Abstract
The author reviews the history of art in Russia's Buryatia in an interpretive analysis, beginning with pre-revolutionary Buddhist art legacies, through various stages of Soviet art policy, to the difficult post-Soviet period of national identity quests. The creative art of pre-revolutionary Buryat Buddhist Sanzhi-Tsykik Tsybikov, Soviets Ivan Kopylov and Tsyrenzhap Sampilov, and the famous post-Soviet Dashi Namdakov is examined. The author argues that current trends toward valorization of Eurasian identity resonate with Russia's politics and popular culture.
Notes
English translation © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, from the Russian text, “Vizualiziruia (post)-sovetskuiu etnichnost'. Izobrazitel'noe isskuvstva Buryatii.”Published with the author's permission, English title by the author. Maria Tagangaeva is an art historian from Ulan-Ude, based at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland when she provided this article. Email: [email protected] by Stephan Lang. Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/maae
1. Limbist derives from the word “limba”—a musical instrument, formerly widespread among nomadic cultures, Buryats and Kalmyks.
2. See A. Umarov's article: “Postup' vremeni,” Khudozhnik, 1983, no. 1, pp. 1–9; S. Chervonnaia Citation1978.
3. See Ch.Iu. Mandaganov's work Kochevnik (2005), O.T. Kozlov's Trubiashchii monakh (2006), S.V. Khankharov's Vaiatel' (2007), B.T. Taisaev's Sled kochevnika (2008), D.D. Lygdenov's Tabunshchik (2010), and many others.
4. Also known as “Zher-ana” (Motherland). See D. Namdakov's Internet site http://www.dashi-art.com/gallery.