On Saturday, January 17, Dr. William Craft Brumfield presented “The Russian Art of Building in Wood. Part I: From the Tsars to Dostoevsky” as a part of the Russian History Museum’s Second Saturday online lecture series.

Enjoy a surprising view of wooden structures in high culture, from palaces built by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the Sheremetevs to wooden retreats in the provinces, from Pushkin to Dostoevsky and Chekhov. “Whatever the outward appearance, underneath they are all sturdy log walls!”—Dr. Brumfield explains.

About the Speaker

William Craft Brumfield is Professor of Slavic Studies at Tulane University. Brumfield, who began photographing Russia in 1970, is the foremost authority in the West on Russian architecture. He is the author, editor, and photographer of numerous books, including From Forest to Steppe: The Russian Art of Building in Wood,  Journeys through the Russian Empire: The Photographic Legacy of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, Architecture at the End of the Earth: Photographing the Russian North and Lost Russia: Photographing the Ruins of Russian Architecture, published by Duke University Press. Brumfield is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and was a Fellow at the National Humanities Center. In 2002 he was elected to the State Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences, and in 2006 he was elected to the Russian Academy of Fine Arts. He is also the 2014 recipient of the D. S. Likhachev Prize for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of Russia. In 2019 he was awarded the Russian state Order of Friendship medal—the highest decoration of the Russian Federation given to foreign nationals—for his study and promotion of Russia’s cultural legacy. Brumfield’s photographs of Russian architecture have been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums and are part of the Image Collections at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.