Author Archives: Evelyn Wallace

The New Wave in Post Soviet Art: Redefining Beauty

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While looking at the late Soviet and post Soviet art, I was particularly struck by the New Wave art and how the broad exploration of new aesthetic techniques demonstrates free will and individualism in this new era. Unlike much of the art we have previously studied, the identity of the  subjects and images in the art were not overtly clear. While visually nonsensical, these pieces all convey a clear message of nonconformity and the transition into a modern era.   Andrei Bartenev’s work is a great example of this theme, his absurd and avant-garde pieces expand into new realms of expression through his whimsical color palettes and nonsensical imagery. In his The Flower of the Snow Queen (ballet) Bartenev used food packaging as a form of fashion. This piece and the avant-garde movement make a bold statement of nonconformity and carves a new definition for fashion and even the concept of beauty itself. Self-Portrait in the Wedding Attire of the Bird of Paradise was aesthetically very different from The Flower of the Snow Queen, yet both pieces are whimsical and combine disparate inanimate objects to create figures of living beings. The subjects of these artwork and even the artwork themselves do not objectively fit into any rigid category of art or fashion. The art makes an assertive statement that in the absence of ability to create their own styles and paths for creativity and beauty. 

These artwork create a new space for self definition and expand the limits of conventional beauty and acceptable forms of self expression.

Living through History: Cinematography as a Testimonial

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I found Mikhalkov’s documentary film Anna to be an incredibly moving and brilliant use of cinematography to encapsulate over 10 years of Russian history through a combination of Mikhalkov’s daughter’s personal accounts and references to the momentous national events during the collapse of the Soviet Union. While Mikhalkov began the project, the act of filming and producing a personal movie violated the censorship laws and put creators at danger. For Mikhalkov, a nationally renowned filmmaker, he must have known that the film and his act of political deviance could have immense impact. Anna is a creative child who is afraid of witches and wants a crocodile as a pet. She grows up to be an idealistic teenager  whose sentiments become more reflective of her environment, such as her fear of war and prediction of a “bright future” for her country where people are free to do as they want. I think that Anna’s awareness of the world around her and her faith in her country is a testament to both the human spirit and the national strength of Russia. The composition of the documentary does a beautiful job of interspersing the newsreel footage, often chaotic and violent, with the intimate conversations between Anna and her father, often amongst more peaceful countryside scenery.  This allows the audience to see a young girl grow up in a time of tumult and instability, yet still hope for a future and find a home in her country. At the end of the documentary, Anna comments that she is afraid of what will happen when she leaves Russia for Switzerland and how the country will change in her absence, yet she also says that a homeland is a place that you can believe in and you have to love. I think that the documentary serves an important historical and primary source through which to study the fall of the Soviet Union, and also a powerful testament to the stress, fear, and hope in the lives of the Russian people at this time.

Exploring themes of grief and suffering in Anna Akhmatova’s poetry

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In Anna Akhmatova’s poems, the simplicity of her writing style and the raw details convey with great clarity and powerful emotion the grief and suffering she and many others faced during the terror of Stalinist rule. To Death is Akhmatova’s address to death itself; she uses direct language to invite death to come and convey her despair and submission to her fate. The motifs of poison, disease, and nausea to symbolize death, the pole star to symbolize destiny, and eyes to communicate fear make the poem extremely accessible and display the raw emotions and inevitability of death. Akhmatova also uses a simple writing style to create a clear contrast between defeated and lifeless nature and material. In Dedication, Akhmatova writes about the dichotomy between nature and the strength of the negative material aspects of society, such as prisons. She writes that the “mountains bend before this grief, the great river does not flow”; nature becomes a clear parallel for the people living through the Stalinist terror who are more “lifeless than the dead”. The oppressiveness of Stalinist rule is symbolized through the theme of prisons in this poem. The use of locks, keys, and captivity strongly communicate how people felt trapped and condemned to a miserable fate. I though it was very interesting how Akhmatova used clearly defined symbols and simple language to create sophisticated and nuances poems that are deeply evocative of separation and grief of the time period. The accessibility, simplicity, and raw emotion in  Akhmatova’s poems creates a sense of solidarity between herself and the audience and conveys the universality of the suffering during this time.

Social Critique in The Heart of the Dog

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In The Heart of the Dog, Mikhail Bulgakov uses satire to make a commentary the Communist Party. Bulgakov uses the storyline of a dog undergoing surgery to become a “new soviet man” to criticize the Communist party’s practice of eugenics, which they believed would allow for the betterment of the Soviet people in future generations. After the operation, the dog, Sharik, exhibits immoral behavior such as sexually harassing women and causing a pipe to flood the household. Preobrazhensky blames this behavior on the transplant operation and the use organs of an “unfit person”, an alcoholic criminal. The fantastical situation and the Preobrazhensky’s rationale, blaming the behavior on the status of the organ donor rather than the absurd nature of the experiment, expose the hypocrisy in the Soviet eugenics ideology. Ultimately the Preobrazhensky himself denounces eugenics, faced with the failure of his experiment. Preobrazhensky in the story symbolizes the bourgeoisie and has disdain for the proletariat, represented in Sharik, so Preobrazhensky’s denunciation of eugenics is significant as he admits that a peasant could give birth to a genius. Preobrazhensky also exhibits significant denial as he spends most of the time in his apartment, symbolically sheltered from the social and political change of the outside world, where he can live out his own experiments. This contrast of Preobrazhensky’s world versus the outside world shows the absurdity of both.  Ultimately, Sharik exposes the experimental nature of the Communist Revolution as an unnatural process that is societally irresponsible, premature, and uninformed. Bulgakov’s use of satirical elements provides an acute critique on the political climate and society of Soviet Russia.

“Longing for the Motherland”: searching for a national identity in a time of unrest

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In Tsveataeva’s “Longing for the Motherland,”m the poet uses the physical manifestation of the female body to represent Russia. I think that this has fascinating implications, as the poem’s main character/speaker is yearning for maternal care and belonging from the past. The main character has been isolated from their “motherland” and wants to return home. Their native language is not understood by the people they encounter, increasing this sense of isolation of attempting to find their way back home. The attempt to journey back to the places of one’s “birth” represents an attempt to remember and keep history from being erased. I think the theme of motherhood has dual implications: a longing for the past, a childhood in which one receives maternal care and comfort, and also the physical aspect of a journey to return to one’s home and their place of birth. The poem carries an overt sense of nostalgia. Yet it is interesting that the apparent present is only characterized by this feeling of isolation and helplessness. This demonstrates, potentially, an inability to move on from the past and separate oneself from the comfort of the “mother” figure. This poem, along with many others we have analyzed, illustrate the transience of the time period they were written in. The nostalgia and longing for “Mother Russia” evoke this attempt to go back to the past and the comfort of familiarity. Yet I also think these themes express a sense of longing for a national identity and sense of belonging in a time of tumult and national unrest. 

Exploring Themes of Destruction and Life in “The Rite of Spring”

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Upon initial musical and visual analysis of “The Rite of Spring” from the 1940 film Fantasia, the score, composed by Igor Stravinsky, is deeply suspenseful and enhances the intensity of the plot. The crescendos and suspenseful build up interspersed with more peaceful tunes that break up the intensity work to create a sense of tension and conflict. The audio also pairs well with the visuals to convey this intensity with images of bubbling lava, extreme weather (such as pouring rain and lightning), dinosaurs battling, and the crash of a comet. Although the dinosaurs and the landscape are animated cartoons, the landscape is greatly detailed and utilizes colors of dark red and bright orange to illustrate both the volcano at the beginning and the comet at the end, and colors of dark blue, purple, and grey during the storm while the dinosaurs are fighting in the middle of the scene. The change in color schemes manages to seamlessly convey the transition from the creation of life to the destruction as the comet destroys the dinosaurs. Finally I think it is interesting to examine the historical context of “The Rite of Spring” . Upon background research, Stravinsky originally composed “The Rite of Spring”  as a ballet and orchestral work and was regarded as radical and avante-garde when first introduced to the Parisian ballet scene. Given the sophistication and radical meaning of “The Rite of Spring” , which was conceived as a spring ritual in which a girl is sacrificed by dancing herself to death, it is surprising that this piece is used in a Disney animated film. Stravinsky himself claimed to have distaste for this adaptation of the music. Yet the intensity of “The Rite of Spring” and themes of life and destruction in Fantasia complement each other well, even in the light of the piece’s history

Alienation and Isolation in Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman”

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In Gogol’s short story “Diary of a Madman,” one of the most prominent themes is that of isolation and social alienation which contributes to Poprishchin’s descent into madness. From an early introduction to Poprishchin we can sense he is self conscious to a degree that drives him to hide from society; he comments on his dirty and out of fashion coat and attempts to hide in public in the folds of this coat (159). He evidently struggles with social interactions and love, as he overthinks and acts awkwardly in a simple interaction of picking up Sophie’s handkerchief. Throughout the story, Poprishchin scarcely speaks and interacts  with other people and isolates himself in his own increasingly paranoid and crazed internal monologue. Much of this avoidance of interaction is driven by his evident disdain for other people; Poprishchin judges and dislikes other people, such as the footman, upon minimal interaction (162). As Poprishchin’s madness increases, his disdain for others, anger at society, and drive toward self alienation heightens. Not only does he avoid interaction but he further alienates himself through confrontational and aggressive encounters with the section head and disappointing encounters with Sophie, who dislikes him and rebuffs his romantic advances. These failed social interactions cause Poprishchin to receive criticism and judgement, both of which greatly hurt his self image and cause him to hate those who criticize him. His relations with others get so strained to the point that the section head pretends not to see Poprishchin, exacerbating his social distance from his peers (163). The self perpetuated cycle of Poprishchin’s hatred for society and his subsequent alienation highlight his destructive perspective of the world and other people that is a cause for his madness. 

Ultimately, the theme of social alienation is mirrored by Poprishchin’s physical isolation and reality of being committed in an insane asylum. The physical torment and isolation that Poprishchin experiences in the asylum is a disturbing representation of the emotional alienation that Poprishchin experiences. Throughout his descent into madness, it is made evident that Poprishchin is stuck inside his own head, unable to fully interact with others, and his own internal mental torment causes him to lash out on others further perpetuating this societal distance and his own emotional discontent. While there is some degree of pity one may feel for Poprishchin’s loneliness and abusive treatment, his hatred and contempt for the world around him ultimately makes his character deeply flawed.

Sound and Music in Russian Folk Culture

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I will analyze the use of sound elements within Pushkin’s “Rusland and Ludmila” and the folk songs. Firstly, Pushkin includes many details relating to sound in his text. During the celebratory moments of the text, before the wedding, descriptive words such as the “cheer of spirit,” “hum and hubub,” and “tuneful singing” to convey joy (131). Sound descriptors are also used to indicate a change in the tale’s tone as the story transitions to the peaceful and harmonious atmosphere of Rusland and Ludmila’s bedroom using words such as “hush,” “lovelorn whispers,” and “sounds of kisses” (133). Finally, sound is used to convey negative emotions and tumult during the story. Silence is used to convey fear when Ludmila disappears, loud noises (“clash” and “thudding”) are used to convey conflict when Ruslan goes into battle, and ominous sounds such as “churchyard tones” and “slow soliloquy” to convey a tone of mourning. These descriptors allow the tale’s plot and progression to be illustrated. 

To further analyze the use of sound in Russian folk culture, the Russian folk songs also convey a similar variety of moods and tones. The peacefulness and tranquility evocative of nature is expressed in The Slender Mountain Ash, which contrasts the light hearted and happy tone of the Forest Berry and the somber and beautiful The Black Raven. It is interesting how auditory elements manage to illustrate stories in a different way than the explicit use of visual elements. Auditory elements rely more heavily on evoking certain tones to create a story while visual elements can more explicitly show the audience the storyline.

The incorporation of sound into a textual work is an interesting use of detail to convey the tone of the story. Just as we have seen in many of the operas we have previously examined, music and sound is heavily utilized to set a mood and convey emotion. In the absence of auditory elements in these ancient texts, Pushkin uses descriptive elements to incorporate sound to accomplish a similar task.

Illustrating Royalty in Russian Folklore

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For this week’s blogpost I will examine the use of descriptive elements to convey power and autocracy in the fairy tales and Ivan Bilibin’s portraits. Similar to the operas and other texts we have previously examined, the power of the aristocracy is conveyed through conspicuous displays of material wealth, such as feats, decorations, clothing. In the “Tale of the Frog Tsarevna”, the wives of the Tsar’s sons are asked to perform various domestic tasks such as baking and sewing. During the shirt making challenge, descriptive elements are used to describe the shirt with beautiful embroidery in gold and silver. The worth of these women as wives and as members of the royal family is measured by their ability to produce material goods grand enough to be worthy of the Tsar’s use. Similarly, Vasilisa’s beauty and grandeur is conveyed through descriptions of “Gilded carriages” and her gown that evokes imagery of the night sky (141). 

This imagery is contrasted against negative descriptive elements of commoners. In “Vasilisa the Beautiful”,the white horses belonging to royalty are contrasted against the dark horses belonging to commoners. This dark imagery translates to the features described on many commoners such as the “black-browed” maid (10). We see much of this imagery in the portraits of these characters such as the red and white worn by royalty and the white horses they ride. In portraits of Vasilisa the Beautiful, her white robes and blonde hair are contrasted against dark backgrounds with ominous human skulls and forests. Here, negative and dark descriptive elements are also used to illustrate lower class status.

Finally, much of the narrative is objective and the descriptive elements provide a vehicle to communicate the Tsar’s power, while not explicitly promoting the Tsar’s regime. These fairytales would have been accessible to common people (and could have been told through word of mouth for those who were illiterate). These tales are lighthearted and accessible yet act as a vehicle for subtext. For common people, their impression of the Tsar and the royal family comes from these tales and paintings. In a historical analysis, it would be important to consider the authors and artists creating such works and how the works were distributed which would allow for a more in depth understanding of the intentions behind such glorified perspectives of the autocracy.