In 1841-43 and 1845-46, Russian artist, writer, and former diplomat Prince Aleksei Dmitrievich Saltykov traveled through India’s independent kingdoms and the regions dominated by the British East India Company. During his voyages he sketched nobles, wrote copious letters, and amassed a collection of weapons that later migrated to Tsarskoe Selo’s armory. Saltykov’s art and letters, initially published in French as Lettres Sur l’Inde (1848), were the first significant attempt by a Russian to make sense of the subcontinent’s physical, social, and political geography. Their appearance signaled a change in popular Russian discourse about India, its role in global politics, and the impact of British imperialism. Art and politics are intertwined in Saltykov’s work. His portraits depict nominal and real heads of state, and his writings offer insight into India’s regional powers during a period of upheaval. Saltykov also used the process of creating royal likenesses to form personal connections with his subjects. Examining his writing and art reveals how Russia came to understand a region of increasing significance to foreign policy, while also highlighting how geopolitics inflect style and subject matter. Saltykov’s work thus contributed to the emerging discourse of the Great Game, a term some scholars use to describe Britain and Russia’s geopolitical rivalry in Asia. By focusing on Russian depictions of India, and specifically Saltykov's royal portraits, this talk illustrates how the discourse of the Great Game enabled Russians to articulate their own imperial aesthetic through comparison, mimicry, and differentiation from the British.
SPEAKER: John Webley (Yale University)
SOBESEDNIK (DISCUSSANT): Katya Hokanson (University of Oregon)
Wednesday, May 22 at 12.00 noon ET (New York)
Please, register for Zoom meeting.