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Reinventing Tradition: New Interpretations and Orthodox Script in the Folklore-Themed Paintings of Viktor Vasnetsov (with Ludmila Piters-Hofmann)

February 22, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Join us for another 19v seminar!

This event will be hosted virtually on Zoom

Once upon a time, tales and legends were passed along by word of mouth – later through printed collections, literature, and art. Among the large-scale paintings depicting Russian epics, legends, and folk tales, those by Viktor Vasnetsov (1848–1926) are considered iconic even today. Alongside his new interpretations of the printed material, Vasnetsov sometimes added written text to his artworks using the Church Slavonic alphabet, which had been reserved for the Orthodox Church after a reform by Peter the Great in 1708. The choice to apply script associated with the Orthodox Church to folklore subjects created a new combination of the two traditions that artists and viewers alike understood to represent an authentically Russian cultural identity. This talk will explore why these paintings were so expressive and compelling for the viewer in the nineteenth century and how Orthodox and folklore traditions coexisted not as opposites but as a union. It will trace Vasnetsov’s source material back to – on one hand – collections of folktales and legends by Russian scholars like Aleksandr Afanas’ev and Vladimir Dal’, and – on the other hand – Church Slavonic writing in books, on icons and in other inscriptions in the churches. Comparing these sources to his final artworks and works by other artists – such as Vasilii Perov, Elena Polenova, and Ivan Bilibin – will reveal not only that Vasnetsov incorporated his own interpretations of the depicted subjects but also the success of his choices.

Details

Date:
February 22, 2023
Time:
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Organizer

The Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia

Venue

New York, NY + Google Map