HISTORY OF RUSSIAN ART

The class is scheduled among the interdisciplinary activities in the Master's degree course in Economics and Administration of Arts and Culture (EGART).
The main objective is to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the development of Soviet art within a period spanning from the Thaw in the late Fifties through the collapse of the Soviet Union and the so-called "actually existing socialism" in the early Nineties. A particular emphasis will be given to the leading tendencies, personalities and artworks, as well as to the infrastructures of the art system, including exhibitions, collections and the emergence of a Russian art market in the international context.

The course will provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the Soviet art world from the late Fifties through the early Nineties.
The main objective of the course is to enhance individual skills in the following fields:
- to recognize the artworks and artists discussed in class and place them in a broader theoretical, chronological and cultural context
- to develop critical skills and analyze an artwork within its historical context from multiple perspectives, including its technical, iconographic and stylistic features
- to strengthen communication skills and acquire a vocabulary appropriate to the specific context

A basic knowledge of contemporary art history and/or Russian culture is welcome but do not represent a mandatory requirement.

The course will provide a chronological overview from late Stalinism to the emergence of unofficial Soviet art, on the basis of representative artists, artworks and tendencies.
Classes will focus on the following topics:
- Socialist realism and the severe style
- the emergence of the underground art scene
- Moscow conceptualism
- Sots-art
- the art of perestroika
- the emergence of a Russian art market in the USSR and abroad
- Russian art collections in the USSR and abroad
- the collapse of the Soviet Union and its impact on the national and international art systems

Notes taken during the lessons.
The following texts on moodle:

Andrei Erofeev, Nonofficial Art: Soviet Artists of the 1960s, in Laura Hoptman, Tomáš Pospiszyl (eds.), Primary Documents. A Sourcebook for Eastern and Central European Art since the 1950s, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 2002, pp. 37-53.

Boris Groys, Moscow Romantic Conceptualism, in "A-YA", n.1, 1979, pp. 3-11.


Excerpts or chapters from the following texts, to be announced at the beginning of the course:

Ekaterina Andreeva, Sots Art: Soviet Artists of the 1970s-1980s, Craftsman House, Roseville East 1995.

Giuseppe Barbieri, Matteo Bertelé, Silvia Burini S. (eds.), Dream Reality. Viktor Popkov 1932-1974, Terra Ferma, Crocetta del Montello 2014.

Boris Groys, The Total Art of Stalinism, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1992.

Victor Tupitsyn, The Museological Unconscious. Communal (Post)Modernism in Russia, The MIT Press, Cambridge-London 2009.

Ruth Addison, Kate Fowle (eds.), Exhibit Russia. The New International Decade, 1986-1996, Museum of Contemporary Art Garage, Moscow 2016.

Non-attending students are required also to fully read: Victor Tupitsyn, The Museological Unconscious. Communal (Post)Modernism in Russia, The MIT Press, Cambridge-London 2009

The final grade comes from the sum of two components:
1. Active and regular participation in the classes
2. The evaluation of a written exam
The use of books, notes, and electronic media is not allowed during the test.

Non attending students are kindly asked to contact me in advance to agree on a specific programme for the written exam.

Lessons open to the discussions and commentaries of the slides and texts presented in class.
Webinars and talks with selected guests according to the current health situation.

The materials presented in class will be available on the Moodle e-learning platform together with additional sources.

English

Students with disabilities or those with special needs are kindly asked to contact the relevant offices by the start of the course.

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