Exhibition in Honor of the 200th Anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812
The Russian Academy of Arts in partnership with the Russian State Library presents an exhibition project “Not Without Reason All Russia Remembers…” devoted to the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812. On display are more than two hundred rare exhibits, many of which have never been shown to the public before.
The exposition in Tsereteli Art Gallery includes engravings, medals, architectural models, drawings, books and photo materials. Thematically it is divided in four sections: portrait gallery of outstanding people of that time; the Patriotic War of 1812 in monuments of architecture; battle scenes; events of the War and political life of that period in caricatures and folk pictures.
The highlight of the show is graphic sheets from the Department of Fine Arts Materials of the Russian State Library which contains the richest collection of Russian and Western-European prints and cartoons in Russia. Visitors can see works by I.I. Terebenev, A.G. Venetsianov, S.P. Shiflyar, as well as prints made according to the famous portraits painted by the English portraitist George Dawe for the Military Gallery of 1812 in the Winter Palace.
Of big interest are the well-known architectural models from the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, these are a model of Alexander Column by August Montferrand in St. Petersburg; model of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Life Guards Izmailovsky Regiment in St. Petersburg designed by Vasily Stasov; Church of the Annunciation of the Cavalry Regiment in St. Petersburg designed by Konstantin Ton. This section also presents graphic drawings of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow by architect Konstantin Ton, projects of reconstruction of Moscow and the Moscow Kremlin after the fire of 1812 by Joseph Bove, world famous author’s drawings of architectural monuments by Andrey Voronikhin, August Montferrand and others.
On show are also works of Russian and French medalists and old books. Among many rare books about the war events in 1812 the most precious is a book by the President of the Imperial Academy of Arts A.N. Olenin about the art of medal fabrication with his personal signature from the collection of the Research Library of the Russian Academy of Arts. For the first time in Moscow the viewers can see a photo album dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812 and competition projects of churches and monuments executed by architects of the Imperial Academy of Arts for the jubilee events in 1912.
The section of battle scenes created by Russian, English, German and French masters is located in a special hall. The exhibits are from the collection of N.K. Sinyagin (1874-1912) which was considered one of the best private collections of book and graphic art in pre-revolutionary Russia. After the owner’s death the collection was dispersed in various state and private collections. The part of them housed in the State Museum of Literature is now on the first display to the public.
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