Arriving for Shrovetide 1916

Boris Kustodiev painted this oil on canvas, 'Arriving for Shrovetide', capturing a vibrant scene from pre-revolutionary Russia. Shrovetide, or Maslenitsa, was a week-long folk festival anticipating Lent, a time of merriment and excess before religious austerity. Kustodiev presents us with a panorama of Russian life, complete with troika sleighs, bustling crowds, and the iconic onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches, all blanketed in snow. The scene evokes a sense of national identity rooted in tradition and communal celebration, yet it also reveals the rigid social hierarchy of the era. The wealthy ride in ornate sleighs while others are on foot. Was Kustodiev critiquing the inequalities of Russian society? Or celebrating the enduring spirit of the Russian people? The meaning of this art is contingent on its social and institutional context. It is a subject that invites further historical inquiry into the folk traditions and social structures of early 20th-century Russia.