Revolution in Russian Art with Vadim Malinovsky

This conversation will look at the most important artworks of Russian avant-garde from a historical perspective, learning more about the Russian Revolution not only as a historical event but also as a revolutionary art movement.

Explore the turbulent beginning of twentieth-century Russian history through its art. Changes in lifestyle and politics very often go along with the development of culture, so Russian avant-garde was born with the revolution itself. In Russia, the avant-garde made itself known by the 1910s. We will discuss how it was the starting point for independent, original Russian art against the background of two centuries of imitation of European art.

Russian avant-garde is not about ideas, but in the degree of their radicality, sources of inspiration, in expressive means. The avant-garde relied on the phenomena ""low"" for the educated class: popular print, primitive, urban advertising, up to the inscriptions on the fences. At the same time, Russian icon painting was of great importance for the avant-garde, which did not depict the visible world, but expressed what was inaccessible to physical vision.

Led by historian Vadim Malinovsky this seminar will give a deep dive into the history of Russian art of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of how revolutionary art corresponds with the revolutionary movement.

Vadim is a historian (MA) who has graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University. His focus is contemporary Russian history. He is working on a PhD dissertation on Stalin’s national policy.

This conversation is suitable for all ages

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.