FIAE'S EXHIBITION
PROJECTS
UPCOMING
EXHIBITIONS :
• American
Artists from Russia:
In collaboration with the State Russian Museum, this multi-faceted project
will study the cultural interaction and influence of Russia and America
upon specific artists. Through the publication of a catalogue and a
presentation of a traveling exhibition this project will examine the
influence these artists may have had on American art and, equally important,
the impact of the American experience on the Russian artists of the
19th and 20th centuries. The exhibit will open at the Fred Jones Jr.
Museum at the University of Oklahoma in October of 2008. 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. to be shown at the San
Deigo Museum of Art in late 2009-early 2010.
• Palekh:
Icons to Souvenir Boxes to Icons: The Foundation
is cooperating with the Russian Ministry of Culture’s exhibition
bureau ROSIZO to present an exhibition and an accompanying program which
presents the true artistry and the unique creations of Palekh masters
over the past three hundred years. The exhibit will cover the historical
range of Palekh works and explore the techniques of the masters over
time. The exhibit will demonstrate the production of a Palekh box from
its papier-mache beginnings through the many stages of preparation to
the final hand painted masterpiece. FIAE plans to open the exhibit at
Joslyn Art Museum in the Fall of 2008.
• Ukrainian
Icons and Iconography: From the 15th to the 20th 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 the 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
visitor what it is that has produced a uniquely “Ukrainian”
approach to iconography. FIAE is in the beginning stages of developing
the exhibition for presentation sometime in 2009.
MOST CURRENT
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.
PAST EXHIBITION
PROJECTS
• 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.
