Anna Golubkina

The exhibition “Golubkina. Konenkov. The Secrets of Mastery” opened last autumn in the Museum-studio of Anna Golubkina, the sculptor. It is quite clear that the journey from the idea to connect these two great masters to the actual exhibition dedicated to them both was not simple, but it was inevitable. Sooner or later these two “restless Muscovites”, as they were called in the Academy of Arts, were bound to meet not just in the classroom, or at exhibitions, or while visiting one another, but as the participants of one exhibition in particular - dedicated to both of them.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS NOT AS FAMILIAR WITH ANNA GOLUBKINA'S RELIEFS AS WITH HER SCULPTURES. IN FACT, OUTSIDE SPECIALIST CIRCLES, THEIR EXISTENCE IS HARDLY KNOWN. HOWEVER, IT IS CLEAR THAT GOLUBKINA'S RELIEFS, SO DIVERSE IN TERMS OF THEIR SUBJECT MATTER AND STYLE, AS WELL AS THEIR ARTISTIC GOALS AND INNOVATIVE IMPLEMENTATION, OCCUPY AN IMPORTANT PLACE IN RUSSIAN CULTURE OF THE LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURIES. MODERN SCULPTORS HAVE DRAWN ON AND EXPANDED ON GOLUBKINA'S DISCOVERIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN BUILDING RELIEFS WIDELY AND WITHOUT RESTRAINT. ARTISTS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED TO FOLLOW THE CLASSICAL CANONS OF RELIEF SCULPTURE UNCONDITIONALLY AND PRECISELY. NEVERTHELESS, THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THIS RUSSIAN SCULPTOR, WHO LED THE WAY TOWARDS A NEW ART THAT WOULD BE FREE FROM RIGID ACADEMIC CLICHES, HAVE YET TO BE FULLY ACKNOWLEDGED.