The exhibition "ROBERT FALK" at the New Tretyakov
New Tretyakov
Robert Falk
december 23 2020 - may 23 2021
Halls 39–42, 10, Krymsky Val, Moscow
We offer a photo tour of the Robert Falk exhibition in the New Tretyakov in Moscow.
In 2021, in the halls of the Tretyakov gallery, the viewers will be given the unique opportunity of seeing more than 200 of the artist's works: more than 100 paintings, about 90 graphic sheets and 10 decorative items and theatre props that were brought together for this exhibition. Falk could not separate his own existence from that of his art, to which he gave 55 years of his life: one of his very first works - the oil sketch “A Girl" (Tretyakov Gallery) dates back to 1903. His last were portrait sketches of the man next to him in the hospital ward, which he drew in pencil in the year of his death. The exhibition presents the main stages of the artist's creative development in chronological order, allowing one to follow closely Falk's continuous searching and his dynamism, as well as the growth of his mastery.
Yulia Didenko. Robert Falk’s solo exhibitions. AN OVERVIEW OF 1924-1969
The Long creative journey of the classic of the 20th century national art ROBERT FALK (1886-1958) is notable for its complex, yet predictable, logical evolution. Youth linked with the first Russian avant-garde association - THE JACK OF DIAMONDS SOCIETY, Neo-primitivism, Cezannism and Cubism; a turn to “THE OLD MASTERS” in the early 1920s; A PARISIAN DECADE (1928-1937) marked with “reactive Impressionism” and expressionistic tendencies; A LATER PERIOD that absorbed the experience of the previous years.
Robert Falk's Self-portraits
Self-portrait with roofs at the background. 1909
Self-portrait. 1923
Self-portrait in a red fez. 1957
Falk plays a special part in the history of Russian art: he became a mediator between European painting and, on the one hand, Russian avant-garde and, on the other hand, the non-conformism of the Thaw period. In the second half of the 1950s, the era of dominance of Socialist Realism, he was not only a classic for a lot of non-official artists but also a sort of a “bridge” leading to the real painting traditions. Falk’s name is surrounded by a Legend based on his life with everyday long-hour work, dedicated, as it turned out, to reducing a growing abyss of cultural isolation into which national art was cast by the will of the state. That mediator role became possible not only in consequence to Falk’s inner independence and endurance “in the long distance” but also, strange as it may seem, his constant non-radical artistic viewpoint, not avant-garde type of his character and hence his constant easel painting, perception of a painting as a separate, independent world. At first, that personality configuration prevented his avant-garde expansion to the outer world, but later it helped to gain a refuge, retreat space independent from the outer world. His long-term work trip to France and decade of creative life in a non-Soviet context was of great consequence as well.
Falk’s enormous creative legacy was distributed among a lot of museums of the former USSR by his widow Angelina Shchekin-Krotova so that people all over the country could see his art. A sizeable portion of his works is in private Russian and foreign collections. The exhibition in the Tretyakov Gallery’s halls is meant to gather - which at present is very difficult to do - the best, most interesting works of the artist and introduce him to the contemporary viewer. On display there are works from 19 museums, including the largest Russian collections: the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, A.N. Radischev Art Museum, Saratov, Abramtsevo State Historical, Artistic and Literary Museum-Reserve, as well as works from the National Gallery of Armenia and a lot of private collections.
The exhibition is intended to show the place and role of Falk’s life and artistic strategy in Russian art. That experience remains relevant today.
The text from the exposition.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photograph - Tatyana Uspenskaya
MOBILE APP OF THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY MAGAZINE
