Film ReviewsHermitage Revealed: all's fair in love, war and art
Aug 20, 2015 Anchorage Press
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British documentary filmmaker Margy Kinmonth got the opportunity of a lifetime when Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, the director of the Hermitage Museum gave her access over two years to film. Kinmonth was not just allowed in public galleries of the Hermitage, but also through the dark corridors, storage spaces, basement and research areas that are usually closed to the mere mortals that make up the public. The result, Hermitage Revealed gives viewers a succinct survey of the history of the museum and its collections.
The Hermitage, with over 2,000 rooms and over 3,000,000 objects sits on Palace Square along the banks of the Neva River in what was once Saint Petersburg, then Petrograd, then Leningrad, and now Saint Petersburg again. Catherine the Great built the Hermitage as her residence in 1794 and it remained a palace of the Russian Monarchy for 200 years and open to the public since 1852. The Hermitage has one of the world's most phenomenal collections of art and artifacts; but it doesn't stop there, the continuous expansion of buildings that comprise the institution, and the collections that have come in and out of it over time, tell the history of Russia and its political and social structure as well as its hard and opulent times.
The great accomplishment of Hermitage Revealed is that it weaves historical events and voices to inform viewers about the monumental significance of the Hermitage as a museum and as a political institution. And, while it doesn't provide much information that viewers can't Google on their own, the film does a very nice job of laying out the timeframe with undeniable visual cues in the form of works of art and their origins. Titian, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Matisse, da Vinci, even Antony Gormley, and so many more live or have been part of the Hermitage. The biography of the works and collections tell the story of political deftness, opportunistic advantages, trades, commerce and looting from the 1700s to the present.
The look and feel of the documentary are rather academic, and therefore it lacks that je ne sais quoi that would elevate it to a sublime state, thus cementing the film in the memories and hearts of viewers. The 83-minute documentary feels much longer, and the excessive use of time-lapse photography is nauseating. The camera dances dizzily around the great halls and spins at awkward angles until it slows down when it gets to key works of art and offers viewers a respite and opportunity to swim in amazingly beautiful works. The film hits its stride about half way through and the pace becomes a little smoother when we get to the WWII segments. One could say that Hermitage Revealed is made for TV. As a matter of fact the BBC has a shorter version of the same documentary (only 58 minutes) available on Youtube. If viewers are looking for a film about the Hermitage that reaches into the heart of the generations that have passed through it and poetically interprets the institution and its history, they should consider watching the 2002 Russian Ark by Aleksandr Sokurov. Sokurov says it all in Russian Ark, "The czars were mainly Russophiles but they dreamed of Italy. Wasn't the Hermitage created to satisfy these dreams?"
Beyond the dreams of the Hermitage as conceived by Sokurov, and others throughout the history of the museum, Kinmonth exposes something unique in Hermitage Revealed about the relationship of the Hermitage to contemporary Russian culture. And this is that the Hermitage, with its own version of elitist monarchy in the form of its pedigree of directors and their relationships to the Russian political system are the keepers of the Hermitage treasure trove, history, art, and symbolism, but they also serve to establish the status quo which has an interest in remaining as such. Mikhail Piotrovsky grew up in the museum and was appointed as its director in 1990 replacing his father. Since his appointment, Piotrovsky has been part of bringing the Hermitage into a contemporary and increasingly globalized world. This has been accomplished largely through establishing dependencies such as Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam, and similarly in Italy, Span, Siberia, and other places. Piotrovsky has also brought contemporary art giants into the space, and these help expand artistic expression. However, as Piotrovsky states, someone has to decide what good art is, and that someone is the museum. What does that say about contemporary art in Russia? And, is there a secret Bat signal to Pussy Riot waiting to be activated during the Putin era? More importantly, when the political tides change again, what role will the Hermitage continue to play?
Hermitage Revealed plays at Bear Tooth on Monday, August 24 at 7:50 p.m.
The Hermitage, with over 2,000 rooms and over 3,000,000 objects sits on Palace Square along the banks of the Neva River in what was once Saint Petersburg, then Petrograd, then Leningrad, and now Saint Petersburg again. Catherine the Great built the Hermitage as her residence in 1794 and it remained a palace of the Russian Monarchy for 200 years and open to the public since 1852. The Hermitage has one of the world's most phenomenal collections of art and artifacts; but it doesn't stop there, the continuous expansion of buildings that comprise the institution, and the collections that have come in and out of it over time, tell the history of Russia and its political and social structure as well as its hard and opulent times.
The great accomplishment of Hermitage Revealed is that it weaves historical events and voices to inform viewers about the monumental significance of the Hermitage as a museum and as a political institution. And, while it doesn't provide much information that viewers can't Google on their own, the film does a very nice job of laying out the timeframe with undeniable visual cues in the form of works of art and their origins. Titian, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Matisse, da Vinci, even Antony Gormley, and so many more live or have been part of the Hermitage. The biography of the works and collections tell the story of political deftness, opportunistic advantages, trades, commerce and looting from the 1700s to the present.
The look and feel of the documentary are rather academic, and therefore it lacks that je ne sais quoi that would elevate it to a sublime state, thus cementing the film in the memories and hearts of viewers. The 83-minute documentary feels much longer, and the excessive use of time-lapse photography is nauseating. The camera dances dizzily around the great halls and spins at awkward angles until it slows down when it gets to key works of art and offers viewers a respite and opportunity to swim in amazingly beautiful works. The film hits its stride about half way through and the pace becomes a little smoother when we get to the WWII segments. One could say that Hermitage Revealed is made for TV. As a matter of fact the BBC has a shorter version of the same documentary (only 58 minutes) available on Youtube. If viewers are looking for a film about the Hermitage that reaches into the heart of the generations that have passed through it and poetically interprets the institution and its history, they should consider watching the 2002 Russian Ark by Aleksandr Sokurov. Sokurov says it all in Russian Ark, "The czars were mainly Russophiles but they dreamed of Italy. Wasn't the Hermitage created to satisfy these dreams?"
Beyond the dreams of the Hermitage as conceived by Sokurov, and others throughout the history of the museum, Kinmonth exposes something unique in Hermitage Revealed about the relationship of the Hermitage to contemporary Russian culture. And this is that the Hermitage, with its own version of elitist monarchy in the form of its pedigree of directors and their relationships to the Russian political system are the keepers of the Hermitage treasure trove, history, art, and symbolism, but they also serve to establish the status quo which has an interest in remaining as such. Mikhail Piotrovsky grew up in the museum and was appointed as its director in 1990 replacing his father. Since his appointment, Piotrovsky has been part of bringing the Hermitage into a contemporary and increasingly globalized world. This has been accomplished largely through establishing dependencies such as Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam, and similarly in Italy, Span, Siberia, and other places. Piotrovsky has also brought contemporary art giants into the space, and these help expand artistic expression. However, as Piotrovsky states, someone has to decide what good art is, and that someone is the museum. What does that say about contemporary art in Russia? And, is there a secret Bat signal to Pussy Riot waiting to be activated during the Putin era? More importantly, when the political tides change again, what role will the Hermitage continue to play?
Hermitage Revealed plays at Bear Tooth on Monday, August 24 at 7:50 p.m.