Art treat from Russia
Works from the mid-1800s that had great impact on Chinese art are being shown in China for the first time. Zhang Kun reports from Shanghai.
The Wanderers was an important art school in Russia in the mid1800s. It had great impact on Chinese art, but its artworks have never featured in a major exhibition in China.
The Wanderers: Masterpieces from the State Tretyakov Gallery, an exhibition at the Shanghai Museum, which opened on Dec 14, marked the first time these Russian artworks have been presented in China. The exhibition showcasing 68 oil paintings runs through March 4.
Zelfira Tregulova, directorgeneral of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, says: “We have brought to Shanghai some of the most celebrated pieces in our museum, which have rarely been on touring exhibition.
“And for the upcoming four months, lots of visitors will probably come to us asking about these paintings.”
The Wanderers, or Peredvizhiniki, was the most important school in Russia’s art history, Tregulova says. In the 1870s, “these artists changed Russian art”.
The Wanderers were liberalminded artists against the strict separation between high and low art in the Imperial Academy of Arts.
They believed art should reflect real life and people. They traveled extensively to showcase their paintings and taught people to appreciate art.
From 1871 to 1923, the group did 48 exhibition tours, covering such cities as Kiev, Kharkov, Kazan, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
P.M. Tretyakov (1832-98) was an avid supporter and collector of the Wanderers’ artworks. In 1892, he donated his renowned collection of 2,000 works to the Russian nation, to establish the State Tretyakov Gallery, according to Tatiana Gorodkova, from the painting department of the gallery.
Today, the gallery is recognized as the leading depository of Russian fine art, with a collection of 130,000 exhibits.
The exhibition in Shanghai marks the first collaboration between the two museums, Tregulova says.
The exhibits were carefully picked to showcase diverse styles, subjects and emotional connotations.
“We hope the exhibition will help visitors to appreciate the beautiful landscape of Russia in different seasons, and understand the Russian spirit and moral power from the portraits of great Russian authors such as Tolstoy,” she says.
She says that she hopes that by presenting “the most glorious chapter in Russian art history”, the exhibition will become an example of SinoRussian cooperation.
The exhibition presents the development and achievements of the Wanderers in six chapters. Among the exhibits are portraits of Russian artists and authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev, and composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as well as narrative and dramatic scenes of duels, weddings and hunting.
The most popular exhibited work is arguably Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (183787).
Gorodkova says that the woman in black, sitting in an open carriage is not mentioned in any written material so people know nothing about her. Yet visitors always linger in front of the painting wondering about her identity and story.
“I hope Chinese viewers will be attracted to her as much as we are.”
Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, says: “The Russian influence is widely present in China’s modern and contemporary artworks, and the Wanderers have had the foremost impact.”
To help audiences understand the rich connections between Russian and Chinese art, the museum has made a short documentary.
Leading Chinese artists, critics and academics talk about their experiences and lessons from the Wanderers, and how Russian art impacted Chinese art for half a century. The documentary is being screened at the exhibition.
“We welcome visitors from all over the world to appreciate the glory of Russian art in Shanghai. This is the beginning of a great partnership,” Yang says.
“And, in a few years Shanghai Museum will open a new East Wing, where we will have a hall especially for oil paintings. Then, I am sure we will be able to showcase more international masterpieces.”