Stephen A. Schwarzman Building > Exhibitions

Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825

From October 3, 2003 through January 31, 2004
D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall (First Floor) and Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery (First Floor)
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788 (directions)

See related Online Exhibition.

Companion Volume

Through a selection of approximately 230 rare works on paper, drawn from the collections of twelve New York Public Library divisions, the exhibition traces Russia’s interaction with Europe, Asia and the Americas during its rise from relative isolation to global empire. All of the materials on view date from 1453 to 1825 and nearly a third are in languages other than Russian. The exhibition places Russia in a global cultural context and stresses the exchange of ideas within and outside of its borders.

Among the works on view, many of which are being exhibited for the first time, will be several of the oldest extant Cyrillic liturgical and scriptural illuminated manuscripts in the United States, as well as early printed books, woodcuts, engravings, watercolors, and maps. A small selection of objects from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Schaffer Family Collection of the firm A La Vieille Russie, and the American Numismatic Society will complement works on paper from the Library’s collections; a painting of Abraham and Isaac from the workshop of Rembrandt will be on loan from the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia. The Europeanized, educated, and outward-looking "new" Russia of Peter the Great (r. 1689-1725) is depicted in magnificent and extremely rare engravings of the new capital of St. Petersburg. The dynamic and enlightened reign of Catherine the Great (r. 1762-96) is reflected in both the writings of an indigenous Russian legal, scholarly, and literary community, as well as her own legislative and artistic works. Also included is visual documentation of cultures and peoples encountered by Russian explorers during her reign and in the early years of the 19th century.

A fully illustrated companion volume with essays by the curators and by scholars who are also consultants to the exhibition will be published by Harvard University Press. The Library’s programming in conjunction with the exhibition will include a symposium, a lecture series, a film series, and a website.

This exhibition coincides with the worldwide commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703.

A revised version of the exhibition presented at the Library in spring 2004 contains a number of items not part of the original presentation, including several spectacular items acquired by the Library in 2003.

Press Release