A Russian Christmas: History Through the Lens of Christmas

Visitors to the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio will travel to the other side of the world this holiday season as they explore Russian-made decorations and their symbolism from a conflicted time in the U.S.-USSR history.

A Russian Christmas, which runs from Nov. 21 to Jan. 8, complements the exhibition, Russian Decorative Arts from the Tsars to the USSR. This main exhibition, which also opens Nov. 21, explores Russian history through an incredible personal collection of Russian art acquired by curator Michael Reese.

Dr. George Johnson, who curated A Russian Christmas with his wife Jeanne, says DACO has worked to tie its annual Christmas display to that year’s exhibition in the main gallery upstairs.  “Having been successful with that, it’s a complete experience if you are coming over Christmastime,” he said.

This year’s theme, however, presented a few challenges for the curators.

“Christmas is primarily a religious holiday with secular overtones, and this time period in the Soviet Union discouraged religion,” Johnson said. “We have had some time to prepare, and we have come at it sideways.”

​For example, the silver forest of 1950s aluminum trees in the Double Parlors represents a closer look at an important time in history.

“It’s the space race, so we will look at USSR and U.S. relations in terms of these aluminum trees,” he said. “We are working in nostalgia that people will recognize from the 50s and 60s, and we are coming at it from the space race.”

In the back part of that same space, a Siberian forest adorned with snow and ice will represent a time period during which Russians began making ornaments for New Year’s trees as a symbol of patriotism, Johnson says.

Several countries that aligned with Soviet policies, however, continued to make Christmas ornaments that were sold to other countries like the United States. The income generated from these ornament sales were used by Soviet-controlled governments, Johnson said.

“We are going to put up a tree that has Soviet bloc-made Christmas decorations in the lower gallery, as well as a Russian-made aluminum tree,” he said.

Other components of the exhibition include a snow village, Russian folk story figures and a display of highly-collected Christopher Radko ornaments.

To share personal insights on his A Russian Christmas exhibition, Johnson will present a curator talk that will soon be available virtually. 

“We hope that folks get an appreciation of Christmas and link it to history,” Johnson said. “It’s not just pretty decorations. They are linked to a time period when we had a Cold War and conflict between the USSR and the U.S., and it gives a perspective.”