(Re)presenting Russian Architecture

Abstract

Against the widespread and enduring international interest in Russian literature, music, ballet, and painting, the dearth of scholarly work in the West on almost all aspects of Russian architecture stands in sharp contrast. This article will address the reasons for the disparity. My efforts to improve the situation, both in photographic work and in publishing, took a circuitous route, both in Russia and within Western academic circles. After intensive photographic documentation in central Russia during the 1970s, the easing of travel restrictions in the 1980s enabled the expansion of my work to distant regions, including the Russian north, Ural Mountains, Siberia, and the Far East. In addition to a survey of my fieldwork, this article discusses the creation of systems to preserve and disseminate photographic documentation. Included is a small selection of photographs that span forty years of my work in Russia.