A. Kudriavtceva. Folk Performances as a Museum Trend in the Early 20th Century: Back to the Romaskevich Collection of Persian Photographs

Anna Kudriavtceva 

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia
E–mail: kudriavtsevaa@mail.ru

Folk Performances as a Museum Trend in the Early 20th Century:
Back to the Romaskevich Collection of Persian Photographs

Abstract. The present article is a continuation of a series of works devoted to the study of the collections of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, in relation to the diversity of the Islamic world. Alexander Romaskevich (1885—1942), a student of Valentin Zhukovsky (1858—1918), a prominent specialist in Iranian studies of the St. Petersburg School of Oriental Studies, donated to the MAE several collections that he had brought from Iran in 1908 and 1912—1914. The collections include postcards and photographs, most of which were taken by Antoin Sevruguin (1851—1933), a renowned photographer at the Qajar court. Romaskevich's collections complement his study of the folklore of the peoples of Iran and Iranian dialectology. The interest in Persian daily life was largely connected with the implementation of the ideas of the Narodnik movement in the social, cultural and intellectual space of Russia. An important part of Romaskevich's collections is a series of works depicting traditional Iranian folk performances and their participants. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there was a great interest in the art of folk entertainment. This interest was given new impetus by the Revolution of 1917, which placed folk culture at the forefront of intellectual and artistic activity. Young Soviet researchers such as Yuriy Marr (1893—1935) and Roman Galunov (1893—1938) actively continued to study Iranian daily life. Experimental ethnographic theatres that existed in Moscow and Petrograd / Leningrad in the 1920s and 1930s used reconstructions of folk performances within the framework of the most modern museum technologies of the time.

Keywords: archival documents, Safavids, ‘Abbas II, Sulayman, Sultan Husayn, Maryam Bigum

Acknowledgments. The work was produced as part of the three‑year scientific programme, entitled “Russia — the West — the Islamic World: Conflicts and Interactions in Competitive Paradigms of Spatial Development (Historical, Cultural, Museum and Archival Sources)”. It forms part of the research direction “Ethnic History and Diversity of the Cultural Heritage of the Islamic World in Historical Dynamics” which has been pursued by the “International Centre for Islamic Studies” of the MAE RAS since its establishment.

DOI: 10.31250/1238-5018-2024-30-2-80-96

References

• Balslev, S. (2019), Iranian Masculinities: Gender and Sexuality in Late Qajar and Early Pahlavi Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bertel's, E. E. (1924), Persidskii teatr [Persian Theatre], Leningrad: Academia.
• Bertel's, E. E. (1988), “Persidskii teatr” [“Persian theatre”], in G. Yu. Aliev & N. I. Prigarina (eds.), Izbrannye trudy. Istoria literatury i kul'tury Irana [A Selection of Works. History of Iranian Literature and Culture], Moscow: Nauka, pp. 420—517.
• Chudakov, A. P. (1985), “Bytopisatel' i sobiratel' zhivogo slova” [“The narrator of daily life and collector of the living word”], in: E. P. Ivanov, Metkoe moskovskoe slovo [Accurate Moscow Word], Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii, pp. 6—40.
• DeSouza, W. (2020), “Race, slavery and domesticity in late Qajar chronicles”, Iranian Studies, vol. 53 , Iss. 5—6, pp. 821—845.
• Ebrahimbay Salami, Gh. & Mahmoudi, M. (2022), “Thick description of Ashura rituals in Iran: case study of the Nakhl‑gardani ritual”, International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, vol. 10, Iss. 3, pp. 128—143.
• Fatemi, S. (2005), “Music, festivity, and gender in Iran from the Qajar to the early Pahlavi period”, Iranian Studies, vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 399—416.
• Galunov, R. A. (1926), “Zurkhana — atleticheskaia arena Persii” [“Zurkhana, the athletic arena of Persia”], Iran: Sbornik statei,book 1, Leningrad: AN SSSR, pp. 87—110.
• Galunov, R. A. (1928), “Pahlavan Kachal — persidskii teatr petrushki” [“Pahlavan Kachal, the Persian theatre of Petrushka”], Iran: Sbornik statei, book 2, Leningrad: AN SSSR, pp. 25—74.
• Galunov, R. A. (1929a), “Khayma shab bazi — persidskii teatr marionetok” [“Khayma shab bazi, the Persian theatre of marionettes”], Iran: Sbornik statei, book 3, Leningrad: AN SSSR, pp. 1—50.
• Galunov, R. A. (1929b), “Ma‘rika Giri”, Iran: Sbornik statei, book 3, Leningrad: AN SSSR, pp. 94—106.
• Galunov, R. A. (1929c), “Neskol'ko slov o perspektivah sobiraniia materialov po fol'kloru i teatru v Persii” [“A few words about the prospects for collecting materials on folklore and theatre in Persia”], Doklady Akademii nauk SSSR, Leningrad: AN SSSR, pp. 307—312.
• Galunov, R. A. (1936), “Narodnyi teatr Irana” [“Folk theatre of Iran”], Sovetskaia etnografiia, Nos. 4—5, pp. 55—83.
• Gorky, M. (1919), “Instsenirovka istorii kul'tury” [“Staging of cultural history”], Zhizn' iskusstva, No. 251, p. 2.
• Klimov, G. & Juniverg, L. (1982), “SSSR na Parizhskoi vystavke 1925 goda. Po arkhivnym i pechatnym materialam 20‑kh gg.” [“The USSR at the 1925 Paris Exhibition. Based on archival and printed documents from the 1920s”], in M. Z. Dolinin (ed.), Panorama iskusstv, Iss. 5, Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, pp. 66—87.
• Krasnodembskaya, N. G. (2024), “Lektsii‑predstavleniia ‘Uroki indiiskoi kul'tury’ v MAE v kontse XX v. (k poiskam novykh form prosvetitel'skoi raboty s posetiteliami muzeia)” [“Lectures and presentations ‘Lessons of Indian Culture’ at the MAE in the late 20th century (in search of new forms of educational work with museum visitors)”], in I. Yu. Kotin, L. I. Kulikov & E. S. Soboleva (eds.), Maitrikusumañjali “Tsvety druzhby v ladoniakh”: Sbornik nauchnykh statei i materialov v chest' Niny Georgievny Krasnodembskoi,St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie, pp. 35—48.
• Kudriavtceva, A. (2022), “Ethnographic сollections of Yuriy and Sophia Marr at Peter the Great Kunstkamera”, Manuscripta Orientalia, vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 77—91.
• Kudriavtceva, A. (2023), “Ephemera in the Kunstkamera: the Romaskevich Collection of Persian postcards”, Manuscripta Orientalia, vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 38—44.
• Literatura Vostoka: sbornik statei v 2 vypuskakh [Literature of the East: A Collection of Articles in 2 Issues] (1919), Iss. 1, St. Petersburg: “Vsemirnaia literatura” pri Narodnom komissariate po prosveshcheniiu.
• Literatura Vostoka: sbornik statei v 2 vypuskakh [Literature of the East: A Collection of Articles in 2 Issues] (1920), Iss. 2, St. Petersburg: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'svo.
• Mahdavi, Sh. (2007), “Amusements in Qajar Iran”, Iranian Studies, vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 483—499.
• Marr, S. M. (1970), “Muharram (Shiitskie misterii kak perezhitok drevnih peredneaziatskih kul'tov)” [“Muharram (the mystery of Shī‘a as a relic of ancient Asiatic cults”], in N. A. Kislyakov (ed.), Tradiсionnaia kul'tura narodov Perednei i Srednei Azii. Series: Sbornik Muzeia antropologii i etnografii, vol. 26, Leningrad: Nauka, pp. 313—366.
• Nikolaicheva, E. P. (1970), “Opisanie kollekcionnyh predmetov po shiitskomu kul'tu” [“Description of collection items on the Shо‘a cult”], in N. A. Kislyakov (ed.), Tradiсionnaia kul'tura narodov Perednei i Srednei Azii. Series: Sbornik Muzeia antropologii i etnografii,vol. 26, Leningrad: Nauka, pp. 367—383.
• Nosik, B. M. (2010), S Nevskogo na Monparnas (Russkie khudozhniki‑miriskusniki za rubezhom) [From Nevsky Prospect to Montparnasse (Russian Members of the World of Art Abroad)], St. Petersburg: Kosta.
• Rezvan, E. A. (2016), Turkestan, “My World of Islam” Series, vol. 1, St. Petersburg; Almaty: KMBH.
• Rezvan, E. (2017), “St. Petersburg Kunstkamera on‑line catalogues. III. Towards the description of Anton Sevruguin photographic collection (dervishes images)”, Manuscripta Orientalia, vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 29—39.
• Rezvan, E. (2022), Abissinskii kalam. Materialy ekspeditsii Nikolaia Gumileva po islamu i islamskoi knizhnosti Vostochnoi Afriki [Abyssinian Kalam. Nikolai Gumilyov Expedition Materials on Islam and Islamic Penmanship in East Africa], “My World of Islam” Series, vol. 2, St. Petersburg: PMIK.
• Rezvan, M. (ed.) (2019), Russkii orientalizm (nauka, iskusstvo, kollekcii) [Russian Orientalism (Science, Art, Collections)], St. Petersburg: MAE RAN.
• Romaskevich, A. A. (trans.) (1934), Persidskie narodnye skazki [Persian Folk Tales], Moscow; Leningrad: Academia.
• Shaw, C. D. (2023), “The many nationalities of Tamara Khanum: friendship of the peoples at home, abroad, and within”, The Russian Review, vol. 82, iss. 3, pp. 433—452.
• Smirnova, T. M. (2016), “Fol'klornyi teatr V. Vsevolodskogo (Eksperimental'nyi i Etnograficheskii teatry v Leningrade)” [“Folklore theatre of V. Vsevolodsky (experimental and ethnographic theatres in Leningrad)”], Klio, No. 10(118), pp. 154—174.
• Zamiatin, D. N. (2015), “Obraz Skifii: Prostranstvo i nasledie” [“The image of Scythia: space and heritage”], in T. N. Jakson, I. G. Konovalova & A. V. Podosinov (eds.), Skifiia: Obraz i istoriko‑kul'turnoe nasledie. Materialy konferenсii 26—28 oktiabria 2015 g., Moscow: Institut vseobshchei istorii RAN, pp. 37—41.

Received by the Editorial Board: 19.02.2024