Introduction to Russian Culture through Art

Catalog description

This course focuses on the art and visual culture of the Russian Empire and Soviet State/post-Soviet state. Emphasis is placed on the connections between art and politics from the social realist painting of the nineteenth century Wanders through modernism and the avant-garde (Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism, and Socialist Realism), to contemporary Russian art's response to global crises, including the war in Ukraine. We will look beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg toward other regions critical to the development of culture, including Kyiv and Kazan. The course offers a foundational understanding of modern Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet culture through the lens of the visual arts.