Tacita Dean

The Russian Ending, by the British artist Tacita Dean, is a series of twenty photogravure etchings. Depicted in each print is a disaster or a dramatic moment: from shipwrecks and battlefields to devastations and funerals. The sober hues of black, white and grey heighten the dramatics of each image. With this series Tacita Dean has made use of her collection of old postcards—cards dating from the World War I period which once served as a type of disaster tourism.
Depicted in each print is a disaster or a dramatic moment: from shipwrecks and battlefields to devastations and funerals. Dean has made use of old postcards dating from the World War I period which once served as a type of disaster tourism. On these images she has written texts in different languages. The words - zoom in, camera angle, final scene - suggest the instructions for directing a film. As a whole the series brings to mind the notion of a 'storyboard'. The title of the series also relates to film. In contrast to the 'happy ending' of most films made for the American market, during the early decades of the twentieth century there were also versions made specially for Russia. These had a tragic end: the Russian ending.