#2 2007 (15)

The Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art has certainly become a significant event in Russia’s cultural life. Almost every Moscow organization in any way related to contemporary art - including museums, galleries, centres of contemporary art, private foundations and even the trendiest of clubs - have tried to make a statement by their participation in the preparation of the exhibition calendar. Their wider purpose is to accurately and proudly present contemporary art in Russia, as well as invite the numerous guests of the Biennale to acquaint themselves with Russian art, both from today and from the recent past.

Looking at the Russian graves in Testacchio, the Roman cemetery for non-Catholics, in the autumn of 2003, my attention was drawn to one particularly well-tended tombstone. My guide Vanda Gasperovich, a lecturer at the University of Rome, explained that the grave belonged to Sergei Ivanov, architect and brother of the outstanding Russian painter. Sergei Ivanov, it seemed, had left a significant sum of money to the German Archaeological Institute of Rome, which now tended his grave. Several days later, I visited the library and archives of the German Archaeological Institute, and was quickly rewarded with a number of valuable, and unexpected, finds. The first was a letter from Pavel Tretyakov to Sergei Ivanov, sent from Moscow in the spring of 1873. Wrongly listed as intended for the Archimandrite Sophony, the letter was to be delivered to “l’Archimandrite Sophony, al’Ambasad Imperiale de Russie Roma pour remettre a Monsinor Serg Iwanoff”

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

One of the main exhibitions of Winter 2006 in Madrid was an unprecedented “double” exhibition of the artists John Singer Sargent and Joaquin Sorolla, staged in two locations – the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and the major central city exhibition hall, the Fundacion Caja Madrid. After its closure in Spain in January, it will run at the Petit Palais in Paris until May 13.

In 2006, the year of its 150th jubilee, the Tretyakov Gallery acquired a significant number of works by the artist Nikolai Meshcherin (1864-1916). Presented as a gift by Nikolai Gagman, art restorer and long-standing member of the Igor Grabar All-Union Centre for Art Research and Restoration, the donation included 17 oil and tempera paintings and six pastels by Meshcherin, as well as archive documents and photographs shedding light on the artist’s life and work. Many years ago, these were purchased from Meshcherin’s widow Lydia Goriacheva-Meshcherina by Gagman’s father Alexander Nikolaevich, a Doctor of Medicine and one of the founders of surgical urology. For many decades, this small treasure remained in the Gagman family. Nikolai Gagman took the best possible care of his father’s collection, doing everything within his means to make Meshcherin better known as an artist. In 1987, Nikolai Gagman organised an exhibition of Meshcherin’s work and published a catalogue to accompany the event, writing the introduction and selecting some fascinating archive material for the catalogue himself. The catalogue included all of Meshcherin’s works from museums and private collections in Russia which Gagman had succeeded in locating.

On March 15, Ivan Samarine and the Stockholm Auction House (Stockholms Auktionsverk) held their third Russian Auction, a sale devoted entirely to Russian art. Including more than 400 lots, nearly half were paintings, dating from Alexander Roslin from the 18th century to the non-conformists of the 1970s. There was also a small section of icons, some furniture, silver and Faberge, quite an extensive collection of porcelain, early Soviet posters, some textiles and some books. Estimates ranged from $ 250,0 - $ 400,000.