Dr. Louise Hardiman presented “Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna and the Martha-Mary Convent” on Saturday, May 14th as a part of our Second Saturday online lecture series.
In this lecture, the art and architecture of the convent and Elizaveta Feodorovna’s charitable work were discussed in the context of the Arts and Crafts movement. Drawing on her research on the national artistic revival in late imperial Russian art and the history of British-Russian relations, Dr. Hardiman explores the rich artistic history of the convent church and its cultural contexts.
The Second Saturday lecture series is supported in part with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to the New York State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
About the Speaker
Dr. Louise Hardiman is an independent scholar specializing in Russian and Soviet art. Her main research interests lie in the art and design of the late imperial period, women’s art, and the history of British-Russian cultural exchange. She has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is an Advisory Board member of the Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre.
Hardiman’s recent academic publications include Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art: New Perspectives (Open Book Publishers, 2017); “Abramtsevo and Its Legacies: Neo-National Art, Craft, and Design,” Experiment/
She has also published two books of Russian folk tales by the Arts and Crafts artist Elena Polenova: The Story of Synko-Filipko and other Russian Folk Tales (as translator) and Why the Bear Has No Tail and other Russian Folk Tales (as editor). Her latest book projects include a history of British interest in Russian art during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods and a study of the Russian Arts and Crafts movement focused on its links with the west.