#1 2003 (01)

In 1877 Alexey Petrovich Bogolyubov, a famous landscape painter and picture-collector, addressed the Saratov City Duma to offer his collection to the city in order to found an art museum. It was not by chance that Bogolyubov chose Saratov, since his grandfather, Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev, an acclaimed writer and publicist of the 18th century, was born in the Saratov province. The latter was famous for his book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", in which the Empress Catherine the Second to her great dissatisfaction saw a revolutionary message.

WE COULD NEVER HAVE EVEN IMAGINED THAT WAYS OF RUSSIAN IMPRESSIONISM MIGHT BE MET WITH SUCH MISUNDERSTANDING AND EVEN ANTAGONISM. OF COURSE, WE HAD REALIZED THAT THE PROJECT MIGHT FALL OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM TOPICS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CONSIDERED "IMPORTANT" IN THE POST-SOVIET HISTORY OF ART. BUT, IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE EXHIBITION HAD BEEN DEVISED FOR A VERY IMPORTANT OCCASION – TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF THE UNION OF RUSSIAN ARTISTS. SECONDLY, IT WAS ONLY RECENTLY THAT THE ZEALOTS OF THE IDEA OF "IMPORTANT ARTS" REMEMBERED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PAINTING. AND, LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY DID NOT MEAN TO PRESENT THE RUSSIAN TRADITION OF PAINTING AS A PEAK OF PERFECTION. NOT AT ALL: THE PROJECT WAS MEANT TO COMPLEMENT OTHER EXHIBITIONS COVERING OTHER TRENDS, SUCH AS MOSCOW ABSTRACT ART 1950–2000 OR AVANT-GARDE ART ON THE NEVA RIVER AND THE LIKE.

MARC CHAGALL’S ARTISTIC HERITAGE IS REALLY ILLUSTRIOUS, DISTINGUISHED AND RENOWNED, AND THESE ARE NOT MERE WORDS. BUT STILL SOME OF HIS CREATIVE RESULTS ARE ABSOLUTELY NOTABLE. CHAGALL’S THREE GRAPHIC CYCLES, MADE BY THE ORDER OF THE FRENCH MARCHAND, ART DEALER AND PUBLISHER AMBROISE VOLLARD STAND APART FROM ALL CHAGALL’S CREATIVE ACTIVITY, SPARKLING LIKE THE THREE GREAT DIAMONDS FACETED BY THE ARTIST’S KEEN SIGHT, HIS STRONG AND STEADY HAND HOLDING A DRY POINT OR A NEEDLE.

IT WAS MY FIRST "BUSINESS TRIP" TO VENICE, THOUGH I GUESS NO BUSINESS TRIP TO VENICE IS ONLY BUSINESS. THE IMPACT OF THE CITY IS SO GREAT AND HILARIOUS THAT YOU CAN’T AVOID THE MOST PLEASANT CONTACTS WITH THIS FAIRY-TALE, ALWAYS OVERCROWDED & BUSY PLACE AMIDST THE WATERS. I DID NOT WITNESS THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE BIENNALE, BUT NOW, HAVING VISITED ALL THE EVENTS, EXHIBITIONS AND PAVILIONS I DO BELIEVE MR. HOWARD JACOBSON WRITING "MY VENICE BIENNALE HELL" FOR THE GUARDIAN THAT THE PEOPLE PARTICIPATING IN THE OPENING CEREMONY WERE IF NOT MUCH MORE THEN AT LEAST NO LESS INTERESTING, ATTRACTIVE, FASCINATING AND SOPHISTICATED THAN THE EXHIBITION ITSELF. AS HE PUT IT: "ART IN QUANTITY – BLACK BOX, VIDEO, CAR-BOOT-SALE INSTALLATION ART - IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT."

FOR MORE THAN THREE CENTURIES THE AMBER ROOM, A MASTERPIECE OF DECORATIVE APPLIED ART, HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF FASCINATION FOR EUROPE, AND REMAINS A UNIQUE PHENOMENON INDEED – SINCE NOBODY HAS SEEN IT FOR ALMOST SIXTY YEARS. ITS HISTORY IS RICH IN ASSOCIATION: FROM THE GREAT PLANS OF PRUSSIAN KINGS TO THE DEVOTION OF RUSSIAN EMPRESSES, FROM THE LOOTING OF THE FASCIST INVADERS TO THE UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS, CONTINUING THROUGH UNTIL TODAY, TO LOCATE IT. MAY 2003 MARKED ANOTHER STEP IN ITS HISTORY, WITH THE RESTORATION AND OPENING OF THE CEREMONIAL HALL OF RASTRELLI ’S GOLDEN ENF ILADE, THE AMBER ROOM OF THE CATHERINE PALACE IN TSARSKOYE SELO – A ROYAL GIFT INDEED TO MARK THE CELEBRATION OF ST.PETERSBURG’S TERCENTENARY.

The Engineer Building of the Tretyakov Gallery invites visitors to the exhibition of Vera Favorskaya (1896-1 977) and her husband Ivan Chekmazov (1901-1961). This exhibition shows the artists' works from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery and Moscow private collections. The album "Vera Favorskaya and Ivan Chekmazov: A Creative Heritage”, which includes Favorskaya's "Artist's Memoirs" dedicated to the memory of her husband, is published to mark the exhibition.