| Russian Cezanne artists are shown in Monaco Sixty-six works from eleven regional museums, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum and nine paintings from a private collection made up the exhibition “Jack of Diamonds”: from Cezanne to the avant-garde.” The sensational nature of the event, firstly, is that never before have the works of Russian Cezanne artists from the Jack of Diamonds association been exhibited in such a volume, and secondly, the exhibition in a tiny European country was organized with private funds and not on a state initiative. True, an event of this level would have been impossible to hold without the support of the Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the Principality of Monaco and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation - the exhibition was located in the State Exhibition Hall of the Principality of Monaco on the Quai Antoine the First.
Of course, many paintings by Aristarkh Lentulov and Natalia Goncharova, Ilya Mashkov and Pyotr Konchalovsky, Robert Falk and Alexander Kuprin traveled abroad more than once, but mainly as a complement to the works of famous avant-garde artists led by Kazimir Malevich. The idea of the curator Zelfira Tregulova is to show the European public only the work of the masters of the “Jack of Diamonds” (1910-1916). The idea was a success: almost half of the paintings that arrived in Monaco were exhibited at the legendary exhibitions of the association with a shocking card name.
The project was conceived a year and a half ago by the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, headed by domestic collectors Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin. Nine “private” paintings are from their collection. One of the discoveries was Semenikhin’s “Landscape with Houses and a Mountain” (1915) by Adolf Milman, an artist associated with the “Jack of Diamonds”, practically unknown to the general public either in our country, much less in the West. The luxurious film “Women and Fruits” became the same “premieres”. The right part of the diptych" by Alexander Lentulov from the Ryazan Regional Art Museum and "Kanatopian Girls" by Robert Falk from the Saratov Art Museum. However, the highlight of the exhibition was Ilya Mashkov’s famous painting “Self-Portrait with a Portrait of Pyotr Konchalovsky” from the Russian Museum, where two artist-athletes pose in sports shorts on a sofa against the backdrop of weights and barbells, holding a violin and sheet music. This painting is extremely rarely shown at traveling exhibitions due to its very impressive size.
The beautiful design of the exhibition, created by Moscow artist Alena Kirtsova, is in perfect harmony with the art of the “Jack of Diamonds”. The elongated space is cut with red wedges, and the side walls and floor are painted black. The organizers of the exhibition say that there is enormous interest in it in France; more than fifty journalists were accredited to the press conference, who, however, are primarily concerned with the question of why the Russians are organizing an exhibition of their art in Monaco. I asked the same question to Vladimir Seminikhin, he answered: “Abroad, Russian art is represented exclusively by the late avant-garde, although, I believe that the beginning of everything is precisely in the works of the “Jack of Diamonds” group. This exhibition is taking place in Monaco simply because we live here, but the Ekaterina Foundation plans to organize even more representative exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Moscow in the near future.” Anna VERGUN, Monaco |
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