The idea that Russia had a cultural and historic claim in Asia became a founding myth of the empire. During the construction of the
FOLKLORE FANTASIES. The Rite of Spring (1913): the original score by Igor Stravinsky. Below: Viktor Vasnetsov: set design for Mamontov's production of Rumsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden (Abramtsevo, 1881). Vasnetsov's designs, with their folk-like use of colour, became a visual model for the Ballets Russes and primitivist painters such as Goncharova, Malevich and Chagall.
SCYTHIAN RUSSI A. The Rite of Spring was conceived by Nikolai Roerich
as the re-enactment of an ancient ('Scythian') ritual of human sacrifice. A trained
archaeologist, Roerich designed the sets and costumes of The Rite of Spring. These were
reproduced by the Joffrey Ballet for its revival of the original ballet in 1987 (above).
The rhythm of the music and the choreography emphasized the dancers' weight and
immobility, a sense conveyed by Roerich in his many paintings of Scythian Russia.
Below: Roerich: The Idols (1901).
Roerich: costume designs for The Snow Maiden (Chicago, 1921). A disciple
ofStasov, Roerich believed in the Asiatic origins of Russian folk culture, as
suggested hereby the heavy jewellery and the Tatar-like headgear.
PAGAN RUSSIA. Vastly Kandinsky: Motley Life (1907). Ostensibly a Russian-Christian scene, the painting is filled with pagan symbols from the Komi region, which Kandinsky had explored as an anthropologist. Below: Kandinsky: All Saints II (1911) tells the story of the confrontation between St Stephan and the Komi shaman Pam. Like
Pam (seen escaping persecution in a boat) the two saints (standing on the rock) wear sorcerer's caps but they also have halos to symbolize the fusion of the Christian and the
pagan traditions.
<p>THE ARTIST</p>AS SHAMAN. Left: Kandinsky: Oval No. 2 (1925). The oval shapes and hieroglyphia of Kandinsky's abstract paintings were largely copied from the symbols he had seen on the drums of Siberian shamans. A hooked curve and line symbolized a horse, circles symbolized the sun and moon, while beaks and eyes were meant to represent the birdlike headdress worn by many shamans for their dance rituals (below).
RUSSIA AND THE ASIATIC STEPPE. Isaak Levitan:
Vladimirka (1892). This was the road on which Russia's convicts travelled
to their penal exile in Siberia. Below: Vasily Vereshchagin: Surprise Attack
(1871). An official war artist with Russia's army on the Turkestan
campaign, Vereshchagin's canvases were perceived as an attack on the
savage Russian violence against the Asian tribes.
HORSES AND APOCALYPSE. Prom Pushkin's Bronze Horseman, the
