| Science, business and museum found each other at a new St. Petersburg exhibition Everyone is already a little tired of the topic of “Russian Cézanneism” (the art of artists who are followers of Paul Cézanne’s painting system, in which, according to researcher Gleb Pospelov, “stroke by stroke - the movement of painting reveals the unity of the flesh of nature, the very energy of its formation”). Not so long ago, the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum hosted the exhibition “Cezanne and the Russian Avant-garde.” Dozens of books and albums are dedicated to the work of the founders of the movement (Konchalovsky, Mashkov, Kuprin), their friends and rivals Goncharova and Larionov. For a short time (1910 - early 1920s), the association “Jack of Diamonds”, which united Russian Cezanne artists, was awarded a nice exhibition two years ago at the now defunct Moscow Arts Center on Neglinka. To prevent the jack card of the Cezanne suit from becoming a bat, you need to play big. Prepare a project that meets the following requirements. The scale is global. The execution is meticulous. Funding is generous. The driving force behind the project was the interests of new Russian businesses. Patrons of the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, entrepreneurs Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, produced the exhibition, which claims to be a perfect model of interaction between a collector and a museum. For a museum, a successful exhibition is one that reflects the history of an artistic phenomenon in all its details. One in which the best specialists and archives are involved to the maximum; there are no problems with obtaining things from the collections of other public and private institutions. Finally, one that has a good design, a good catalog, and as a result, a good press. For a generous collector, the very fact of organizing such an exhibition in the best museum, attracting works from his collection into it, means raising the authority of his own collection to unattainable heights. The consequence is a new, noble image on the market and new prices for works participating in such an exhibition.
Thanks to leading Russian experts in the field of museums and antiques (primarily Zelfira Tregulova), the Semenikhin entrepreneurs and collectors have formed a brilliant alliance with the best museums in the country. Having a high scientific status, good design and catalog, exhibitions of artists from the “Jack of Diamonds” association tour three prestigious halls. The first exhibition was opened in the Principality of Monaco under the patronage of Prince Albert. Last weekend, the second took place in the Benois Wing of the Russian Museum. In November the third will be in the Tretyakov Gallery. Compared to the Monegasque, presentation version, the Russian Museum version is significantly expanded (primarily with excellent works from the rich collection of the State Russian Museum). More than 15 Russian museums and about ten works from the collection of the patrons themselves are participating in the project. The parade of “jacks” turned out to be the most representative in history.
According to Vladimir Semenikhin, the total cost of the project at three sites is about $1 million. Despite the fact that unknown paintings by Lentulov, Falk, Larionov, Konchalovsky, Rozanova came from a variety of Russian museums (from Kazan to Ryazan), zero damage was done to the state budget . And when the money (yes, such money!) comes from personal wealth, the perfectionism of the undertaking is implied by itself. That’s why things are selected. That is why there is no eternal laxity of the exhibitions of the Russian Museum: the structure is rigid, the red and white design module (artists Alena Kirtsova and Yuri Avvakumov) is precisely found, not a single thing is offended: with light, rhythm, and the logic of hanging everything is in perfect order. That is why there is a fundamental catalog and the bustle of VIPs at the opening day. That is why we hope that the alliance between pragmatism and romance, science and the market, and the museum and capital will last long.
PHOTO: Ilya Mashkov. Self-portrait and portrait of Pyotr Konchalovsky. 1910. Fragment. State Russian Museum Sergey KHACHATUROV, St. Petersburg |
|
