MOSCOW, June 20, The Museum of Russian Impressionism has opened an exhibition called «Magazine of a Beautiful Life» about the first Russian glossy magazine for the aristocracy and the secular public, «Capital and Estate.»
«The exhibition includes works published or described on the pages of the magazine, which was published from 1913 to 1917, which will allow us to look at Russian art through the prism of the tastes and preferences of the elite of the early 20th century,» the museum's website reports.
Almost 100 works from 44 public and 14 private collections are presented. Visitors will see paintings and graphics by Isaac Brodsky, Nikolai Feshin, Alexander Makovsky, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva and other masters. In conjunction with the exhibition, there is a special project on the third floor, where works by contemporary artists on the dolce vita theme are exhibited: Vladimir Dubossarsky, Alexander Vinogradov, Olga Tobreluts, Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe, Kirill Kto, Annushka Brochet.
The program of the magazine «Capital and Estate» stated: «A beautiful life is not available to everyone, but it still exists.» The publication reported on balls, social holidays, arrangement of country estates, fashion openings, and exhibitions. The heroes of the publications were politicians, athletes, entrepreneurs, aristocrats, sophisticated debutantes and their high-status admirers, and even purebred pets. The cover of each of the 90 issues was decorated with color reproductions of works by recognized masters of the past and contemporary artists.
“The curators of the exhibition propose to pay attention to the magazine, which usually remains in the shadow of the art publications “World of Art”, “Apollo” and “Golden Fleece”, but is a valuable historical source,” notes the information on the museum’s website.
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Sections of the exhibition refer to the columns of the magazine: “Nostalgia for the way of life on the estate in the paintings of Stanislav Zhukovsky, Konstantin Vroblevsky and Sergei Vinogradov will meet the gloss of metropolitan everyday life in the works of Valentin Serov, Nikolai Feshin and Sergei Malyutin. Visitors will also appreciate theatrical subjects of the early twentieth century in scenery sketches and costumes from the leading artists of the era: Alexander Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Lev Bakst. The design of the exhibition uses fragments of articles, bright headlines, archival photos and advertisements from the magazine.»
As reported on the museum’s website, the blind. and visually impaired people can explore the exhibition on guided tours with audio commentary and four tactile stations. Volumetric models of paintings will be accompanied by scents based on works from olfactory artist Anna Kabirova.
The exhibition will be open until October 6, 2024.
