"Shchukin. Biography collections" in the Pushkin Museum
ARTinvestment.RU   11 июня 2019

From 19 June to 15 September in the Main building of the Pushkin Museum on Volhonka, 12, of a queue for the exhibition of about 150 works from the collection of Sergei Shchukin — paintings of Monet, Picasso, Gauguin, Derain, Matisse and others from the collections of the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin, the Hermitage, Museum of East and others.

the Main building of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin
19 Jun — on 15 September 2019
Moscow, Volkhonka, 12

the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin will show you one of the most significant collections of art of European modernism, covering the major artistic movements of the late XIX — early twentieth century. The unprecedented scale and content of the exhibition will occupy almost all the space of the Museum. The project will present the history of formation of collections of Sergei Shchukin through his personality, biography and the family and cultural-исторический context that will help to recreate the collection of the brothers — Peter, Dmitri and Ivan. The exhibition will include iconic works by Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and other masters. The goal of the exhibition — to show one of the biggest international meetings in the fullest sense. Divided in 1948 between Moscow and St. Petersburg museums collection will be reunited in the exhibition in the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin, which will be the most dramatic event for the Russian culture.

Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin (1854-1936) was descended from a Moscow merchant family. Gathering painting he became interested only after forty years, while his brothers were obsessed with collecting since his youth. Dmitry, Peter and Ivan had a special flair, and each of them in varying degrees, influenced the nature of collectibles Sergei. The first exhibition hall is dedicated to the brothers to carry and the images of their collections. Peter Shchukin collected historical relics, jewellery, decorative-прикладного art and life. His collection became the most important part of the State historical Museum was eclectic and so diverse that it often caused the skepticism of his contemporaries. However Peter at the same time with Sergey discovered a new French painting. Dmitry Shchukin — thoughtful, enlightened collector and connoisseur of art history — collected works of the old masters, giving special preference to the Dutch painters of the seventeenth century. Halls of art of Holland in the Pushkin Museum. Alexander Pushkin largely formed from the works that belonged to Dmitry. The youngest of the brothers, Ivan Shchukin are still little studied figure. He was a man of versatile talents, a scholar of Paris and Parisian life, his art-литературный circle "Schukinskaya Tuesdays" was attended by prominent representatives of Bohemia. It's younger brother Sergei introduced into the art space and drew his attention to contemporary French art. Unable to cope with the temptations of the French capital, Ivan has committed suicide. The exhibition will show only a small part of the works that once belonged to Ivan Shchukin, — from-за frequent financial difficulties he was forcedto sell their collection. Paradoxically, most of the information about the collections of Ivan were preserved only due to their loss — in the catalogs of auction sales.

the Collection of Sergei Shchukin — axis of the exhibition. Taste Shchukin was formed immediately. The diversity of his taste in the first years of gathering demonstrates the range of interests is rather typical for the Moscow businessmen of the time. The first works of the Impressionists, acquired in 1898, marked the beginning of the meeting, which Sergei Shchukin went down in history as a collector of radical painting, collected works, without which it is impossible to imagine the history of twentieth century art. Qualities such as intuition, the ability to take risks, the willingness to buy the work of artists who do not have stable recognition and still not have conquered the world, allowed Shchukin to become noticeable on the background of Western collectors of turn of the XIX and XX centuries. He alone made the decisions, was raised by a collector, acquired not those works which were supposed to like, and those that it stirred and touched, mastered the art of new artists. In collecting Shchukin went against conventional tastes. Starting with the acquisition of a fairly traditional landscapes, in less than 20 years Sergei Shchukin formed one of the world's best collections of new French painting. The nature of this collection define the revolutionary works, a turning point for the Russian artistic process and the world of twentieth century art in General.

the Central part of the exhibition — "reconstruction" of the collection of Sergei Shchukin, she recreates the way the logic of the collector, allows you to see how it was formed and changed its taste. Every great collector's interest in dedicated separate room.

Claude Monet and the Impressionists. After the acquisition of the first impressionist paintings in 1898 ("the Rocks at Belle-Иль" Claude Monet) for six years Shchukin bought paintings of representatives of this direction and gathered in total more than 50 for an O. canvases of Renoir, E. Degas, C. Monet.

Paul Gauguin. The new craze recorded a sharp turn in the manner of the gathering of Sergei Ivanovich. During this period in the house of a collector appeared filled with deep spiritual content of Tahitian paintings by Gauguin. A composition of densely hung on the walls 16 of the canvases gave the impression of monumental murals. The density of this exposure was apparently associated not only with characteristic time tapestry hanging, but with the fact that Shchukin intuitively understood the synthetic nature of the creative work of Gauguin. Critic and art historian James Tugendhold, formed the catalogue of the collection of S. I. Shchukin, called the installation "hojnowski iconostasis".

another passion of Sergei Shchukin became Henri Matisse, at that time leader of the Fauve — the most radical of contemporary scenic trends. Collecting the works of Matisse, Shchukin sought to follow the logic of the artist himself and chose lapidary, concise, innovative in its simplicity things, "Game of balls" (1908), "the Red room" (1908), "Nymph and Satyr" (1909). The culmination of these purchases — decorative panel "the Dance" and "Music", which for the artist and for the collector was bold artistic Declaration. Largely thanks to Sergei Shchukin Russia hasa unique collection of early Matisse: the Moscow collector belonged to 37 of master paintings.

Pablo Picasso. Sergei Shchukin — is one of the few in Russia who appreciate this artist and became the world's largest collector of his work. He was the owner of a 51 wizard — more in those years there was no one from private collectors. Being biased and selective, Shchukin left whole periods in the artist's work without attention. He preferred early Picasso, radical, and primitive, marking a new artistic direction — cubism. Made in brown-зеленой range of Picasso were densely hung in the small room and made a huge impression on the audience.

In 1912, Sergei Shchukin bought canvases-самоучки Henri Rousseau, which is admired by the Parisian avant-garde. The latest collector's interest has become a major French artist andré Derain, the importance of which Shchukin spotted long before it "tasted" European collectors and the public. In 1920-е Deren has become very popular, but inspiration is gone. Shchukin found his work in a most vivid and interesting era. Acquisition of works of Derain in 1913-1914 was made on the decline of collection. The beginning of the First world war and the subsequent emigration of Sergey Ivanovich France put an end to his collecting activities.

"Dance" By Henri Matisse. The culminating point in the development of the collection is a large-scale decorative panels, commissioned by Sergei Shchukin. This picture, ridiculed, not accepted by the public, collector at first refused to take. But believing in the rightness of Matisse, Shchukin once again overcame himself and went against the tastes of the public. He returned to his original plan and placed the panels in his mansion in plain sight — on the stairs. Shchukin made "the Dance" by Matisse a symbol of his collection, anticipating the importance of one of the most outstanding works of the twentieth century. The architectural design of the exhibition recreates the image of the collection of Sergei Shchukin, which was located in the interiors of his mansion. Panel "the Dance" will be presented separately in the large space of the Pushkin Museum — in the White hall, as the main emphasis in the history of the collections of Sergei Shchukin and its collective worldview.

To show an album-каталог and biography, "the Saga of Shchukin. Collectors of masterpieces" (by Natalia Semenova), prepared by the educational and inclusive programs designed route "Schukinskaya In Moscow" mobile app "Discover Moscow".

Curatorial group: Marina Loshak, Natalia Alexandrova, Alexandra Danilova, Svetlana Zagorskaya, Vitaly Mishin, Alexei Petukhov, Anna Poznan, Vadim Sadkov

Scientific consultant of the exhibition: Natalia Semenova

guest curator of the exhibition: Andre-Марк Delok-Фурко

exhibitions: in total more than 450 works — painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative-прикладного art, archival materials; among them, about 150 paintings and sculptures from the collection of Sergei Shchukin, including paintings by Monet (13 works), P. cézanne (7 works), P. Gauguin (13), A. Matisse (24 works), Picasso (24 works), A. Derain (13 works) and A. Russo (5 artworks).

Museums-участники: the Pushkin Museum to them. A. S. Pushkin, State Hermitage, State historical Museum, State Museum of Oriental art, Moscow Kremlin Museums, the State Museum of ceramics and "Manor Kuskovo XVIII century", Museum of fine arts (Budapest).

Source: pushkinmuseum.art