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16 November 2009
U.S. Museums Showcase Artistic Splendors of Imperial Russia
Russian Orthodox icons, Fabergé eggs retain powerful allure
Washington — When Americans travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg, they are introduced to a nation whose artistic traditions have produced many of the world’s greatest ballets, an extensive body of world-famous classical music and exquisite objects of art. At home, ordinary Americans also have the opportunity to study and admire Russia’s impressive cultural legacy, thanks to U.S. museums that own substantial collections of Russian art.
“It is very important for us as a nation to see and appreciate the art of Russia because it provides a common platform of understanding and knowledge,” says Judi Dutcher, director of The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis. “This appreciation can be the first basis of dialogue and discussion between us.”
The cultural impact of Russia on the United States has been enormous. From the music of Pytor Tchaikovsky in the 19th century through renowned 20th-century composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russia has profoundly influenced international music. Russian ballet produced many phenomenons, including Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and continues to influence modern dance through the work of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky ballets. Russian contributions to literature — through such authors as Aleksandr Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn — are universally recognized.
Numerous U.S. museums have superb collections of Russian visual art, and one of the foremost is The Museum of Russian Art, one of only two museums in the United States dedicated to the exhibition and preservation of exclusively Russian art and artifacts. The museum specializes in late 19th-century and early 20th-century art, and offers diverse exhibitions “designed to foster international understanding,” according to Dutcher.
“Recently we had an exhibition of [Russian Orthodox religious] icons from the Yaroslavl Art Museum, which highlighted the rich artistic tradition of icon painting in Russia,” she said, “a tradition that began in the 11th century and continues today. The Russian icon has long symbolized Russian culture.” One exhibition scheduled for the fall of 2010 will focus on the siege of Leningrad, during which almost 1 million Russians died when the city was surrounded by German forces for 900 days during World War II. “We’ve been working with the city government in St. Petersburg to stage this exhibition,” said Dutcher, “and they’ve been extremely generous in opening their coffers.”
The second museum in the United States dedicated solely to the preservation of Russian art is the Museum of Russian Icons, located in Clinton, Massachusetts. Its collection includes more than 350 Russian icons, the largest collection of its kind in North America. The collection spans six centuries — beginning with the 16th century — and includes important historical icons dating from the earliest periods of icon painting up to the present, all housed in a 150-year-old former mill, which is now a completely “green” museum.
Another U.S. museum with an extensive collection of Russian art is the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), in Richmond, Virginia. The museum houses the Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Russian Imperial Jewels, created by Peter Carl Fabergé. Fabergé was a goldsmith and jeweler to the Russian court in the 1880s, and it was then that he first created one of his intricate Easter eggs, to be presented to the czarina in 1885. Fifty-four of his jeweled and enameled eggs were created before the fall of the House of Romanov in the 1917 revolution. Five, all from the reign of Nicholas II, are in the Pratt collection.
“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is a major international destination for Russian culture, as we hold the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia,” said Alex Nyerges, director of VMFA. Also in the VMFA’s collection are numerous other examples of Russian decorative arts. The Fabergé gallery will be temporarily closed from June 2009 until May 2010 for renovations.
Recently on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington was an exhibition titled The Tsars and the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in the Moscow Kremlin. Dating from the early 16th to the late 17th century, these 60 magnificent gifts included armor, firearms and jeweled ceremonial vessels given to the Russian court or the Orthodox Church. The lavishness of these gifts demonstrates the prominent place Russia occupies in Asian diplomatic history.
The Hillwood Museum, also in Washington, features a comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art, including the diamond-studded crown worn by Empress Alexandra at her marriage to Nicholas II and two imperial Easter eggs designed by Fabergé.
Anne Odom, curator emerita at the Hillwood Museum, said that America’s first exposure to Russian visual culture was at the Columbian Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia, and that “Russian-style designs sold well at Tiffany’s and at Bailey, Banks and Biddle, to name just a few of the jewelry stores which had Russian departments from the 1880s [up] to World War I. … Icons and the works of Fabergé still retain a powerful fascination for the American audience, as do the silver and enamels of the artists who showed [their works] in 1876 in Philadelphia.”
The rich gifts of Russian artists long have been appreciated by the American museum-going public, not only for their beauty, but for the insight they offer on Russian culture and history. Said Dutcher: “The more we can provide appreciation and understanding of Russian culture, the more possible dialogue becomes.”
