The Black Square Goes Where?: (Re)locating Ukrainian Artists in the Russo-Soviet Avant-Garde

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has prompted battles on other, more cultural fronts. One of the most fascinating is the legacy of Ukrainian artists who originally found fame in St. Petersburg and Moscow -- and whose works, as a consequence, have been erroneously or reductively labeled 'Russian' and/or 'Soviet.' In this informational talk, Prof. Brooks will profile several of these artists, with particular attention to their place in Ukrainian culture and Russian imperial politics, and consider the ongoing struggle -- from the pages of Wikipedia to the walls of the Met -- over how we classify and label their works.

Speaker: Daniel Brooks, Visiting Professor, Russian & Eurasian Studies