Lysenko’s “Michurinism” and Art at the Moscow Darwin Museum 1935–1964

Abstract

This chapter offers a case study from an art historian’s perspective of the impact of the growth and decline of Trofim Lysenko’s power, between 1935 and 1964, on the displays at the Darwin Museum, a natural history museum in Moscow committed to the use of art works to illuminate evolutionary theory within its displays. The discussion focuses on the museum’s discursive use of what Nikolai Krementsov has termed “Marxist Darwinst” rhetoric in contextualising and explaining the art works, as a means to defend and protect its position in politically difficult times, and to gain access to state resources.