Historians of Russian and Soviet Art

Historians of Russian and Soviet Art 21/09/2023, 10:41
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We asked Elena Varshavskaya, who teaches art history at the

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Eastern Connecticut STUDY MUSEUMS!
State University, and who directs the art programs run by
SRAS, a simple question: “If a student came to you and said
https://museumstudiesabroad.org/historians-of-russian-and-soviet-art/ Page 1 of 16
that they were interested in Russian or Soviet art but were

unsure where to start exploring it further, what books and
authors would you recommend?”
The authors she recommends are described in detail below. A

list of books, broken down according to historical era, can be
found below the author information.
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Museums
The field of Russian and Soviet art history has been shaped Warsaw’s Best
and influenced by several notable individuals, both from the Museums:
territories of the former Soviet Union and, more recently, from History, Struggle, Tragedy,
the West. They come from diverse backgrounds and often and Freedom
have very different life experiences, but their one commonality
Infrastructure,
is the contribution that they have made to their respective
Monuments
research domains. Often, their early experiences informed
Soviet Mosaics
their later work and research, such as that of anti-communist
in Georgia:
art critic Igor Golomshtok, whose father was arrested in the
Controversy, History, and
1930s on charges of “anti-Soviet propaganda.” The following
Fascination
biographies give a brief overview of some of the best names in
the field – to help get students on their way to exploring more
Writers (Classic)
about the vast and fascinating artistic heritage of Russia and
Magtymguly
the former USSR.
Pyragy and the
Unfortunately, many of these important works are now out of Turkmen
print – however students should be able to find them through Nation
interlibrary loan. We’ve also provided links to Amazon’s
Districts, Explore,
offerings, when available. Just click the names.
Preservation
Lubyanka:
Inside the Story
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This of Moscow’s Infamous
means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate Building and District
commission if you click through the link and finalize a
purchase. Revenue earned through this sites helps fund site Composers
maintenance and new content creation. Three Great

Soviet
Composers of
the USSR
Table of Contents:
Authors from Russia
Authors from the West
Recommended Books by Historical Era
Authors From Russia:

Selim Khan-Magomedov has been widely recognized for his
outstanding contribution to two very distinct fields of study,
namely Dagestani architecture, and the Russian avant-garde
movement during the 1920s and 1930s. A leading contributor report this ad
to research on the avant-garde, he has written countless EDUCATOR SUPPORT

monographs, articles and books, including the legendary
Pioneers of Soviet Architecture, Pioneers of Soviet Design and
One Hundred Masterpieces of the Soviet Architectural Avant-
Garde. He has written on the most important architects of the
Russian avant-garde, including Konstantin Melnikov, Alexander
← →
Vesnin, Nikolai Ladovsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Moise
Ginsburg, Ivan Leonidov, and Ilya Golosov. Khan-Magomedov
contributed greatly to the scholarly research about Russian
avant-gardists, and in the course of studying the personal
archives of over 150 Russian architects, artists, designers and FUNDING FOR STUDY
sculptors, revealed a number of previously unknown facts ABROAD
about their lives. [1]
In his work on the architecture of Dagestan, Khan-Magomedov ← →

has personally identified and studied more than 1000
architectural monuments in Dagestan, and has written widely
on the subject.[2] His works include Folk Architecture in BOOKS
Southern Dagestan, Lezgin Folk Architecture, and Dagestan
Mazes.
Khan-Magomedov holds a doctorate in art history and is an ← →

honorary member of the Russian Academy of Art. In 1992, he
was awarded the Russian Federation’s “Distinguished
Architect” title, and in 2003, he was awarded the State Prize of
Russia for his contributions to the field of architecture. [3]
Selim Khan-Magomedov was born in Moscow on 9 January

1928, and passed away on 3 May 2011 at the age of 83. He
was the son of well-known war engineer Omar Khan-
Magomedov, and the brother of literary critic Marietta
Chudakovaya. [4]
Igor Golomshtok (Golomstock) was

born in Kalinin (modern-day Tver), report this ad
Russia on 11 January 1929. In 1934

his father, Naum Yakovlevich Kodzhak,
was arrested on the charges of “anti-
Soviet propaganda” and sentenced to
five years in a prison camp. As such,
Golomshtok was registered in school
under his mother’s maiden name,
Igor Golomshtok
which he continues to retain to this
day.[5] In 1937, mother and son moved to Moscow, where they
resided for two years before relocating to Magadan, where
they lived until 1943. [6] Surely influenced by these early
experiences, Golomshtok gravitated towards anti-communist
art criticism.
Golomshtok’s roots were not originally in art history, and he

graduated from Moscow’s Financial Institute in 1949. However,
he had clearly been drawn to art history early on, and began
taking night classes at Moscow State University’s art history
department in 1948, while still studying at the Financial
Institute. Between 1955 and 1963, Golomshtok was employed
in the department of traveling exhibitions at Moscow’s Pushkin
Museum of Fine Arts, where he worked in the research
workshop for the restoration of architectural monuments.
In 1965, Golomshtok was called before the courts to testify in

the pivotal Sinyavsky-Daniel case against Russian authors
Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel. The trial is widely
acknowledged to be “symbolic of the end of the ‘Khrushchev
Thaw’ and the beginning of the Brezhnev era.”[7] However,
having co-authored the Soviet Union’s first work on Picasso
with Sinyavsky, Golomshtok refused to testify, and as a result,
was sentenced to six months’ hard labor.[8] In 1972,
Golomshtok moved to Britain, where he continues to live.
However, the move to Britain did not stop Golomshtok’s

involvement with the Russian arts scene. He contributed to
the inaugural edition of Kontinent, which was founded in 1974
with writer Vladimir Maksimov as editor-in-chief. From the
beginning, the journal included the works of Western writers
and intellectuals, as well as those of Russians living abroad.
The four guiding principles of the journal were those of
unconditional religious idealism, unconditional
antitotalitariansm, unconditional democratism, and
unconditional antifactionalism.[9] Golomshtok was also
published in the journal Syntaxis.
Golomshtok’s contributions to the literature and arts scenes

have not been limited to Russian works. During the Soviet era,
he translated Arthur Koestler’s novel, “Darkness at Noon,”
which was circulated as samizdat (a self-published work), and
has, more recently, published works on Picasso and the art of
Ancient Mexico. He has written countless pieces on Russian
art, including Totalitarian Art in the Soviet Union, the Third
Reich, Fascist Italy and the People’s Republic of China. His
work has influenced scores of researchers, including those
“scholars responsible for a profound recasting of the Stalin
period.” [10]
Golomshtok has taught at the universities of St Andrew’s,

Essex and Oxford, and worked with the BBC’s Russian service
for many years.
Dmitry Sarabyanov was born in

Moscow on 10 October 1923, the
son of Vladimir Sarabyanov, a
Marxist philosopher. He later
married Elena Murina, a Russian
art critic.
Sarabyanov’s early life was

marked by the arts, athletics, and
travel. In the 1930s, he was
actively involved with athletics,
and in 1936-1937, he was the
Dmitry Sarabyanov USSR’s primary school high jump
champion. In the same year, he
traveled with his father and brother to the Caucasus, and along
the Siberian rivers of Yuryuzan, Ufa, and Belaya. During his
childhood, he also tried his hand at composing music, and
began writing poetry, a hobby which he continues to pursue.
[11]
After graduating from high school in 1941, he attended

Moscow State University, enrolling in the department of art
history. It was at this time that he also began work as an art
critic. Unfortunately, his studies were briefly interrupted by the
Second World War and his service in the Soviet army, for which
he was awarded both the Order of the Patriotic War and the
“Military Merit” medal.[12] Following demobilization from the
army, he returned to Moscow State University to continue his
studies, and upon graduation, applied for and was accepted to
a graduate program in art history. He graduated in 1952, and
by 1955, he had been admitted to the Union of Artists.[13] In
the same year, he began work as the senior researcher at the
USSR’s Academy of Sciences, and went on to hold the
positions of Deputy Director and Head of the Institute of Art
History before his departure in 1960.[14]
Between the years of 1966 and 1996, Sarabyanov held multiple

positions at Moscow State University, including those of
associate professor, head of the art history department, and
Russian art history consultant. He earned his PhD in 1971, and
his research interests include the history of Russian art, non-

Russian art during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, issues in the relationships of art and literature, the
interaction of Russian and Western art and peculiarities
particular to the Russian avant-garde movement. He has
published over 360 articles and books, and in 1992, he was
elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences.[15]
He currently resides in Moscow.
Authors From the West:

Christina Lodder is one of the
West’s leading avant-garde
specialists, and focuses her
research primarily on the art of
the 1910s and 1920s. She has
written a major study of
Russian Constructivism, which
has been acclaimed as the
standard work on the subject.
[16] She co-authored a major
monograph on the works of
Russian sculptor Naum Gabo
Christina Lodder, current with her husband, Martin
honorary professorial fellow at Hammer, and has also edited a
the University of Edinburgh.
collection of Gabo’s writings. In
1985, working in tandem with Colin Sanderson, she published
the Catalogue Raisonné of Gabo’s work. Her works cover
everything from the development of new teaching programs
during the early Soviet era and the implementation of
Constructivist ideas in the areas of photography, textiles, and
theatre, to a discussion on Vladimir Tatlin’s The Model for a
Monument to the Third International of 1920. She also spends
her time researching the influence of the Russian avant-garde
on the art of Central and Eastern Europe, and has more
recently spent time writing on the relationship between art and
science first discussed by Kazimir Malevich. [17]
Dr. Lodder currently

resides in Edinburgh,
Scotland, where she
holds the position of
Honorary Professorial
Fellow at the University
of Edinburgh. She is a
member of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh as
well as the Royal
Society for the Arts, and
is the vice president of
the Malevich Society of New York.
John Ellis Bowlt was born in London,

England on 6 December 1943, and
currently teaches at the University of
Southern California. He completed
his PhD in Russian Literature and Art
at Scotland’s St Andrew’s University
in 1971, and his main research
John Ellis Bowlt interests include Russian literature
and art of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, as well as twentieth century Hungary,
Poland and Czechoslovakia. He has written countless books
and monographs the Russian avant-garde, Russian stage
design in the years 1900-1930, the memoirs of Benedikt
Livshits, and Sergei Diaghilev. He has a number of books
forthcoming in 2013, including works on the Russian Silver age,
Léon Bakst, and a catalogue raisonné on the stage designs of
Nina and Nikita D Lobanov-Rostovsky.[18]
Bowlt has been awarded numerous awards and grants,

including most recently a Fullbright-Hays follow-on award to
continue research on the works of Léon Bakst in Moscow and
Europe in 2010, and the Order of Friendship, which was
awarded by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in
2009. In 2012, he was awarded $17,000 from Moscow’s
Prokhorov Foundation towards the publication of the English

translation of the literary legacy of Léon Bakst. For this work,
he also received $10,000 from the Advancement of
Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences from the
University of Southern California. Bowlt has taught and
lectured internationally, including work as a visiting professor
at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University in 1985 and New Zealand’s
University of Otago in 1982.[19]
John E. Bowlt currently teaches Slavic languages and directs

the University of Southern California’s Institute of Modern
Russian Culture.
Recommended Books on Russian

and Soviet Art
1. General works
Hamilton, G. H., The Art and Architecture of Russia (1951),

New Haven, 1986
Auty, R. and D. Obolensky, eds. An Introduction to Russian Art
and Architecture (Companion to Russian Studies, vol. 3),
Cambridge, 1980
Bird, A., History of Russian Painting, New York, 1987
Rice, Tamara Talbot, A Concise History of Russian Art, London,
1963
Billington, James, The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History
of Russian Culture, New York, London, 1966
Brumfield, W., A History of Russian Architecture, New York,
Cambridge, 1993
Opolovnikov, A. and Y. Opolovnikova, The Wooden Architecture
of Russia, New York, 1989
Allenov, M., et al, Moscow. Treasures and Traditions (ex. cat.),
Washington DC, 1990
The George Riabov Collection of Russian Art (Zimmerli Art
Museum), New Brunswick, 1994
Grabar, I.E., V. Lazarev, V. Kemenov, eds. Istoriia russkogo
iskusstva, Moscow 1958-68 (History of Russian art in 13
volumes; extensive illus. and biblio.)
2. Early Russia
Lazarev, V., Old Russian Murals and Mosaics, London, 1966
Onasch, K. Icons, London, 1963
Faensen, H. and V. Ivanov, Early Russian Architecture, London,
1975
Gates of Mystery. The Art of Holy Russia (exh. cat.) St.
Petersburg, Baltimore, 1992-93
The Glory of Byzantium, (exh. cat.) New York, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1997
3. Seventeenth – Early 19th Centuries

Sarabianov, D. Russian Art from Neoclassicism to the Avant-
garde, New York, 1990
Hilton, A., Russian Folk Art, Bloomington, 1995
Benois, A., History of Russian Painting, New York, 1916 (transl.
of Istoriia russkoi zhivopisi v XIX veke, St. Petersburg, 1902)
The Art of Russia 1800-1850. (ex. cat.), Minneapolis, 1977
Stavrou, G., ed. Art and Culture in Nineteenth-century Russia.
Bloomington, 1983
Roosevelt, P., Life on the Russian Country Estate, New Haven,
1995
Shvidkovskii, D.O., Orloff Alexander, St. Petersburg:
architecture of the tsars. New York : Abbeville Press
Publishers, 1996
Shvidkovskii, D.O., The Empress and the Architect: British
architecture and gardens at the court of Catherine the Great,
New Haven (Conn.) : Yale university press, 1996.
4. Second Half of 19th Century – Early 20th Century

Sarabianov, D. Russian Painters of the Early Twentieth Century.
Leningrad, Aurora, 1973
Valkenier, E. Russian Realist Art, the State and Society: the
Peredvizhniki and their Tradition, New York, 1989
The Wanderers: Masters of 19th century Russian Painting. (ex.
cat.), Dallas, 1990
Sarabianov, D., Ilya Repin, Moscow : Foreign Languages

Publishing House; 1st edition, 1955
Sarabianov, D. Alexei Venetsianov. Leningrad, Aurora, 1988
Sarabianov, D. Valentin Serov (Great Painters), Parkstone
Press, 1996
Mir iskusstva, St. Petersburg, 1898-1902 (the journal of the
World of art group)
Kennedy, J. The Mir Iskusstva Group and Russian Art. New
York, 1977
5. Twentieth Century Avant-garde and Revolutionary

Period
Bowlt, J., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism
1902-1934, New York, 1976
Gray, C., The Russian Experiment in Art, 1863-1922 (1962),
rev. ed. by M. Burleigh-Motley, London, 1986
Markov, V., Russian Futurism. Berkeley, 1968
Andersen, T., ed., Kazimir Malevich. Essays on Art.
Copenhagen, 1968
Yablonskaia, M., Women Artists of Russia’s New Age. New
York, 1990
Sarabianov, A., Neizvestnyi russkii avangard. Moscow, 1992
Paris-Moscou (exh. cat.) Paris, 1979
Compton, S., Russian Avant-Garde Books, 1917-34. Cambridge
MA, 1992
Guerman, M., Art of the October Revolution. New York, 1979
White, S., The Bolshevik Poster. New Haven, 1990
Lodder, C., Russian Constructivism. New Haven, 1983, 1990
Tolstoy, V, I. Bibikova, C. Cooke, Street Art of the Revolution.
London, 1990
6. Soviet Avant-garde; Socialist Realism, Non-conformist

Art
Lissitzky, El, An Architecture for World Revolution, Cambridge,
MA, 1970
The Great Utopia (Velikaia Utopia). (exh. cat. Frankfurt,
Amsterdam, New York, Moscow, Petersburg), New York/
Moscow, 1993
Armas, V., D. Elliot, C. Lodder, “The Great Russian Utopia,” AD
– Architecture and Design Magazine. London, 1993
Khan-Magomedov, S.O; Cooke, Catherine Pioneers of Soviet
Architecture : the search for new solutions in the 1920s and
1930s. New York : Rizzoli, 1987.
Tupitsyn, M., The Soviet Photograph, New Haven, 1996
Johnson, P. and L. Labedz, Khrushchev and the Arts–The
Politics of Soviet Culture. Cambridge, 1965 (documents)
Dodge, N. and A. Hilton, eds., New Art from the Soviet Union:
The Known and the Unknown, Washington, D.C., 1977
Golomstock, I. and A. Glezer, Soviet Art in Exile. London, 1977
Bown, M. C., Contemporary Russian Art. New York, 1989
Elliott, D. and V. Dudakov, 100 Years of Russian Art from Private
Collections in the USSR (ex. cat.) London, 1989
Ross, D. et al., Between Spring and Summer: Soviet
Conceptual Art in the Era of Late Communism (ex. cat.,
Tacoma and Boston), Cambridge MA and London, 1990
Kornetchuk, E. The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in
Moscow and Leningrad 1965- 1990 (exh. cat. Columbus Mus.)
Seattle, 1991
Dodge, N. and A. Rosenfeld, eds. From Gulag to Glasnost:
Non-Conformist Art from the Soviet Union (Zimmerli Art
Museum), London, 1995
References for the

Author Section
1. Российсĸая
Архитеĸтура. Хан-
Магомедов, Селим
Омарович. Accessed
February 2013
2. Лента.ру
(2011). Умер Аĸадемиĸ
Селим Хан-
Магомедов. Accessed
February 2013
3. Лента.ру (2011). Умер Аĸадемиĸ Селим Хан-Магомедов.
4. Лента.ру (2011). Умер Аĸадемиĸ Селим Хан-Магомедов.
5. Голомштоĸ, Игорь. (n.d.) Воспоминания Старого

Пессимиста. Accessed February 2013
report this ad
6. Голомштоĸ, И. (n.d.)
7. PEN International. 1966: Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli

Daniel. Accessed February 2013
8. Anonymous. (n.d.) Igor Golomstock. Cardinal Points Literary

Journal. Accessed February 2013
9. Dobrenko, E. A., & Tihanov, G. (2011). A History of Russian

Literary Theory and Criticism: The Soviet Age and Beyond.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 312.
10. Dobrenko, E.A & Tihanov, 312.
11. Международый Обьединенный Биографичесĸий Центр.

(n.d.) Сарабьянов Дмитрий Владимирович. Accessed
February 2013

(n.d.)

(n.d.)
(n.d.)

(n.d.)
16. Lodder, C. (2005). Constructive Strands in Russian Art,

1914-1917. Pindar.
17. Lodder, C.
18. Bowlt, J.E. (2013). Curriculum Vitae. Accessed February

2013.
19. Bowlt, J.E.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Taryn Jones
Taryn Jones graduated in 2008 from the
University of Victoria (Canada) with her BA in
history and anthropology. During that time,
she also studied Russian and art history, and
was heavily involved with the university’s
Russian Studies course union. At the time she
wrote for this site, in she planned to begin her
studies at the University of British Columbia in
a double Master’s program in library and
archival science. Ideally, she would like to
work in a gallery or museum’s library or
archive. She has traveled throughout Russia
on numerous occasions, and first studied in St
Petersburg in 2007. In 2009, she traveled
across Russia, beginning at the Mongolian
border and going westwards towards St
Petersburg. In recent years, she has studied
art history and museum studies in St
Petersburg with SRAS. Durring that time, she
volunteered with the Youth Education Center
of the State Hermitage, where she researched
artists, edited English-language texts and
translated Russian texts to English. Taryn’s
specific artistic interests are the Wanderers,
Socialist Realism and photography.
Program attended: Art and Museums in

Russia
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Historians of Russian and Soviet Art 21/09/2023, 10:41

ARMENIA GEORGIA KYRGYZSTAN LATVIA POLAND PART OF THE FAMILY OF SITES

RUSSIA UKRAINE ETC.

Museums ! Performing Arts ! Urban Design ! Study Art !

Historians of Russian Email Address

and Soviet Art KOPOMBICAO BEAPON

We asked Elena Varshavskaya, who teaches art history at the

that they were interested in Russian or Soviet art but were

The authors she recommends are described in detail below. A

maintenance and new content creation. Three Great

Authors From Russia:

to research on the avant-garde, he has written countless EDUCATOR SUPPORT

In his work on the architecture of Dagestan, Khan-Magomedov ← →

Khan-Magomedov holds a doctorate in art history and is an ← →

Selim Khan-Magomedov was born in Moscow on 9 January

Igor Golomshtok (Golomstock) was

Russia on 11 January 1929. In 1934

Golomshtok’s roots were not originally in art history, and he

In 1965, Golomshtok was called before the courts to testify in

However, the move to Britain did not stop Golomshtok’s

Golomshtok’s contributions to the literature and arts scenes

Golomshtok has taught at the universities of St Andrew’s,

Dmitry Sarabyanov was born in

Sarabyanov’s early life was

After graduating from high school in 1941, he attended

Between the years of 1966 and 1996, Sarabyanov held multiple

his research interests include the history of Russian art, non-

He currently resides in Moscow.

Authors From the West:

Dr. Lodder currently

John Ellis Bowlt was born in London,

Bowlt has been awarded numerous awards and grants,

Prokhorov Foundation towards the publication of the English

John E. Bowlt currently teaches Slavic languages and directs

Recommended Books on Russian

Hamilton, G. H., The Art and Architecture of Russia (1951),

3. Seventeenth – Early 19th Centuries

4. Second Half of 19th Century – Early 20th Century

Sarabianov, D., Ilya Repin, Moscow : Foreign Languages

5. Twentieth Century Avant-garde and Revolutionary

6. Soviet Avant-garde; Socialist Realism, Non-conformist

References for the

3. Лента.ру (2011). Умер Аĸадемиĸ Селим Хан-Магомедов.

4. Лента.ру (2011). Умер Аĸадемиĸ Селим Хан-Магомедов.

5. Голомштоĸ, Игорь. (n.d.) Воспоминания Старого

7. PEN International. 1966: Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli

8. Anonymous. (n.d.) Igor Golomstock. Cardinal Points Literary

9. Dobrenko, E. A., & Tihanov, G. (2011). A History of Russian

10. Dobrenko, E.A & Tihanov, 312.

11. Международый Обьединенный Биографичесĸий Центр.

12. Международый Обьединенный Биографичесĸий Центр.

13. Международый Обьединенный Биографичесĸий Центр.

14. Международый Обьединенный Биографичесĸий Центр.

15. Международый Обьединенный Биографичесĸий Центр.

16. Lodder, C. (2005). Constructive Strands in Russian Art,

18. Bowlt, J.E. (2013). Curriculum Vitae. Accessed February

19. Bowlt, J.E.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Program attended: Art and Museums in

View all posts by: Taryn Jones

HOME ABOUT US OUR AUTHORS DISCLAIMER

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