Symposium papers
Published on
Women Artists to Victims of War – The First Exhibition of the Moscow Union of Women Painters and its Reception by the Contemporary Press
Natalia Budanova
Abstract
A few surviving visual and documentary sources related to the exhibition Women Artists to Victims of War organised by the Moscow Union of Women Painters in winter 1914 represent a useful primary material for piecing together fragments of the history of this short-lived female art group. The Union exemplified impressive gender changes in educational and professional spheres of Russian art. Yet, it failed to attract strong membership and disintegrated a few years after its institution. By analysing available evidence, this essay seeks to uncover and assess the causes of the Union’s defeat in establishing a prominent public profile.
Dr Natalia Budanova, MA (Cambs), MA (Courtauld), PhD (Courtauld) is a UK-based independent art historian and a member of CCRAC (Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre) advisory board. Her research and publications engage in investigating the role of women in Russian art of the late Imperial and early Soviet periods, patterns of artistic exchange between Russia and the West, and the art of the Great War.
