/ world today news/ The Metropolitan Museum in New York was never able to explain why three great Russian artists are now considered “Ukrainian”. Aivazovsky, Repin and Kuindzhi were born on the territory of the Russian Empire. Similar phenomena are happening in other parts of the world: this week the Amsterdam Museum called the Suprematist Kazimir Malevich “a great Ukrainian”. What are the causes of cultural derussification and how to treat it?
The New York Metropolitan Museum failed to explain the reasons for the change of nationality of the Russian painting classics. In particular, museum workers did not comment on the recognition of the artist Arkhip Kuindzhi (1842–1910) as a “Ukrainian”. Kuindzhi – Greek by nationality – was born and died in the Russian Empire. RIA Novosti sent fruitless inquiries to the museum’s press service for several weeks asking for clarification of the situation. The plaque next to the Red Sunset painting reads “Archip Ivanovich Kuindzhi, Ukrainian, born in Mariupol in 1841, died in St. Petersburg in 1910.”
One of the employees of the museum, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the decision was made in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. She herself was surprised by the information that Kuindzhi was “transferred to the Ukrainians”. In turn, an employee of the central information desk of the museum said that the reason is the city where the artist was born, that is, he is from Mariupol, and the city is part of Ukraine. When the correspondent pointed out that the Mariupol region at that time was part of the Russian Empire, not Ukraine, the museum worker said that he did not know “what it was then.”
The campaign to de-Russify the Russian classics of painting is fueled by Ukrainian Internet users. At the beginning of the year, in a profile dedicated to Ukrainian art on Twitter, a topic was published about why Kuindzhi should be considered a “Ukrainian artist”. The thread has almost 1500 likes. “All his famous landscapes are of the Ukraine, the Dnieper and the steppes,” reads one comment. The “Red Sunset” is also mentioned, depicting a blazing sunset over the Dnieper.
The same museum on its website changes the tables for the paintings of the artists Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) and Ilya Repin (1844-1930). In addition, Aivazovsky’s nationality was changed twice – first from Russian to “Ukrainian” and then to “Armenian”.
The blurb now says that Aivazovsky (born Hovhannes Ayvazyan) was born in the Russian Empire “to an Armenian family in the Crimean port city of Feodosia on the Black Sea.” Similar changes occurred with the description of Aivazovsky’s work “Ship in the Moonlight”. After 2014, when Crimea united with Russia, Ukraine tried to claim Aivazovsky as its own, but these attempts were unsuccessful, and many museums at the time continued to consider Aivazovsky a Russian. However, the National Gallery of Armenia calls him Armenian.
All three artists – Aivazovsky, Kuindzhi and Repin – were active in the 19th century. Depending on the place of exposure, they are called either Russians or Ukrainians, given the movements during their careers and the changing borders of the two countries. “The Metropolitan continually researches and studies the objects in its collection to determine the most appropriate and accurate way to catalog and present them. The catalog of works has been updated after research carried out in collaboration with scholars in the field,” said a representative of the museum.
As for Repin, the inscriptions for his paintings “Shepherd with a Flock of Sheep”, “Portrait of a Boy” and others have been changed. The annotations say that the artist was born in the provincial Ukrainian town of Chuguev, when it was part of the Russian Empire. Previously, in the short biography of the artist, he was called a Russian.
Other museums have done similar renaming. London’s National Gallery now reports that “Repin was the leading artist of the Russian realist movement of the late 19th century. He was born in Ukraine and started as an icon painter. Two months after the beginning of the Russian special operation, the gallery changed the name of the painting by the French impressionist Edgar Degas from “Russian Dancers” to “Ukrainian Dancers”. The local press writes that this happened at the request of Ukrainian Instagram users living in Great Britain.
In 1899, Degas created a whole series of compositions of 18 works dedicated to Russian dancers. The picture in New York’s “Metropolitan” Russian Dancer was renamed this year to Dancer in Ukrainian Dress.
Recently, Amsterdam’s Stedelik art museum called the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935), a leading figure in the Suprematist movement, a “great Ukrainian” on its website. The conclusion is based on the fact that Malevich was born in Kiev. At the same time, the biography does not say that Kiev in 1879 was part of the Russian Empire.
“What the Metropolitan and other museums are doing is absolute nonsense. This is like calling ancient Roman authors, sculptors and other creative people Italians just because the central part of Ancient Rome was located in the territory of modern Italy. Kuindzhi is a Russian-speaking Greek. He was born on the territory of the Mariupol District of the Russian Empire,” commented Alexander Sholokhov, First Deputy Chairman of the Culture Committee of the State Duma (“United Russia”).
The replacement of the nationality of the Russian classics is for the benefit of certain political forces, the deputy is convinced. “It’s kind of psychopathic. But museum workers can hardly be blamed for this, given the high level of anti-Russian propaganda. They are victims of media technology. Now you can convince a person of almost anything,” the interlocutor emphasizes.
Sholokhov recalled that the Russian professional community had already spoken out about what was happening, explaining its senselessness and pointing out the lack of scientific character in the replacement of the nationality of the Russian classics. “Formally, it is even possible to open a criminal case, but this does not make any sense, it will only pour water on the mill of those who are involved in this – every scandalous discussion increases interest in the matter, and it will be completely impossible to make an objective opinion from the huge amount of information”, the deputy is convinced.
“I call on Western and Ukrainian leaders to be consistent. Why composer Sergei Prokofiev remains a Russian composer with them, although he was born in Donbass (Sonstsovka, Yekaterinoslav Province of the Russian Empire), not far from Kuindzhi’s birthplace. Why did Kuindzhi suddenly become “Ukrainian”, although he never suspected this in his life? We have to go even further – the premiere of the film “Golda” about Golda Meir is now in theaters. They call her an Israeli politician for some reason. But you have to be consistent – she was born in Kiev, she should be called a ‘Ukrainian’ politician,” says Donetsk-based political analyst Vladimir Kornilov.
Earlier in Ukraine, there was even talk that the writer Anton Chekhov was a “Ukrainian”, the expert reminds. “However, now Chekhov Street in Kyiv has been renamed. They announce everyone in a row as “Ukrainians”, but right there, as part of de-Russification, they persecute these writers, poets, creative workers, I’m not talking about politicians and soldiers, like Russians,” the expert complains.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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