Spring 2009

CULTURAL HISTORY
Russian Art, Culture and Life: 1860-1930's

The 1860's mark the beginning of a fascinating period in Russian history, one which brought tremendous changes in life and culture. Artists, writers, intellectuals, and composers began to reveal a growing social conscience, an awareness of the need for reforms in Russian society. This tendency is found in the writings of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, in the wonderful paintings by artists almost unknown outside Russia, and even in the new nationalistic spirit in the music and operas of Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakoff, and Tchaikovsky.

From the end of the 19th century up until World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Russian visual arts, music, dance, theater, etc., were exhibiting more vitality, diversity and sophistication than ever before. Diaghilev's Ballets Russes introduced Europe to great new ballets with music by Stravinsky and others.

In the first years after the Revolution, there was a new burst of innovation; the best known of the many avant garde artists are Kandinsky, Chagall, Malevich. Eventually Stalin imposed strict rules for a propagandist "Socialist Realism" style in the arts, yet Russian creativity was not completely stifled.

Slides of painting, sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts (such as Faberge Eggs) plus video clips from Russian operas, ballets and classic early films, will illustrate how these extraordinary, tumultuous, and sometimes tragic times were reflected in the remarkable arts of the period.

Prerequisite(s):

EXEDNC; ;

Instructor: Roberta Shaw

Roberta Shaw M.A., a returned Bay Area native, has spent more than 12 years of her adult life overseas, living and traveling in areas which have enriched her appreciation of the diverse arts, cultures and history of our world. Currently she organizes and conducts art history tours to various overseas locations. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in History with Honors in Humanities, she earned an M.A. in Art History from U.C. Berkeley. She has taught Art History in several U.S. colleges and locally for U.C. Berkeley Extension and the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning, always with an emphasis on the relationship between the visual arts and their historical and cultural context. This is her ninth course for SSU-OLLI.

  • 6 mtgs: T, March 31 (3-5pm), April 7 (3-5pm), April 14 (3:30-5:30pm), April 28 (3-5pm), May 5 (3-5pm), & May 12 (3-5pm), no class April 21
  • Berger Center
  • EXEDNC; ;
  • class# 4227