Editor’s Choice

16th-20th centuries paintings from the Kursk State Art Gallery at the Tretyakov Gallery

This new exhibition is part of the Federal project “The Golden Map of Russia,” which is designed to display the collections of the Russian regions. This is the 35th project, and presents about 60 works of art of Russian, Italian, Dutch, French and Swiss masters, transported from their home at the Kursk State Art Gallery.

Giovanni Tiepolo, A Left hand

I.E. Grabar, Flora, 1934

K. Trutovsky, In a Flood.

The history of the collection is older than the museum itself, something typical for art museums in the Russian provinces. The collection began when historical- archeological museum and the handicraft museum came into being (1903-1905). The first works were donated by individuals, and the main part of the collection was formed during post-revolutionary years when canvases were expropriated from nationalized mansions belonging to such famous aristocratic families as the Baryatinskys, the Shwartzs, the Nelidovs and the Rebinders. However, the idea of opening up a museum was implemented only in 1935 when about 200 works were allocated from the art department of the Regional National Historical Museum. That same year, the famous Soviet artist and sculptor Alexander Alexandrovich Deineka who was born in Kursk in 1899 also donated his own works to the museum, which was named after him in 1969 when he died. At the present time, the museum has over 8,000 works of art—paintings, sculptures, drawings, works of folk and decorative applied arts, created both by national and foreign masters. The current exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery displays the most interesting works from the Kursk Art Gallery.

West European art is presented by 13 canvases, which originally came from the Baryatinsky and the Shwartz mansions, such as “Still-life with a Self Portrait” by the Italian master Francesco Maltese (second half of the 18th century), and the canvas “St. Catherine from Alexandria” by an unknown artist of the 17th century. The Baryatinsky’s collection also includes “The Head of an Old Man” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) as well as “The Portrait of the Great Princess Elizaveta Alekseyevna” (1797) by the famous French lady artist Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun. The real masterpiece of the collection is “The Portrait of a Girl” by Federigo Barocci (1535-1612), a representative of the late mannerism.

The Russian part of the display includes over 40 works of art dating back to the 18th-20th century, here you can see canvases of such famous Russian masters as Ivan Kramskoy, Vladimir Makovsky, Isaak Levitan and Ilya Repin.

The gallery owns a precious collection of works from the beginning of the 20th century including that of artists of the famous “The Jack of Diamonds”, “The Donkey’s Tail” and “The Target” art groups. Viewers will see the remarkable work of Ilya Mashkov “Still-life with Reed” and “Still-life with a Red Tray” by Piotr Konchalovsky (both painted in the 1910s). It’s interesting to compare two portraits painted by Robert Falk: “A Lady Wearing a Yellow Blouse” (1910) and “A Parisian Lady” (1936), which

The current display is runs until July 31, 2011 Engineer Building, 2nd floor, Lavrushinsly Pereulok 12

demonstrate the evolution of the figurative language of the master. Also on display are “A Gild with Flowers” (1917) by Boris Kustodiev, which is not well-known to the Moscow public, “By the River” (1894) by Viktor Borisov-Musatov and “A Lady Taking off her Glove” (1924) by Alexander Osmyorkin.