“All Roads Lead to Buenos Aires”: The Russian Presence in Argentine Art in the Context of Social Transformations

This article describes some episodes of the Russian presence in Argentine space that coincided with key stages of Russia's history. The stories of the ‘Russian world’ in Argentina, material and spiritual, which are now, unfortunately, being lost and forgotten, are numerous, including the most unexpected ones. But in this interdisciplinary study, at the intersection of history and cultural studies, we are interested in the role of the human being and arts in the critical historical epochs. History and culture are intertwined in the fates of people who, despite social and personal upheavals, continue to live and create. We look at some famous names, important for Argentine and Russian history and culture. This article is based on field research and the author's personal experiences and searches. The sources were Argentine newspapers and magazines from 1930—1950, parish documents from Orthodox churches in Argentine, exhibition catalogues on Russian art found by the author from private collections in Buenos Aires, and memoirs and oral histories of Russian immigrants. A number of monographs and academic studies published in Argentina and Russia also formed the scientific basis of the narrative. The author uses textual, historical and comparative analyses of the facts presented. Art and culture are now becoming the platform on which it is possible to find mutual understanding, and the Latin American continent, unfortunately, is often out of the attention of Russian researchers and needs a deep study. The work to identify the Russian heritage in a distant land must continue; it is important not for Argentina, but for Russia. There are many unknown pages to be opened and discoveries still to be made and described, what allow to continue building a bridge of cultural co-operation between the two countries.