Hanna Chuchvaha (University of Calgary)

Since the 1980s, a new focus on art patronage and art collecting by women has emerged. Scholars explore the collecting and sponsorship of art projects by women, whose intentions were to honor themselves making a statement of their pedigree, power, and nobility. Indeed, female patrons not only celebrated their lineage, but also directly influenced art creations by making decisions that affected the execution of art works and projects. By encouraging artists, they were indirectly involved in shaping art culture and aesthetics and, to a certain degree, defined the future perception of art creations by the public. Their involvement, however, is often overshadowed by the creators they supported, or alternatively, by the male patrons and collectors with whom they collaborated. This paper examines the role of the most prominent female art patron and collector, Princess Maria Tenisheva (1858 -1928), her collecting practices, involvement in the Arts and Crafts movement and her resistance to the male- dominated art milieu in late Imperial Russia.