The School of Arts Module Outline Module Title Module Code Programme Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Russian Art ARVC233H4 Cert HE History of Art Credits/Level 15/ Level 4 Entrance Requirements First Class Term Dates Taught By None Tuesday 16 January 2018 16 January 20 March 2018 Kasia Murawska-Muthesius El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919, lithographic poster 1
Module Description The twentieth century was the age of revolution in Russia. From 1917 to 1991 the rules of society and art were overturned and refashioned again and again. The unprecedented creativity of the early avant-garde of Kandinsky, Malevich and Tatlin, fuelled by the promises of the Bolshevik revolution, forged an entirely new model of artistic practices, aiming to build the world anew. Looking at architecture, painting, monumental sculpture, design and film of the Russian Avant- Garde, followed by Stalinist Socialist Realism, Non-Conformist art, and Post-Soviet art, this module explores the dynamics of suppression and resistance which defined the arts in Russia. Aims Module aims describe the knowledge and skills that the module seeks to advance. This module aims to: Develop students knowledge and understanding of Russian art of the twentieth century Provide students with first-hand experience of art objects Develop students critical analysis and judgement in relation to Russian art of the twentieth century Provide students with experience of close textual analysis of different kinds of art historical writing Demonstrate the importance of context and the relationship of art history to other disciplines such as literature, social history, film and visual media and the history of ideas. Develop academic study and writing skills. Outcomes Learning outcomes are directly linked to the aims set out above. They describe what you should know and be able to do by the end of the module. By the end of this module, you should be able to: Begin to engage with the concepts, values and debates that inform the study and practice of the history of art, including an awareness of the limitations and partiality of all historical knowledge Analyse, describe and interpret objects, images, buildings and artefacts closely and systematically Show understanding of the objects, contexts and issues relevant to two or more specific areas of the history of art Select relevant evidence from the wide range of possible types of evidence used in the history of art and apply it to the examination of art historical issues and problems Complete all coursework and assessment requirements. Teaching and Learning Methods Teaching on our modules is varied and interactive. It may include seminars, short lectures, group work, discussion, and student presentations. Active student participation is encouraged in all our classes. Reasonable adjustments will be made to accommodate students with disabilities. 2
Coursework and Assessment Assessment is a crucial part of all of our modules. It helps you to develop relevant skills for studying history of art at this level, increasing the level of your engagement, and, ultimately, your enjoyment of the material. The different types of assessment will enable you to undertake independent research, deepen your understanding of the subject, and apply appropriate analytical skills. Assessed Component Basic Requirements/Word Weighting Deadline Count Essay 2500 100% 6 April 2018 Note that the above deadlines refer to the date coursework must be submitted/presented to your lecturer. To qualify for module credit, you may be required to submit a coursework portfolio, containing your marked assignments and the lecturer s comments, to the programme administrator. Module Evaluation At the end of the module, you will be asked to complete an evaluation form, which gives an opportunity to feedback on all aspects of their learning experience. Module Content Coursework Deadline: 6 April 2018 Session 1: 16 January 2018 Introduction: Revolutions in Russian Art: Peter the Great to Stalin James Cracraft, Peter the Great and the Problem of Periodisation, in James Cracraft and Daniel Rowland, eds: Architectures of Russian Identity: 1500 to the Present, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003, pp. 7-17 Andrew Day, The Rise and Fall of Stalinist Architecture, in ibid., pp. 172-190 Session 2: 23 January 2018 Russian modernisms of the Silver Age John E. Bowlt, 'A Double-Headed Eagle: Russia, Land of Paradox', and 'The World of Art', in Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia's Silver Age, London: Thames and Hudson, 2008, pp. 33-65, and 161-200 Session 3: 30 January 2018 Neo-Primitivism Aleksander Shevchenko, 'Neoprimitivism: Its Theory, Its Potentials, Its Achievements', 1913, in Bowlt 1991, pp. 41-54 Session 4: 6 February 2018 Vassily Kandinsky and the spiritual in art Noemi Smolik, 'Kandinsky - Resurrection and Cultural Renewal', in Hartwig Fischer and Sean Rainbird (eds), Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction, Tate Modern London, Kunstmuseum Basel, London: Tate Publishing 2006, pp. 139-158 Session 5: 13 February 2018 Kasimir Malevich and Suprematism Kasimir Malevich, 'From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: The New Painterly Realism', 1915, in Bowlt 1991, pp. 116-135 3
Session 6: 20 February 2018 Art of the Revolution and Soviet Constructivism Christina Lodder, Russian Constructivism, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1983 Session 7: 27 February 2018 Amazons of the Avant-Garde John E. Bowlt, Matthew Drutt (eds), Amazons of the Avant-Garde: Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Varvara Stepanova and Nadezhda Udaltsova, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1999 Session 8: 6 March 2018 Art and Visual Culture of Stalinism: the 1930s and the 1940s Boris Groys, 'The Culture of Stalin Era in Historical Perspective', in The Total Art of Stalinism: Avant- Garde, Aesthetic Dictatorship, and Beyond, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, 3-13 Session 9: 13 March 2018 Socialist Realism and the Dream Factory of Communism, post-1945 Boris Groys, 'Utopian Mass Culture', in Boris Groys and Max Hollein (eds), Dream Factory Communism, Schirn Kunsthalle/ Frankfurt; Canz Verlag, 2003, pp. 20-38 Oliver Johnson, '"A premonition of Victory: A Letter from the Front', Russian Review, Vol. 68, No. 3, 2009, pp. 408-428 Session 10: 20 March 2018 Non-conformist Art in Russia Groys, B., History Becomes Form: Moscow Conceptualism, Cambridge, Mass and London, 2010 Session 11: The module will include a visit, organised either on Friday evening, or on Saturday during the duration of the course; further details tba Recommended Reading and Resources Students are advised not to purchase extensively from the list prior to ensuring that their chosen module will be running. Recommended Reading for Reading/Purchase The following will be referred to frequently in class: Bowlt, J.E., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism: 1902-1934, London: Thames & Hudson 1989 Gray, C., revised and enlarged edition by Marian Burleigh-Motley, The Russian Experiment in Art 1863-1922, London: Thames & Hudson, 1986 Groys, B., The Total Art of Stalinism, London: Verso, 2011 Recommended Reading The following are recommended as useful ancillary reading: Amirsadeghi, H., Vickery, J., Frozen Dreams: Contemporary Art from Russia, London: Thames and Hudson, 2011 Andreeva, E., Sots Art: Soviet Artists of the 1970s and 1980s, Roseville East: Craftsman House, 1995 Bonnell, V. E., Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters under Lenin and Stalin, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1997 4
Bown, M.C., Elliott, D. (eds), Soviet Socialist Realist Painting 1930s-1960s, Oxford, Museum of Modern Art, 1992 Bowlt, J.E., Drutt, M. (eds), Amazons of the Avant-garde: Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Varvara Stepanova and Nadezhda Udaltsova, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1999 Bowlt, J. E., Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia's Silver Age 1900-1920, London: T&H, 2008 Bown, M. C., Art under Stalin, Oxford: Phaidon, 1991 Bown, M.C., Taylor, B. (eds), Art of the Soviets: painting, sculpture, and architecture in a one-party state, 1917-1992, Manchester University Press/ New York: St. Martin s Press, 1993 Cracraft, J., Rowland, D. (eds), Architectures of Russian Identity: 1500 to the Present, Itaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2003 Elliott, D., New Worlds: Russian Art and Society 1900-1937, London: T & H, 1989 Fauchereau, S., Malevich, London: Academy Editions, 1992 Fischer, H., and Rainbird, S., Kandinsky: The path to abstraction, London: Tate, 2006 Gough, M., The Artist as Producer: Russian Constructivism in Revolution, Berkeley, CA and London : University of California Press, 2005 Groys, B., Hollein, M., Dream factory communism: the visual culture of the Stalin era, Frankfurt a/m, Schirnhalle, Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2003 Groys, B., History becomes form: Moscow Conceptualism, Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2010 Kiaer, C., Imagine no possessions: the socialist objects of Russian constructivism, Cambridge, Mass and London: MIT, 2005 Kivelson, V.A, Neuberger, J., Picturing Russia: Explorations in Visual Culture, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2008 Lindsay, K. C., Vergo, P. (eds), Kandinsky: complete writings on art, Vol.1, (1901-1921), London: Faber and Faber, 1982 Lodder, C., Russian Constructivism, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1983 Margolin, V., The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy 1917-1946, Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1997 Murray, N. and John Bowlt et al, Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932, exh. cat., London: The Royal Academy, 2017 Overy, P., Kandinsky: The Language of the Eye, London: Elek, 1969 Perloff, N., Explodity: sound, image, and word in Russian futurist book art, Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute 2016 Pritchard, J. (ed.), Diaghilev and the golden age of the Ballet Russes, 1909-1929, London: Victoria and Albert, 2010 Rosenfeld, A., Dodge, N.T., Nonconformist art: The Soviet Experience 1956-1986, London: Thames & Hudson/ Rutgers: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 1995 Sharp, J.A., Russian Modernism between East and West: Natalia Goncharova and the Moscow Avant-Garde, Cambridge, New York, Oakleigh, Madrid: Cambridge University Press, 2005 Spira, A., The avant-garde icon: Russian avant-garde art and the icon painting tradition, Aldershot: Lund Humphries, 2008 Taylor, B., Art and literature under the Bolsheviks, Vol. 1: The crisis of renewal, 1917-1924, Vol. 2: Authority and revolution, 1924-2932, London: Pluto, 1991-92 White, S., The Bolshevik Poster, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988 Reference Reading Boym, S., Common-Places: Mythologies of Everyday Life in Russia, Cambridge, Mass and London: Harvard University Press, 1995 Lincoln, W. B., Between Heaven and Hell: The Story of a Thousand Years of Artistic Life in Russia, 5
New York: Viking, 1998 Rzhevsky, N., The Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture, Cambridge. New York, Oakleigh and Madrid: Cambridge University Press, 1998 Stites, R., Revolutionary dreams: utopian vision and experimental life in the Russian Revolution, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 Vera Mukhina, Monument of a Worker and a Collective Farm Girl, 1937, stainless steel, Moscow Birkbeck, University of London 6