Zolotoe runo, The
Golden Fleece, a monthly on art and
literature,
was one of Russia's most beautiful art and literary journals.
Founded in Moscow after the 1905 revolution, at the height of the
symbolist era, the journal was instrumental in introducing and
popularizing Western as well as native modernism in the arts.
It was financed by Nikolai Ryabushinskii
(1876-1951) and printed at the typographical institute of A.
Mamontov in which the railway giant Savva Mamontov was the most
important shareholder. The magazine was intended to succeed the famous
Mir Iskusstva [World of Art] magazine. A complete set consists
of 48 issues of
which the
issues
of the first
two
years were
almost twice
as big as the issues of the last two years. The contents dealt with
all manner of artistic and literary subjects. The journal’s debt to
Mir Iskusstva was obvious and it was at the time not uncommon
to come across a confusion of both journals. However,
The golden Fleece
was not a purely
art journal as Mir Iskusstva had been. And the greater place
given to literary works clearly distinguished it from its
predecessor. After an attempted suicide by Ryabushinskii in 1908,
the driving force behind the journal vanished and the journal was
closed in 1909.
The golden Fleece
deserves the credit for
recognizing the importance of Vrubel and Borisov-Musatov as founders
of the new tendencies in Russian art and presenting to the Russian
public Western modernism in the art of Gauguin and Matisse. The
great role of
The golden Fleece
in the development of Russian
modern art can not be overestimated as the Journal changed the
aesthetic currents of its time and promoted very exciting
exhibitions of its period. Zolotoe Runo deserves its
place firmly in
Russia’s Silver Age.
References:
-
W. Richardson, Zolotoe Runo and Russian Modernism. Ann Arbor 1986
- A. Brambatti,
Grafica Art
Nouveau nelle Riviste Russe, Firenze, 1989
- Moscow 2000, p. 33
