Portrait

THE EXHIBITION "NATALIA GONCHAROVA. EAST AND WEST" AT THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO APPRECIATE NOT ONLY THE ARTIST'S FAMOUS PAINTINGS BUT ALSO HER LESSER-KNOWN GRAPHIC WORK. A VAST BODY OF THE LATTER WAS MADE USING THE POCHOIR TECHNIQUE, AND IS REPRESENTED COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL SKETCHES.

THERE ARE SOME ARTISTS WHOSE ART MAY BE EXAMINED WITHOUT MUCH STUDY OF THEIR BIO­GRAPHIES, OR REFERENCE TO THEIR LOVED ONES, WHILE WITH OTHERS THEIR WORK IS SO CLOSELY LINKED TO THEIR FAMILIES THAT IT BECOMES ESSENTIAL TO ANY ANALYSIS OF THEIR OEUVRE. MIK­HAIL NESTEROV (1862-1942) IS AMONG THE LATTER: THIS ARTICLE, WHICH INCLUDES MATERIALS, LET­TERS AND PHOTOGRAPHS FROM VARIOUS ARCHIVES, EXAMINES THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ARTIST'S FAMILY AND HIS WORK. THESE LETTERS HELP US SEE WHAT IS USUALLY HIDDEN FROM THE VIEWER'S EYES - THE DIFFERENT ROLES THAT AN ARTIST'S FAMILY PLAYS IN HIS LIFE. NESTEROV'S FAMILY MEMBERS OFTEN INSPIRED HIM TO CREATE HIS PAINTINGS, OR SERVED AS "PROTOTYPES" FOR THE SUBJECTS OF HIS LARGE-SCALE WORKS, EVEN FOR THE FRESCOES THAT THE ARTIST CREATED FOR VARIOUS CATHEDRALS. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE ARTIST; HE WROTE THAT "...IF THERE IS A FACE, THERE IS A PAINTING. IF THERE IS NO [FACE], NO EXPRESSION THAT I SEEK <...> - THERE WILL BE NO PAINTING. LIKE SEROV, IT IS THE HUMAN SOUL THAT I NEEDED FIRST AND FOREMOST." IN MAKING THE ACQUAINTANCE OF NESTEROV'S FAMILY MEMBERS IT IS NOT ONLY HIS LETTERS AND PAINTINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT, BUT ALSO THE PHOTOGRAPHS THAT HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, WHICH SOMETIMES REFLECT MUCH ON NESTEROV'S CREATIVE PROCESS. THE LEGACY OF THE AR­TIST'S DESCENDANTS, WHOSE LIVES WERE PROFOUNDLY INFLUENCED BY THE PERSONALITY OF THEIR FATHER AND GRANDFATHER, IS ALSO REVEALING.

"THE MOST PRECIOUS PART OF ART IS THE GOD-GIVEN TALENT, AND IT SHOULD SERVE THE EXPRES¬SION OF KIND AND BEAUTIFUL FEELINGS, WHETHER BY MEANS OF PAINTING, MUSIC, OR ALL-EM¬BRACING POETRY."1 NESTEROV, WHO WROTE THESE WORDS IN 1898, REFERRED TO THEM AS HIS "CONFESSION", THE DECLARATION OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTE OF HIS ART - HIS DEEP DE¬SIRE TO AWAKEN THE BEST AND LOFTIEST FEELINGS IN PEOPLE. THROUGHOUT HIS LONG LIFE IN ART, HE SHARED HIS "GOD-GIVEN TALENT", WHICH NATURE BESTOWED ON HIM SO GENEROUSLY, WITH RUSSIAN ART, RUSSIA, AND THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.

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.

The exhibition “Tsarina Elizabeth and Moscow”, running at the Tretyakov Gallery from December 9 2010 to March 27 2011, commemorates the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Russian empress. Staged in the Engineering Building on Lavrushinsky lane, it concludes a trio of shows that have run there over many years: the first project, “Catherine the Great and Moscow” (at the Krymsky Val building), took place in 1998. That was a pioneering effort to introduce to the public the artefacts of “imperial” history and culture, which were kept away from the public eye under Soviet rule. The ties between the great female ruler of Russia and Moscow had never before been the subject of careful study. A year later the exhibition “Peter the Great and Moscow” opened in the Engineering Building, marking the 300th anniversary of the Grand Embassy of Peter I.