Portraits of Circassians in 19th-Century Russian Graphic Art: On the Issue of Representing the Ethnomentality of the Circassian People in Art
Adilya A. Kiasova, Ekaterina A. Skorobogacheva
Abstract. Portraits of Circassians in Russian graphic art remain insufficiently studied, with only a few authors addressing them in their articles and no fundamental monographs on the subject currently available. Until the early 19th century, visual representations of Circassians could be found in engravings by European artists. It was only after the first Russian ‘academic expeditions‘ and ’military-strategic surveys’ during the Russo-Caucasian War that graphic images of the inhabitants of Circassia by Russian artists began to appear. The article examines images of Circassians in portrait graphics by Russian artists of the 19th century. It raises issues of authenticity based on ethnographic, historical and cultural materials by European and Russian authors. The attitude of the Circassian people towards sitting for foreign and Russian artists is found in a variety of memoirs. Possible reasons for this behaviour include pagan superstitions, the absence of a ‘guest-host’ relationship, and the increasing Islamisation of the region. The work applies a comprehensive method based on formal-stylistic and cultural-historical analysis. The authors have established that both well-known artists and those who remain in the background turn to depicting the Circassians; the works under study play an important role, but at the same time, they are insufficiently accentuated in art history. For the first time, a historical interpretation of Circassian images in the portraits ‘Fatma, a Kabardian woman from Babukovsky Aul’ by A.V. and A.S. Vysheslavtsev and ‘Prince Nauruzov Tyu-Sultan’ by I.E. Repin is presented. The researchers prove that Russian artists have been interested not only in the general appearance of the Circassian people, but also in individual representatives of this ethnic group since the 1840s; it requires more detailed and lengthy research.
Keywords: graphic art, Circassians, Russo-Caucasian War, Vysheslavtsevs, I. E. Repin, portrait graphics, ethnography.
Kyasova A.A.: Teaching and Learning Specialist in Educational and Methodological Work at the Ilya Glazunov Museum of the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, e-mail: afonya_nafanya@mail.ru.
Skorobogacheva Е.А.: Doctor of Art History, Director of the Museum, and Professor at the Department of Russian and Byzantine Art History at the Ilya Glazunov Museum of the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture,, e-mail: Skorobogacheva@mail.ru
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For citations:
Kiasova A.A., Skorobogacheva E.A. Portraits of Circassians in Russian graphic art of the 19th century on the Reflection of the Ethno-Mentality of the Circassian Peoples in Art // Arts in Cultural Dialogue. 2026. №1 (1). Р. 91-104. https://doi.org/10.67019/3033-8298.2026.1.1.005