HISTORY OF RUSSIAN ART

The course is scheduled among the fundamental courses in the degree course in Conservation and Management of the Artistic Heritage. Its main objective is to provide students with basic methodological tools in the art field.
Those objectives will provide students with basic knowledge in view of further specializations in the field of Russian art history.

The main course objective is to provide the basic tools to study the history of Russian painting, possibly in view of further specializations.
1.Knowledge
The main stages of the history of Russian painting will be addressed in chronological order, from the icons to 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century art, up to the avant-garde movements. The final part of the course will focus on the work of V. Kandinsky, M. Chagall, and K. Malevich.
2.Communicative skills
Each student will be able to clearly communicate and substantiate the contents of the course.
3.Critical skills
Each student will be able to critically evaluate the historical evolution of Russian painting through the centuries and the artistic movements under study and to identify the work of artists from different centuries not only in terms of the historical period but also of characteristic features.

Basic knowledge of Russian history and culture is advisable but not compulsory.

ELEMENTS OF RUSSIAN PAINTING HISTORY: FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE AVANT-GARDE

From the Gold of the Icon to Malevich’s Black: The Soul of Russian Painting
1. Windows onto the Invisible: The Sacred Code and the Birth of the Secular World
Not merely paintings, but “portals” to the eternal. This module examines the geometric and spiritual rigor of the Icon (Andrey Rublëv) and the dramatic moment when the Russian brush turns from the heavens to portray the human face.

2. Peter’s Break: Art as a Mirror of Europe
Russia shaves its beard and changes its style. The era of Peter the Great is not only political—it is an invasion of perspective, light, and Western realism. How did Russian artists learn the “language of the masters” without losing their own identity?

3. The Age of Enlightenment between Ice and Silk (18th Century)
Portraits, wigs, and palaces. The rise of an aristocratic and refined Russian painting. How did Catherine the Great’s court become a stage for a cosmopolitan art that sought to surpass Versailles?

4. The Revolt of Reality: The 19th Century and the “Peredvizhniki”
Art takes to the streets. Abandoning the academies, we follow the Wanderers (Repin, Surikov…), rebellious artists who painted the suffering of the people, the vastness of the steppe, and the brutal force of Russian history. It is the century of psychological realism.

5. The Great Boom: The Explosion of the Avant-Garde
Destroy to rebuild. For a decade, Russia became the creative center of the world. From Primitivism to Rayonism: art on the eve of the October Revolution, oscillating between utopian dreams and new visual languages.

6. The Three Prophets of Modernity: Kandinsky, Chagall, Malevich
Vasily Kandinsky: the pioneer who gave sound to colour, inventing spiritual abstraction.
Marc Chagall: the poet of the village, who made lovers and rabbis fly over the rooftops of Vitebsk.
Kazimir Malevich: the extremist of “Zero Point,” who dared to paint the Black Square, closing one era and opening an infinite one.

Why take this course?
We will study not only dates but the eternal conflicts between East and West, faith and reason, the explosion of colour and the silence of emptiness. This course is designed to understand how Russia transformed its turbulent history into one of humanity’s most powerful artistic legacies.

Mandatory bibliography
Lecture notes
Powerpoint with notes projected during the lessons will be available on the e-learning Moodle platform
PDF essays available on the e-learning Moodle platform:
S. Burini, La verità della bellezza: il sacro e l'arte russa , Kandinskij, Gončarova, Chagall. Sacro e bellezza nell'arte russa, Milano, Skira, pp. 25-41.
S. Burini, Marc Chagall:"il paradigma della provincia in pittura", in Contaminazioni e spigolature turcologiche, Vicenza, Terra Ferma, 2010, pp. 95-114.
S. Burini, "Quadri da un'esposizione": il percorso della mostra, in Avanguardia Russa. Esperienze di un mondo nuovo, a cura di G. Barbieri e S. Burini, Milano, Silvana Editoriale, 2011, pp. 43-57.
S. Burini, In viaggio con Kandinskij , in Kandinskij. Il cavaliere errante in viaggio verso l'astrazione, Milano, 24 ORE cultura, 2017, pp. 17-37.
S. Burini, Esplosioni e cesure: le Rivoluzioni Russe da Djagilev all'URSS , in La Rivoluzione Russa. L'arte da Djagilev all'Astrattismo 1898-1922, Crocetta del Montello, Terra Ferma, 2017, pp. 15-44.

Recommended reference text available in the library:
D. Sarab'janov, Arte Russa, Milano, Rizzoli, 1990.

Quotes from
W. Kandinsky, Lo spirituale nell'arte, Milano, SE, 1989.
M. Chagall, La mia vita, Milano, SE, 1998.

The learning outcomes will be assessed by a written exam of two hours.
The exam consists of four open questions. One incomplete answer will result in a fail grade.
The use of books, notes, and electronic media is not allowed during the test.

written

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Regarding the grading scale for the written exam (method by which grades will be assigned), regardless of whether the student is attending or non-attending:
A. Scores in the range of 18-22 will be assigned in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension with reference to the program;
- limited ability to gather and/or interpret data, forming independent judgments;
- sufficient communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific historical-artistic language.
B. Scores in the range of 23-26 will be assigned in the presence of:
- fair knowledge and applied comprehension with reference to the program;
- fair ability to gather and/or interpret data, forming independent judgments;
- fair communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific historical-artistic language.
C. Scores in the range of 27-30 will be assigned in the presence of:
- good or excellent knowledge and applied comprehension with reference to the program;
- good or excellent ability to gather and/or interpret data, forming independent judgments;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific historical-artistic language.
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied comprehension with reference to the program, judgment skills, and communication abilities.

Lectures with projected images from Powerpoint-presentation.
It is possible that the lectures will be integrated with visits to exhibitions. A guided tour of the icon collection at Palazzo Leoni Montanari (Gallerie d'Italia - Vicenza) will be proposed.
The material shown during the lessons will be available on the University's Moodle e-learning platform.

Ca’ Foscari applies Italian law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) for support and accommodation services available to students with disabilities or with specific learning difficulties. If you have a motor, visual, hearing or other disability (Law 17/1999) or a specific learning disorder (Law 170/2010) and you require support (classroom assistance, technological aids for carrying out exams or exams individualized, accessible format material, note retrieval, specialist tutoring to support the study, interpreters or other) contact the Disability and DSA office disable@unive.it.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development