Tretyakov Gallery, March 20 - May 25, 2014
Moscow, Krimsky Val, 10 , Halls 21-22

Today the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krimsky Val opens the exhibition " Dόbrov Matthew ( 1877-1958 ) . Forgotten Classics . " Artistic heritage Alexeyevich Dobroff , master of engraving on metal , it became a classic of Russian graphic art of the first half of the XX century. Moscow School of etching also inextricably linked with the name Dobroff as woodcuts school - named Vladimir A. Tabor .

Matvey DOBROV Church in Ples . Around 1910 Paper , etching (etched bar ) , drypoint . 17,9 × 13,5; 11,8 × 8,9 Private collection Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Kaluga . Twilight . 1939 gray paper , charcoal , gouache , brush, reed pen , spatter. 43,4 × 32,5 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

The exhibition allows the viewer to meet the author of one of the most elegant , technically flawless prints, characterized by exceptional culture irrelevant to the shape , lines and color. Throughout life, Matthew A. deliberately stayed away from seeking ostrosovremennyh expressive themes and tools , paying tribute to the tradition of realism and lyrical chamber reasons. Therefore, despite the fact that since the 1910s Dobroff participated in many exhibitions of art associations , including the Moscow Association of Artists , Society " Fire-color ", the Association of Independent , Moscow salon Association schedules , combining " Makovets " all-Union and foreign expositions 1930 50s in the second half of the XX century, his " quiet art" was almost forgotten .

Matvey DOBROV Amanita . 1915 Watercolour , black pencil . 25 × 29,2 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Winter. 1923 Paper , etching (etched bar , aquatint ) . 18 × 23 ; 10,5 × 14,8 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

early works Dobroff traced passion Art Nouveau and Symbolism , but the main , most organic artist was realistic direction associated with the traditions of the Moscow school .

Creativity Dobroff combines intimacy and lyricism easel graphics with scientific precision drawing . In this connection the attitude expressed by the originality of the author: he is perceived by others as both an artist and a scientist . Interpenetration of art and science is largely determined by his creative biography .

From youth Matthew A. Dobroff interested in botany, he later learned not two courses in Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University . Art education began in 1900 at the school of drawing and painting Juon and I. O. Dudina , then entered the painting department of the Moscow School of Painting , Sculpture and Architecture , where he studied from 1901 to 1906 at the K. Korovin , Serov , A. Stepanova .

Dobroff became interested in the art of engraving childhood , received a birthday gift from his father , a prominent Moscow doctor and philanthropist , a monograph on Rembrandt etchings . But to realize his dream of becoming an etcher he succeeded only in 1908 in Paris, where , on the advice KF Juon he went to study in the engraving workshop of famous Russian artist E. Kruglikova . Dobroff life in Paris was filled with a variety of activities , interests and experiences , he attended the Academy F. Colarossi where painted and engraved nude with nature, a course of lectures on Egyptology at the Louvre , became fascinated by the work of Isadora Duncan .

Matvey DOBROV Monument Voltaire . 1911 . Impression 1915 Coloured etching ( aquatint , soft ground) . 33,3 × 27,3; 23,5 × 17,8 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Egyptian statuette . 1917 . Impression 1920 Paper, mezzotint . 25,1 × 20,3; 12 × 9 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

in the early 1910s in Moscow Dobroff able to organize his own workshop and re- engraved their best Parisian etchings, including " Monument Voltaire " (1911 , TG) and " Fountain Karpo " (1912 , TG) . He also created a number of new prints , including sketches made ​​by the Louvre "Egyptian statuette " (1917 , TG) - an example of an artist mezzotint technique , popular in Russia in XVIII - first half of the XIX century, but then forgotten .

Matvey DOBROV Fountain Karpo . 1912 . Impression 1921 Paper , etching ( aquatint etched bar ) . 41 × 50 ; 31,5 × 41,5 Imprint brown paint State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Trees near the pond. Alabino . 1925 Paper, ink, reed pen , brush . 33,4 × 39,9 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

From the late 1910s Dobroff turned to the theme of the national landscape . In 1919 appeared his first of a series of etchings "Motives suburbs " , on which he worked until his death . In the 1920s , remained without etching machine , Matthew A. drew a lot . A fine example of ink using goose feathers and cane is a series of drawings , executed in 1925 in Alabino - "Trees near the pond . Alabino "," Oak . Alabino "(both - TG) and others .

Matvey DOBROV Zebras . 1915 Coloured etching ( aquatint ) . 20,5 × 33,4; 14,7 × 27,5 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Landscape with horse . Pereslavl . 1927 Paper , yellow, watercolor, white , graphic pencil. 24,9 × 35,6 Private collection Source : Press Release THG

throughout his life, the artist drew animalistic . Images of animals and birds appeared in the compositions inspired by impressions of Paris zoo series (" The Birds" , 1911-1912 , State Tretyakov Gallery , Pushkin Museum , " Zebra " , 1915 , TG) , in landscape studies ( "Landscape with a horse . Pereslavl " 1927 , private collection) , a series of large prints " Race " (1934-1937 , TG , private collection ).

Matvey DOBROV Race . 1935 Coloured etching (etched bar , aquatint ) . 51,4 × 39,7; 45,3 × 36,2 Private collection Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV White Rabbit . 1936 . Two sketches gray paper , graphic and colored pencil and chalk . 26,7 × 22,2 Private collection Source : Press Release THG

When working on products for household plots Dobroff sought to documentary precision, but it created a kind of " family chronicle " invariably painted personal attitude to the participants ( "Sleeping Sonia " , 1910 , private collection , "Holiday" , 1928, GTG; " Grandmother and granddaughter ," 1931 , "for sewing. Kaluga" , 1936, both - private collection ).

Matvey DOBROV Grandmother and granddaughter . 1931 Paper, ink , quill , brush . 40,5 × 51,1 Private collection Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Wells. Lazarevka . 1936 Paper cream , sanguine . 35,8 × 46,2 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

In 1934-1936 Dobroff etching studio led them . I. Nivinsky , where he was able to create a huge TV etchings, which became a model of brilliant technical skill : " Fishermen on the Moscow River ", " reindeer-breeding farm " (both - private collection) , "Repair of agricultural implements on the farm , "" The Germans leave Kaluga "(both - GTG ).

Matvey DOBROV On the Volkhov . Paper 1932 , etching (etched bar ) , drypoint . 35,8 × 47; 25,3 × 34,5 Private collection Source : Press Release THG

Matvey DOBROV Germans leave Kaluga. 1942 Coloured etching ( aquatint ) , drypoint , gouache . 40.8 × 53,2; 29,5 × 37,8 State Tretyakov Gallery Source : Press Release THG

addition to artistic creativity , kindness taught at various times at the State school of Printing at the First Publishing Obraztsova , drawing on faculty for students geologists , botanists and geographers at MSU , the Moscow Polygraphic Institute . Since 1935 until the end of the life led by Matthew A. etching workshop on graphic faculty of the Moscow state Art Institute . Surikov . He sought to captivate students the art of engraving on metal , even though he knew that this technique was not popular because of the complexity and difficulty of .

The exhibited works illustrate the full range of topics and subjects , the diversity of techniques , which owned the master: a pencil drawing to experiments etchings . The exhibition includes more than 100 works from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery , the State Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin and from the collection of the artist's descendants .

Source : Press Release TG