Russian Beauty: National Art and Literature after the Soviet Union

Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Slavic Languages and Literatures

First Advisor

Bozovic, Marijeta

Abstract

This dissertation explores the intersection of aesthetics and nationalism in late- and post-Soviet Russia, focusing on the ways in which artists, poets, and cultural producers actively shaped nationalist ideology through an emphasis on beauty. Through an analysis of visual art, poetry, and performance, this study argues that the intertemporal period of mezhvremen’e—the ideological vacuum between the fall of communism and the arrival of capitalism—served as fertile ground for the redefinition of Russian identity. While previous scholarship has often framed the 1990s as a rupture from Soviet cultural traditions, this dissertation contends that the period instead revealed deep continuities with Soviet artistic discourse.The New Academy of Fine Arts, founded by Timur Novikov in 1989, serves as a central case study, illustrating how beauty was reimagined as both an aesthetic and ideological framework for national self-determination. Novikov’s turn to neo-classicism—positioned between Socialist Realism and postmodernist irony—laid the foundation for an artistic movement that would later resonate with conservative and neo-imperialist rhetoric in Putin’s Russia. Likewise, the work of Georgii Gurianov reveals how Socialist Realist aesthetics were adapted and depoliticized, only to be subsequently rebranded as a conservative, nationalist style. Timur Kibirov’s poetry similarly engages with nostalgia and beauty as vehicles for cultural memory, reinforcing traditional values through the lyrical revival of Russian artistic heritage. Finally, the dissertation examines the performative aspect of Russian national identity through the drag art of Vladislav Mamyshev-Monro, whose impersonations of historical figures functioned as both critique and reinforcement of nationalist imagery. By tracing the transformation of beauty from an avant-garde, subversive tool to an aesthetic weapon of cultural conservatism, this dissertation re-evaluates the role of artists in shaping post-Soviet nationalism. It argues that the aestheticization of nationalism—rather than purely political or military forces—played a crucial role in the ideological reconfiguration of post-Soviet Russian identity. The embrace of beauty, once seen as a liberating force, ultimately became complicit in the resurgence of nationalist and neo-imperialist currents, underscoring the complex and often paradoxical relationship between art and ideology in post-Soviet Russia.

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