Educational Media Reviews Online

Based upon the documentary, Hermitage Dwellers, this 5 part series, devotes more attention to specific events in the history of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Hermitage Dwellers focuses more on the individuals who work in the museum.

Images of Russia bring to mind a vast, slow moving land, filled with tragedy and triumph on a grand scale. This documentary evokes that imagery. It opens with scenes of both visitors and employees on a typical day at the Hermitage Museum in 2003. Winding through the galleries, you see the glory, the splendor, the magnitude of the Hermitage Museum. Then the camera focuses in on several individual employees, young and old, allowing them to express their connection to the Hermitage Museum. The common theme found in each person’s reason for working at the Hermitage Museum is the peace and redemption they have found amidst the insaneness of the outside world. The documentary shows the interplay of politics on art, the effect of art on the individual and showcases the history of a great museum through oral history interviews.

The first episode (A Glimmer in the Eye) starts slowly, working its way around the museum, peeking in at individuals working or visiting. There are lots of excellent visual shots of artwork, however they are not identified. Eventually it brings in the personal viewpoints of Hermitage Museum workers. The first person to talk about her connection to the Hermitage Museum is Valentina Barbashova, a former nuclear engineer. After she lost her job, she came to the Hermitage. She talks about her life before, the changes she has experienced in Russian society and her place now at the Hermitage Museum. A young man (Vadim Kuptsov) who served in the Russian army in Azerbaijan mentions the horror of the bloodshed he saw and how the Hermitage Museum has been a sanctuary, a place of healing for him. A third Hermitage-nik (Yuna Zek) says that in the Hermitage Museum there is “no murder, no viciousness” and then recounts the story of the murder of her father under Stalin’s policies.

The second episode (Guardian Angels) focuses first on a woman (Alexandra Kutsova) who has been saving religious icons since the 1930’s. Interspersed with footage of the icons she managed to save is archival footage of churches being destroyed, and icons being burned. Alexandra’s oral history is followed by the story of the attack and defacement of Rembrandt’s Danae in 1985. Yuna Zek, a curator, recounts how as she walked by the Danae, she thought that it was bleeding. A man had thrown sulfuric acid against the canvas and the paint was dissolving. The process of saving and restoring the Danae is described, with photos of both before and during the current restoration.

The third episode (Empty Frames) follows Olga Bogdanova as she recounts stories of the Hermitage Museum during WWII. The evacuation of valuable works, and the people who stayed to protect what remained. Again there are some excellent archival films and photos of air raids on St. Petersburg, Russian soldiers helping to move artwork to a safer place, and what the Hermitage Museum looked like stripped of contents. Other memories of the cold, the starvation, and the war are discussed but it is clear that those who lived through these times do not want to revisit them.

The fourth episode (Silent Sabotage) recounts the secret sales of Hermitage Museum masterpieces by Stalin. Over 40 classical masterpieces were taken from the Hermitage Museum by the KGB at night and sold to western collections during the 1920s. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is referred to as the “Little Hermitage” since so many of the art works ended up there. The Hermitage-niks risked being sent to work camps if they tried to stop the removal of art works and the official Party line was “It did not happen.” After Stalin’s death, artwork that had been banished slowly started making a reappearance. Impressionist and Post Impressionist art work had been declared degenerate, but by the 1960s, the curators pushed the limits and mounted an exhibition of ‘degenerate’ art. The exhibition was saved, ironically, by Vladimir Lenin’s comments about the importance of the Impressionist collection made back in the 1910s.

The fifth and final episode (The Remains of an Era) is the slowest moving of the five. It starts out with the Head of Acquisitions (Oleg Neverov) looking over a jewelry pin brought in by a woman who needs to sell it. He evaluates the pin, explains its significance and then tells her that it is not Hermitage Museum quality. The film then focuses on Catherine the Great and her passion for collecting art. Special attention is paid to her cameo collection and the Peacock clock. There are scenes with schoolchildren visiting the Hermitage Museum and its importance in Russian history, especially the Russian Revolution.

There are 5 episodes presented on two VHS cassettes. Each episode can be viewed independently of each other. There is a short pause between segments, marking transition points. The cinematography is clear and crisp, the sound is excellent. Most of the interviews are in Russian with English subtitles. The subtitles are short and easy to read although it seems that they are not complete translations of the responses. If you have an interest in art history, Soviet or Russian history, or the effect of politics on art, this documentary will provide much to think about and to discuss.

Awards

• Grand Prize, Montreal Festival of Films on Art, 2006 Winner, Best Cultural Program, Dutch Academy Awards, 2003