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EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW

Palekh: Icons to Souvenir Boxes to Icons

Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, NE

September 20, 2008 - January 11, 2009

Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA

February - May 2009

Yaroslavl Madonna, early 20th century, Ivano Regional Museum

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American Artists from the Russian Empire

Fred Jones Jr. Museum, Norman, OK

October 4, 2008 - January 4, 2009

State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

February 19, 2009 - May 25, 2009

State Tretyakov Gallery

June 10, 2009 - August 23, 2009

San Diego Museum of Art

October 10, 2009 - January 3, 2010

 

John Graham, Circus Horse, 1942 (Hollis Taggart Galleries)

FIAE'S EXHIBITION PROJECTS

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS :

 

American Artists from the Russian Empire: In collaboration with the State Russian Museum, this multi-faceted project examines the impact artists born in the Russian Empire had on American culture, and highlights their contributions in shaping American art through the process of cultural influence and exchanges. The catalogue and the documentary film that accompany the exhibition further study the question of immigration and cultural symbiosis. The exhibit is on view at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum at the University of Oklahoma until January 2009. The exhibit will then travel to Russia where it will be presented at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, and the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and following these venues will return to the U.S. in the Fall of 2010 to be shown at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Palekh: Icons to Souvenir Boxes to Icons: The Foundation is cooperating with the Russian Ministry of Culture’s Museum-Exhibition Center ROSIZO to present an exhibition of the true artistry and the unique creations of Palekh masters over the past three hundred years. The exhibit covers the historical range of Palekh works and explores the techniques of the masters over time. The exhibit is currently on view at Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska until January 2009. It will then travel to the Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts January – March 2009.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS:

Treasures from Ancient Ukrainian Civilizations: At the invitation of the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, FIAE will be presenting a unique exhibition of historical relics from the territory of Ukraine. Collected over many years by two Ukrainian businessmen, Sergei Platonov and Sergei Taruta, the proposed exhibition will span 6,000 years of history of tribes and people who inhabited the territory of modern Ukraine. Special attention will be devoted to unique pottery and clay sculptures from the Trypillian Culture, mythical animal-style art of the Scythians, and splendid Greek artifacts discovered in the region of the Black Sea between the 7th and 2nd centuries B.C. The exhibition will also feature treasures from the Byzantine Empire, Kievan Rus’, and various Steppe nomads. FIAE is working with U.S. museums on a tour in 2010/2011.

Ukrainian Icons and Iconography Through the Centuries: Ukrainian icons have long reflected the geographic history of Ukraine – located between Orthodox Russia and Catholic Poland. While tracing the history of Ukrainian icons and their shifting influences, the exhibition will focus on these core traits. The dominant feature within Ukrainian icons is the use of three colors: blue representing Christian love and forgiveness, red for martyrdom, and gold for Paradise. With the rebirth of political independence, Ukraine’s cultural and religious history has taken on added significance. FIAE recently produced an exhibition focused on the Ukrainian avant-garde. This exhibition will continue that work as the exhibition highlights the history and content of Ukrainian icons and helps explain to the visitors what it is that has produced a uniquely “Ukrainian” approach to iconography. The museums of Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra (Monastery of the Caves) have agreed to be the partner organization for the exhibit. The exhibit will contain not only icons but also other religious objects such as unique crosses, chalices, textiles, etc. FIAE anticipates a U.S. tour for this exhibition between 2010 and 2012.

• Robert Bateman in Russia: Remarkably gifted as a painter and naturalist, Robert Bateman is undoubtedly the most celebrated wildlife artist working today. Born in Toronto, Canada (1930), Bateman and his family now reside in Salt Spring, one of the Gulf Islands lying between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. Numerous books, art and nature conservation awards and major exhibitions attest to his pre-eminence in his chosen field of painting. Bateman’s knowledge of the intricate relationships that characterize the natural word has long set him apart from other wildlife artists – he is that rare kind of artist – one who has truly influenced the manner in which we perceive our environment. FIAE is organizing a solo exhibit of Robert Bateman to be presented in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia in late 2009 – early 2010.

• Joe Beyrle: A Story of an American Soldier: The exhibit will tell the incredible story of a soldier of the 101st U.S. Airborne Division who landed in Normandy, was captured and escaped several times, finally heading East and finding Soviet troops. Private Beyrle fought alongside the Soviet Army in the Second World War and is believed to be the only American soldier who fought in both the U.S. and the Russian armies during the same war. The exhibit will feature photographs, documents, letters and other memorabilia that tell an incredible story of true honor and commemorate American-Russian relations. The exhibit will travel to various Russian venues, including St. Petersburg and places of famous war battles.

• Portraits by Nelson Shanks: Nelson Shanks is a world-renown American painter, art historian, connoisseur, and collector. An exhibition of Mr. Shanks’ portraits will be presented in one or two venues in Russia, including portraits of H.R.H. Lady Diana, Margaret Thatcher and the last portrait of Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich painted before his death.


• Old Masters from the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts:
FIAE is currently exploring an opportunity to present an exhibit of 40-50 works of the works by Old Masters from a collection of the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Most of the works considered for the exhibition have never traveled to the U.S. This is a collaborative project with the Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, and the San Diego Museum of Art.

PAST EXHIBITIONS:


Of Gold and Grass: Nomads of Kazakhstan: The exhibit provided the very first opportunity for the American public to get a personal introduction to the fascinating history and culture of ancient peoples who lived on the territory of present day Kazakhstan. Built around a series of phenomenal archeological discoveries in Kazakhstan, the exhibit not only examined the sheer beauty of the pieces, but also their role in the daily life and traditions of the region’s people. The exhibit, developed by an outstanding team of American and Kazakh scholars, was presented at Mingei International Museum in San Diego, CA and was on view at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX.

Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine, 1910-1930: The Foundation partnered with the National Art Museum of Ukraine to produce an exhibition that showcases more than 70 works by 21 artists — each shown for the first time in the United States. The exhibition includes works of Ukrainian avant-garde artists who are both world-famous and relatively unknown and who created an exceptionally rich repository of modern works influenced by Ukrainian traditions and lifestyles. The exhibit had a successful showing at the Chicago Cultural Center between July and October 2006 and then was presented at the Ukrainian Museum in New York City between November 2006 and April 2007.

Mir Iskusstva: Russia’s Age of Elegance: This collection of paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and works on paper by artists affiliated with the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) movement between 1898 and the early 1920’s, was presented in collaboration with the State Russian Museum, to honor the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg. The exhibit was shown in 2006-2007 at Joslyn Art Museum, in Omaha, NE, Weisman Museum of Art in Minneapolis, MN, and the Princeton Art Museum, Princeton, NJ. A catalogue for the exhibition is available from FIAE.

Artists and the American West (American Art for St. Petersburg’s 300th Anniversary): This selection of 80 paintings and sculptures from seven leading American museums, which captured the spirit and energy of the American West between 1830 and 1940. The exhibit was shown at the Marble Palace of the State Russian Museum between April and July 2003, and at the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow between July and September 2003. This exhibition was part of the on-going collaboration with Joslyn Art Museum.

Museum of Fine Arts Houston/Pushkin Museum/FIAE Collaborative Projects: MFA Houston, in collaboration with the Foundation, entered a long-term agreement with the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The program included a variety of projects including: (1) an exchange of individual paintings for a six month period, beginning in February 2001; (2) an African gold exhibition to Moscow (December 2001); (3) Old Masters, Impressionists, and Moderns: French Masterworks from the State Pushkin Museum (December 2002 – October 2003) – a spectacular exhibition of 76 paintings that traveled to Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the High Museum in Atlanta, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

• Painting Revolution: Kandinsky, Malevich and the Russian Avant-Garde: The exhibition presented over 80 paintings by thirty leading artists of the Russian avant-garde, gathered from 12 regional museums in Russia and the State Russian Museum. Since the avant-garde paintings were outlawed by Stalin in the 1930’s, these paintings were hidden in remote storage areas and have only returned to public view in the past few years. Though the artists are familiar, the paintings themselves were unseen and unknown even to frequent travelers to Russia. This exhibition opened in Phoenix, traveled to Chicago, Portland, Minneapolis, and Miami Beach (between April 2000 and July 2001). A catalogue of the exhibition is available.

Land of Myth and Fire: Art of Ancient and Medieval Georgia: This major exhibition of artifacts and paintings depicting over 50 centuries of the extraordinary artistic diversity of Georgian culture, scheduled for presentation during 1999-2001, was suspended by the Georgian government as a result of internal political opposition. A catalogue featuring scholarly articles, color reproductions and descriptions of the items including Georgian gold craftsmanship from 3,000 BC, relics of early Christian art and culture, and artifacts from the Middle Ages, is available from FIAE.

• Beyond the Golden Fleece: The Jews of Georgia: A complementary exhibition to “Land of Myth and Fire” including more than 100 items depicting the unique traditions and peaceful history of the Georgian Jewish population, ranging from the Lailashi Pentateuch dating from the 11th century to ritual objects, textiles, manuscripts, photos, and paintings from the late 1800’s was also suspended by the Georgian government in August 1999. A catalogue for this exhibit is available from FIAE.

• Novgorod the Great: An examination of the religious, social, political, and cultural life of Novgorod from the 14th to the 19th centuries through a display of architecture, icons, and folk art from the period, in collaboration with the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg and the State Museum of Novgorod, was produced by The Walters Art Museum with FIAE as advisers. This exhibit opened at The Walters Art Museum in October 2004.

• Origins of the Russian Avant-Garde: An exploration of the relationship of Russian folk art to the Avant-Garde, in collaboration with the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg, was produced and shown by The Walters Art Museum (February – May 2003), with FIAE as advisers.

• Tatyana Zhurkova: This solo exhibition of decorative arts and folk art sculpted from glass, plastic, metal, porcelain, and other bright materials was developed in collaboration with Swashbuckler Enterprises, Inc., and shown in 2002 at the Stroganov Palace of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Forbes Museum in New York. A catalogue of the exhibition is available.

• Russian-American Seminar on Museum Exchanges: The Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the US Embassy in Moscow, hosted a meeting of experts on Museum exchanges in Moscow in April 2001. The seminar was designed to produce a set of guidelines for interested parties on both sides who are planning museum exchanges. The seminar addressed a wide range of issues including contacts, logistical concerns, immunity from judicial seizure, insurance, curatorial and marketing issues.

• Museums and Music in Concert: This collaborative project with ARYO, presented Russian and American young musicians in chamber music concerts during the presentation of relevant exhibitions developed by FIAE and other museums. Concerts were presented at the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, and Pushkin Museum in Moscow, State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and other smaller venues throughout the US and Russia.

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