of grant funds upon completion of the project.


Questions and requests for additional information should be addressed to the Fulbright Program office in Moscow (mbezrukova@fulbright.ru).

http://www.fulbright.ru/en/smallgrants2012http://www.fulbright.ru/en/smallgrants2012

MacDougall's results for Russian Art Week

MacDougall Auctions maintains its leader position in Russian art selling paintings, icons and works of art for over 12m GBP. The painting Merchant’s Wife , by Boris Kustodiev, sold for over 1.8m GBP, making it one of the three most expensive lots of London's Russian Week. A new world record was set for the avant-garde artist Aleksandr Volkov whose painting Listening to the Bedana was sold for 909,000 GBP. Among other top lots sold were works by Ivan Aivazovsky for 782,000 GBP, Michail Nesterov for 597,000 GBP and Aleksei Savrasov for 498,000 GBP. A stage design by Leon Bakst sold for 850,000 GBP, the most expensive work on paper of the week, and over 20 times its estimate. The Russian Icons auction raised a further 834,000 GBP; MacDougall’s is the only auction house in the world who holds a regular specialised icons sale.
  
William MacDougall commented: “We are very pleased with the results which prove that the Russian art market continues to be very strong”. 

 

Part I: Important Russian Art                                  8,872,505                                 

Part II: Russian Classic and Contemporary Art    2,315,638

Russian Icons and Works of Art                               834,255

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOTAL                                                                  12,022,398 

Top Lots Lot 10 Nesterov, 597,000 GBP
Lot 12 Volkov, 909,000 GBP
Lot 14 Kustodiev, 1,840,000 GBP
Lot 27 Aivasovsky, 782,000 GBP
Lot 33 Savrasov, 498,000 GBP
Lot 401 Bakst, 850,000 GBP

Lot 513 Icon, 224,700 GBP 

www.macdougallauction.com 

LECTURE: Leninburg: Remembering a City's Past by Catriona Kelly at UCL, Dec 5th

Seminar Series 2011-2012
Mondays 5.15pm - Room 433 SSEES (16 Taviton Street), London, WC1H 0BW
5 December 2011
Prof. Catriona Kelly (New College, Oxford)
Leninburg: Remembering a City's Past [CRS]

The Centre for Russian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL) exists to promote research and teaching on Russia, the former USSR and the Russian Empire. The primary aim of the Centre is to create a more distinct focus within the School for cultural, historical, linguistic, literary and social sciences research into Russia, past and present, and thereby to improve the environment for joint and individual research on Russia, including interdisciplinary and comparative approaches. The Centre aims also to promote knowledge and discussion of Russia in the broader academic community and with the public at large. Its activities enhance the quality of both postgraduate and undergraduate teaching and at the same time provide a 'home' for the many SSEES research and MA students with an interest in Russia.


Activities:
SSEES is the major centre for Russian studies in the UK. More than twenty full-time members of faculty -- language, literature and culture specialists, historians, social scientists -- devote all or most of their research and teaching to Russia. At the MA level, more than 50 students are taking Russian-based courses and/or writing their dissertations on a Russia-related topic and some 25 students are doing their postgraduate research on Russian and the former USSR, ranging from 17th-century icons to 20th-century poets, from Soviet cinema to post-Soviet politics. About 125 undergraduates are registered for degrees in Russian studies and combined degrees including Russian, with many more taking one or more courses with a Russian component, in particular politics, history and language. The Library's collection on Russia and the Former Soviet Union currently contains some 100,000 books and over 200 current periodicals and newspapers, making it one of the major resources for Russian studies in the United Kingdom.


The Centre's regular activities include the Post-Soviet Press Group which meets weekly during term-time. It also organises postgraduate Research Workshops as well as running seminar programmes: in 1999-2000 on 'The Re-writing of History in Russian Literature', 2000-2001: 'Death and Immortality in Russian Cultural History'; 2001-2002 : 'Russia in Time. Time in Russia'; 2002-3: series linked to the dates 1703 (the founding of St Petersburg) and 1903 (the founding of the Bolshevik party).


SSEES's Russian Cinema Research Group which organises seminars, talks and conferences on Russian and Soviet cinema, is also affiliated to the Centre for Russian Studies.

http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/russstud.htm

Sotheby's Russian art evening auction brings £5.6m

On Monday Sotheby’s Important Russian Art auction which was exceptionally well-attended brought £5,597,000 (est. £5,755,000-8,415,000). The sale achieved sellthrough rates of 66.7% by lot and 74.6% by value, and established two new artist records for Alexander Golovin and Pavel Kovalevsky. 
  
The top-selling lot of this evening’s auction was Petr Konchalovsky’s exceptionally rare, pre-revolutionary painting 'Tatar Still Life', dated 1916. The painting saw competition from 5 bidders and realised the above-estimate sum of £914,850/$1,415,181 (est. £500,000-700,000). The painting first belonged to influential Polish art critic Waldemar George who presented the painting as a wedding gift to Louis Gautier-Chaumet, editor-in-chief of “La Presse" newspaper, where George served as art critic.


Commenting on the results of this evening’s auction this evening’s auction, Jo Vickery, Senior Director, Jo Vickery, Senior Director and Head of Sotheby’s and Head of Sotheby’s Russian Art Department in London, said:  


“We are very pleased with the results achieved for  tonight’s Important Russian Art Evening Sale, which was led by Konchalovsky’s Tatar Still Life, a fine example of 20th century Russian painting. Artworks that came from the collection of Arthur Ferdinand Hamann performed particularly well, with all of the works offered selling for a combined total of £2,264,900/$3,503,574. We set new artist records for Alexander Golovin and Pavel Kovalevsky, both of whose works came from that private collection, and I was particularly pleased to see such depth of bidding for 19th century Russian classics. Today’s market for Russian Art is more selective than ever before and it is evident that fine works, priced appropriately with exceptional provenance generate competitive bidding; as we saw on our top lots this evening.”
http://www.sothebys.com/en/departments/russian-art/overview.html

SCRSS Lecture: Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde Art 1900-1935

Illustrated Lecture: Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde Art 1900-1935 by Christine Lindey
Friday 2 December 7pm

Early 20th-century artists such as Goncharova, Kandinsky and Malevich created modernist art that challenged late Tsarism's aesthetic, political and social norms. In the Bolshevik era artists such as Tatlin, Popova and Rodchenko put avant-garde art at the service of the Revolution by applying modernist aesthetics to the production of textile designs, ceramics, posters and illustrations for the benefit of the working class. This illustrated lecture will explore the social, political and aesthetic debates that underlay this vibrant period in Russian and Soviet art and design. 


The Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS) is a unique educational centre, based in London, which aims to promote knowledge of the culture, language and history of Russia and the former Soviet Union.
The Society caters for students, teachers, researchers, designers and all other individuals interested in Russia. It offers a library, archive and unique photographic collection. It also organises lectures, film shows and exhibitions, and facilitates professional contacts between individuals and organisations in Russia and the United Kingdom. The Society is a registered charity.

http://www.scrss.org.uk/cinemaevents.htm#avantgarde

Moussorgsky and Rachmaninov concert in Picadilly, London on Dec 3

Composed in 1874, Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists as well as a firm favourite with audiences all over the world.


A former BBC Young Musician of the Year semi-finaist, Timothy Sidford enjoys a flourishing career as a freelance pianist and music teacher. He has appeared extensively throughout the UK as well as concerts in Germany, Holland and the Czech Republic. In London he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St Martins-in-the-Fields, St James’s, Piccadilly, and Leighton House.


Collegium Musicum of London 
Timothy Sidford (piano) 
Russell Du Plessis (conductor) 
Pictures at an Exhibition - Modest Mussorgsky
Vespers, 'All-Night Vigil' Op 37 - Sergey Rachmaninov


Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil, or Vespers, was composed in less than two weeks in 1915, and was warmly received at its first performance in Moscow later that year. However, the rise of the Soviet Union led to a ban on all religious music, and in 1918 the Synodal Choir was replaced by a ‘People's Choir Academy’, leading to the observation that "no composition represents the end of an era so clearly as this liturgical work".


Heavily influenced by Russian Orthodox chant, this beguiling masterpiece showcases exactly why Collegium Musicum – under the inspired leadership of BBC award-winning conductor Russell du Plessis – has become one of London’s most exciting chamber choirs.


When
Saturday December 3, 2011 at 19:30
Where
St James's Church, Piccadilly, London
Tickets
12.00 (7.00 concessions); children under 16 free
Phone for tickets: 07812 599340
Phone lines open: all hours
http://www.concert-diary.com/concert/303333376/Moussorgsky-and-Rachmaninov

Christie's Russian sale results

Christie’s Russian Art sale realised £13,640,325 / $21,115,223 / €15,877,338 and was sold 65% by lot and 63% by value. Top lot was Vasily Vereshchagin’s Crucifixion by the Romans, selling for over £1.7 million and the proceeds of this sale will benefit the acquisition fund of the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

Comment: Sarah Mansfield, Head of Russian Art Department:

“ The Russian sale achieved particularly strong prices for the most exceptional paintings, especially those which were previously unseen and fresh to the market. This is best illustrated by Crucifixion by the Romans by Vasily Vereshchagin which sold above its top estimate for £1.7 million, and by the three works which established world auction records. A further sign that remarkable pieces with private provenance are attracting international bidding was the results for two diplomatic collections of outstanding works of art that were sold in the afternoon session; one was formed by the former Italian Ambassador and the other by the wife of the American Ambassador to Russia in the 1920s, and both were 100% sold.”  

RESULTS: RUSSIAN ART - KING STREET, 29 NOVEMBER 2011

CHRISTIE’S RUSSIAN ART SALE REALISED £13,640,325 / $21,115,223 / €15,877,338 AND WAS SOLD 65% BY LOT AND 63% BY VALUE.

Sold: £13,640,325

Lots Sold:  240

Lots Offered: 370

Sold by Lot: 65%

Sold by £: 63%

Top 10 lots sold:

41

Vasily Vereshchagin (1842-1904), Crucifixion by the Romans, 1887

1,000,000 - 1,500,000

£1,721,250

Russian Private

63

Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), A Bogatyr, 1920

World Auction Record for the Artist

300,000 - 500,000

£1,105,250

Russian Private

381

A Pair Of Rare and Large Two-Handled Porcelain Vases, by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg, Period of Nicholas I, 1833

500,000 - 700,000

£1,049,250

Anonymous

92

Konstantin Somov (1869-1939), The Boxer, 1933

500,000 - 700,000

£713,250

American Institution

26

Maria Iakunchikova (1870-1902), From a window of the old house, Vvedenskoe

World Auction Record for the Artist

150,000 - 200,000

£690,850

European Private

86

Marie Vassilieff (1884-1957), The dance (recto) and A cubist portrait (verso), 1913

400,000 - 600,000

£457,250

European Private

21

Ivan Pokhitonov (1850-1923), Sur la plage

World Auction Record for the Artist

80,000 - 120,000

£409,250

Russian Trade

75

Alexander Volkov (1886-1957), Kok-Su mountain river, 1914

300,000 - 400,000

£337,250

Anonymous

74

Boris Grigoriev (1886-1939), Still life with candle

250,000 - 350,000

£301,250

Russian Private

316

A Rare and Important Parcel-Gilt Silver and Niello Soup-Tureen, Mark of Semen Petrov Kuzov, Moscow, 1799

120,000 - 180,000

£289,250

http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=5234