Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, will present The Russian Avant-garde, Siberia and the East, the first international exhibition to examine the fundamental importance of the Oriental and Eurasian connection to Russian Modernism. The exhibition follows the destinies of Russia’s self-proclaimed “Barbarians” in their search for new sources of artistic inspiration. Neolithic stone figures, Siberian shaman rituals, popular Chinese prints, Japanese engravings, Theosophical doctrine and Indian philosophy are just some of the elements which inspired Russia’s new artists and writers as they developed their aesthetic and theoretical ideas just before and after the Revolution of October 1917. The Russian Avant-garde, Siberia and the East demonstrates how modern Russian culture experienced a deep attraction to – and an apprehension of – the exotic, the unknown and the “Other”, which artists and writers identified with the spirit of the taiga, the virgin territories of desert and steppe and the “otherness” of Oriental culture.

Emphasising the key role which radical Russian artists played in the development of Modern art over a century ago, this exhibition underscores their complex relationship with the Orient, both the Russian East and the Far East. Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Pavel Filonov, Natal’ia Goncharova, Wassily Kandinsky, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich and other prime movers of the Avant-garde were deeply aware of the importance of the East and contributed to the rich debate – West or East? – which left a profound and permanent imprint on their creative imagination. In addition to the heroes of the Russian Avant-garde, this exhibition will also acquaint the visitor with other, less familiar but strikingly original, artists of the day such as Nikolai Kalmakov, Sergei Konenkov and Vasilii Vatagin, many of whose works are being shown in the West for the first time.

The Russian Avant-garde was characterised by bold experiment and innovation, culminating in such works as Kandinsky’s Improvisations and Malevich’s Black Square, which have long been recognised as central to the history of 20th-century European art. The Russian Avant-garde, Siberia and the East argues that the “Russian” Avant-garde was not only Russian or even European, but was inspired by other traditions, notably those of the Orient. Bakst and Malevich, for example, were at the forefront of this cultural trajectory, the former with his costumes and sets for the Ballets Russes, paying homage to Shiva sculptures, Buddhist temples and Siamese costumes, the latter with abstract paintings informed by the Buddhist concept of nirvana. Kandinsky, Larionov and Vatagin studied shamanistic and Hindu rituals, referring to them in their paintings or sculptures; Goncharova, Konchalovsky and Mashkov reproduced Chinese and Japanese broadsheets in their still lifes; Theosophy, elaborated by Helena Blavatsky after her exposure to Indian philosophy, was an important influence on Russian painters, sculptors and writers of the time.

In recognising the importance of Eastern culture to Russian studio painting, sculpture and design a century ago, The Russian Avant-garde, Siberia and the East complements preceding exhibitions which have focused on Russia’s artistic debt to Western Europe or on influences from the vernacular legacy such as Russian icon painting and peasant artefacts. The exhibition invites the viewer to approach Russia’s innovative movements, from Symbolism to Cubo-Futurism and from Suprematism to Constructivism, not as extensions of Paris and Milan or as paraphrases of indigenous culture but as genuine tributes to the East – the Middle East, Siberia, China, Tibet, Japan and India. Goncharova exclaimed in 1913: “We belong to Asia”, and Georgii Yakulov called for an “Oriental Renaissance”, while artists of the Revolution, eager to fuse West and East within the cradle of a new Russian civilisation, even spoke of the need for an “Oriental Constructivism”.

The Russian Avant-garde, Siberia and the East is curated by John E. Bowlt (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA), Nicoletta Misler (Università di Napoli “l’Orientale”, Italy) and Evgenia Petrova (State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, Russia) with the assistance of a team of international advisors. One of the goals of the exhibition is to recreate the “other” atmosphere in which artists such as Kandinsky, Konenkov and Malevich developed their own visual systems, organised their exhibitions and interpreted the rich and diverse cultures of the Orient. The installation will also reflect the mood of the Russian Avant-garde, and will be accompanied by an extensive interpretative programme for all ages.

Palazzo Strozzi
P.zza Strozzi
Florence 50123 Italy
Ph. +39 055 2645155
www.strozzina.org www.palazzostrozzi.org

Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 20.00
Thursday from 10am to 11pm

Admission
€10.00 Adults
Concessions: €8.50, €8.00, €7.50, €5.00
Schools: €4.00

Related images

  1. Il’ia Mashkov (1881-1944), Portrait of a Lady in an Armchair, 1913, Oil on canvas; 177 x 115 cm; Ekaterinburg, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 370
  2. Boris Korolev (1885-1963), Salomé, 1922, Wood; 110 x 71 x 34.5 cm; St Petersburg, State Russian Museum, inv. SO 234
  3. Anonymous, To the Russo-Japanese War, 1904, Chromolithograph; 530 x 384 mm; St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, E 027766
  4. Vasilii Vatagin (1883-1969), Eagle, 1913, Wood; 77 x 24 x 25 cm; St Petersburg, State Russian Museum, inv. Sk 1929
  5. Nikolai Kalmakov (1873-1955), Buddha and Chinese Maiden, 1913, Watercolour, gouache, silver, ink, graphite pencil on paper; 56 x 38.6 cm, St Petersburg, State Russian Museum, inv. R-35262
  6. Mikhail Matiushin (1861-1934), Woman Dancing, 1915-16, Wood root; 44 x 46.5 cm; St Petersburg, State Russian Museum, inv. Sk-815