TASS Russian News Agency
TASS News Agency
Leading Russian news agency, information partner of the exhibition “The Splendor of Russian Painting of the 19th–20th Centuries. Masterpieces from the Collection of Vladimir Pesic”
An Exhibition Covering More Than 150 Years of the History of Russian Painting to Open in Paris
It will open on May 20
May 19, 16:27
MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. The exhibition project “The Splendor of Russian Painting of the 19th–20th Centuries. Masterpieces from the Collection of Vladimir Pesic” will open on May 20 at the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris. Covering more than 150 years of the history of Russian painting, the exhibition will present 12 movements of Russian art. This was announced in an interview with TASS by the project’s author, Serbian collector Vladimir Pesic.
“Splendor is, above all, the emotion that a painting evokes in the viewer, and then, of course, the level of its execution. One could also say that splendor is grandeur and scale — the breadth of the wide Russian soul. <…> Considering that this is the first exhibition in France in four years to present Russian art on such a broad scale, I wanted to cover as extensive a historical period as possible. The exhibition spans more than 150 years of the magnificent history of Russian painting and will present 12 movements of Russian art, ranging from the realism of the 19th century to Soviet nonconformism of the 1980s,” he said.
About the Exhibition
The 18 works on display represent such movements in 19th–20th century Russian art as realism, impressionism, post-impressionism, Russian Art Nouveau, the Neo-Russian style, cubism, cubo-futurism, suprematism, constructivism, socialist realism, nonconformism, and expressionism. As Pesic noted, the project also has an educational dimension. It will acquaint the public not only with masterpieces of Russian classical art, but also with important moments in Russian history. All paintings will be exhibited to the public for the first time.
The symbol of the exhibition will be “Shining Domes” by Grand Duchess Olga Romanova, sister of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. The painting depicts a winter landscape with a church and blue domes shining in the sunlight, echoing the domes of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris, where the exhibition will take place.
“It is impossible to single out just one work, because every painting in my collection is precious to me. The exhibition will feature such masterpieces as ‘Shining Domes’ by Grand Duchess Olga Romanova, ‘Fight of Ideologies’ by Vladimir Tatlin, ‘Suprematist Composition’ by Sergei Senkin, and others. The work by Grand Duchess Olga presented at the exhibition is undoubtedly her most significant painting. And the names of Tatlin and Senkin speak for themselves. Vladimir Tatlin was the founder of constructivism, while Sergei Senkin was one of the most talented students of Kazimir Malevich, the founder of suprematism,” the collector added.
Among the works on display are also “Still Life with a View of St. Isaac’s Cathedral” by Vyacheslav Pakulin, “Portrait of a Girl” by Mikhail Yakovlev, “Blooming Garden” and “Summer Flowers in the Park” by Nikolai Bogdanoff-Belsky, as well as “Self-Portrait” by Sergei Malyutin, creator of the famous Russian matryoshka doll, a stage design sketch for the opera “Sadko” by Bolshoi Theatre chief artist Fyodor Fyodorovsky, the watercolor “Black Sea Landscape” by Pyotr Konchalovsky, and many others.
In conclusion, Pesic noted that after the exhibition in Paris, the paintings will be presented to the Belgian public at the Russian House in Brussels in November of this year.
“In general, I see the ultimate goal of my work in creating a museum of Russian art in Serbia. But unfortunately, at present I do not have the means to realize this vision on my own,” he concluded.
The exhibition opens in honor of the anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris, which this year marks the 10th anniversary of its founding.
TASS is the information partner.