Nikita Balagurov: Picturing the Russian / Soviet Empire

Join us for another 19v seminar! In 1887, Ilia Repin oversaw the installation of his massive royal painting in the antechamber of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. “The Reception of Volost Elders” (now at the State Tretyakov Gallery) portrays one of the key events in the celebrations of Alexander III’s ascension to the throne in 1883—his address to the representatives of the peasantry at the coronation dinner. This talk offers a new reading of Repin’s painting based on the investigation of contemporary nationalist and colonialist discourse in the artist’s treatment of the scene. Previously untapped sources have allowed us to identify many of the ethnically and religiously diverse participants depicted in this canvas and have revealed the logic behind their placement in the composition. In his painting, Repin reflects what Frederiсk Cooper and Ann Stoler have called the “tensions of empire.” Just as Russia’s dominant approach to dealing with those tensions was to rule through difference, Repin als