Connections between 18th-Century Russian and European Culture

Abstract

Connections between 18th-Century Russian and European Culture Ivan A. Abramkin I. M. Marisina, Ocherki po istorii mezhdunarodnykh sviazei Imperatorskoi akademii khudozhestv vo vtoroi polovine XVIII–pervoi treti XIX veka (Essays in the History of the Imperial University of Art's International Contacts in the Second Half of the 18th and the First Third of the 19th Centuries). 440 pp. Moscow: BuksMArt, 2021. ISBN-13 978-5907267473. M. A. Pozharova, Evropeiskie kontseptsii iskusstva v russkoi kul´ture XVIII veka: Ocherki (European Concepts of Art in 18th-Century Russian Culture: Essays). 240 pp. Moscow: BuksMArt, 2022. ISBN-13 978-5002030019. Both of the books reviewed here share commonalities not only in their essay-collection format but also in their subject (cultural interactions between Russia and Europe in the 18th century). Russian-language scholarly work on this problem in the field of art history owes much to the pioneering research of D. V. Sarab´ianov, who studied 19th-century Russian painting in the context of European schools.1 Before this book, scholars of art tended to consider Russian and European art in isolation from one another. Sarab´ianov aimed both to identify the general features of artistic processes common to both and to reveal the national specifics of concrete phenomena; in the process, he uncovered a variety of links among different traditions, inaugurating a methodologically novel approach. He considered not only general problems (the specifics of Russian Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Modernism in the European context) but more specific ones as well (comparing artists of A. G. Venetsianov's circle and German Biedermeier art, A. A. Ivanov and the [End Page 403] Nazarene movement, V. I. Surikov and European historical painting, V. E. Borisov-Musatov and Les Nabis). Sarab´ianov did not analyze 18th-century art in detail, but applying his approach to that period became a hallmark of the Moscow school in the field of art studies. This tradition was associated with the name of O. S. Evangulova—a professor at Moscow State University and a leading specialist of the last decades on 18th-century Russian art—and actively developed two thematic areas: the study of Russian-European artistic relations of this era and the consideration of the customer's role in the development of national culture and the creation of art collections. In the 1990s and 2000s numerous dissertations were written on issues of French influence in the field of painting under Evangulova's guidance: the work of Jean-Louis Voille in Russia, the activities of French artists at the court at the beginning of the 18th century, the art of Jean-Laurent Mosnier in Russia, and the interaction of Alexander Roslin with the Russian artistic environment.2 In 2007, Evangulova wrote a monograph on 18th-century Russian travelers' perceptions of European art schools, which highlighted the most important aspect for understanding the cultural dialogue between Russia and Europe.3 The development of sculpture was already being actively investigated in the Russian Academy of Art; in the 2000s, several dissertations examined the work of Marie-Anne Collot in the context of the Enlightenment era and style formation in the art of Étienne Maurice Falconet.4 These researchers paid special attention to the role of English art in the development of 18th-century Russian culture: the interest of researchers in Moscow and in St. Petersburg was drawn both to general aspects of interaction in the field of painting and the work of certain masters—John Atkinson and James Walker.5 [End Page 404] ________ Marisina's book aligns with the contemporary trend in art studies in Russia, which is characterized by close attention to the history of art education: if S. V. Moiseeva's research is devoted to the establishment of the Academy and the educational organization of various painting classes, then this work is her international relations counterpart.6 The introduction of the book highlights the background of the academic project in Russia, which already in Peter the Great's plans assumed a focus on Europe and attention to Russia's international reputation (8). The purpose and objectives of the book are not specified in the introduction, but in the abstract the problems of the work are associated with the...