Join us for the last 19v seminar this semester! The event is online only. Register for Zoom.
Mykola Samokish (1860–1944) was a Ukrainian painter who contributed to the official coronation album of Nicholas II before becoming a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. He was also recognized in commercial publishing for his expertise in ornamental illustration for periodicals. His publication Motifs of Ukrainian Ornament (1902) presented sketches of historical local embroidery patterns from collections in Poltava museums. While the motifs Samokish designated as "Ukrainian" initially appear to represent authentic traditional culture — positioning this work as a precursor to his later involvement in the Ukrainian independence movement — comparative analysis reveals striking similarities with patterns found across Eastern Europe, Greece, and the Ottoman Empire. Given Samokish's specialized knowledge of ornamental traditions, interpreting his work merely through the lens of Hobsbawm’s “invention of tradition” proves reductive. This research investigates the cultural and commercial networks that may account for these cross-regional similarities, with particular attention to Armenian trade and textile reproduction practices within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Furthermore, it examines how the media landscape of the Russian Empire — encompassing publishing, museums, and imperial censorship policies — may have influenced the formation of Samokish’s decolonizing artistic vision.
Speaker: Yukiko Tatsumi (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
Sobesednik: Yelizaveta Raykhlina-Khidekel (Independent Scholar)
