SOVIET AND MODERN RUSSIAN GRAPHICS. NEW ACQUISITIONS OF THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY

Supplementing the collection is one of the most interesting activities of any museum; before an artwork is acquired from a private owner the experts of the Tretyakov Gallery determine whether it is essential for the collection, carefully examine and describe the drawing, and prepare documentation concerning its storage. All the drawings and engravings that were on show at the exhibition "Tretyakov Gallery's New 20th Century Graphic Acquisitions" had gone through this procedure prior to properly becoming exhibits of the Gallery.

KUZMA PETROV-VODKIN. Portrait of a Girl. 1920
Pencil on paper. 39,1×30,9

The exhibition, which opened in April 2003, covered over 200 works from a very wide time-span: beginning from the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917, up until the last years of the 20th century. It included unique graphics by Russia's greatest artists, from collections which started to form already in the 1920-30s. It was then that the prominent scientist and museum enthusiast, A.V. Bakushinsky, insisted on acquiring a number of graphic works that today are the golden core of the collection. It continues to grow, with systematic and profound acquisition work adding 4,000 pieces in the last ten years. Most of them were on view at the temporary exhibition, while only the best will be included in the Tretyakov Gallery's permanent exhibition "Art of the 20th Century".

YURI PIMENOV. Russian and Foreign Movie Star. 1927
Touche, brush, pencil on paper. 37,6×48,7. Frontispiece for ‘Sovietskiy Ekran’ magazine