361. Russian and Soviet-Avant-Gardes Index: 54872 CAC, Spring 2019; Tuesday, Thursday 1:10-2:30 EDR CAC (Zimmerli) Office hours: Wednesdays 2-4 pm How and under what circumstances can art be revolutionary—what does it mean to be “avant-garde”? This course is a selective survey of art practices that defined those terms; it focuses on artists who radically disrupted, and, critics often argued, precipitated the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917. It surveys art created during the course of the 20th century through the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. In the early 20th century Russia was an imperial state, ruled by a monarchy, and after 1921, by a single political party, yet it was multi-lingual and multi-ethnic. A wide range of artistic practices will be considered, from the cosmopolitan centers of and St. Petersburg to the outlying regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Central themes to be explored are redefinitions of the role of the artist and the social uses of art, the dialogue between art and politics, and the framing of national identity through the visual arts. It combines lecture (1 period per week) with discussion (2nd period per week). Many of the classes will take place in the art galleries at the Zimmerli Art Museum. Learning objectives: Students are expected to master concepts, and associate specific visual media and approaches to form with major artists and movements in Russian and Soviet art. Minimal memorization of art works will be expected; priority is given to the students’ discovery and deployment in their own writing of the concepts identifying aspects of avant-garde practice such as: appropriation of popular art forms, strategies for national and ethnic self-representation, the roles played by new media (including photomontage) and direct challenges to assumptions regarding the gendered and social identities of artists and audiences. We will use Sakai for announcements, assignments, and online readings; I will post powerpoint visual presentations on Sakai at the end of each week or topic. Assessment: 2 quizzes, a final exam and a 5-6 page paper; active participation in discussion required: 30% paper 20% quizzes, 40% final, 10% participation. The final exam is taken in class (short paragraph answers and an essay); the essay questions will be given in advance, during the last week of classes (you choose 1 topic from 3 options). ALL TEXTS ARE IN ENGLISH (No knowledge of Russian required) Texts (to purchase): Camilla Gray, The Russian Experiment in Art 1863-1922. London: Thames and Hudson (1986 edition) Documents of Art: Art of the Russian Avant-Garde (John Bowlt, ed.) NY: Viking Press, 1979 or 1986 Recommended texts: Picturing Russia (Joan Neuberger, Valerie Kivelson, eds.) New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009

Schedule of lectures and readings (subject to minor revisions): Week 1 Introduction, Revolution of 1905 and its consequences for the arts; origins of the terminology (avant-gardes), historical precedents in the 19th Century; the expansion and crisis of empire circa 1905 Readings: Gray, chapter 2; Documents readings: Riabushinsky, Burliuk, Markov, Kandinsky, Kulbin Sakai: Stasov “The Poor in Spirit” Week 2 Moscow and Petersburg, formation of “left wing” exhibiting societies; strategies of opposition, World of Art, Union of Youth, Jack of Diamonds (Burliuk, Markov, Kandinsky) Readings: Gray chapters 3, 4 Week 3 Art into Life: radical rhetoric and the redefinition of art as “life praxis”. Street Protest.The Donkey’s Tail and Target; , Neoprimitivism, Everythingism. (Larionov and Goncharova)—Early 20th C Georgian avant-garde Documents/Sakai Larionov, Shevchenko, Voloshin, Tugendkhold, Songaillo Sharp “The Revolutionary Art of Goncharova and Larionov” Week 4 Art and War: A Return to Order? , the Culture of Materials; popular art forms reengaged (the contemporary broadside) Malevich and Tatlin Readings: Gray: 5, 160-end, 6 Documents Malevich, From Cubism and Futurism, Sakai:Tatlin/ Shklovky/ texts Week 5 Revolutions of 1917: War Communism, realignments of artists and institutions: art in the Free Studios, Vkhutemas, Suprematism (Unovis), Lissitzky Medunetsky, Rodchenko, Stepanova, Malevich, Lissitzky, Popova Sakai, Unovis, Tarabukin, Kaier (Arvatov); Gough on Tatlin Week 6 Review and quiz!

Week 7 , Productivism (artist as engineer) Popova, Rodchenko, Medunetsky, Klucis Documents: Sakai, Romberg, Gough (Tatlin/ Ioganson) Week 8 : Spring Break -- Turn in paper drafts

Week 9 Painting and pluralism in the 1920s (Ost/Projectionists); The “New” East: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan Documents: Sakai, Kaier (Deineka); TBD Week 10 The First 5 Year Plan: Stalin’s Consolidation of Groups, Revolutionary Realism, and Modernism Documents: Akhrr, Sakai: Reid, Bassin Week 11 Photography and labor, (October Group and Photomontage) Sakai: Wolfe, Rodchenko, October Group Week 12 Tuesday quiz! Thursday: Second Avant-Gardes: The Thaw (Moscow/ Leningrad) Abstract Painting Online readings: Sharp (Abstract Expressionism), Manifestos (Masterkova, Nemukhin, Movment Group (Xerox) Week 13 After the Thaw; Art in the annexed republics (Estonia, Latvia, Georgia) Readings: TBD Allas, Kajlulla, Astakhova Week 14 Censorship and Dissent: Sots Art, Conceptual Art (Brezhnev- Gorbachev) Readings: Jackson, Sharp, Smith Week 15 Soviet Art and performance in the 1980s Readings: Bryzgel, Degot, Kulik, Brenner Films (Iufit; Menlibayeva) Final paper due Review, discussion