The Russian Academy Of Arts

Dates: July 7 – August 19. 2023

Venue: The State Art Museum of the Altai Region (16 Maxim Gorky street, Barnaul, Altai Region)

 

The State Art Museum of the Altai Region presents a major exhibition of the People’s Artist of Russia, Full Commander of the Order “For Services to Motherland”, President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli. Entitled “Painting of the Monumentalist” the exhibition features 58 canvases and ten bronze sculptures by the eminent master.   

 

Zurab Tsereteli is an artist and sculptor of international fame. His monumental works can be seen in many cities of Russia and other countries. This exhibition focuses mostly on the artist’s painting. In his time Pablo Picasso highly appreciated the talent of Tsereteli: “This young artist Zurab has a brilliant beginning. He perfectly senses the color and generalizes the form. I see in him a future great painter”, - noted the artist.

 

All the works shown at the exhibition have been created by Zurab Tsereteli in the 2000s and 2010s. They are dedicated to the artist’s friends, colleagues and the generalized images of his contemporaries. The female beauty and male characters, traditions and these days, feasts and everyday life are among key topics of Tsereteli’s canvases. The exhibition also includes the “Townspeople” series of bronze sculptures depicting the reminiscences of his native Tbilisi. Many of the paintings belong to various cycles. In particular, these are works from 10 series: the “Circus”, “I was Born a Gardener”, “Bebiko”, “Ethno”, “Travelling”, “Studio”, “Pending the Guests”, “Characters”, “My Friends”, “Townspeople”.

 

The energetic painting of Tsereteli with its temperamental strokes, full of the galaxy of colors is hard to be attributed to some direction in modern art. In his creative work there is a merge of the respect for academic traditions, folk art and various avant-garde trends of the 20^th century.

 

Zurab K. Tsereteli was born on January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi (Georgia). His mother and father belonged to the famous in Georgia princely family. He graduated from the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi but started his career from the work for the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Georgia. In 1964 in France he got acquainted with the works by the eminent painters of the time Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. In the late 1960s he began to work actively in monumental art. Tsereteli has created hundreds of the well-known monuments installed around the world. His professional and personal achievements have been highly appreciated by numerous titles, honors and awards: the Hero of the Social Labor, People’s Artist of the USSR, Winner of Lenin Prize and the USSR, the State Prize of Russia, Full Commander of the Order “For Services to Motherland”, Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor and many others. Since 1997 Zurab Tsereteli has been heading the Russian Academy of Arts.

 

The exhibition curators: the Senior Researcher Evgenia V. Shkolina; PhD in Cultural Studies Anton A. Klubkov.                     

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