Forthcoming Tenth Graduate Workshop in Bremen

Forthcoming Tenth Graduate Workshop in Bremen

Sep 3, 2024 | event, graduate workshop, news, Russian Art

We would like to draw your attention to the forthcoming tenth anniversary workshop of the Russian(?) Art & Culture Group, which will be held at Constructor University in Bremen on September 27 and 28, 2024.

The ongoing Russian war against Ukraine has caused a deep crisis of scholarship. Taking this as a point of departure, the goal of the tenth workshop of the Russian(?) Art & Culture Group is to find appropriate terms, approaches, and strategies that offer new insights into Imperial Russian and Soviet art and culture in order to contribute to the ongoing debates regarding the future of scholarship in this field of research.

We are already looking forward to interesting presentations, the keynote talk by Konstantin Akinsha on The History of Art in the Shadow of War: On the Necessity of Revising the Narrative of Russian/Soviet Modernism and the roundtable discussion focussing on the question What Is “Russian” Art and Culture? with Louise Hardiman, Maria Silina, and Konstantin Akinsha. See program and booklet for more details.

Should you be insterested in participating, please register by September 22, 2024, at workshop@russian-art.net.

Reading Recommendations

Reading Recommendations

Jan 19, 2024 | publications, Russian Art

Happy New Year!

We would like to start the new year with some reading recommendations. Members of the Russian Art and Culture Group have been involved in many publications over the past year and we would like to draw your attention to four of them.

Enjoy reading and a successful 2024 for all our friends and members!

First, we would like to congratulate Roann Barris to her monographic publication Reclaiming and Redefining American Exhibitions of Russian Art. Many will remember when Roann presented her exciting material at our seventh workshop in September 2019. We are therefore all the more delighted that her findings are now accessible to everyone.

On 170 pages, illustrated with 16 reproductions, Roann examines the history of American exhibitions of Russian art in the twentieth century, presenting the complex interactions between museums and governments, and the different approaches of curators in the context of the Cold War.

Congratulations, Roann, on this wonderful book!

Louise Hardiman edited the rich volume on Courtly Gifts and Cultural Diplomacy: Art, Material Culture, and Russian-British Relations as the 24th volume of the series Russian History and Culture at Brill! It is available as hard cover print and as e-book.

In thirteen chapters divided into four thematic parts, this richly illustrated volume presents the diverse practices of giving and receiving gifts between the British and Russian Empires on almost 400 pages. Compelling case studies highlight the nuanced nature of British-Russian artistic diplomacy from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries.

The editor Louise Hardiman presented this wonderful publication together with Ekaterina Heath, Allison Leigh, and Cynthia Coleman Sparke in the NYU 19v. Seminar Series in September 2023. So, if you would like an introduction by the authors, just watch the recording online.

The next publication that we would like to recommend is already impressive in its scope. Picturing Russian Empire is an edited volume with 55 articles by renowned international art historians and cultural scientists; members of the Russian Art and Culture Group among them. It is published as paperback and e-book at Oxford University Press.

Valerie Kivelson, Sergei Kozlov, and Joan Neuberger compiled a collection covering more than a millennium of Russian and Soviet history, from medieval Rus until today. On around 550 pages, the 55 articles are divided upon six parts, each dedicated to a certain era (see Table of Contents). With the last four contributions, the editors react to the current political situation and Russia’s unlawful war in Ukraine.

The multifaceted approach of this publication provides an impressive overview of many different aspects of current historical research. Enjoy exploring it!

The special issue on “Framing Environments in Russia: Critical Reflections on Ecology, Culture and Power” of the Venice University journal Lagoonscapes: The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities offers a different perspective on sociopolitical structures in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

Roberta Sala and Nadia Caprioglio co-edited an interesting volume with ten perspectives on the perception of the environment in Russian and Soviet culture and society on 170 pages.

Best of all, this edition is an open-access work just waiting for you to download it.

Methods Workshop, September 28

Methods Workshop, September 28

Sep 8, 2023 | event, news, Russian Art

We would like to invite you to the forthcoming Methods Workshop within the the framework of the research collaboration between the Research Centre for East European Studies (Forschungsstelle Osteuropa – FSO) at Bremen University and the Russian Art & Culture Group (RACG) at Constructor University. 

Date: Thursday, September 28, 2023, from 10:30 to 16:30.

Location: Meeting Room 49 in Research IV, Constructor University or online via TEAMS.

Organizers: Natalia Fedorenko, Irina Riznychok, and Georgi Sokolov.

 

The Workshop Program will be the following:

1. Multiple modernisms — morning session, 10:30 to 12:00. Presenter: Irina Riznychok, Respondent: Kristian Handberg
Text for Discussion: Terry Smith, “Art History’s Work-in Pro(re)gress – Reflections on the Multiple Modernities Project,” in New Histories of Art in the Global Postwar Era,” ed. Flavia Frigeri and Kristian Handberg, London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 12-23.

2. Actor-network theory — early afternoon session, 13:00-14:30. Presenter: Georgi Sokolov, Respondent: Elena Korowin
Text for Discussion: Gundela Hachmann, “Network Analysis in Literature and the Arts. Rethinking Agency and Creativity,” Journal of Literary Theory, volume 17, issue 2 (September 2023): 221-240.

3. Gender  — late afternoon session, 15:00-16:30. Presenter: Natalia Fedorenko, Respondent: Klavdia Smola
Text for Discussion: Kladvia Smola, “Speaking Outlaw: Performing Masculinity in Soviet Underground Culture” (2023).

Please ask the organisers for the pdf files of the texts and the links for the TEAMS sessions via e-mail: Natalia Fedorenko, Irina Riznychok, and Georgi Sokolov.

We are looking forward to seeing some of you at the workshop!

 

Kunst und Revolution – 3. April 2023

Kunst und Revolution – 3. April 2023

Mar 28, 2023 | event, news, Russian Art

We would like to draw your attention to the forthcoming event “Kunst und Revolution. Parallelaktion Berlin-Moskau 1922” on April 3, 2023.

Isabel Wünsche, the initiator of the Russian Art & Culture Group and co-editor of the edited voulume “100 Years On: Revisiting the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922,” will discuss the impact of the Berlin exhibition of 1922 with Dr. Christian Hufen whose research in Moscow enriched the current special exhibition “1922 – George Grosz reist nach Sowjetrussland” at the Grosz Museum in Berlin.

The event will take place on Monday, April 3, 2023, at 18:00 at Das kleine Grosz Museum, Bülowstraße 18, 10783 Berlin. The Grosz Museum Berlin kindly asks for registration via e-Mail (office@daskleinegroszmuseum.berlin). 

The discussion will be in German. See the German announcement for more  information.

Publication on the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922 out now

Publication on the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922 out now

Dec 15, 2022 | news, publications, Russian Art

The publication 100 Years On: Revisiting the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922 is finally published! It is now available as hard cover print and as e-book.

The editors and active members of the Russian Art & Culture Group, professor Isabel Wünsche and Miriam Leimer, are grateful for the generous support by SHERA – the Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture, Inc. – awarding this volume with the Publication Grant 2022.

On almost 300 pages with 180 reproductions of artworks, photographs, and historic documents the compiled volume is focusing on the Berlin First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922. Participants of last year’s International Conference in Berlin and other experts in the field provided intriguing material and new insights.

We definitely agree with the description of the publishing house Böhlau that “the combination of longer, thematic essays and short features, along with reproductions of newly identified works and a selection of unpublished archival materials make this book valuable to both a scholarly and a general readership.”

We highly recommend this intriguing publication and hope that you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Forthcoming Publication on the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922

Forthcoming Publication on the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922

Jul 28, 2022 | news, publications, Russian Art

The Russian Art & Culture Group would like to draw your attention to the forthcoming publication 100 Years On: Revisiting the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922.

The editors and active members of the Russian Art & Culture Group, professor Isabel Wünsche and Miriam Leimer, compiled an interesting volume emphasizing on the Berlin First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922. Participants of last years International Conference in Berlin and other experts in the field provided intriguing material and insights.

We are looking forward to this book and already agree with the description of the publishing house Böhlau that “the combination of longer, thematic essays and short features, along with reproductions of newly identified works and a selection of unpublished archival materials make this book valuable to both a scholarly and a general readership.”

Of course, we will inform you once the volume is published in late 2022!