The world history of arts and the development of Soviet historical science of the 1930s: On publishing the History of Western European Art textbook (1940)
Authors:   Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sapanzha Olga S. ,   Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Published: October 2024

The article describes how the first study guide in the Soviet art science – History of Western European Art (3rd – 20th centuries): A Brief Course – was created. Its team of authors included the leading scientists – professors of the Department of the Art History of the Middle Ages and the Modern Period of the All-Russian Academy of Arts – Nikolay Punin, Aleksandr Gushchin, Mikhail Dobroklonskiy, Vera Belyavskaya, and Valentin Brodskiy. The study guide was published by the Iskusstvo editorial house in 1940, and for some years it became the main textbook for students at art faculties. In the 1930s, the Soviet art science was forming actively, strengthened by the processes of institutionalization: emergence of independent departments and faculties of art theory and history. In 1935, the AllRussian Academy of Arts established the Department of the History of Arts and in 1937 the Faculty of Art History (later the Faculty of Art Theory and History). In this context, the study of the history of forming the educational space (including the first independent study literature) is of a scientific interest. The history of the writing of this study book also reflects general processes, which occurred in the historical science in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and influenced all fields related to the historical knowledge. After the Politbureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks issued an order about history in 1934, organizations held a number of events to discuss its provisions and arrange the historical block of the science in compliance with the new course. Discussions about the new courses of historical art science were conducted in the All-Russian Academy of Arts. The study guide of 1940 appeared, to some degree, to be a result of these discussions and showed new principles of understanding the historical development of the art of painting. The article for the first time shows the materials of the discussions on the problems of art history in relation to the order on history and discussions of the structure and tasks of the study guide for the history of art in Western Europe. The materials are stored in the Research Archives under the Russian Academy of Arts. Most of them are first introduced into scientific discourse and allow distinguishing three stages in the development of the Soviet historical art science of the 1930s. The first stage was a wide discussion of new principles in studying the history of arts (1935–1936). The main result of the second stage was the institutionalization of training for art scientists. The third stage is related to the creation of a number of study literature materials (1938–1940) that reflected the new course in understanding the laws of art history development and aimed at training art historians who would be responsible in the future for educational work with the population.