Shamanic elements in some early eighteenth century Russian woodcuts

Author

Farrell, Dianne E.

Document type

Article (journal)

Language

English

Source

Slavic review. 1993, Num. 4, Vol. 52, 725-744, 4 ill.

ISSN

0037-6779

Abstract (en)

While several authorities have held that the shamanism of indigenous Finno-Ugric and Turkic peoples influenced the Russians with whom they lived in close proximity, particularly via pagan Slavic volkhvy or sorcerers, little concrete evidence of that influence persisting in the 17th or 18th cs. has been discovered. However, several early-18th c. woodcuts (lubki) which refer to sorcery reveal concrete links to shamanic cosmology and practice in what are otherwise enigmatic textual references and visual symbols. These prints may attest to the presence of a volkhv-shamanic tradition among an economically well-off segment of the population in the time of Peter the Great, for it can be shown that the earliest lubki were expensively produced. This interpretation belies earlier readings of lubki as political satire, which have become increasingly unsatisfactory for contemporary scholars.

Subject (en)

• General history of art -- 1400-1800 -- Pictorial arts -- Prints and illustration -- Russian Federation
• Lubki
• Russian Federation
• 1700-1800
• Iconography
• Shamanism
• Upper classes

Subject (fr)

• Histoire générale de l'art -- 1400-1800 -- Peinture et arts graphiques -- Estampe et illustration -- Russie, Fédération de
• Lubok
• Russie, Fédération de
• 1700-1800
• Iconographie
• Chamanisme
• Classe aisée

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier19940701-00345249

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