The Icon and the Axe

in Vladimir, 1197 X Church of the Annunciation over the entrance to the women's monastery of the Protection of the Virgin in Suzdal, early sixteenth century

XI Church of the Epiphany at Chelmuzhi, Karelia, 1605

XII Church of the Transfiguration at Kizhi, Karelia, 1714

Repin and Russian Nationalism

Following page 291

Ivan the Terrible with his murdered son by Ilya Repin, 1885 Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow

Musorgsky by Repin, 1881

Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow

XV "Haulers on the Volga" by Repin, 1870-3 Russian Museum, Leningrad

Christ Dethroned

Following page 481 XVI "Appearance of Christ to the People" by Alexander Ivanov, 1833-57 Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow

XVII The Crucifixion by Nicholas Ge, 1891 Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow

Vrubel and the Devil

Following page 481 XVIII "The Demon Seated" by Michael Vrubel, 1890 Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow XIX "The Demon Prostrate" by Vrubel, 1902 Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow

A Satirical View of Russian Liberalism

Following page 511 XX Masthead introduced in January 1861 in the satirical journal Iskra

Malevich's Art of Outer Space

Following page 511 XXI "Dynamic Suprematism" by Malevich

Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow XXII "Woman with a Rake" by Malevich Tret'iakov Gallery, Moscow

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BACKGROUND

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Background

i. Kiev

The cosmopolitan, Christian culture of Kiev, "the mother of Russian

cities," from the conversion of Prince Vladimir in 988 to the Mongol sack of

Kiev in 1240. The uncritical adoption by Kievan Rus' of the artistic forms

and sense of special destiny of the Byzantine "second golden age." The love

of beauty and preoccupation with history; the building of the new city under

Yaroslav the Wise (grand-prince of Kiev, 1019-54); the movement north

under Andrew Bogoliubsky (grand-prince of Vladimir-Suzdal, 1157-74).

The rise to dominance of the "forest land," the Volga-Oka heartland of

Great Russia, particularly during the Mongol overlordship, 1240-1480.

The strengthening of communal ties during a period of weakened central

authority. The fears and fascinations of the forest: bears, insects, and, above

all, fire. The enduring importance for the Russian imagination of the key

artifacts of this primitive frontier region: the icon and the axe within the

peasant hut. The cannon and the bell within populated centers: symbols of

metallic might in a wooden world.

A culture of concrete sights and sounds rather than abstract words and ideas. The images of sainthood on wooden icons; the image of divine order and hierarchy on the icon screen. The Vladimir Mother of God as the supreme mother figure of Great Russia; Andrew Rublev (1370-1430) as its supreme artist. Bells as "angelic trumpets" and hypnotic cacophony.

rVEDUCED ?? its simplest outline, Russian culture is a tale of three cities: Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. None of them is really old by the standards of world history. The first was probably founded sometime in the eighth century, the second in the twelfth, the last at the beginning of the eighteenth. Each served as the capital of a sprawling Slavic empire on the eastern periphery of Europe; each left a permanent impact on the culture .of modern Russia.

The emergence of Moscow and then that of St. Petersburg are decisive events of modern Russian history, and the profound if subtle rivalry between the two cities is one of the recurring themes of its mature cultural development. Yet the cultural context for this drama was provided by Kiev: the first of the three great cities to rise and to fall. However weakened and transformed in later years, however subject to the separate claims of Polish and Ukrainian historians, Kiev remained the "mother of Russian cities" and "joy of the world" to the chroniclers.1 Memories of its accomplishment lingered on in oral folklore to give the Orthodox Eastern Slavs an enduring sense of the unity and splendor that had been theirs. In the words of the popular proverb, Moscow was the heart of Russia; St. Petersburg, its head; but Kiev, its mother.2

The origins of Kiev are still obscure, but its traceable history begins with the establishment by northern warrior-traders of a series of fortified cities along the rivers that led through the rich eastern plains of Europe into the Black and Mediterranean seas.3 The main artery of this new trade route down from the Baltic region was the Dnieper; and many historic cities of early Russia, such as Chernigov and Smolensk, were founded on strategic spots along its upper tributaries. Kiev, the most exposed and southerly of the fortified cities on this river, became the major point of contact with,the Byzantine Empire to the southeast, and the center for the gradual conversion to Orthodox Christianity in the ninth and tenth centuries of both the Scandinavian princes and the Slavic population of this region. By virtue of its