Nana in Russia: Painting and Popular Perception in the Early 1880s

• In Event: Art Exhibitions and Their Audiences, 1860–1930

Abstract

When Marceli Suchorowski displayed his painting Nana in Saint Petersburg and Moscow in 1881 and 1882, people from all walks of life thronged the one-work exhibition. Named for Emile Zola’s recently published novel, Nana depicts a naked courtesan reclining on a couch and gazing out at the viewer. This paper explores the outpouring of varied responses to Suchorowski’s painting—from thoughtful art criticism to ecstatic send-ups in the popular press and a pamphlet by a distraught parish priest. Was this art or pornography? Was it high culture or lowbrow boulevard theater? How could viewers who were new to the art of painting understand the hallowed tradition of the female nude, long consecrated as the pinnacle of artistic production? Examining the reception of Suchorowski’s Nana against the backdrop of Russian urban culture in the early 1880s sheds new light on the dissolution of social and artistic boundaries in this vibrant period.

Author

• Margaret Samu, The New School