The Art of Printing and the Culture of the Art Periodical in Late Imperial Russia (1898-1917)
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University of Alberta The Art of Printing and the Culture of the Art Periodical in Late Imperial Russia (1898-1917) by Hanna Chuchvaha A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Modern Languages and Cultural Studies Art and Design ©Hanna Chuchvaha Fall 2012 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. To my father, Anatolii Sviridenok, a devoted Academician for 50 years ABSTRACT This interdisciplinary dissertation explores the World of Art (Mir Iskusstva, 1899- 1904), The Golden Fleece (Zolotoe runo, 1906-1909) and Apollo (Apollon, 1909- 1917), three art periodicals that became symbols of the print revival and Europeanization in late Imperial Russia. Preoccupied with high quality art reproduction and graphic design, these journals were conceived and executed as art objects and examples of fine book craftsmanship, concerned with the physical form and appearance of the periodical as such. Their publication advanced Russian book art and stimulated the development of graphic design, giving it a status comparable to that of painting or sculpture. This work offers a detailed examination of the first or “inaugural” numbers, which represented manifesto-like editorial positions expressed in words and images. Thus, the World of Art announced the Europeanization of art theories and art themes and offered a Russian version of Art Nouveau; The Golden Fleece promoted Symbolist art, while Apollo advocated Apollonianism as a “classical revival”. In exploring journals as art objects, this dissertation engages Gérard Genette’s notion of “paratext”, which serves as an umbrella approach to the explanation of the material dimension of the periodical. Treated as spatio-temporal media combinations, the art periodicals are analyzed as complex artefacts that combine text and image, which together affect meaning. This dissertation also explores in detail the historical preconditions of the rise of art journals, i.e. the emergence of the first art periodicals and illustrated press in the nineteenth century, the development of reproduction technologies and the role of art reproductions in culture – all of which are factors that led to the appearance of the journals as art objects. Further, it analyses the socio-historical context of the formation and function of editorial boards and examines the periodicals’ ideologies as articulations of “group identities” that became the impetus behind the art journals’ visual appearance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My interest in Russian periodical culture arose in the late 1990s, when I saw the World of Art journal for the first time and was impressed with how the body of the periodical differed from what readers would expect today. The paper, yellowed by time, the strange bindings and typefaces, faded art reproductions and vignettes, created a strong awareness of time, history and the fact that the past really existed. When I entered the Interdisciplinary Doctoral program in Slavic Studies and Art & Design at the University of Alberta, I could not resist fulfilling my old dream of studying the Russian art periodical press. My years of work researching and writing this dissertation were supported and encouraged by my family. This project would not have been possible without the patience and encouragement of my husband Alex and my daughter Taisiya. I am greatly indebted to them for their love, encouragement and practical support. My parents’ ever-present enthusiasm and my father Anatolii Sviridenok’s personal example of fifty years of long devoted academic work always stimulated me in moments when energy and creativeness declined. I sincerely thank my dissertation supervisors Dr. Oleh Ilnytzkyj and Dr. Joan Greer for providing me with valuable advice throughout the process of researching, writing and editing my dissertation, and for their priceless thoughtful constructive comments that helped every time to bring the text to the next level. I am grateful for the time and effort they spent during our frequent meetings and for reading the numerous drafts and versions of my dissertation, and their patience and understanding. I am indebted to Dr. Joan Greer for teaching me to value “images” and to Dr. Oleh Ilnytzkyj for teaching me to appreciate “words”, two important constituents and focal points of my research. My special thanks go to Dr. Heather Coleman, who served as a supervisory and examining committee member, has provided valuable input and encouragement throughout the process. My dissertation would not be possible without visits to libraries in which the physical copies of the art periodicals are kept. I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Joan Greer, who helped me with financing my travel to the New York Public Library and the Frick Collection Library through her SSHRC grant. I am also thankful to the University of Alberta Graduate Student Association, which provided me with the Professional Development Grant. I am further indebted to the Russian East European and Eurasian Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which provided me with a housing grant and gave me an opportunity to work in the excellent collection of the Slavic and East European Library during the Summer Research Laboratory on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia. I express my sincere gratitude to the staff of the New York Public Library, and personally to Dr. Robert Davis, Jessica Pigza, and Hee-Gwone Yoo for their assistance. I am also indebted to the kind and helpful staff of The Frick Collection Library in New York. I would especially like to thank Helen Sullivan, the Manager of the Slavic Reference Service and other staff members at the Slavic and East European Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for their welcoming assistance during my research in Urbana-Champaign. I am grateful to my external examiner, Dr. Annie Gérin, for her profound thoughts and insights about my research. My special thanks go to the exam committee members, Dr. Elizabeth Boone, for her invaluable comments, and Susan Colberg, for her interest in my work from the point of view of a book designer. I am sincerely thankful to the faculty and staff of the Department of the Modern Languages and Cultural Studies and the Department of Art & Design at the University of Alberta and their helpful graduate students’ coordinators Jane Wilson and Dawn McLean, who assisted with different things so important during the graduate program. The original reproductions for this research were made in the Rare Books Collection at the Slavic and East European Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Frick Collection Library in New York . I am grateful to these libraries for their permission to reproduce the images in my dissertation. All translations from Russian are mine, unless otherwise indicated. Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 The Materiality of the Book and Gérard Genette’s Thresholds .......................... 9 Word-Image Intermediality ............................................................................... 14 Art Journals in the Cultural Context ................................................................. 16 The Dissertation Structure ................................................................................. 18 Chapter I: When Russia Learned to Reproduce Art: Graphic Design, Materials and Printing Techniques in Nineteenth-Century Imperial Russia ......................... 22 Early Russian Periodical Design ....................................................................... 22 The Popular Illustrated Press in the Nineteenth Century .................................. 24 Art Periodicals in Imperial Russia .................................................................... 30 The “Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Russia: Reproduction Techniques in Historical Perspective ........................................................................................ 38 The Periodical Personalised: Cover Pages and Binding ................................... 48 The Periodical Press and Censorship ................................................................ 51 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 53 Chapter II: World of Art and the Origins of the Print Revival in Late Imperial Russia ..................................................................................................................... 55 The World of Art in Scholarship ....................................................................... 57 Emergence of the World of Art in the Cultural-Historical Context ....................... 60 The Art Periodical Press before the World of Art: Art and Art Industry ..........