Newspaper „Politika“
Newspaper „Politika“
Serbia. January 26th 2022
Culture
Jovica Danilovich
Works of art by Russian painters in Vrsac
The exhibition „The Brilliance of Russian Painters“, organized by the owner of the collection Vladimir I. Peshich, was included in the list of candidates for the cultural event of the year, already in January
Vrsac got an exceptional and rare honor to be the second city after Moscow in which, Vladimir I. Peshich from Belgrade, probably our greatest collector of art works by Russian painters in Serbia, is presenting part of his collection in the big hall of the “Concordia” building of the City Museum, entitled „The Brilliance of Russian Painters“. Thus, already in January, this exhibition of paintings by Russian authors becomes a candidate for the cultural event of the year.
Vrsac was not chosen by chance for the exhibition of 36 works of art by top Russian painters, created in the period from the end of 19th century to the 1950s. The famous Russian artist Nikolai Kuznetsov lived for some time in the city of famous Jovan Popovich Sterija. In 1920, he settled and worked here. His works are also presented at this exhibition.
The opening of the exhibition was attended by numerous distinguished guests, including representatives of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Belgrade and The Russian House — Russian Centre of Science and Culture in our capital.
Ivana Ranimirov, director of the City Museum, paid special attention to the historical relations of this region with Russia and Russian emigration, which “had immeasurable human potential, great influence on the development of Serbia in the field of science, culture and art”.
Retired museum adviser Nikola Kusovac, spoke with special inspiration about the Vladimir Peshich’s collection, but also about Vrsac, above all about “ancestors of the current citizens of Vrsac”. Nikola Kusovac enriched the catalog of the exhibition with a foreword, in Serbian and Russian, published for this occasion.
– What I missed to do in my life, Vladimir did. This exhibition in Vrsac testifies in the best way about the nature and achievements of his collection – starting with the works of painters such as, Nikolai Dmitrievich Kuznetsov, Ippolit Danilovich Maikovsky and Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikov, then, with one work each, Petr Petrovich Sokolov, Nikolai Vasilievich Kharitonov and Konstantin Konstantinovich Kuznetsov, an extraordinary comic book artist; as well as the paintings of prolific Alexander Ivanovich Lazhechnikov, Vladimir Pavlovich Zelinsky and Nikolai Krivoshein. In addition to the above-mentioned painters, whose works are currently the core value of Vladimir Peshich’s collection in Serbia, several examples of Russian serial icons painted during the XIX century are part of this exhibition, as well as one family-inherited portrait of Branko Maksimovic (Peshich’s grandfather), the work of extremely talented young painter Igor Vasiliev – said Nikola Kusovac and emphasized that „exactly with this work Peshich is giving as a hint on logically determined his future collector’s orientation towards the generation of young Russian artists, daughters and sons of the first wave of Russian emigrants, such as Igor Marklen Mosilyenko, Olya Ivanyicki and the most important among them Leonid Sheika”.
Author of the exhibition and owner of the paintings, Vladimir I. Peshich, explained how he developed a fondness for art works by Russian painters, long ago in 1989, in a commission store in Moscow, and how that fondness grow in London in 1990, when he visited the auction of paintings of the famous house “Sotheby’s”. That is when he started searching for and buying valuable paintings by famous Russian artists. Beside the paintings, he began collecting icons and unique antiques.
Vladimir Pesic entrusts us with “the secret of his middle initial”.
– I was born in London, where my godfather was obliged to give me another name in addition to the name Vladimir, so he decided on Igor. That is why I use the initial of that name”.
Our interlocutor says that he is not an artist “because that is a gift from God”, but also that he does not know how many works of art his collections currently counts („I remember every painting, but I don’t count them”), nor how much it is worth. We as asked if there is some special painting which he would like to own in his collection. „There is a lot of such paintings”, he says. He plans to present his exhibition to the people from Belgrade, Novi Sad and Kragujevac as well.
When asked which panting means the most to him, he answered that he loves them all equally. However, he is a little more in favor of the painting “Spring, Princess Mafalda of Savoy” by Stepan Kolesnikov Fyodorovich (1879–1955).
Inherited love
„Our apartment was always full of paintings because my father appreciated valuable works of art, and he passed that love to me. My mother Ivana, who attended this exhibition, is also an admirer of fine arts”, says Peshich.
He inherited his love for painting, especially Russian art, from his father, Dusan Peshich, whom readers of “Politika” newspaper remember as an exceptional correspondent from four metropolises: London (where Vladimir was born), Paris, Moscow and New York – „unlike anyone before him or after him”. He spoke English, French, Russian and German, and nurtured his knowledge of several languages by reading literary works in the original language.
To the sad news about the death of Dusan Peshich, on August 8, 2019, in the online edition of our newspaper, one reader added a short comment: “Dusan Peshich was a real star of classic journalism from the constellation of ‘Politika’ journalists”.
https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/497977/Dela-ruskih-slikara-u-Vrscu
