Treasures from Russia to be showcased at Fire Station

Doha: “Russian Avant-garde: Pioneers and Direct Descendants” exhibition, which will open at the at the Garage Gallery in the Fire Station, will bring to a close the successful Qatar Russia 2018 Year of Culture, Qatar Museums has announced.

Open to the public from December 4 to February 3, the exhibition will present Qatar’s residents and visitors with an in-depth examination of a key period in Russian art.

Sponsored by Russian oil company Rosneft, the exhibition is organised in partnership with the State Tretyakov Gallery and curated by the Head of its Contemporary Art Department Irina Gorlova, showcasing some of the most influential and significant figures during a critical period in the Russian artistic and cultural development.

This wide-ranging exhibition will have 81 masterpieces on view.  Art lovers and enthusiasts can immerse themselves in the bold experiments that defined early 20th century Russian art. Visitors will enjoy an unforgettable historic journey learning about pioneers such as Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko, Lyubov Popova and Mikhail Matyushin. 

Lyubov Popova(1889-1924), Painterly Architectonics,1918, Oil on canvas, from State Tretyakov Gallery. 

Aspiring young creatives will have the opportunity to explore artworks created by the ‘direct descendants’ during the second wave of Russian avant-garde art. During this era, between 1950s-70s,Yuri Zlotnikov, Vyacheslav Koleichuk, Francisco Infante-Arana, Rimma Zanevskaya-Sapgir, and Mikhail Roginsky amongst others shifted their focus mainly to movement, light and sound as fundamental elements of art.

The State Tretyakov Gallery is an internationally-acclaimed museum and a major scientific, cultural, educational, and research complex in Russia. With over 190,000 paintings, sculptures, relics, and graphic works housed among several buildings across Moscow, the Tretyakov Gallery is the leading depository of Russian fine art in the world. It is currently headed by Zelfira Tregulova, an art historian and curator of various international projects in leading Russian and international museums, including “Amazons of Avant-Garde” (Berlin – Bilbao – Venice – New York – London; 1999-2000) and “Russia!” (New York – Bilbao, 2005).

The exhibition, sponsored by Rosneft, will mark the end of the rich and varied programme organised as part of the Qatar Russia 2018 Year of Culture. The Year, which was sponsored by Qatar Airways, was also planned in collaboration with leading institutions in Qatar and Russia, including the Embassy of Qatar in Moscow, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Doha, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Qatar’s Ministry of Culture and Sport and the State Museum and Exhibition Center (ROSIZO.RU).