Previews

New Look—New Glass

A biennale of art in glass is a common thing in many countries. Along with London and Venice, the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow has initiated an exhibition that will hopefully grow into a larger-scale project. For the moment the project presents the works of 12 artists from Moscow from the New Glass association (Novoe Steklo in Russian), who continue the artistic process that began in the 1960s, when utilitarian decorative functions of glass started to become defunct. Glass became a fullyfledged plastic material that provided the opportunity to create something more than just decorative works. Experiments opened up new spatial and figurative potential. These artists’ work focused on exploring possibilities and limitations of glass as an

Until September 16, 10:00-19:00 every day except Mondays Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 25, Petrovka Street

artistic material. Modern glass, if using new forms, is capable (equally with art and sculpture) of expressing the artist’s individuality, his ideas, the thoughts of his time. Mirrors, lenses and engravings widen artistic possibilities. Plastic works made of glass create a new sensation of space— transparent but still possessing form and volume. Every one of these 12 artists works in his or her own way, first stepping aside from traditional templates, then using habitual technics.

Conservatoire re-opens

The Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire opens after a major renovation that has been completed in a very limited period of time. The rest of the Conservatoire complex will be under restoration until 2016. But this month the central place for classical music fans opens with a star-studded cast of guest performances, one of which will be given by the Orchestre Des Pays de Savoie conducted by Nicolas Chalvin. This Orchestra was founded by the Assemblée des Pays de Savoie in 1984. Since then its musical directors have been Patrice Fontanarosa, Tibor Varga, Mark Foster and Graziella Contratto, under whose the orchestra has become one of the most dynamic in France. Nicolas Chalvin took over as musical director in September 2009. Nicholas was previously a chamber and orchestral musician before deciding to devote himself entirely to conducting. After studying at the Conservatoire (CNSM) in Lyon, Nicolas Chalvin embarked on a career as an oboist, first of all with the Orchestra National de Lyon, then with the Luxembourg Philharmonic. On the programme in Moscow are Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 and Haydn’s Symphony No. 83.

Parisian School

From 1900 to the middle of the century, Paris with its inspiring climate was an extremely attractive location to which artists of different nationalities gravitated from different countries. The Parisian School or the School of Paris is rather a conventional name to describe that group of French and non-French artists who lived and worked in this city. The group was initially concentrated in Montmartre, but subsequently moved to Montparnasse in the 1910s. Portraiture, landscapes and still lifes were the main subjects the artists focused on, applying a diversity of techniques and style—the dynamic colours of Fauvism, the geometric methods of Cubism, the modernist qualities of Expressionism, and the transcendent worlds of Symbolism. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) became one of the leaders of this movement when he moved to France in 1904. His collaboration with the Frenchman Georges Braque (1882-1963) fostered the development of Cubism. It was after Braque’s exhibition in 1908 that the term Cubism was humorously coined by one journalist.

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978),

September 20-November 20 Private Collections Section, Pushkin Museum of Fine Art 14, Volkhonka street Open: 10:00-19.00, except Monday

another influential member of the movement also resided in Paris and is considered a precursor to realism among the Surrealists. Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) and Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) were other artists within the School who exchanged styles and ideas about art. The current exhibition at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts presents works by more than fifty painters, displaying collections from Russian private collections along with those from the George Pompidou Centre.