Decorative art

Marking the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the Valentin Serov exhibition distinctly divides the gallery space into two sections - his paintings and drawings. Such a decision is dictated by the unique nature of Serov’s gift, as one of the few Russian artists who excelled equally in these two forms.

There are a number of successful artistic couples in 20th-century Russian art: Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Mikhail Matyushin and Yelena Guro, Natalya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Alexander Drevin and Nadezhda Udaltsova, Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova. Latvian art had Alexandra Belcova (Aleksandra Beltsova) (1892-1981) and Romans (Roman) Suta (1896-1944). Three years ago, in October 2008, their former apartment in Riga became a museum — due to the efforts of their daughter, Tatiana Suta, who preserved her parents’ art and, with the participation of the Latvian National Museum of Art, their vast collection of paintings, drawings and decorative porcelain can now be seen by the art-loving public.

Some years ago the French critics reviewed the later work by Chagall as being repetitive, decorative and commercial. They placed greater homage and importance on the artistic innovation of his earlier work produced in Russia, and his first visit to Paris (1911-1914). Conversely the public, though, do not share the same opinion. At each successive exhibitions, the majority of viewers appear to universally agree that the later works from the artist's vaste oeuvre are part of a harmogenized continuum which predicate and conclude his entire works. Evidence is partly due to the number of major inclusions of post 1945 works in exhibitions throughout the world. Countries have increasingly demanded a holistic overview of his episodic creative output. Each country receiving a Chagall exhibition relates to it with their own historic and national perogatives. What Chagall does, by radiating his exquisite colour combinations and iconographical elements provides and emphathizes the different needs for the ever changing generations of viewers. Iconographical elements like exuberant flower bouquets, lovers and biblical interpretations are imbued with a universal language of peace, and consequently many diverse cultures find significant reference points in his work.

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (1865-1911) is a key figure in Russian art of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The general public knows him first of all as a painter, although his graphic talent was appreciated even by his contemporaries. " Serov the graphic artist may be even more powerful than Serov the painter," wrote Igor Grabar. The exhibition "Valentin Serov. The Line of Life," on view at the Tretyakov Gallery from December 2011 until May 2012, traces the great artist's trajectory through his works held at the Tretyakov Gallery's graphic art department — many of which have not been publicly displayed before.

Konstantin Korovin was employed at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1899 “to gain experience for six months”, and in 1903 he already held the office of artist and stage designer and librarian for the Imperial Theatres of Moscow and St.Petersburg, and from 1910 was the chief stage designer of the Imperial Theatres.