#1 2015 (46)
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
THE YEAR 2014 MARKED THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIKHAIL LERMONTOV'S BIRTH. ONE OF THE SERIES OF EVENTS ORGANIZED BY THE STATE A.S. PUSHKIN MUSEUM TO COMMEMORATE THIS IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARY IS THE ALL-RUSSIAN EXHIBITION PROJECT, "MY HOME IS ALWAYS THERE, IN THE HEAVEN'S VAULT..." THIS PROJECT RECEIVED FINANCIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT FROM THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND THE MOSCOW CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE, AND INCLUDED 37 PARTICIPANTS, AMONG THEM MAJOR RUSSIAN MUSEUMS AND ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES, THEATRES, AND PRIVATE COLLECTORS. IT WAS THE FIRST EVENT OF SUCH MAGNITUDE IN RUSSIA IN 70 YEARS: IN 1941, WHEN THE COUNTRY WAS PREPARING A FITTING COMMEMORATION OF THE CENTENARY OF THE POET'S DEATH, ALL PLANS HAD TO BE SET ASIDE. EVEN THOUGH A MAJOR ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION OPENED ON JULY 26, ON THE FOLLOWING DAY ITS ORGANIZERS HAD TO START PACKING ITS EXHIBITS TO BE SENT AWAY TO SAFETY.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
THE EXHIBITION "A PRECIOUS FRAME. THE PAINTING AND THE FRAME. DIALOGUES" RAN FROM SEPTEMBER 10 UNTIL NOVEMBER 30 AT THE TRETYAKOV GALLERYS ENGINEERING WING. THE GALLERY HAS A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF FRAMES WHICH, AS INTERESTING AND VALUABLE ART WORKS IN THEMSELVES, HAVE LONG BEEN WAITING TO "MEET" THEIR VIEWERS AND ATTRACT CLOSER ATTENTION FROM EXPERTS.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
ALEXEI VENETSIANOV'S WATERCOLOURS OF THE LIFE CLASS AT THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF ARTS DEPICT NUDE MEN POSING ON THE MODELLING STAND IN A DIMLY LIT AUDITORIUM (1824, RUSSIAN MUSEUM). CLOSER TO THE MODELS, STUDENTS SEATED ON RISERS WORK AT THEIR DRAWINGS, WHILE OTHERS AT THE BACK OF THE ROOM STAND AT EASELS, EITHER PAINTING OR SCULPTING RELIEFS IN CLAY. WORKING FROM THE LIFE MODEL WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF STUDIO PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE 19TH CENTURY, BUT INFORMATION ON RUSSIAN MODELS' SERVICE IN ACADEMIC LIFE CLASSES AND PRIVATE STUDIOS HAS NONETHELESS REMAINED SCATTERED IN ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS, ARTISTS' MEMOIRS, AND LITERARY WORKS OF THE PERIOD.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
RUSSIAN ART HAS OFTEN BEEN CONTRADICTORY IN ITS DEPICTION OF NUDES - AND CHANGING TIMES HAVE THEMSELVES CHANGED ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC VALUE SYSTEMS, AND OFFERED (AND/OR ORDERED) NEW PRIORITIES. THE 20TH-CENTURY INDUSTRIAL ERA WITH ITS REVOLUTIONARY TURMOIL TRIGGERED AN OVERTURNING OF TRADITIONAL MORAL STANDARDS IN SOCIETY, ESTABLISHING NEW AESTHETIC NOTIONS AND ALTERING ARTISTIC LANGUAGE ACCORDINGLY. THEMES OF NUDITY WERE NO LONGER CONFINED TO ART CLASSES. NUDE BODIES THAT HAD ONCE MADE THE RUSSIAN AUDIENCE NERVOUSLY BLUSH WITH EMBARRASSMENT APPEARED AS SUBJECTS OF PROPAGANDA IN A SOCIETY WHICH WAS AIMING AT DRASTIC CHANGE. THE YOUNG GENERATION OF BIG-CITY DWELLERS, RADICAL NUDISTS, CONSIDERED STROLLING THE STREETS WITHOUT CLOTHES TO BE A REVOLUTIONARY ACT. AS VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY STROVE TO CONVINCE HIS READERS: "THERE'S NO BETTER ATTIRE IN THE WORLD / THAN THE BRONZE OF MUSCLES AND FRESHNESS OF SKIN".
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
THE CURRENT EXHIBITION IN THE LAVRUSHINSKY GRAPHIC ARTS HALL REPRESENTS THE SECOND PART OF THE MAJOR PROJECT TITLED "MAGIC OF THE HUMAN BODY". IT TELLS THE STORY OF A MOST POETIC CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN GRAPHIC ARTS AT THE END OF THE 19TH AND BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURIES, THAT OF DRAWING THE NUDE HUMAN FORM. GENERALLY SPEAKING, THE ART OF DRAWING, COMPARED TO PAINTING AND SCULPTURE, IS BY NATURE MORE CAPABLE OF QUICKLY AND FORCEFULLY TRANSFORMING AN INHERENTLY NEUTRAL MOTIF INTO AN ARTISTIC IMAGE THAT EXPRESSES CERTAIN IMPORTANT NOTIONS AND CONCEPTS. THE NUDE GENRE IS NO EXCEPTION, SO IT IS NO SURPRISE THAT EVERY WELL-KNOWN RUSSIAN ARTIST OF THE 20TH CENTURY TRIED HIS OR HER HAND AT IT. THIS EXHIBITION BRINGS TOGETHER THOSE FIGURES WHO MADE THE NUDE DRAWING INTO A SEPARATE GENRE OF THE VISUAL ARTS, AND AN IMPORTANT THEME IN THEIR WORK.
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
THE SCULPTOR NIKOLAI SILIS WAS BORN IN 1928 IN MOSCOW, IN THE GRAUERMAN MATERNITY HOSPITAL ON THE ARBAT: THE SILIS FAMILY LIVED NEARBY, IN A COMMUNAL FLAT ON GOGOLEVSKY BOULEVARD. HIS FATHER, ANDREI SILIS, WAS SHOT IN DECEMBER 1941, ON TRUMPED-UP CHARGES, IN THE UKHTIZHEMLAG LABOUR CAMP. HIS MOTHER, YEKATERINA, MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVED THE BLOCKADE OF LENINGRAD, WHERE THE FAMILY HAD TO MOVE AFTER THE FATHER'S ARREST. YEKATERINA SUCCEEDED IN SENDING HER TWO SONS, THE OLDER RUFIM AND THE YOUNGER VADIM, AWAY TO RELATIVES LIVING NEAR THE TOWN OF KALININ.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
"GEORGE COSTAKIS. 'DEPARTURE FROM THE USSR...' ON THE CENTENARY OF THE COLLECTOR'S BIRTH" IS THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY'S MAIN EXHIBITION PROJECT OF 2014. BACK IN JULY 2013 THE GALLERY'S KRYMSKY VAL BUILDING OPENED A SEPARATE HALL DEDICATED TO COSTAKIS (1913-1990), STIMULATING THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION AND INTEREST IN THIS FAMOUS MOSCOW COLLECTOR AND RELENTLESS ENTHUSIAST OF ART. THE EXPANDED SHOW OF WORKS FROM COSTAKIS'S COLLECTION THAT HAS FOLLOWED ALMOST A YEAR LATER HAS BECOME THE TRUE CULMINATION OF THIS UNUSUAL ANNIVERSARY "MARATHON".
MOBILE APP OF THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY MAGAZINE
