Ekaterina Heath | The University of Sydney (original) (raw)

Book chapters by Ekaterina Heath

Russian Orientalism in a global context, 2013

This chapter proposes that the Russian Empire's attitude towards China remained ambiguous through... more This chapter proposes that the Russian Empire's attitude towards China remained ambiguous throughout the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, with the empress oscillating between critiquing China and seeking good relations with the Chinese emperor. Russian Orientalism served this ambiguity. More specifically, the cultural malleability of chinoiserie as a form of representation made the style particularly appealing in Russia-it was increasingly used to mediate the changing meanings of the East. Yet as with the deployment of the style in Europe, Russian chinoiserie often reveals more about Russian court culture and politics than it does about Russia's complex relationship with China. The distinction with Russian chinoiserie is that, as a style, it was neither Chinese nor European, which allowed the imperial court to define and promote the values and interests of the empress and the Russian state. Chinoiserie objects produced during Elisabeth Petrovna's reign also bring to light the hidden operations of gender in material culture of that period. In particular, many objects were deployed to facilitate the idea of gender plasticity.

Volume 4: A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century, Edited by Jennifer Milam, 2022

Between 1650 and 1800, the representation of plants in art shifted from the inclusion of religiou... more Between 1650 and 1800, the representation of plants in art shifted from the inclusion of religious references to the stimulation of secular reflections. In Medieval and Renaissance art, plants were largely included as didactic symbols tied to specific meanings outlined in the Bible and emblem books, which combine allegorical illustrations with explanatory text (Woldbye 1991: 46). From the mid-seventeenth century onward, plants were less often infused with narrative purpose. This change was driven in part by a new scepticism towards religion triggered by philosophical debates. In this regard, several aspects of Enlightenment thought had implications for the visual representation of plants during this period: the philosophical contemplation of a vegetal “soul”; the poetic endowment of noble status upon trees; the development of a science of botany, informed by voyages of discovery and exploration; and theories of aesthetics that revolved around a notion of beauty observed in nature, with flowers valued purely for their colors, shapes, and form. These shifts in thinking about plants were paralleled in visual representations by an artistic treatment that urged viewers to contemplate plants for reasons other than interpretive readings based on inherited symbolism, even while such meanings continued to circulate and be adapted to social and historical changes. When considering the visual representation of plants, it is therefore useful to explore not only what plants mean in the context of a particular subject matter, but also how the plants were handled visually to stimulate responses tied to and informed by Enlightenment thinking about nature.

“Give with One Hand and Take with the Other:” British Diplomatic Gifts to Russia, 1795–1797, 2023

After the “Ochakov crisis” of 1791, Russia and Britain were on the verge of war. In 1788 Russia h... more After the “Ochakov crisis” of 1791, Russia and Britain were on the verge of war. In 1788 Russia had seized the Ochakov fortress from the Ottoman Empire, and the British Prime Minister, William Pitt (1759–1806), had attempted to forcibly secure its return. Pitt perceived Russian successes in the former Ottoman territories, such as Ochakov and Bender, as threats to British trade interests in the Baltic Sea, but he was quickly forced to withdraw his ultimatum when the idea of war with Russia became unpopular among the British public. Relationships between the two countries improved a few years later, due to their shared antipathy for Revolutionary France, which entered into war with Britain in 1793. The British Government hoped to persuade Catherine II (“the Great”) to join the military coalition against France and commit Russian troops to battle. In addition, the British Ambassador to St Petersburg wished to facilitate the signing of a long-term trade agreement that would give British merchants Baltic trade preferences similar to those that had been granted under the Treaty of 1766. These delicate circumstances required pressure to be applied to Russia in matters of trade and war. Consequently, during the period of 1795–1797, the British Government sent a range of diplomatic gifts to Russia: a Herschel telescope for Empress Catherine II; hundreds of exotic plants from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew for Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna; and six horses for Emperor Paul I.

Journal Articles by Ekaterina Heath

Electronic Melbourne Art Journal (emaj), 2017

The article examines the role of botany in diplomatic relationships between Britain and Russia ar... more The article examines the role of botany in diplomatic relationships between Britain and Russia around the turn of the nineteenth century by looking at three gifts of exotic seeds and plants sent by different British diplomats and officials to the Russian Empress Maria Fedorovna, wife of Tsar Paul I. Gifts of live plants were a new category of diplomatic presents fuelled by the rapidly growing popularity of botany across Europe. These gifts represented British imperial ambitions and desire to build a self-sufficient economy. They also indicated an element of Britain’s anxiety about its navy’s dependence on Russian natural resources and later on about Russia’s successes in the exploration of the Antarctic regions. Empress Maria Fedorovna displayed these plants in a prominent part of her garden at Pavlovsk, next to the plants from North America that she had procured independently. This was a deliberate strategy that worked to boost her prestige at court by showcasing her international relationships.

Australian Garden History, 2018

Sir Joseph Banks, botanist and supporter of the British settlement of New South Wales, turned the... more Sir Joseph Banks, botanist and supporter
of the British settlement of New South
Wales, turned the exchange of plants into
a political strategy aimed at supporting the
interests of the British Empire. Australian
plants played a significant role in this
process, helping to articulate various
diplomatic messages. A gift from Banks
to Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of
Russia in 1795 was among the earliest
significant botanical diplomatic gifts of live
plants in Europe.

Garden history, 2020

The gardens surrounding Pavlovsk Palace, just outside St Petersburg, at the turn of the nineteent... more The gardens surrounding Pavlovsk Palace, just outside St Petersburg, at the turn of the nineteenth century were recognized by contemporaries as the most visually appealing in the Russian Empire. This status was largely due to the efforts of its patron from 1777 to 1828: Maria Feodorovna. During this period, she was daughter-in-law to Empress Catherine II, wife of Paul I, and mother to Alexander I and Nicolas I. Her tenuous status as a non-ruling monarch did not prevent her from achieving a position of significant power at the Russian court. This paper reveals Maria’s ability to influence her husband and the court during this period, a time when Russia was at the centre of many European events. Her manipulation of Catherine II and Paul I has been downplayed in history, and the use of Pavlovsk Park as the main tool in achieving relevance and influence has been overlooked. The Grand Tour was a major source of inspiration for Maria’s decisions of patronage and directions in design, and she turned Pavlovsk into a memory device to recall her travels. By implementing these ideas, she was able to maintain her relevance at court by successfully appealing to people in power.

Womens History Review, 2021

This article argues for a revisionist history of women through the lens of anthropological gift t... more This article argues for a revisionist history of women through the lens of anthropological gift theory by analysing how Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova used gifts to sustain her relationships, including a tumultuous friendship with Catherine the Great, and the historical narrative of her life. In 1762, Ekaterina played a key role in the coup that overthrew Peter III and installed his wife on the throne. Catherine II made the princess president of the Russian Academy of Sciences - the first European woman to hold public office. At a time when elite Russians first encountered Western society, Ekaterina played a central role in shaping and promoting Russian intellectual and cultural life. The role that gift-giving played in the princess’s negotiation of her relationships and her construction of her own and Russia’s history has not been considered; this article argues for greater recognition of gift-giving and visual rhetoric in women’s history.

Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes

This paper recovers the socio-political purposes that the katalniye gory – or ‘sliding hills’– pe... more This paper recovers the socio-political purposes that the katalniye gory – or ‘sliding hills’– performed for two Russian empresses in the eighteenth century. An integrated analysis of the visual rhetoric of these sites, their construction, mechanics, and social functions reveals the significant, but overlooked role that they played in legitimising female leadership. Recognising the popularity sliding hills had with peasants and nobles alike, the empresses Elisabeth Petrovna and Catherine II developed these entertainments as sites of orchestrated abandon that made visible their own breaks from preceding reigns, increased their bonds with their supporters, and created a free and open atmosphere ripe for introducing their programs of reform. In these spaces, these ruling women connected a visual showcase of fecundity and the power of femininity to the flourishing future that awaited peasant Russia, when managed by the nobility on behalf of a benevolent and enlightened female ruler. We argue that this is a particularly fruitful avenue for seeing the workings of women’s leadership in eighteenth-century Russia. Ephemeral public environments allowed women to develop overlapping structures of power in new and creative ways.

Conference Presentations by Ekaterina Heath

Imperial Material: Napoleon's Legacy in Culture, Art, and Heritage, 1821-2021, 2021

Convenors: Dr Matilda Greig (Cardiff University) and Dr Nicole Cochrane (University of Exeter)

Speakers: Ekaterina Heath, University of Sydney, Australia Jennifer Milam, University of Newc... more Speakers:

Ekaterina Heath, University of Sydney, Australia

Jennifer Milam, University of Newcastle, Australia

A ‘Russian Raphael’? Alexey Egorov and Kalmyk people in the Making of an Imperial Aesthetic

Alexei Egorov (c1776-1851) was a painter, draftsman, and teacher in the Imperial Academy of the Arts. He was also Kalmyk, a Mongolic ethnic group from the Kalmyk Steppe bordering the northwest Caspian Sea between Russia and China. Born Kalmyk, raised Russian, trained in Russia and Italy, practised in European modes of painting and art making, Egorov is framed by art history as a ‘Russian Raphael’. This paper uses the example of Egorov to consider the use of national histories and cosmopolitan identities in the construction of an imperial aesthetic in late eighteenth-century Russia. It explores a range of images of Kalmyk people from the period, portrayed by Kalmyk, Russian, European, and Chinese artists to consider how aesthetics shaped cultural identity for borderland people during the visual making of empires and nation-states.

In approaching this subject, we ask a range of questions: How do we disentangle a history of aesthetic imperialism from the portrayal of individuals, as artists and subjects? What aspects of Egorov’s history tie him to European art history, Russian art history, and the history of the Kalmyk people? Do we interrogate Egorov’s origins, his training, his sponsorship, his ‘Russian/Kalymk’ persona (which clearly attracted patronage in Rome), or his art works (which don’t seem to reveal any of these entanglements on the surface)? If we look only at his art, what do we miss? If we incorporate his biography, how do the related mythic associations contribute to the reception of his art? How is that relevant to a history of art? In asking these questions, our aim is to use the example of Egorov and his art making to deconstruct the Russian imperialist aesthetic that operated at the time of Catherine II, serving to connect Russia to Europe, while remaining a place apart. It depended on the annexation of places and people by creating a unified aesthetic that incorporated and reflected cultural sameness and differences. Focused on the historical relationship constructed between the Kalmyk people and their representation—not only in Russia, but also in Europe and China—we have uncovered a rich visual archive of material serving different agendas of empire. These artworks help us to understand how early modern Kalmyk people were seen as part of Russia, but also culturally distinct, retaining an identity that served the purpose of an imperialist aesthetic, which relies on the visual entanglement of repression and resistance in its conveyance of an agenda of empire that frames cultural identity as a cosmopolitan ideal.

I M P A C T, The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ), 2021

Dark Enlightenments, The David Nichol Smith Seminar in Eighteenth-Century Studies XVII, 2020

Aesthetics, Politics and Histories: The Social Context of Art, The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ), 2018

Embodying Romanticism, Romantic Studies Association of Australasia, 2019

Papers by Ekaterina Heath

Toynbee Prize, 2023

The patriotic re-write of the past is a key tool for the Russian government in justifying its cur... more The patriotic re-write of the past is a key tool for the Russian government in justifying its current agenda. In his speeches, Vladimir Putin primarily uses the history of World War II and Peter the Great; however, the government is using many other historical events to support its actions.[1] A recently opened exhibition The Grand Duchy. The Treasures of Vladimir-Suzdal lands at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow stands out as a prime example. This new development uses art history to re-write the emergence of Russian statehood. It has an unprecedented scale, ambition, and aesthetic appeal in doing so.[2] It serves as a response to the Ukrainian historians' claim that the legacy of Kyivan Rus belongs to Ukraine, and not to Russia.