Avant-garde culture

Museum of Modern Art in Rovereto (Trento province, Italy) opened an exhibition titled ‘The Dance of the Avant-Garde" on December 16, displaying paintings, scenography and costumes from Degas to Picasso, from Matisse to Haring. Over 1,000 paintings, sculptures, graphic works and photographs created in the 20th century introduce the viewer to the magical union of dance and the visual arts, and to the wonderful century of real-life and fantastic images.

The Museo Thyssen-Bomemisza, Madrid opened a major exhibition of the Russian avant-garde at the beginning of 2006 (February-May), the first of its kind in the Spanish capital. Entitled “Vanguardias rusas” and based on works from the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, Russian regional museums and other public and private collections, the exhibition emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of Russian Modernism. Apart from major paintings, including, incidentally, Goncharova’s “Fishing” (1909) and Larionov’s “Baker” (1909) from the Museo Thyssen itself, the selection encompassed sculpture (including two Cubist pieces by Baranov-Rossine), book design (by Lissitzky and Stepanova), applied arts (including examples from the archive of the Decorative Institute, Leningrad, shown here for the first time), commercial design (such as movie posters by the Stenberg brothers), agit-propaganda (such as street art by Al’tman and posters by Klutsis), porcelain, textile designs and photography (including work by Ignatovich and Rodchenko), to mention just a fraction of this panoramic repertoire.

The entire artistic heritage of Eric Bulatov is being showcased in a landmark exhibition, made possible due to fruitful co-operation of the Tretyakov Gallery and the Cultural Foundation “Ekaterina”, and financial support of NCP GOC “Stroyteks” and OJSC “Surgutneftegas” and Fond “Novi”. Exhibiting a major Russian painter who has achieved distinction over the last 40 years, the result is nothing less than an international sensation.

On March 29, at the end of its jubilee year, the Tretyakov Gallery opened new exhibition premises reconstructed by the Government of Moscow - “The Exhibition Hall in Tolmachi”, which is close to the main building of the gallery. The opening of the new hall was marked by the solo exhibition of Olga Rozanova (1886-1918), one of the most significant figures of the Russian avant-garde, who left a distinct heritage in 20th century art, despite her short life. More than 50 canvases and graphic works are on display

In January 2008, the Royal Academy of Arts staged a landmark exhibition presenting modern masterpieces drawn from Russia’s principal collections: the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and the State Tretyakov Museum in Moscow, and the State Hermitage Museum and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.