Soviet Emigre Artists: Life and Work in the USSR and the United States. by MarilynRueschemeyer; Igor Golomshtok; Janet KennedyReview by: Stephen C. FeinsteinSlavic Review, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Winter, 1986), pp. 773-774Published by:Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2498379 .

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Reviews 773

since that enterprise consisted of a number of highly insightful essays that were never fully developed into a consistent, systematic theory. As a second, less striking case in point, to say that Mukairovsky's "anthropological constant"-an engaging but only minimally developed concept-"introduced a principle of order in the evolution of norms" (p. 170) also appears exaggerated, if for no other reason than that this idea again represents another seemingly fruitful notion in need of further elaboration. As Galan acknowledges: "Mukatovsk' at no time tried to write a structuralist summa which would bring his partial efforts-in linguistics, poetics, semiotics, aesthetics-under the roof of a single unified theoretical construction" (p. 175). So the fully engaged reader of Mukarovsk' is confronted with an emergent but incomplete theory that one may well wish to round off or sum up. Such appears to be the monumental task undertaken in the book at hand. But however notable that task, the reader is bound to harbor certain misgivings in being presented a description of a potentialy magnificent canvas on the basis of a number of ambitious ar.d, indeed, productive sketches, although from these much further creative thinking has surely emerged, as the book at hand admirably demonstrates.

On rare occasion, the reader appears shortchanged. Rather than fill in further points of possible contention regarding Mukairovsky's thought, the author observes that "This is not the place to enter into that protracted debate" (p. 121), thus cutting off the discussion. On other, perhaps less justifiable occasions, one is obliged to wade through lengthy discussion of some rather obscure material. For example, the extended, six-page overview of Jakobson's historical analysis of Hussite poetry-"despite the quaintness of this remote subject for the English-speaking reader" (p. 127)-or the many pages devoted to Mukatovsk"'s assessment of Milota Zdirad Polak's (1788-1856) "The Sublimity of Nature," are cases in point. Notwithstanding the possible (at times debatable) pertinence to the subject and the evident argument that such material clearly comes with the territory, the problem highlights a crucial concern for Slavic studies in general: to opt for discussing parochial issues that may be too abstruse for the average Slavicist, let alone the interested generalist -or to present material that might attract (rather than discourage) mainstream theorists working in other fields. There are passages, in other words, that deal at length with problems of varying relevance implicity addressed to-and that can only be appre- ciated by-,. limited field of specialists. As a felicitous counterexample, one might point to the somewhat discursive but more generally engaging discussion of Slavic film theory of the thirties. These reservations, however, constitute a regret only that the work may not receive the wide audience it deserves. This is an excellent book that does its subject real credit.

DAVID K. DANOW University of South Carolina

SOVIET EMIGRE ARTISTS: LIFE AND WORK IN THE USSR AND THE UNITED STATES. By Marilyn Rueschemeyer, Igor Golomshtok, and Janet Kennedy. Armonk, N.Y., and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1985. xii, 170 pp. Illustrations. Cloth.

The patterns of emigre and exile Russian or Soviet culture are always interesting to study. They make up an especially useful area for the researcher by providing the opportunity to see aspects of an underground culture that might never surface in the USSR; or the culture can be viewed as something integrative that adapts itself to the new surrounding culture. On the other hand, the challenge of western culture, be it literary or artistic, can often be overwhelming, from the artistic as well as the financial end of the spectrum, resulting in personal tragedy for artists who felt themselves of great worth when they lived in adversity under the constraints of Soviet culture.

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774 Slavic Review

This work is a series of essays that attempts to provide a limited portrait of the problems connected with emigre artists in the United States. It does not pretend to be a study with a comprehensiveness that examines the entire "unofficial" art movement in the USSR or the fate of artists now living in Europe or Israel. Given these limitations, how- ever, the work provides a useful introduction to the problems of art in the Soviet Union and case studies of the absorption process for artists in the United States. Taken with earlier works on the evolution of Soviet art, this work suggests the need to study Soviet art and the problems connected with that study.

Marilyn Rueschemeyer has contributed two essays to the work-one dealing with the nature of emigration and the plight of artists in the Soviet Union, the other dealing with artists in the United States art scene. The information provided is useful for an under- standing not only of the art world, but also of the general vocational and psychological transition of all recent emigres. Rueschemeyer's method relies heavily on interviews with a limited number of artists and emigre critics. The results reflect the deep cultural chasm that divides the Soviet artist from his counterpart in the west. The discussions of style, the role of artists' unions, the nature of selling in the USSR, collegiality motivated by an individual's isolation, and the ideological content of art compared with the dynamics of "capitalist" art are important for understanding the deep difficulties of cultural trans- ference.

Igor Golomshtok's essay is significant, not for his discussion of individual artists, but for the process of artistic organization and bureaucratization during the Soviet period. Golomshtok goes through the process of artistic education on a step-by-step basis and provides a masterful analysis of the use and function of artistic propaganda and appro- priate "state orders" for official artists. Unofficial art from the post-Stalinist period is described in a conceptual way rather than in an extended discussion of the artists them- selves. This is a difficult subject to manage within the limits of this volume, and, while Golomshtok and Sasha Glezer have already written a major book on the subject (see Unofficial Art in the Soviet Union London, 1977), the definitive work on unofficial art has yet to be written.

Janet Kennedy concludes the analysis of emigres by commenting on the art scene in New York. She indicates that newcomer artists are roughly divided between those who paint traditional art and the avant-garde, with the latter group having relatively more success but still torn between cultures ("they deliberately choose 'to speak Russian in an English speaking society"') and without the moral authority they possessed in the Soviet context. Nevertheless, Kennedy is clear in noting that artists like Kosolapov, Komar and Melamid, the Gerlovins, Bakhchanyan, and Tupitsyn have made significant inroads into the New York art scene.

If this volume has a problem, it is only in comprehensiveness. A vital emigre art community exists in Israel and is wrestling with the dilemmas posed by the avant-garde and Jewish national art, while other emigre artists have set up shop in Paris, London, and Rome. A comprehensive work on this subject may never be possible, given the large number of artists and the unevenness of the artistic production. Nevertheless, the authors here have provided a strong basis for the study of emigre art to stand alongside other works dealing with emigre literature and music.

STEPHEN C. FEINSTEIN University of Wisconsin-River Falls

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