Vitebsk: The Life of Art

by Aleksandra Shatskikh

This book examines the artistic life of Vitebsk during the years 1917-1922, when a great burst of creative experimentation transformed the modest Russian town into one of the most influential gateways to the art of the twentieth century. Spurred by native son Marc Chagall, who returned home after the October Revolution in 1917 to take the position of art commissioner, Vitebsk rose to a pinnacle of fame as an artistic laboratory for the avant-garde. It was here that such luminaries as El Lissitzky, Yuri Pen, Kazimir Malevich, Nikolai Suetin, Mikhail Bakhtin, and others worked, inspired one another, and made distinctive contributions to modernism. Art historian Aleksandra Shatskikh surveys the entire 'Vitebsk phenomenon', drawing on an array of archives in Russia and Amsterdam, many of which have never been open to Western scholars. She discusses Chagall's Academy of Art and its major teachers and students; the founding of the artists' group, UNOVIS; Malevich's architectural experiments; Bakhtin's circle; and important developments in theater and music in Vitebsk. With more than two hundred outstanding illustrations, the book brings Vitebsk to life at a fascinating and transformative moment in art history.

408 pages, Hardcover

First published November 29, 2007

Reviews

[Valerie Barchefska · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Black Square, Unovis's 'Masonic symbol,' was worn on the shirt cuff, which is the element of attire nearest to the palm--the young members of Unovis were especially proud of this mark of distinction. Since we are talking about a city like Vitebsk, it is worth noting how much, even if only by coincidence, the Unovis emblem had in common with a traditional element of Orthodox Judaism: the tefillin (phylacteries), of which the Black Square on the sleeve was, so to speak, a two-dimensional projection."

Everyone knows the black squares of Kazimir Malevich and the flying Jews of Marc Chagall. This book weaves together both of their stories, and those of many other luminaries besides, explaining how their conflicting perspectives on art bumped elbows during the tumult of the Lenin era, and their shared influences from the Judeo-Russian "Pale of Settlement." Fascinating material for sure, but the essays can be dry at times, containing a few too many lists and not enough characterization of all artists mentioned, and the reliance on black and white images of so many works of art throughout is always disappointing in any art book. Sections on performing art and philosophy in Vitebsk are particularly dull, and feel tacked on at the end. Still nice to see a conceptually unified and highly thorough discussion of such an overlooked sub-cultural moment in the history of art.

READ AROUND THE WORLD 36/195: BELARUS 🇧🇾