Aleksei Aleksandrovich Fedorov-Davydov (Russian: Алексей Александрович Фёдоров-Давыдов; 18 March 1900 – 6 July 1969) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

art scholar and historian.

Biography

Aleksei was born to Alexander Feodorov-Davydov, a writer of children's books and translator. From 1919 to 1923 Fedorov-Davydov studied at

Kazan University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

. Then from 1927 to 1931, he taught at the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. His 1929 article 'The Principles of Building Art Museums' criticized existing Soviet galleries and museums for their '

fetishism A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent non-material value, or powers, to an object. Talismans and amulet ...

of objects'. He called for museum displays to concentrate on 'processes' rather than 'things': From 1929 to 1934, Feorov-Davydov worked at the

State Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

as head of the department of new Russian art. In 1931, he headed the art department of the second half of the 19th century. He transformed the department into the "Art Group of the Capitalist Era", which developed "a new historical concept of the exhibition with the involvement of Marxist historians in the context of the Marxist-Leninist history of Russian art." in 1933–1934, some concepts of the "vulgar sociological approach to art" were criticized, and in April 1934 Fedorov-Davydov was forced to stop his work at the Tretyakov Gallery. From 1934 to 1944 he taught at the

Moscow State Textile University Kosygin Moscow State Textile University (formerly Moscow State Textile Institute) was formed in 1919. It is one of the oldest and institutes for higher studies in textiles in Russia. History In 1981, the institute was named in honor of Soviet ...

and from 1935 he was a professor. Also from 1934 to 1937 he worked as the head of the research sector of

Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, officially the S. A. Gerasimov All-Russian University of Cinematography (, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov''), a.k.a. VGIK, is a film school in Moscow, ...

, and in 1943-1944 he was a professor at VGIK. From 4, Fedorov-Davydov continued teaching at Moscow State University, where from 1948 he became the head of the Department of the History of Russian Art. In 1950, largely due to the efforts of Fedorov-Davydov, the art department was transferred from the philological department to the history department of Moscow State University. From 1960, the department, became known as the Department of the History of Russian and Soviet Art. From 1948 to 1956, Alexei Fedorov-Davydov was also the head of the art theory and art history department at the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU. He was a member of the Communist Party from 1946. Alexei Fedorov-Davydov was buried at the

Vvedenskoye Cemetery Vvedenskoye Cemetery ( rus, Введенское кладбище, p=vʲːɪˈdʲenskəjə) is a historic cemetery in Lefortovo District of Moscow in Russia. Until 1918 it was mainly a burial ground for the Catholic and Protestant communities ...

. His son German Fedorov-Davydov was a Soviet archeologist and also a professor at the Moscow State University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedorov-Davydov, Aleksei 1900 births 1960 deaths Russian art historians Academic staff of Moscow State Textile University Museologists Soviet art historians Academic staff of Moscow State University Kazan Federal University alumni Soviet art critics Russian art critics Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Burials at Vvedenskoye Cemetery