In search of an identity
dal 19/9/2005 al 8/1/2006
Segnalato da
19/9/2005
In search of an identity
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Russian art in the second half of the 19th century. A multidisciplinary exhibition. While the Russian avant-gard artists of the beginning of the 20th century are better known, this period on the other hand is widely unknown. Through exceptional loans, in particular from the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, the museum in Smolensk and the Lev Tolstoi museum in Moscow, a great number of works are presented for the first time.
Russian art in the second half of the 19th century
CURATORSHIP:
General Curator: Marie-Pierre Salé and Edouard Papet
Curator photography and architecture section: Dominique de Font-Réaulx
The first exhibition in France on the renewal of Russian art at the turning period between the 19h and the 20th centuries.
This multidisciplinary exhibition is the first in France dedicated to Russian art, from the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century up to the end of the Czars regime in 1917. While the Russian avant-gard artists of the beginning of the 20th century are better known and have been the subject of remarkable exhibitions, this period on the other hand is widely unknown. Through exceptional loans, in particular from the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, the museum in Smolensk and the Lev Tolstoï museum in Moscow, a great number of works are presented for the first time.
The creation of a purely Russian art
Through painting, sculpture, decorative arts, graphic arts, architecture and photography, the exhibition does not pretend to draw up an exhaustive panorama, but rather intends to put into perspective the creation of a purely Russian art.The natural habitat, « the Russian soil » have their place here. The return to the national sources, somewhere between myths, history and popular art, is explored in all its diversity, sheding light on the relationship between evolution in the arts and the awareness of a Russian identity. In the second half of the 19th century, certain artists turned away partially or totally from Western models and repertoires, in order to define a national art and style. This movement expresses itself in a rereading of national, historic or mythical sources, of popular art forms, of Slavic literature and stories, as well as by taking into consideration the contemporary social and political reality.
The revolt of the fourteen
In 1863 a group of young artists refused to compete at the Academy according to the subjects imposed on the students: they wanted contemporary Russian subjects. This «revolt of the fourteen» opened the path to a new realism, liberated from the sentimental and miserabilist painting, that went forward in spite of censorship and deals with the social and political reality of Czarist Russia. Russian photographers, just like the painters, sculptors and architects, are going to express their attachment to the rites and customs of ancient Russia. The way of living in the countryside has evolved very little since the 17th century and the photographic reports, as of the beginning of the 1860s, allow for a little of the Russian soul to be fixed on film. The subjects of the traditional Russia –work in the fields, minor arts and crafts – are the opportunities for the photographers to underline their pictorial choice.
The neo-Russian style
This search for an identity reaches its climax in the Russian and neo-Russian style that affects all the artistic disciplines between 1880 and 1910. During the last years of the 19th century there is a census of the popular patrimony and a rediscovery of the art of ancient Russia. The section dedicated to the neo-Russian movement is one of the strongest parts of the exhibition. The movement found its inspiration in the popular sources and is the most explicit link between the arts and the national conscience. At the end of the 19th century Russia rediscovered in popular art a source of artistic renewal that played a determining role in the emergence of a «Modern style», Russian Art nouveau. Colonies of artists brought together varied talents. In parallel, the magazine Mir Iskousstva, The World of Art, as well as the exhibits it organizes play an important role that is developed in the section dedicated to graphic arts.
Neo-primitivism
This inspiration continues to 1905-1910 in the neo-primitivist movement, in painting –Gontcharova, Larionov, Malvitch – as well as in the research on the direct carving of wood in sculpture –Golubkina, Konenkov. These artists guarantee and claim the fecundity, in the genesis of the avant-gard movements, of the heritage of ancient and modern Russia.
Illustration: SOPHIE ANDREÃEVNA TOLSTOÃ (1845-1919)
Maria and Alexandra Tolstoï with the peasant children of Isnaïa Poliana, 1896
Albumen print from a glass negative 12 x 16.8 cm, Moscow, Tolstoï State Museum
Jointly produced by the Musée d’Orsay and the Réunion des musées nationaux, this exhibition was organized thanks to the support of Gazprom and Gaz de France
PUBLICATION
Catalogue : « Russian art in the second half of the XlXth century: in search of an identity », 21x28 cm, published by the Réunion des musées nationaux, interforum distribution, 54€
To see more illustrations, click on VERSION FRANCAISE at the top of this page
Image: KOUZMA PETROV-VODKINE, The bath of the red horse, 1912 Oil on canvas 160 x 186 cm.
Moscow, Trétiakov Gallery
PRESS CONTACTS:
Amélie Hardivillier : +33 (0) 1 40 49 48 56
Patricia Oranin : +33 (0) 1 40 49 47 42
INFORMATION:
Tel. +33 01 40 49 48 00
MUSEE D’ORSAY
Entrance through the square
1, rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 75007 PARIS
OPENING HOURS:
Every day, except on monday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM,
thursday from 10:00 AM to 9:45 PM
sunday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM