6/19/13

Uncoloured by colonial prejudices | Frontline

ARTS & CULTURE

ALEXEI SALTYKOV

Uncoloured by colonial prejudices

Show Caption

Russian Prince Alexei Saltykovs paintings and writings on India speak of his admiration and understanding of a colonised people at a time when prejudices ran high among European colonisers. By SUNEET CHOPRA
THE 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia (formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and India was marked by an exhibition of the drawings of Prince Alexei Saltykov (1806-1859) and the first Indian limited edition of the drawings and letters of the prince that date back to his visits to the subcontinent between 1841 and 1843 and then between 1845 and 1846. Saltykov was the scion of a family close to that of the Tzars. His grandfather General Nikolai Ivanovich (1736-1816) was chairman of the war committee under Catherine II and her son Paul I, President of the Council of the Empire and of the Board of Ministers, and finally Field Marshall of the Empire. His background gave him access to the highest colonial authorities of the East India Company, but his self-confidence and courage allowed him to cross the limits imposed on him by the colonial mentality of his hosts and meet Indians of all classes with ease. He also went beyond the limitations of the defensive racism of colonial powers and defied the cultural arrogance that allowed them to plunder colonies savagely and cover up their destructive role in the name of a self-declared mission of civilisation. Although he was often a guest of the highest authorities of the Company, Saltykov could see through their racial prejudices thanks to his experience as a diplomat of the Russian empire for over 10 years from the age of 23. During this period, he travelled to Constantinople, Athens, London, Florence, Rome and Tehran. He moved to Paris after leaving the diplomatic service of the Tzar in a restless age when Europes aristocracy found itself being short-changed by the bourgeoisie at home and forced to look East for vestiges of spiritual solace, nobility and grace, which had almost been exterminated in Europe by the profit motive.

www.frontline.in/arts-and-culture/uncoloured-by-colonial-prejudices/article4756134.ece

1/1