Raise a key exhibition: which museums to visit on vacation
To see Tatlin's air bike, to find out which of the avant-garde artists you are closer to in the archetype, to visit the art repository and put together the alphabet of paintings are offered by metropolitan museums during the January holidays. Visiting exhibitions is a favorite leisure activity of Muscovites and Petersburgers in the first days of the new year. And the choice here is traditionally wide. If we talk about the Mother See, then the largest crowds will obviously pour over Bryullov at the Tretyakov Gallery and Chagall at the State Museum of Fine Arts. But we have written about these projects in detail. Where else can I go? Izvestia has collected five expositions that definitely deserve attention.
Tatlin. The construction of the world
The Zotov Center is showing a major retrospective of Vladimir Tatlin, an avant—garde artist, inventor, and dreamer. The general public knows him from the Tower of the Third International, which has become almost a symbol of constructivism. And even if the original has not been preserved, everyone who has ever entered the New Tretyakov Gallery has seen the reconstruction: the metal cone—shaped structure in the lobby of the second floor is just it.
Of course, Zotov also has its own reconstruction, focused on constructivism. But the tower (plus a lot of related materials — historical photographs, detailed drawings, documents) is just one of the plots of the narrative. Tatlin appears here in all the variety of his roles, and they are named with reference to the word-making of his close friend Velimir Khlebnikov: "Swimmer", "Singer", "Steward", "Messenger", "Teacher", "Flyer" and "Doer".
Yes, the famous flywheel "Letatlin" — a utopian attempt to create an air bike powered by muscle traction — is also presented. Since 2017, he has been on display at the New Tretyakov Gallery, and in 2024 he "flew" to the Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in Monin, to which he belongs. Probably forever. Nevertheless, now you can admire it again — at the exhibition in Zotov. You should not miss a rare chance: fortunately, it is perfectly demonstrated. Even its shadow falls in such a way that it resembles Tatlin's tower.
But that's not all. The exhibition features a lot of theatrical works by the artist, his handmade bandura, reconstructions of counter—reliefs (three-dimensional abstract objects) and late paintings, which are almost never shown and therefore can surprise even the regulars of Russian avant-garde exhibitions.
The archetypes of the avant-garde
The Tretyakov Gallery is also betting on the avant-garde. However, this project is not focused on a specific figure or even a direction as such, but on reflecting Carl Gustav Jung's famous theory of archetypes through art and personalities of the era. Child, Warrior, Seeker, Rebel, Aesthete, Magician — a total of 12 archetypes correspond to 12 sections of the exhibition and unite artists whose work is proposed to be viewed through the prism of the "label" included in the title.
The concept is, of course, vulnerable to criticism: why, for example, is Rodchenko a Warrior, Kandinsky a Magician, and Matyushin a Seeker? The curatorial argument is not without grace, but this "deck of cards" could just as well be laid out in a completely different way. The architecture of the project also raises questions: it seems that there is too much of it, and, on the contrary, there are few things (although in fact the quantitative exposition is very saturated). On the other hand, the space of the new Tretyakov Gallery building on Kadashevskaya Embankment is not easy in itself, and in this case it is not used without imagination.
And yet the main thing, of course, is not the architecture or even the concept, but simply the opportunity to see a number of rare works by first-tier authors. In addition to those already mentioned, these are Malevich, Mashkov, Guro, Lentulov, Rozanova and many others. Moreover, they are often represented by works that are completely obscure — from private collections, regional museums, or even from the Tretyakov Gallery collection, but stored in storerooms. This is, for example, Malevich's early landscape, which was previously considered Larionov's work and was first exhibited with a new attribution.
Open storage
The AZ Museum opened 10 years ago, in 2015. At first, he focused on the work of the "main character", the genius of the sixties Anatoly Zverev, whose initials formed the basis for the name of the institution, but after a while the thematic range expanded significantly: not only Zverev, but also other nonconformists began to be regularly exhibited on Tverskaya—Yamskaya. Well, when the founder of the AZ Museum, philanthropist Natalia Opaleva, opened another site, AZ ART on Maroseyka, contemporary art figures also entered the "orbit".
Meanwhile, the original space was closed for renovation at some point. And now, finally, it welcomes guests again. It is symbolic that again, as in the early years, we are shown a personal retrospective of Zverev. However, it was not made without originality: the curator was Katya Bochavar, who is mostly associated with contemporary art. The project is based on the idea of a storage facility. Graphic works (watercolors, gouaches, drawings) are placed on steel gratings, which are lined up one after another and mounted in runners like cabinet doors. The viewer moves them independently, viewing the works in any order.
This solution allowed, firstly, to show much more than a standard display in this space would allow, and secondly, it gave that sense of belonging, interactivity, and almost childish excitement that is so lacking when we study works according to a predetermined scheme.
In fact, this is, of course, an illusion, and iron logic is fully present here. On the ground floor there is the very "storage", the composition of which is carefully selected (early abstractions, animal drawings, portraits, nudes), on the second floor there are many self—portraits (they are already hanging in the traditional way), on the third there are paintings, mainly landscape and again placed on grids, as in a storage, but hidden behind glass. As a result, you can feel like a museum worker, and see a lot of new things, and not get tired, but get a holistic impression. A worthy anniversary project!
Arkhip Kuindzhi. The illusion of light
The main St. Petersburg museum project of these holidays is, of course, the Arkhip Kuindzhi retrospective at the Russian Museum. The exhibition is not new, it opened in early autumn, but Izvestia did not write about it, and now it's time to close this gap. Fortunately, the GM added evening sessions for the January holidays, so there is still an opportunity to get there, but we must hurry (tickets for daytime and morning time were sold out in December, despite the considerable price).
This exhibition is, in fact, ambiguous: there are practically no texts, an extraordinary curatorial idea, and finally, the swing at rethinking the artist's work that the Tretyakov retrospective had seven years ago. But the timing is different: an abundance of works, many of which are unknown to the general public (for example, a number of small oil sketches are presented in the first hall), precisely placed accents (you will not pass by the main things), a gentle volume (an hour to visit is enough) and, of course, a spectacular theatrical reception with "Moonlight at night on the Dnieper": Kuindzhi's most famous masterpiece is located in a separate darkened hall, where the ceiling is stylized to resemble the starry sky.
In the past decade, the dubious but still well-established term "blockbuster exhibition" was used mainly in connection with Tretyakov Gallery projects. The retrospectives of Serov, Aivazovsky, Vereshchagin, Polenov, and Repin were a resounding success, and it seemed pointless to fight GTG in this field. However, the Russian Museum, led by Alla Manilova, has demonstrated that it knows the formula for success just as well. "Arkhip Kuindzhi. The Illusion of Light" is already the fourth hit of the St. Petersburg museum, breaking popularity records and attracting public attention (it was preceded by the expositions of Vasnetsov and Bryullov, as well as the ambitious "Our Avant—garde"). And it also causes controversy, different opinions and assessments. But it is also impossible to ignore him, at least because of the resonance and popular love that he got in full.
All Benoit — all Benoit
The main competitor of the Kuindzhi retrospective for the title of the most popular St. Petersburg exhibition of the January holidays is the high—profile Manege project dedicated to Alexander Benois and his numerous relatives. Tickets also need to be bought a lot in advance, but you can't do without one hour to visit here: the exposition is vast both in area and in number of works (more than 600 from 70 museums and private collections). Although Benoit is not a rare artist, he was exceptionally prolific, represented in many collections, exhibited a lot and regularly, and yet he has not been shown so widely and comprehensively for a long time.
The idea here is to show, firstly, the most diverse roles of Benoit - and he was not only a master of theatrical costume and the founder of the "World of Art", but also a collector, a curator of the Hermitage, and a historian of painting. Secondly, the achievements of the main character are placed in the context of the work of other representatives of the dynasty.: Eugene Lancere, Zinaida Serebryakova, brothers Leonty and Albert. In addition, the curators draw associative "threads" from many names and subjects to a wide variety of phenomena, ranging from an ancient Egyptian mummy case to installations by modern artists.
All these plots stubbornly do not add up to a single line, the exhibition turns out to be eclectic and overloaded; its gigantomania and diversity are alien to the art of Alexandre Benois, a master of chamber graphic works, whether lyrical views of Versailles, ironic "Abzuka" or sketches of theatrical costumes. But it can be assumed that the Manege wanted to contrast the image formed by art with Benoit's personality itself, which is as diverse, contradictory and large-scale as the resulting exhibition. If so, the task has been completed one hundred percent.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
