Russian Avant-garde - Term Paper Example

THE BIRTH OF THE AVANT-GARDE IN RUSSIA: AN INTERPRETATION ON LINCOLN’S BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL BY NIELS BUECHI. The scope of the book, Between Heaven and Hell is on the history of Russia, most especially on the development of said country’s cultural tradition and customs as expressed in Russian art. The book is a vast project- it contains and attempts to present 1,000 years or millennia of the development of Russian arts, ranging from orthodox religious ikons, to the world-renown novels of Tolstoy, and the more recent films of Eisenstein. Accordingly, the book is described as the “thousand-year saga of the forging of the Russian creative spirit.” Apart from the enormous coverage of periods, dates, and persons, the book also covers several aspects of Russian art, namely: Art, design, writing, theatre, filmmaking, and architecture, which will be discussed more in Lincoln’s presentation of Russia’s Avant-Garde. True to being the biographer of great historical figures such as members of the Romanov dynasty and Nicholas I, Lincoln stays true to historical tradition and story-telling. He presents a chronology and timeline of the events and different periods in Russian history and art. He goes on to discuss, more notably- eloquently praise and detail the different artists, their masterpieces, creations, and of course, the objects or the arts themselves. Lincoln presents the diversity and immensity of Russian art, where despite its painful past, torn by conflict and war; it was able to produce one of greatest collections and testaments of human creativity. All this achievements in art in a nation located between the East and West, the orthodox and the modern, the religious and the secular. In all the major forms of art, the artists of Russia are put in the limelight, including the context where the artists themselves were born and educated, and where their masterpieces came into being. The book by Lincoln presents the stories of Russia’s musical composers, dance choreographers, the dancers themselves, writers, poets, the architects of Russia’s awe-inspiring landmarks, theatre directors, and actors, and in recent history, filmmakers. In the midst of turmoil their nation was constantly facing, their struggles are recounted to create and preserve their nation’s identity, into art. Hence, in perspective, Between Heaven and Hell details the success and challenges of the Russian artists to light. A number of these artists, namely: Pavlova, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Tchaikovsky , Chagall, Solzhenitzyn, Diagilev, Eisenstein, and Brodsky are only among the few of the artists whose struggles in expressing their art in the midst of political and social turmoil are revealed. The book is an illustration of the birth of art and creativity in a land where politics and art are inseparable, where art continually seeks new forms and modes of expression. On a personal level, reading the novel helps readers appreciate the passion and ardor of Russian artists to attempt and successfully capture the beauty of their nation, when it has been often seen to be riddled with war, conflict, and a waning national identity brought about by constant social changes and revolutions. Lincoln helps readers value the sacrifices of Russian artists, where despite the challenges of change and even, a physical threat to their lives and safety, they recorded Russia’s beauty for all the world to see, and future generations of both foreigners and young Russians alike, to value and cherish. Indeed, the book is a true testament of Russian art, one of the most exquisite and mysterious arts in the worlds. SOCIO-POLITICAL UNDERPINNINGS Lincoln does not only provide an enumeration or list of the thousand-year feats and achievements of Russia in art, but also analyzes the political and social forces that greatly affected art in said nation. The reader has much to appreciate in Between Heaven and Hell, as the significance and context of the artists and their art works, in their respective periods and social backdrops are also presented. With literature and other works abounding on the topic of Russian art, Lincoln delves more on the artistic experience of Russia, which included the underlying factors that influenced the creative spirit of many of its artists. Lincoln, a renowned Russian historian presents the glory of Russian culture through the viewpoint of its social and political underpinnings. Accounts of the different aspects of art from musical compositions, paintings, dance or ballet, architecture, among several others are synthesized where the reasons for their creation are presented, such as requests from royalty, the aristocracy, and even the Communist Party. Between Heaven and Hell is filled with the obscure mysticism of Byzantine Christianity, the alluring, yet ironically corrupt Imperial glory of the Russian tsars, the mechanical and brutal Communist Revolution and regime; and the memories of exiles coming back to their homeland. More specifically, Lincoln presents Tsarist and Orthodox Russia, torn apart by conflicts among the royalty and nobility, while the majority of Russian peasants suffer in the countryside from famine and starvation which is detailed and recorded into novels, stories, songs, paintings, and theatrical pieces. Revolutionary Russia is presented, where artists were faced with censorship and mandatory direction by the Communist Party and in this backdrop, the struggle for art and self-expression reached new heights. In Lincoln’s previous works which comprised mostly of biographies of known Russian historical figures as mentioned above, they were mostly what were expected of a celebrated Russian historian. Accordingly, his subjects and focus were more on politics and society, such as historical figures, wars, conflicts, and other significant historical events which shaped Russia. However, for Lincoln, the enigmatic and ever-shifting artistic expression in Russia has been an interest to him and in this book merits his full concentration. Lincoln starts off with Old Russia, presenting a scenario where art and religion were inseparable and indistinguishable from each other. His analysis follows into the secular periods of the two, world-renown and modern-minded Russian royalty, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great who ushered in a period of prosperity and modernity for Russia. Other significant periods in art such as the Romantic period, the emergence of realism to illustrate the life of the Russian countryside, the confident avant-garde, and also, the Soviet period, where Russian culture met a fast decline. Aside from art, other historical issues affecting culture and art were also presented by Lincoln. For example, Lincoln details the existence and application of censorship of art in Russia, such as those methods used by Tsarist elements and those employed by the Revolutionary and Marxist-Leninist governments. Lincoln in essence compares Tsarists, the Bolshevik, Lenin’s regime, Stalin’s regime, and the post-Stalin modes of censorship of art, and its consequent effects for the creative spirit and lives of Russian artists. A case in point also is the Russian Orthodox prohibition of music using instruments and realistic figurative painting, which significantly affected the art in that day and age. STENGTHS The book, Between Heaven and Hell is full of variety, quantity of historical detail, and narrative eloquence which Lincoln employs to present diverse perspectives and historical meat. Apart from the artists and the corresponding and socio-political factors which affected them in creating their art, the impact of Russian art in each corresponding society and period is also strongly presented by Lincoln. Accordingly, almost all the creative and artistic persons that created, realized, defined, presented, stamped, and also, during periods of tragedy and turbulence, and mourned Russia’s existence were given due recognition by Lincoln. One of the significant strengths of Lincolns Between Heaven and Hell is that it provides a detailed, comprehensive, and contemporary historical study of Russia’s history and cultural tradition and art. The method it employs, a chronological timeline of the development of art, as discussed earlier, spanning one thousand years from Old Russia to its almost modern state of society and art, is very helpful in understanding the painstaking development of Russian art. The book is a considerable homage to the history of this is a Russias vast cultural heritage. While only a single volume, its covers a period of a millennium and filled with serious research, respectable scholarship, and a deep understanding on what seems as an infinite exhibition of history and art. To establish its comprehensiveness, Lincoln, aside from coveting his discussion on all the major forms of art, historical figures, and great names in art such as Gogol, whose portion is significant enough for one book, this is refined and exquisitely integrated with the history of Russia. In the book, a number of Lincoln’s attempts at literary and narrative prose such as likening the form and beauty of arrangement of bells in the cathedral to the beauty of the arrangement of ikons, merits appreciation and aesthetic value. True to the title of the book, Russia’s history, not only in art but its society and politics have undertaken turns of glory and most often, decline and destruction. Lincoln details the effect of Russia’s often violent history by tyrannical rulers and a turbulent society on art, but also fairly recounts the glory days of Russia under modern and enlightened rulers such as Peter and Catherine, and their patronage for the development and flourish of the arts. The book, despite its historical underpinnings on politics and society, focuses also on the aspect of aesthetic and arts, and the technical matters that accompany it, and hence is a good read not only for history majors or academicians but also teachers and students of music, literature, painting, theatre, and even film, among several forms of art. It helps the reader appreciate the Russian artists and the sacrifices and toll they had to pay for the creation of art. On a personal level, the book was easy to read for a novice of history and the arts, but also challenging and comprehensive enough for other academicians and experts on Russian studies, as long as they can value art, both in times of the failure and success of the artists, and in times of heaven and hell for a nation like Russia. CRITICISM Despite the immensity, diversity, and detail of Lincoln’s book, Between Heaven and Hell, his method of presentation is one of the work’s significant weaknesses. Of considerable note is the introduction which presents the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II and Alexandra. Accordingly, it is so filled with abundant details of the lavishness of the coronation ceremony, which would normally and certainly bore any reader. As illustrated in the Introduction and throughout the book, Lincoln’s misplaced and constant use of adjectives to describe and detail a person, an event, or a period, was distractive. In his presentation of the different biographies, Lincoln was not content in stating one noun, but has to complement and accompany it with vivid but sometimes inappropriate descriptions. A case in point is Lincoln describing the music of Rimsky-Korsakov: "Oceans churned, storms thundered, the sun sparkled in wintry forests, and in the new warmth of spring nightingales sang and golden fish leaped from crystal streams." Such extravagance in language, although admittedly very emphatic and detailed, harms the logical flow and storytelling of Russia’s art history. Although vastly researched with significant scholarship, the work admittedly lacks a bibliography for its immense research and sources. There are also certain parts of the book, where, while containing very extensive biographies on some artists and a comprehensive account of a period, some parts of the book lacked the same comprehensiveness. Hence, the Washington Post, in its critique, expresses, “Lincoln, the author of 10 books on Russian history, is at his best on Russias earliest cultural roots and on the emergence of an influential avant-garde between 1890 and the early 1920s. The book is weakest on the post-Stalin era, reading too much like a cut-and-paste compendium of well-known literary biographies.1” IN PERSPECTIVE: THE RUSSIAN AVANTE GARDE As reported by the Washington Times, the Russian avant-garde is one of the most significant parts of the book. Accordingly, it is discussed more in detail in Chapter XIII of Lincoln’s Between Heaven and Hell. Accordingly, it is a general term usually essential to describe the vast and significant introduction of modern art into Russia. Although the concept and occurrence of avant-garde is dispersed throughout the history of Russia, there are significant periods such as the later Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, or in the years, some speculate from 1860-1930, in which said style of art definitely flourished. Lincoln details the beginning of Avant-garde, where art was traveling to Moscow from other major European centers such as Paris. In the year 1986, Russian exhibitions of avant-garde forms of art, such as Cubism, Fauvism, Impressionism, Symbolism, among other styles were in Moscow, hosted by the Russian monarchy, and privileged collectors such as Morozov, and Shchukin, in which his collection some attribute to have inspired the Russian Avant-Garde. In 1917, the Russian Avant-Garde was propelled by similar developments which advocated semblances of avant-garde in major cultural centers such as Paris and chief cities in Germany. Given this fact, Avant-garde was basically an import and inspiration from other European nations and was not an original Russian form of art. Since the underlying concept was modernity, as can be seen from the name itself, which is French for Advanced Guard, modernity was sought in the art of other “modern” nations. The challenge and desire then for Russian artists was to create an art that was authentically Russian. Initial attempts included Neo-Primitivism in 1908, which recreated art from the distinct and classical icons used by the Russian Orthodox Church and those which comprised folk art in the Russian countryside Another feature of Russian Avant-garde which is noteworthy is the promulgation, assimilation, splits, and rejection of the different “isms”. To illustrate, one example is the combination of two original forms of avant-garde, Cubism and futurism, into Cubo-Futurism. Other movements such as the earlier-mentioned Neo-Primitivism; and later forms of Futurism, such as Cubo-Futurism, Rayonism, and Suprematism eventually met their demise. This would illustrate the fact that artists were theorists and philosophers and heavily incorporated their ideas into their forms of art. During the Bolshevik or Communist Revolution, there is much controversy where the role of the avant-garde artists in said revolution is scrutinized. Accordingly, Dr. Willette states that the “real significance of the Russian Avant-Garde is the struggle over the nature of art, the role of art in society and the place of the artist in a communist society that regarded the intellectual as a parasite.2” In actuality, in the years between 1917 and 1921, avant-garde art in Russia was held to be closely associated to the October or Bolshevik revolution that forced the Tsar to abdicate from power and which swept Vladimir Lenin as the nation’s foremost figurehead and statesman. In the turmoil of the revolution, all that was held to be outdated, old, and bourgeois was hunted down, abandoned, destroyed, and in the case of persons, were killed, which included academic bourgeois art and the artists themselves who refused to adhere to the new form of government and society.  The newly-ushered government intensely worked with the avant-garde artists, were before the Russian Revolution, avant-garde means that artists were in constant struggle to update themselves with the latest artistic trends. However, after the revolution, a new face of Russian Avant-Garde surfaced. Instead of the usual practice where artists made their art in the context of history and aesthetics, Russian avant-garde artists regarded art as a form of technology and mechanism which could be used as a tool to educate the people of the Revolution through art. In fact, the first Agit-train was sent to the countryside carrying works of art, containing graphic symbols and messages to supposedly impart the message of the revolution. Consequently, art is deeply intertwined in the consciousness of the Russian people. Used not only to glorify the culture and history of old and modern Russia, art, especially avant-garde was also used as a means for political control and propaganda. All this in a nation where turmoil and destruction is commonplace, but also, a nation which is a testament of strength, glory, and a relentless national identity, in Lincoln’s words, in “between Heaven and Hell.” Bibliography: W. Bruce Wilson, “Between Heaven and Hell: The Story of a Thousand Years of Artistic Life in Russia. New York: Viking, 1998. The Washington Post, “Review: Between Heaven and Hell: A Thousand Years of the Russian Artistic Experience”, May 27, 2011, http://www.amazon.com/Between-Heaven-Hell-Thousand-Experience/dp/product-description/0670875686 Jeanne Willette, “Russian Avant-Garde Art and Revolution”, May 27, 2011, http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com/the-russian-avant-garde/ Read More