Welcome to the Repository

…the landing page for the sights and sounds of “Russian Culture.”

Here you’ll find a comprehensive collection of essential images, musical works, and other products of creative genius covered during the course of the course. The Respository is intended to provide you with 24/7 access to everything you need (in addition to the required texts) to support your formal educational experience. But there’s much more to Russian Culture. Please use this as a “launching pad” for exploring on your own!

THE REPOSITORY CONSISTS OF FIVE SEPARATE “COLLECTIONS”

GALLERY – This collection houses most (though not all) of the historically and culturally significant visual images introduced in “Russian Culture.”

In every case, the images represent the highest quality files available; all are best viewed on a device with a large screen (such as a desktop or laptop computer) and a solid connection to the Intertubes. While this may make displaying them on a hand-held device a bit slow, you will hopefully find the improvement in quality to be more than worth the slight cost of time.

The Gallery is roughly organized along the lines used by the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (est. 1648) which, in turn, served as the model for the subsequent Russian Academy of Arts (est. 1757). Both of these institutions were established by their respective state authorities to promote, curate, and control “official” art. Both recognized five (5) painterly genres as appropriate subjects for the academic training of students and the subsequent commissions they would receive for new works after successfully completing their course of study.

The Academy arranged these genres in a hierarchical order (from most to least “prestigious”). Students were not allowed to progress to the next “level” until they had demonstrated complete mastery of the prior “lower” order.

Historical paintings

Portraits

Genre paintings

Landscapes

Still life

In addition to these “official” genres of painting, the Gallery incudes categories that fall outside the Academy’s formal organizational scheme including: Abstract/Avant-garde, (Post)Modern, and Iconography (which, technically, is not “painting”).

Within each category/collection, individual works are arranged in chronological order based on the date of first public display.

MUSEUM – The Museum contains images pertaining to the decorative and applied arts: arts/crafts that are both beautiful and functional (decorative arts) or that apply design and decoration to create aesthetically pleasing everyday objects (applied arts). Here you’ll find an array of eye-catching items including objects crafted for the elites as well as folk art of all types created by craftsmen who received little or no formal training.

 

 

 

MUSIC HALL – This collection provides access to audio and video recordings of musical scores of all types/genres from the liturgies and hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church, to “classical” pieces – including symphonies, sonatas, and operas (in whole and in part) – as well as “popular” works from across time and place such as folk tunes, ballads, rock anthems, and contemporary songs. The collection is organized by genre/style and chronology.

 

 

STUDIO – The Studio houses images relating to the built environment and the plastic arts including architectural structures, monuments, and sculptural pieces – both real and imagined.

 

 

 

 

CINEMA – The Repository’s final collection provides links to full-length versions of classic “Russian” films. Here you will find everything from  twentieth-century experimental reels, to the best-known features of the Soviet era, and recent post-Soviet titles. Films appearing in the “Cinema” have been selected owing to their relevance to other works mentioned in the course (eg. films based on Russian novels or short stories) or because they help illustrate and explicate broader themes/ideas in “Russian Culture.” All films are available with English subtitles – though the quality of the subtitling varies by entry.

 

 

Note: All images, audio, and video recordings housed in the Repository are understood to be within the public domain. In cases where provenance is unknown or the item in question is subject to copyright restrictions, the entry links to what is believed to be the original source/copyright holder.