Dr Rosalind Blakesley awarded Pushkin Medal

Dr Rosalind Blakesley, Fellow and Director of Studies in History of Art at Pembroke College, has been awarded the Pushkin Medal.

The Pushkin medal is a state decoration granted by the Russian government, which recognises contributions to Russia in the arts and culture, education, humanities and literature, and is named in honour of the Russian author and poet Alexander Pushkin. Established in 1999 by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the Pushkin Medal commemorates the 200th anniversary of Pushkin's birth.

Dr Blakesley was awarded the medal at a ceremony at the Russian Embassy in London by the Russian Ambassador, who in his speech referenced the success of the exhibition 'Russia and the Arts' at the National Portrait Gallery in 2016, curated by Dr Blakesley, and her recent book 'The Russian Canvas' which won the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize in 2017.

Previous recipients include Dmitry Likhachev, the renowned scholar of the humanities, George Soros, the American philanthropist, and Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, who received it in 2015 to recognise his role, and that of the Science Museum, in creating the acclaimed Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age exhibition.

For more information, you can watch a video in which Dr Blakesley discusses the exhibition and her book on our Youtube page.