[Both at 11/2  cols.]

Fedor Solntsev, “Old-fashioned Holiday Dress for Women from Tver,” 1830s watercolor drawing from Costume of the Russian State (St Petersburg, 1820–79). The New York Public Library, Rare Book Division.

Fedor Solntsev, chromolithograph on the title page of Antiquities of the Russian State (Moscow, 1849–53). The New York Public Library, Slavic and Baltic Division.

 

FOR 3-9

FEDOR SOLNTSEV, RUSSIA IMAGINED, AT N.Y. PUBLIC LIBRARY

w/2 cuts; set 2-28; AK; #690478

NEW YORK CITY — The prodigious career of Fedor Solntsev (Russian, 1801–1892), the first Russian artist to record, preserve and refashion the physical remains of medieval Russian culture in a strikingly modern way is the subject of “Russia Imagined, 1825–1925: The Art and Impact of Fedor Solntsev.” The exhibition is at The New York Public Library in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, through June 16.

Solntsev’s meticulous drawings of regalia, icons and armor; watercolor portraits of the peoples of European Russia; restoration of historic monuments; and design experiments in an “Old Russian” style all expressed an emerging sense of national identity for the burgeoning and ethnically diverse Russian empire. His extraordinary career left an indelible mark on the image and perception of Russia in the modern era.

“The New York Public Library is uniquely poised to develop this exhibition,” explains Edward Kasinec, chief of the library’s Slavic and Baltic division. “Not only does the library have superb holdings of Solntsev’s published work and that of his contemporaries, it also counts among its treasures a portfolio of his original watercolors of ethnographic costume, formerly in the library of Tsar Nicholas II, which the library acquired in the 1930s when the Soviet regime sold off portions of the imperial collections.”

Guest curator, Wendy Salmond, professor of art history, Chapman University, says, “We owe far more than we realize to ‘artist archaeologists’ like Solntsev for our ideas about national identity and culture.”

Watercolors, chromolithographs, books, photography and theater design from the library’s collections are supplemented by two examples of imperial Russian porcelain designed by Solntsev, on loan from A La Vieille Russie.

At the heart of the exhibition is the portfolio of original watercolors depicting the rich diversity of regional and ethnic costume worn by the peasant population of European Russia in Solntsev’s day. Rendered with almost photographic precision, Solntsev’s watercolors reflect the spirit of scientific objectivity that pervaded the new sciences of ethnography and archaeology, although comparison with an early example of ethnographic photography shows why Solntsev’s skills of transcription were soon eclipsed by the camera.

Solntsev’s career reached its apogee under the patronage of Nicholas I (reigned, 1825–1855). With the publication of the sumptuous six volumes of Antiquities of the Russian State, Solntsev’s breathtaking drawings of medieval artifacts in the Moscow Kremlin Cathedrals and Armory Museum were promoted abroad as emblematic of Russia.

A pioneer in Russia’s nascent historic preservation movement, Solntsev was responsible for restoring some of the empire’s most venerated historic monuments. In recreating the interiors of the Terem Palace inside the Moscow Kremlin, and overseeing the restoration of the Eleventh Century cathedral of St Sophia in Kiev [Kyiv], Solntsev found himself at the center of controversial debates on the treatment and ownership of historic monuments.

Solntsev’s experiments in creating a distinctively Russian vocabulary of form, color and ornament, based on archaeological fragments, laid the foundation for all subsequent visual expressions of Russian national character.

The NYPL is open to the public and there is no charge to enter or for the exhibition. For more information, 212-592-7730 or www.nypl.org.