Date published: 2008/02/03
The Royal Academy has an exhibition "From Russia" (until 18 April 2008; before London it was in Düsseldorf at the Museum Kunst Palast). Other than the cute title, the main publicity for the exhibition before it opened was over whether Russia would allow it to be shown at all at the last minute, because of a fear (real or imagined) that some of the paintings might be seized over a dispute of ownership. (The Russian government stole the paintings after the revolution and the descendants of the original owners would like to be compensated.) (There was never any discussion in the media whether any of the paintings in the exhibition were stolen from the Nazis, who in turn of course stole art from various people all over the place.)
Fortunately this dispute was settled (not before the British government made a fool of itself with various patronising lectures to the Russians). So what might have been a financial disaster for the Royal Academy turned into a bonanza of free publicity. And on the second Sunday the exhibition was packed far more than one might have expected, and indeed it was difficult to even see some of the paintings it was so crowded.
The exhibition was a mixture of paintings by French and Russian artists, covering the period 1870-1925, featuring in particular the (stolen) works of art by the Russian collectors Ivan Morosov and Sergei Shchukin. The selection of French artists was mostly as one would expect (Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, etc.). And not surprisingly the quality of the art was high, but because the artists are so familiar the exhibition would have been pointless if it only contained these works. Having said that, the exhibition contained some fine early Matisse works. Not only 'The Dance', which is featured on the poster for the exhibition (and another version hangs in MOMA in New York, so this is known in the West) but also a wonderful portrait 'Nude (Black and Gold)'. And there was one Van Gogh ('Portrait of Dr Felix Rey').
The real point of the exhibition was the work by the Russian artists, most of whom are largely unknown in the West, with the exception of Kandinsky and Chagall, who emigrated to France after the revolution. Needless to say, not all the work stands the test of time. But there was some pretty good stuff on display. For example, 'Portrait of Sophia Botkina' by Valentin Serov; 'September Snow' by Igor Grabar, 'Peasant Woman Dancing' by Philipp Malyavin, 'Portrait of Theatre Director Vsevolod Meyerhold' by Boris Grigoriev, three works by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and perhaps best of all, two portraits by Nathan Altman, especially one of Anna Akhmatova, which graces the exhibition catalogue.
The exhibition catalogue has pretty good reproductions on the whole, and is well worth buying.
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