Inspiration
Dior
Alevtina Kalina
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Madeleine Dress - Fall Winter 2005-2006
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Miss Dior Dress Spring Summer 1949
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Malevitch - Woman with a Rake
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Inspiration Dior is an exhibition held
at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts that
is promising to become one of the most
spectacular attractions of this season. The
whole Dior universe—perfumes, leather
goods, fine jewellery, watches, couture
dresses—will be presented against a
background of about one hundred works
of visual art by Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Gustav
Klimt, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet,
Maurizio Cattelan and Vanessa Beecroft.
The world of Dior provides the opportunity
to view René Gruau’s strikingly
modern illustrations and allows the Russian
plastic artist, Olga Kisseleva to create
an installation exploring the sensual
and sensory universe of Dior perfumes. A
mirror effect of deliberate similarities lays
down the framework of this exceptional
exhibition, in which the quest for ideal
beauty creates the link between Christian
Dior, genius couturier, and the impressive
and unexpected gallery of great masters.
Among the fashion highlights, there will
be several recent acquisitions, among
which there is Richard Avedon’s photograph
of “Dovima with elephants” which
is considered to be one of the most recognisable
fashion images of all times.
Christian Dior presented his first collection
at Avenue Montaigne In February
1947. Unknown until that moment,
the designer who revered the French
way of life entered upon one triumphant
decade after another, providing women
with regal clothes and a sublime look.
Skirts were longer, shoulder lines were
softened and waists were pinched. Dior
“flower-women” blossomed in the postwar
era and soon conquered the world
with their infinite grace.
New and highly innovative, the exhibition
demonstrates how inspiration has
nourished the heart of Dior for decades.
This amazing journey guides the visitor
through Dior’s creative sources of fashion
and its links to history, nature, painting,
sculpture, drawing, photography
and film. It reveals how an idea, a feeling,
an era, a garden, a perception or even a
smell can instill an idea in the heart and
mind, giving rise to a unique creation.
In this major exhibition, the Pushkin
Museum showcases Dior magic and
luxury while emphasizing the house’s
links with art. The key themes of the Dior
legend, past and present on a grand
scale in original fashion, are set against
unique works of art. It is a journey of corresponding
elements and magical synergies,
where the New Look is echoed
in works by Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir,
Cezanne or even Gauguin. Nudes by
Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio Cattelan and
Orlan emphasise the gloriously modern
lines of the female body, accentuated by
Christian Dior.
This waltz through time enchants the
visitor with lush gardens and recollections
of the 18th century and the Belle
Époque. Marie-Antoinette meets Jeff
Koons; Bonnard’s landscapes celebrate
Dior’s “flower-women”. The Dior grand
balls are also celebrated in all their glory
in an enchanted setting where Ingres’
aristocrats admire breath-taking crinolines
and haute couture gowns. The visitor
is then transported around the world
with Dior via Goya’s Spain,
Matisse’s
heady orient and, of course, Russia and
Asia. Russia figures in the mix, from
graphic, geometric dresses juxtaposed
with paintings by Kazimir Malevich to
black-and-white fashion photos of Dior
models frolicking in Red Square. A 320-
page catalogue is to be published, available
in French, English and Russian.
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
12, Volkhonka Street
April 28 – July 24
Open: 10:00 – 19:00
Except Monday
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