Two Wings of the Family Muse: Graphic Set Design in Tapestry by Alla Shmakova and Vyacheslav Pavlov

On show at the Russian Academy of Arts is a joint project by the People’s Artist of Russia, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts Alla Shmakova and Honored Artist of Russia Vyacheslav Pavlov.

In their works the same themes are executed in various types of art but are closely interconnected. The subject motif suggested by the graphic artist Vyacheslav Pavlov is developed in a gobelin tapestry created by Alla Shmakova. The exhibition comprising more than 150 graphic works by Vyacheslav Pavlov and 10 spallieras by his wife Alla Shmakova from their family collection shows all the creation stages from the concept to realization of such works presenting a symbiosis of arts.

Alla Shymakova is a graduate of the Art Department of the Moscow Technological Institute and a holder of the Prize of the City of Moscow in the Field of Literature and Art. It is no mere chance, that she has devoted many works to her native Moscow rich in history and architecture. Among the artist’s well-known works are monumental hand-made gobelin tapestries united under the Moscow theme: “Moscow – Salute”; “The Glory of Bazhenov” appreciated by a Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts that is in the collection of “Tsaritsyno” Museum-Preserve; “In the Blue Evening, Moonlit Evening” adorning a hall in the President-Hotel; a series of spallieras “Moscow in the Work of Matvey Kazakov” in the Moscow City Hall; “White-Stone Moscow” in the Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic.

The artist has been constantly expanding the range of her topics. On display at the Russian Academy of Arts are her tapestries on the history of Russia, the world and Biblical history, ancient literature. The understanding of Alla Shmakova’s creative work would be one-sided, if it is considered in isolation from the work by her husband and co-author Vyacheslav Shmakov. He is a noted Moscow graphic artist, a laureate of the Prize of the City of Moscow, a graduate of the famous I. Nivinsky Studio and S. Stroganov Moscow State University of Industrial and Applied Arts. Both of them are frequent exhibitors in major group exhibitions in Moscow and Russia, their solo and joint shows were held in many cities of Russia and abroad.

Their works are in collections of major Russian museums, including the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, A. Pushkin Moscow State Museum of Fine Arts, “Tsaritsyno” Museum-Preserve, as well as in regional museums and private collections.




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