In the German city of Jena an exhibition of works from the collections of the Museum Petit Palais in Geneva

exhibition of art works from the collections of the Museum Petit Palais (Musee du Petit Palais) in Geneva recently opened at the State Museum of the German city of Jena. The collection, stored in the archives of the Geneva Museum, is one of the most significant in Europe and includes many paintings, sculptures and graphic works.

works on display at the exhibition, covering a considerable period in the history of French painting - from 1870 to 1940's - and represent the creativity of the Impressionists, Post-and neoimpressionistov, expressionists, cubists and abstraktsionistov. Residents and visitors to Jena received a unique opportunity to see the canvases of such great artists as Edouard Manet (Édouard Manet), Claude Monet (Claude Monet), Auguste Renoir (Auguste Renoir), Edgar Degas (Edgar Degas), Marc Chagall (Marc Chagall) and Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso), as well as their lesser-known contemporaries: Brakemon Marie (Marie Bracquemond), Gustave Kaybott (Gustave Caillebotte), Suzanne Valadon (Suzanne Valadon), Théophile-Alexandre Steynlen (Théophile Alexandre Steinlen) and Kees van Dongen (Kees van Dongen). Several rooms are devoted to individual works of Louis fovista Valta, representatives of the Paris School of Moses Kislinga and Nicholas Tarkhova (Nicolas Tarkhoff), as well as the sculptor of Osip Tsadkina (Ossip Zadkine).

Creator and founder of the museum collections Petit Palais is Oscar de Gez Castelnuovo (Oscar Ghez de Castelnuovo) - a rich industrialist, is lyubivshy painting, and for many years together pictures of the Impressionists and their followers, as well as artists-Jews, perished during the Holocaust. He was born in Tunisia and then moved with their parents in Marseilles. After graduating, he and his brother opened their own company in Italy. When the power in the country came Mussolini, Oscar, Jew by origin, was forced to shift production to Lyon. However, during the Second World War, Nazi troops occupied the south of France, and Oscar with his brother emigrated to the United States, but returned after the war and successfully re-established his business. Collect works of art Gez Oscar de Castelnuovo began in 1945. In 1963, he sold his business and moved to Geneva, and in the 1968-meters, opened a museum to exhibit works from its collection. Apart from the fact that Oscar was the owner and director of Petit Palais, known also by the fact that in 1978 donated to Haifa University impressive collection of 137 works created by artists-Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Died Gez Oscar de Castelnuovo in 1998 in Italy.

exhibition at the Museum of Jena is open until February 22, 2009.

material produced Catherine Onuchin

Sources: artdaily.com , artinvestment.ru