Karev, Andrey A. On the National Identity of the 18th-Century Russian Art in the First Half of the 20th Century Publications

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa2111-07-56
Title On the National Identity of the 18th-Century Russian Art in the First Half of the 20th Century Publications
Author email ankarev@yandex.ru
About author Karev, Andrey Aleksandrovich — full doctor, professor. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation; principal research associate at the Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts RAH, Prechistenka, 21, 119034 Moscow, Russian Federation. ORCID: 0000-0001-5067-7288
In the section Russian Art in the 18th–19th Centuries DOI10.18688/aa2111-07-56
Year 2021 Volume 11 Pages 700–709
Type of article RAR Index UDK 7.067 Index BBK 85.103(2)
Abstract

The history of the research into the specifics of the national artistic heritage is closely related to the identification of its significance and role in the world art history.

The choice of the period under consideration results from the then interest in the Russian national art identity which in its turn was brought forth by the specifics of the national art studies evolution — from a vigorous pace of its contemporary forms development at the beginning of the last century towards the postwar ideologized academicism. The problem stems from the confrontation period between “the westerners” and “the slavophiles”. “The Art World” artistic group members who were the first to recognize the great artistic value of the 18th century creative legacy also got interested in the specifics of the Russian artistic school. They used to see the new Russian art to have been influenced by the foreign tradition for a long time. They assumed that it was until the end of the century that it acquired its own authenticity.

Throughout the first decade of the Soviet Regime the national identity issue was far from the topical ones. The research into the inimitable originality of the Russian art assumed its top priority in the 1930s when the course towards social realism was proclaimed to be the mainstream doctrine. That brought forth an intense research of its origin. As a result the 18th century art tended to be recognized as a stage forerunning the 19th-century critical realism. An idea to blend the two principles — the folk and the realistic, gave birth to the formation of a new approach towards understanding the nature of the national. The acuteness of “the Western vs the Russian” antinomy was mitigated by conceptualization of a high demand for the Russian national culture, which is clearly seen in the works by N. N. Kovalenskaya. It was her who was the first to recognize the rapid development of the Russian national art to be the major feature of the Russian national specifics.

Throughout the postwar decade the awareness of the significance of the realistic approach towards the national artistic authenticity was reinforced by the interest towards Old Russian cultural heritage. The end of the 1950s witnessed the completion of the cycle — the one born from the ideas of the mid-19th century, started on the verge of the centuries and continued by the Soviet art scholars, with inevitable respective ideological amendments being introduced.
Keywords
Reference Karev, Andrey A. On the National Identity of the 18th-Century Russian Art in the First Half of the 20th Century Publications. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 11. Eds A. V. Zakharova, S. V. Maltseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova. — St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Univ. Press, 2021, pp. 700–709. ISSN 2312-2129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa2111-07-56
Publication Article language russian
Bibliography
  • Ainalov D. V. Istoriia russkoi zhivopisi ot XVI po konets XIX veka (History of Russian Painting from the 16th to the End of the 19th Century). St. Petersburg, Semechkina’s Litography Publ., 1909. 96 p. (in Russian).
  • Benua A. N. Istoriia russkoi zhivopisi v XIX veke (History of Russian Painting in the 19th Century). Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1995. 448 p. (in Russian).
  • Benua A. N. Picturesque Petersburg. Mir iskusstva (Art World), 1902, no. 1, Chronicle, pp. 1–25 (in Russian).
  • Evangulova O. S. The Fate of the Problems of Realism in National Literature on the 18th-century Russian Art. Ilyina T. V.; Kostyria M. A.; Khodakovsky E. V. (eds.). “Zolotoi os’mnadtsatyi …” Russkoe iskusstvo XVIII v. v sovremennom otechestvennom iskusstvoznanii (The “Golden Eighteenth...” Russian Art of the 18th Century in Contemporary National Art History). St. Petersburg, Saint-Petersburg University Publ., 2006, pp. 63–68 (in Russian).
  • Friche V. M. Ocherki social’noi istorii iskusstva (Essay on the Social History of Art). Moscow, Novaia Moskva Publ., 1923. 216 p. (in Russian).
  • Friche V M. Problemy’ iskusstvovedeniia. Sbornik statei po voprosam sotsiologii iskusstva i literatury (Problems of Art History. Collection of Articles on the Sociology of Art and Literature). Moscow; Leningrad, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 1930. 182 p. (in Russian).
  • Gabrichevskii A. G. (ed.). Iskusstvo portreta (The Art of Portraiture). Moscow, State Academy of Art Sciences Publ., 1928. 232 p. (in Russian).
  • Gershenzon-Chegodaeva N. M. Dmitrii Grigor’evich Levitskii (Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky). Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1964. 460 p. (in Russian).
  • Gollerbakh E’ F. Portretnaia zhivopis’ v Rossii. XVIII vek (Portrait Painting in Russia. 18th Century). Moscow; St. Petersburg, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 1923. 139 p. (in Russian).
  • Grabar’ I. Istoriia russkogo iskusstva. T. 3: Arkhitektura (Peterburgskaia arxitektura v XVIII i XIX veke) (History of Russian Art. Vol. 3: Architecture (Russian Architecture in the 18th and 19th Centuries)). Moscow, I. Knebel Publ., 1912. 584 p. (in Russian).
  • Grech A. N. Baroque in Russian Painting in the 18th Century. Nekrasov A. I. (ed.). Barokko v Rossii (Baroque in Russia). Moscow, State Academy of Art Sciences Publ., 1926, pp. 118–133 (in Russian).
  • Khomyakov A. S. About the Possibility of the Russian Art school. Khomyakov A. S. Complete Works, vol. 1. Moscow, University Printing house on Strastny Boulevard Publ., 1900, pp. 73–101 (in Russian).
  • Il’ina T. V. Natsional’noe svoeobrazie russkogo iskusstva XVIII veka i ego mesto sredi evropeiskikh shkol (National Originality of Russian Art of the 18th Century and Its Place among European Schools). St. Petersburg, Saint-Petersburg University Publ., 2012. 100 p. (in Russian).
  • Ioffe I. I. Russian Renaissance. Uchenye zapiski Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta (Scientific Notes of the Leningrad State University), 1944, no. 72, pp. 236–285 (in Russian).
  • Itkina L. Z. Natalia Nikolaevna Kovalenskaia as an Art Historian. Kovalenskaya N. N. Iz istorii klassicheskogo iskusstva (From the History of Classical Art). Moscow, Sovetskii khudozhnik Publ., 1988, pp. 7–20 (in Russian).
  • Kovalenskaia N. N. (ed.). Gosudarstvennaia Tret’iakovskaya galereia. Putevoditel’ po opy’tnoi kompleksnoi marksistskoi e’kspozitsii (State Tretyakov Gallery. Guidebook to the Experimental Complex Marxist Exposition). Moscow, State Tretyakov gallery Publ., 1931. 78 p.
  • Kovalenskaia N. N. Experience of the Marxist Exhibition in the State Tretyakov Gallery. Sovetskii muzei (The Soviet Museum), 1931, no. 1, pp. 50–59 (in Russian).
  • Kovalenskaia N. N. History of the Academy of Arts and Its Role in the Development of Russian Artistic Culture. Iskusstvo (Art), 1940, no. 1, pp. 9–35 (in Russian).
  • Kovalenskaia N. N. Istoriia Russkogo iskusstva XVIII veka (History of Russian Art of the 18th Century). Moscow; Leningrad, Iskusstvo Publ., 1940. 285 p. (in Russian).
  • Kukol’nik N. V. Russian School of Painting. Kukolnik N. V. (ed.). Kartiny russkoi zhivopisi (Pictures of Russian Painting). St. Petersburg, 1846, pp. 3–15 (in Russian).
  • Kuz’minskii K. S. F. S. Rokotov, D. G. Levitskii. Razvitie russkoi portretnoi zhivopisi XVIII veka (F. S. Rokotov, D. G. Levitsky. The Development of Russian Portrait Painting of the 18th Century). Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ.,1940. 188 p. (in Russian).
  • Mikhailov A. I. Bazhenov. Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo literatury po stroitel’stvu i arkhitekture Publ., 1951. 372 p. (in Russian).
  • Nekrasov A. I. (ed.). Barokko v Rossii (Baroque in Russia) Moscow, State Academy of Art Sciences Publ., 1926. 142 p. (in Russian).
  • Nikol’skii V. A. Istoriia russkogo iskusstva: Zhivopis’. Arkhitektura. Skul’ptura. Dekorativnoe iskusstvo (History of Russian Art: Painting. Architecture. Sculpture. Decorative Art), with a preface by P. P. Muratov. Berlin, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo RSFSR Publ., 1923. 252 p. (in Russian).
  • Noviczkij A. P. Istoriia russkogo iskusstva s drevneishikh vremen (History of Russian Art since Ancient Times), vol. 2. Moscow, V. N. Lind Publ., 1903. 532 p. (in Russian).
  • Sidorov A. A. Russkie portretisty XVIII veka (Russian Portraitists of the 18th Century). Moscow; Petrograd, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 1923. 41 p. (in Russian).
  • Ternovets B .N. Russkie skul’ptory (Russian Sculptors). Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 1924. 48 p. (in Russian).
  • Tyukhmeneva E. A. “The Russian Renaissance” by I. I. Ioffe. To the 70th Anniversary of the Article Publication. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art — 2015: Abstracts of Communications of the 6th International Conference. St. Petersburg, 2015, pp. 181–182 (in Russian).
  • Vrangel’ N. N. The Empress Elisaveta and the Art of Her Time (On the Exhibition “Lomonosov and Elizabethan Times”). Vrangel’ N. N. Svoistva veka. Stat’i po istorii russkogo iskusstva (Wrangel N. N. Properties of the Century. Articles on the History of Russian Art). St. Petersburg, Journal Neva Publ., 2000, pp. 1–24 (in Russian).
  • Zgura V. V. The Problem of the Emergence of the Baroque in Russia. Nekrasov A. I. (ed.). Barokko v Rossii (Baroque in Russia). Moscow, State Academy of Art Sciences Publ., 1926, pp. 13–42 (in Russian).
  • Zgura V. V. Problemy’ i pamiatniki, sviazannye s V. I. Bazhenovym (Problems and Monuments Associated with V. I. Bazhenov). Moscow, 1928. 166 p. (in Russian).
  • Zhidkov G. V. Notes on Russian Historical Painting. Iskusstvo (Art), 1939, no. 2, pp. 59–86 (in Russian).
  • Zotov A. I. The Ways of Development of Russian Art in the 18th Century. Iskusstvo (Art), 1951, no. 2, pp. 68–79 (in Russian).