Opinion article
My impression then, as now, is that Putin fundamentally regards Russian culture as indisputable proof of superiority.
I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to bow or extend my hand in greeting when I found myself face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019. I ended up settling for an awkward combination of the two.
Shortly after arriving at a black-tie dinner in Moscow, my companion and translator introduced me to Putin as an expert in Byzantine Christian art. To my astonishment, the mention of my specialty brightened Putin’s impassive expression. He insisted that I visit Moscow Annunciation Cathedralwhich has, in its main vault, icons of the Byzantine painter Theophanes the Greek.
Later that evening, I was asked to move from my perch near the end of a long mahogany table to the now vacant one in the center. Right in front of Putin. I could feel the blood roaring in my ears as I sat up, shaking.
“The president would like to know more about your study of Christian art,” a woman to my left said with an icy smile. “And what do you think about Russia’s rich artistic history.” An uneasy feeling ran down my spine.
The tip of the iceberg
Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 reminded us that one way to destroy a people is to destroy and pillage their culture. During the conflict, the Donetsk Regional Museum of Local History was hit 15 times by anti-tank missiles. The blitz destroyed approximately 30 percent of the museum’s collection, meaning that some 45,000 artistic and archaeological treasures have been lost. As part of this large-scale invasion, which lasts only two weeks, Russian troops have already burned the Ivankiv Museum.
The annexation of Crimea also demonstrated the Russian state’s propensity to plundering of material culture, notably treasures linked to Russian history or the Orthodox Church. According to a Ukrainian ministry, at least a million archaeological objects were transported from Crimea to Russia in the years following the invasion. A coordinated looting effort of this magnitude would likely have required Putin’s approval.
Today, Russian forces occupy the vast Donbass region in southeastern Ukraine. Donetsk, the region de facto capital, is home to more than 140 museums. Donetsk Regional Art Museum contains rare Byzantine icons alone and many later icons that employ the Byzantine iconographic style. Based on my limited interaction with Putin, I’m almost certain he will want these treasures on Russian soil.
THE Kharkiv Art Museum eastern Ukraine is another target Putin may have his eye on, given his 11 paintings by a prolific Russian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930). Retrieving auction results up to $7.3 millionRepin’s work is exhibited in prestigious Russian institutions such as the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum.
Russian President Vladimir Putin with billionaire businessman Viktor Vekselberg in June 2019. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Taking over Imperial Russia
Putin’s rise to the Russian presidency at the turn of the century coincided with a concerted effort to reacquire the Romanov treasures sold by the Bolsheviks in the 1920s and 1930s. Viktor Vekselberg, one of Putin’s favorite oligarchs, with a net worth of approximately $9.3 billionled the charge with his Bullish collection of Fabergé imperial Easter eggs.
Vekselberg now owns more Imperial Eggs than any other individual, having purchased nine from the Forbes publishing family in 2004 for a sum the staggering sum of $100 million. Eggs, which include very first product in 1885, by order of Tsar Alexander III, were immediately transported to Russia and exhibited in the Kremlin.
Two years later, Vekselberg and his Link of Times Foundation authorization granted by the Kremlin to rent and restore 18th century buildings Shuvalov Palace in St. Petersburg to function as a museum in the style of the Hermitage, once the winter palace of the tsars. In 2013, Vekselberg opened his Faberge Museum and achieved his goal of returning the Imperial Eggs to their hometown.
Putin’s affinity for Fabergé persists. He publicly gifted the sumptuous Hermitage Museum Rothschild Fabergé egg clock to mark the museum’s 250th anniversary in 2014. While Putin was making the official presentation, the Rothschild egg was actually acquired by Russian oligarch Alexander Ivanov for a sum of money. a record $14 million at Christie’s London in 2007. By gifting the egg to the Hermitage Museum during its jubilee, Putin masterfully intertwined its image with the imperial heritage of the museum and Fabergé. In November I saw the egg on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London as part of its sold-out exhibition.Fabergé in London: from romance to revolution.”
Following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, several Russian oligarchs were sanctioned by the United States and the European Union. In 2020, the United States publicly accused oligarch brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, both billionaires and Putin’s judo partners, of purchasing high-value art for make fake money despite American sanctions.
The current fear is that other oligarchs will employ similar tactics to escape the latest wave of tougher sanctions. imposed in recent weeks. There is even greater fear that material culture looted from Ukraine could be sold on the illicit art market, which UNESCO estimates is worth nearly 10 billion dollars per year.
Yves Delhommeau, general director of the Grévin Museum, packs a wax statue of Russian President Vladimir Putin before it is stored in the reserve, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photo by Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty Images.
What the West can do
Looking back on my surreal evening in Moscow, what stands out most is the fervor with which Putin spoke of Russia’s “unprecedented cultural heritage.” It was mind-boggling to hear the Russian president talk about large art deposits, sounding more like a parent boasting about having a gifted child than the impartial politician I had seen on the news.
His mouth flattened into a thin line when he learned that I had not yet visited St. Petersburg. Faberge Museum. Still, he smiled with amusement when I suggested this Carl Faberge may have helped create the infamous Botkin Enamels acquired by a collector from St. Petersburg Deputy Botkinand I pointedly noted that I knew quite a bit about “someone from Canada.”
My companion later told me it was a compliment: Putin apparently considers North America to have a lesser artistic heritage. Clearly, the Russian president sees cultural heritage as an area in which Russia outperforms other nations in a geopolitical version of “my horse is bigger than yours.”
My impression then, as now, is that Putin fundamentally regards the wonders of Russian museums as indisputable proof of his nation’s superiority. And I fear with all my heart that he will enrich them with treasures seized in Ukraine with a sense of entitlement.
Given what is already lost, the art world must redouble its efforts to help Ukraine safeguard its artistic heritage. Specialists from all fields should liaise with their Ukrainian colleagues and Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative help establish official master catalogs of culturally significant works of art. With the websites of many Ukrainian museums now offline, detailed inventories will prove invaluable for future restitution efforts.
It is also the responsibility of the Ministers of Culture of the countries which have directly sanctioned Putin (the US, UK, Canada, Japan and the EU) to announce the end of all cultural exchanges with the Russian state. Spain, in particular, should definitively abandon its plans to Satellite of the Hermitage Museum in Barcelona. There is no reason to export and promote the emblems of Russian imperialism.
The Western art world is not an island, nor is it spared from the carnage in Ukraine. In the words of the English poet John Given: “And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it weighs on you.
Maya Asha McDonald is a writer, art historian and advisor on cultural restitution. She holds an MA from the University of St Andrews, specializing in art history and business statistics, and an MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, specializing in Christian art and Byzantine Islamic.
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