Art Exhibitions in the Regions of the Russian Empire: Problems and Prospects for Study

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the all-Russian conference, “Beyond Russia’s Two Capitals: Regional Art Exhibitions in the Russian Empire,” and an analysis of the challenges and opportunities of studying exhibitions outside of Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The text examines the main misconceptions that have developed in the study of artistic life in the regions. For example, a common misconception in art history is that art in the regions developed primarily due to exhibitions organized by the Society of Traveling Art Exhibitions. However, sources and the works of local art historians and regional scholars paint a more complicated picture. Another question is the dating of the beginning of regional exhibition practices. These are traditionally attributed to the last third of the nineteenth century or even to the beginning of the twentieth century. However, the first exhibitions outside the capitals took place as early as the 1850s. Concurrently, the focus of capital-based researchers on avant-garde exhibitions distorts the representation of cultural life in the Russian provinces in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as Russian art as a whole. As the article shows, studying regional exhibitions could lead to a significant revision of the established narrative about art in the Russian Empire.