عنوان

Representations of Russian Art in American Art History and Criticism 1917-1939

TLets522624

Representations of Russian Art in American Art History and Criticism 1917-1939

[Thesis]

Clark, Toby

University of Sussex

1994

Ph.D.

University of Sussex

1994

This dissertation examines the critical reception and historicalconstruction of Russian art in the United States between 1917 and 1939.The study focuses on two main types of Russian art; that of the Russianavant-garde, and that of artists who emigrated to the United States andachieved a high level of critical visibility and commercial successthere during the 1920s. The discussion of the Russian emigre artistsconcentrates on the treatment of their work in the American curatorialsystem and art market. It examines the critical strategies used topromote these artists, particularly in the writings of ChristianBrinton, who formulated a new category termed 'Slavic art' which reliedon theories of racial essentialism. The subsequent decline of thecareers of the emigre artists can be explained partly by reference tothe reorientation in American critical values after the early 1930s.Research on the interpretation of the Russian and Soviet avantgardein the United States is focussed on two main Modernistinstitutions; the Societe Anonyme during the 1920s and the Museum ofModern Art in New York after 1929. The Societe Anonyme's management ofits large collection of Russian avant-garde art is discussed inrelation to the contrasting aesthetic perspectives and politicalalignments of Katherine Dreier and Louis Lozowick, and compared withalternative interpretations in western Europe. The study of therepresentation of the Russian avant-garde by the Museum of Modern Artis concentrated on the writings of Alfred Barr and his critical theoryof Modernism. Barr's account of the history of Russian Constructivismand Soviet cultural policies in 1936 is seen to have performed animportant function for establishing an ideological position for theascending discourses of American Modernism in opposition to thecompeting positions of conservative anti-Modernism and left-wingaesthetics.

Clark, Toby

University of Sussex

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y