MAGNIFICENCE OF THE TSARS, VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
MAGNIFENCE OF THE TSARS, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON
The new exhibition at the V & A is 'Magnificence of the Tsars', an exhibition that glories in the opulence and decadence of the Tsars, with little mention of the rest. By 'the rest' I mean the rest of society including nobles, aristocrats, boyars, civil servants, merchants, lawyers, doctors, lecturers, teachers. None of them are mentioned in the exhibition, apart from exhibitions of the cloths of servants such as Heralds and Postillions. The Russian ruling elite was very narrow indeed compared to those in Western Europe, sharing few of their extensive luxuries and comforts, who would ultimately enact a chilling revenge but firstly replacing then deposing the Tsars in their year of destiny, 1917.
Most of the garments on show here were gathered from France and other Western European countries. Essentially Russia had a scarcity of nascent culture and cultural traditions, the Tsars were attempting to create one out of a unique synthesis of traditionally Russian and Western European cultures. This exhibition details their overall success. The Tsars were especially impressed by French culture, French fashion influenced their garb considerably as well as the French language, which was the language used in Russian pre-revolutionary aristocratic circles. The Russian language and Russian culture was essentially secondary, a discarded tool that Lenin later found inviting. The Tsars lavished more wealth on costumes and opulence compared to the courts of Western Europe with ridiculously diminishing returns, as the ruling elite grew increasingly isolated from the Russian masses, who nevertheless looked up to the Tsar with dog-like incredulity, as the 'Little Father', God's representative in Russia.
This exhibition depicts a prelude to crisis, to what's real and meaningful in Russian history, which is everything that is post-1917, but also points to immense continuity as the Russian Revolution ultimately proved to be inferior to Tsarism, despotism with or without a benign, human face. The exhibition details patterns of isolationism, the impetus to modernisation, but it's ultimately only an introduction to those themes. The Tsar's costumes evidence combinations of the archaic and the fashionable, complete political tropes as these 'leaders' sought to combine the old with the new as our present leaders also do. There was often immense retreat from openness back to the old ways, the insularity, the seemingly unavoidable innately dark pessimism and sometime despair of the serfs and those, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who articulated their plight.
The lasting image is the somehow plaintive visage of Tsar Nicholas II, a man whom its hard not to feel pity for, even though he made many people suffer and was seemingly devoid of pity. All the same he was more and better than what was to come, mainly because the aristocracy had a basic belief in their superiority and in being somehow benign, helping pathetic serfs off their knees even if just to kick them in the balls once more. The Bolsheviks fared worse, but nevertheless managed to defeat the inevitable Germanic incursion when it came.
Paul Murphy, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The new exhibition at the V & A is 'Magnificence of the Tsars', an exhibition that glories in the opulence and decadence of the Tsars, with little mention of the rest. By 'the rest' I mean the rest of society including nobles, aristocrats, boyars, civil servants, merchants, lawyers, doctors, lecturers, teachers. None of them are mentioned in the exhibition, apart from exhibitions of the cloths of servants such as Heralds and Postillions. The Russian ruling elite was very narrow indeed compared to those in Western Europe, sharing few of their extensive luxuries and comforts, who would ultimately enact a chilling revenge but firstly replacing then deposing the Tsars in their year of destiny, 1917.
Most of the garments on show here were gathered from France and other Western European countries. Essentially Russia had a scarcity of nascent culture and cultural traditions, the Tsars were attempting to create one out of a unique synthesis of traditionally Russian and Western European cultures. This exhibition details their overall success. The Tsars were especially impressed by French culture, French fashion influenced their garb considerably as well as the French language, which was the language used in Russian pre-revolutionary aristocratic circles. The Russian language and Russian culture was essentially secondary, a discarded tool that Lenin later found inviting. The Tsars lavished more wealth on costumes and opulence compared to the courts of Western Europe with ridiculously diminishing returns, as the ruling elite grew increasingly isolated from the Russian masses, who nevertheless looked up to the Tsar with dog-like incredulity, as the 'Little Father', God's representative in Russia.
This exhibition depicts a prelude to crisis, to what's real and meaningful in Russian history, which is everything that is post-1917, but also points to immense continuity as the Russian Revolution ultimately proved to be inferior to Tsarism, despotism with or without a benign, human face. The exhibition details patterns of isolationism, the impetus to modernisation, but it's ultimately only an introduction to those themes. The Tsar's costumes evidence combinations of the archaic and the fashionable, complete political tropes as these 'leaders' sought to combine the old with the new as our present leaders also do. There was often immense retreat from openness back to the old ways, the insularity, the seemingly unavoidable innately dark pessimism and sometime despair of the serfs and those, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who articulated their plight.
The lasting image is the somehow plaintive visage of Tsar Nicholas II, a man whom its hard not to feel pity for, even though he made many people suffer and was seemingly devoid of pity. All the same he was more and better than what was to come, mainly because the aristocracy had a basic belief in their superiority and in being somehow benign, helping pathetic serfs off their knees even if just to kick them in the balls once more. The Bolsheviks fared worse, but nevertheless managed to defeat the inevitable Germanic incursion when it came.
Paul Murphy, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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