Chukcheeva, Maria A. Russian History Painting and the Problem of “National” in Russian Art as Reflected in the Russian Press of the 1860s

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa200-2-31
Title Russian History Painting and the Problem of “National” in Russian Art as Reflected in the Russian Press of the 1860s
Author email mchukcheeva@eu.spb.ru
About author Chukcheeva, Maria Aleksandrovna — Ph. D. student. European University at Saint-Petersburg, Gagarinskaia ul., 6/1 A, 191187 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.
In the section Russian Art in the 18th–19th Centuries DOI10.18688/aa200-2-31
Year 2020 Volume 10 Pages 351–362
Type of article RAR Index UDK 75.044 Index BBK 85.143 (2); 85.147
Abstract

The article deals with the discussions about history painting and genre painting in the 1860s which took place in the context of critics’ reflection on the existence of national school of painting. At the beginning of the 1860s, Russian critics observed the decline of history painting in Russia. Some of them emphasized that history painting is not a national kind of art and it slows down the formation of the Russian school of painting, while others supposed that the decay of history painting is equal to the decline of fine arts. Russian critics suggested that a possible development scenario of history painting in Russia lies, firstly, in interrelating history painting and genre painting and, secondly, in borrowing of a subject from national history. In the period in question, critics debated over superiority of either genre painting or history painting and in the end of the decade they formulated the joint task of the two genres — the study of social life. By analysis of the articles about the artistic life published in the newspapers and magazines in the 1860s, the paper aims at the following questions: how did critics estimate Russian history painting, which tasks did they pose for the historical painters? Whereas at the beginning of the 1860s, the critics were inclined to think that the development of history painting was impossible in Russia, by the middle of the decade they opened up anew perspective of its development as an instrument of public education.
Keywords
Reference Chukcheeva, Maria A. Russian History Painting and the Problem of “National” in Russian Art as Reflected in the Russian Press of the 1860s. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 10. Ed: A. V. Zakharova, S. V. Maltseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova. — Lomonosov Moscow State University / St. Petersburg: NP-Print, 2020, pp. 351–362. ISSN 2312-2129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa200-2-31
Publication Article language russian
Bibliography
  • Bespalova N. I.; Vereschagina A. G. Russkaia progressivnaia khudozhestvennaia kritika vtoroi poloviny XIX veka: Ocherki (Russian Progressive Art Criticism of the Second Half of the 19th Century. Essays). Moscow, Izobrazitel’noe iskusstvo Publ., 1979. 278 p. (in Russian).
  • Chaudonneret M. C. Du “genre anecdotique” au “genre historique”: Une autre peinture d’histoire. Les années romantique: La peinture français de 1815 à 1850. Paris, Reunion des musees nationaux Publ., 1995, pp. 76–85 (in French).
  • El’shevskaia G. V. The History Space of the History Painting. Voprosy iskusstvoznaniia (Issues of Art Studies), 1993, vol. 4, pp. 94–107 (in Russian).
  • Karamzin N. M.; Lotman J. M. (eds.). Polnoe sobranie stikhotvorenii (The Complete Collection of Poetry). Moscow; Leningrad, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1966. 424 p. (in Russian).
  • Loyrette H. History Painting. Loyrette H.; Tinterow G. Origins of Impressionism. New York, The Metropolitan Museum Publ., 1994, pp. 29–54.
  • Mokhnachiova M. P. Zhurnalistika i istoricheskaia nauka. Kniga 2: Zhurnalistika i istoriograficheskaia traditsiia 30–70-kh gg. XIX v. (Journalism and Russian Historiography, vol. 2: Journalism and Russian Historiography Tradition of 30–70s of the 19th Century). Moscow, RGGU Publ., 1999. 511 p. (in Russian).
  • Nerlich F. Des imaginaires romantiques au désir de vérité. Regards allemande sur la peinture d’histoire anecdotiques française. Bann S.; Paccoud S. (eds.). L’invention du passé, vol. 2, Histoires de coeur et d’épée en Europe, 1802–1850, catalogue de l’exposition. Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts Publ.; Paris, Hazan Publ., 2014, pp. 200–209 (in French).
  • Nochlin L. Realism. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books Publ., 1971. 283 p.
  • Polovtsov A. V. Fedor Antonovich Bruni: Biograficheskii ocherk (Fedor Antonovich Bruni: Bibrioghical Sketch). St. Petersburg, Akademiia khudozhestv Publ., 1907. 162 p. (in Russian).
  • Rosenblum R.; Janson H. W. Art of the Nineteenth Century: Painting and Sculpture. London, Thames and Hudson Publ., 1984. 527 p.
  • Staferova E. L. A. V. Golovnin i liberal’nye reformy v prosveshhenii (pervaia polovina 1860 gg.) (Golovnin and Liberal Reforms in Education (First Half of the 1860s). Moscow, Kanon Plus Publ., 2007. 511 p. (in Russian).
  • Stasov V. V. Sobranie sochinenii V. V. Stasova. 1847–1886 (The Collection of V. V. Stasov’s Works), vol. 1. St. Petersburg, M. M. Stasiulevich Publ., 1894–1906. 1680 col. (in Russian).
  • Sternin G. Ju. The Academic Exhibition of 1863 and Peculiarities of the Reception of Art in the Russian Artistic Life in the mid‑19th Century. Sternin G. Ju. Khudozhestvennaia zhizn’ Rossii serediny XIX veka (Artistic Life in Russia in the mid‑19th Century). Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1991, pp. 118–119 (in Russian).
  • Vereschagina A. G. Fedor Antonovich Bruni. Leningrad, Khudozhnik RSFSR Publ., 1985. 255 p. (in Russian).
  • Vereschagina A. G. Istoricheskaia kartina v russkom iskusstve: shestidesiatye gody XIX v. (History Painting in Russian Art: The 1860s). Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1990. 229 p. (in Russian).
  • Wind E. The Revolution of History Painting. Journal of the Warburg Institute, 1938, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 116–127.
  • Wright B. S. Painting and History during French Restoration: Abandoned by the Past. Cambridge; New York, Cambridge University Press Publ., 1997. 269 p.
  • Wright B. S. The Space of Time: Delaroche’s Depiction of Modern Historical Narrative. Nineteenth Century French Studies, 2007, vol. 36, no. 1–2, pp. 72–93.