Perception of Surroundings: Materiality and Affect in the Russian Kustar Arts Revival

Abstract

Abramtsevo and Talashkino are well known for their handicraft workshops that participated in the revival of Russian folk arts known as kustarnichestvo at the turn of the last century. Typically examined in terms of its stylistic progenitors or as a manifestation of Russia’s nationalist politics, kustarnichestvo can also offer unique insights into how craftspeople and consumers related to their natural and built environments. This article examines the materiality of kustar art objects from two perspectives: first, it turns to forests and woodlands as a source of natural resources and ornamental inspiration; then it tackles narratives about how the resulting neo‐Russian style interiors produced a distinctive kind of affect in their beholders. By showing how human subjects understood themselves to be enmeshed in natural and affective ecologies at the fin de siècle, it argues that a movement thoroughly grounded in materialist concerns paradoxically gave rise to a new understanding of the perceiving subject’s affective experience.