Brumeld offers snapshots of Russia

A professor of Russian literature, art and architecture at Tulane University, as well as author and photographer of a number of works in Russian architecture, William C. Brumfield concerns himself with a "lost Russia" in his exhibition of silver prints now showing at the University Museum of Art.

REVIEW
	Lost Russia: Photographs by William Brumfield University Museum of Art; Through Jan. 4

To Brumfield, this loss constitutes the many abandoned and unkept churches and old secular buildings dotting the Russian countryside. He attributes this neglect to the many wars, revolutions and political and social circumstances that have been typical to the region throughout its history, particularly the 20th Century. The 46 silverprints, which hang in the special exhibitions gallery upstairs in the museum, along with the publication that has been compiled from them, vividly portray his observances during his stay in Russia.

The unified aspect of the exhibition comes from a few visual and intellectual effects. The photographs are all exhibited in black frames, a color that fits well with the black, gray and white tonality of the pictures. The inclusion of brief historical background and personal observance in the text, which accompanies each image, also allow the observer a context in which to view the work. The viewpoint of the camera during the photographic process of these architectural masterpieces lends to their

"Church of Intercession on the Nerl" by Brumfield is part of "Lost Russia."

effect.

Brumfield photographs the Monastery of Joseph Volokolamsk, a 17th Century building, with its reflection on an undisturbed pond. The Church of the Holy Spirit (1794-1800) is seen through bleak isolation and industrial pollution, and in Brumfield's own words, as he approached the portico to view the church inside, clouds of pigeons rose up, with their droppings constituting a common site inside. An estate church in Vysokoe gets photographed through the shrubbery and weeds that engulf it.

Somehow, even though Brumfield does not try to hide the buildings' dilapidated states, the rich architectural heritage and beauty of these largely unknown monuments becomes apparent. The perfect white medieval architecture of the "Church of Intercession on the Nerl," shows a splendor achieved through an uncommon restoration. The wooden Church of the Transfiguration in Kizhi, with its multiple cupolas typically identified with Russian architecture, was built in honor of Peter the Great's victories over the Swedes, and as such, majestically shows the competence of its artisans.

There is a certain purpose to Brumfield's atypical focus on these largely unknown architectural treasures. Just as westerners tend to focus more on the politics of the region, as viewed within the context of the select few well-known politicians, art historians also concern themselves with the architecture and art of the large cities, like St. Petersburg and Moscow. It is not in the lives of the great politicians, nor in the symbolic monumental architecture of the cities, that nuanced effects of real history can be observed. It is in these buildings, with their ravaged markings of the economics and politics of the region, and in the faces of the common people, that true historical perspective can be found. Brumfield states of his exhibition: "Through this integration of text and image, I hope to inform the public and thus contribute, where possible, to the restoration of these fragments of lost Russia."

12-10-97