ARTH 266 Twentieth-Century Russian Art and the Birth of Abstraction(Same as Russian 208) (Not offered 2008-2009; to be offered 2009-2010)

RUSS 208 Twentieth-Century Russian Art and the Birth of Abstraction(Same as ArtH 266) (Not offered 2008-2009; to be offered 2009-2010)
Such revolutionary artistic movements as Cubo-Futurism, Suprematism, and Constructivism profoundly influenced the development of twentieth-century art throughout the Western world-just as the 1917 Russian Revolution upset the world's political balance. This course will investigate Russian art within a cultural framework and explore the relationship between artistic production and politics. We will begin with a brief overview of important developments in Russian art that prefigured the twentieth-century artistic revolution: the introduction of icons from Byzantium, the founding of St. Petersburg and the rise of Western- style portraiture, and the fin-de-siècle movements that united painting with music and ballet. However, the focus of the course will be 1910-1930, when radical innovation was the order of the day and revolutionary ideas sparked entirely new conceptions of art. We will then look at the Socialist Realist style of the Stalin era, Soviet dissident art and Moscow conceptualism, ending the semester with an exploration of current trends in post-Soviet Russian art.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: active class participation, two 5- to 8-page papers, and a final 10-page paper or exam.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 16 (expected: 16). Satisfies the non-Western requirement.
GOLDSTEIN