Medvedev, Sarkozy Celebrate ‘Holy Russia’ at Louvre: Review

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Some 20 years ago, the new exhibition at the Louvre in Paris would have been unthinkable.

In the Soviet Union, stubborn Christians were locked up in mental hospitals and churches had been blasted or turned -- as it happened to Leningrad’s largest cathedral -- into a “Museum of Scientific Atheism.”

Today, Leningrad is again named St. Petersburg, and, at the Louvre, Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy last week opened “Holy Russia,” a vast show of icons, reliquaries, psalters, chasubles and other sacred objects. The Russian leader also bought four French amphibious assault ships on the side.

The exhibition is sponsored by three gas companies, OAO Gazprom, Total SA and GDF Suez, another indication that cultural exchange might not have been the only thing the organizers had in mind.

The 400 items on display present, as the show’s subtitle says, “Russian Art From the Beginnings to Peter the Great,” a period of roughly 700 years.

Christianity came to Russia via Byzantium, which explains the overwhelming influence of Byzantine culture. The outstanding monument of the early period, the 11th-century Cathedral of Santa Sophia in Kiev, was built by Greek workers.

Painting was virtually confined to icons representing God, the saints and biblical events in a formulaic, highly stylized way. As in Western Europe, the Virgin was a favorite subject; her images were believed to have supernatural powers.

After the Mongol invasion and the fall of Kiev in 1240, Russia’s cultural capital moved to Novgorod in the unoccupied north. Two years later, in 1242, the city had to defend itself against another invader, the Teutonic Order.

Prince and Saint

The prince’s forces defeated that enemy on the ice of Lake Peipus, a victory celebrated in Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 movie “Alexander Nevsky” with music by Prokofiev. At the Louvre, you can see a shroud portraying the national hero whom the Orthodox Church promptly canonized.

Another Soviet movie, Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev” (1966), reached the West only in a heavily censored version. The authorities were disturbed by the provocative treatment of an artist who is considered to be Russia’s greatest medieval painter.

Rublev’s masterpiece, the icon of the Old Testament Trinity, hasn’t left Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery. What you can see is the gorgeous “oklad,” an ornate bas-relief studded with precious stones and pearls, that covered the three angels except for their faces, hands and feet.

Ivan’s Massacre

In 1570, Ivan IV (1530-84) destroyed Novgorod, massacred its inhabitants and deported the survivors. Ivan, who married seven times, outdoing even Henry VIII, was the first ruler of Moscow who adopted the title of “Czar.”

The show includes the only work -- a richly decorated helmet with a pointed top -- that can be clearly linked with the man who, for good reason, was dubbed “the Terrible.”

After the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, Moscow had become the capital of the Orthodox world -- the “Third Rome,” as the city liked to fancy itself. The new self-assurance is visible in the style of the icons: Muscovite types and native costumes appear; the colors are more vivid.

The Stroganovs, a family of rich merchants and land owners, are best known for the beef dish that bears the family name -- strips of steak filet served in a sauce of shallots, wine and sour cream. They were also patrons of the arts: Their name is linked to a school of icon painting famous for its Mannerist elegance and elaborate treatment of detail. There are several sublime examples in the Paris show.

Peter the Great (1672-1725) changed the course of Russian art. He not only founded St. Petersburg as a “Door to the West”; he also imported large numbers of Western architects, artists and craftsmen. The Church was placed under the supervision of the state.

One of the last items in the show is a lithograph portraying an “Old Believer” whose beard, the sign of traditional piety, is cut off by a policeman.

“Sainte Russie,” the most important event in a yearlong “Annee France-Russie 2010,” runs through May 24. Details: http://www.louvre.fr and http://www.france-russie2010.fr.

(Jorg von Uthmann is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Jorg von Uthmann in Paris at uthmann@wanadoo.fr.