The Pompidou Center opens a large-scale exhibition of the Russian avant-garde

The Exhibition "Chagall, Lisitsky, Malevich. The Russian Avant-garde in Vitebsk (1918-1922)" is held jointly with the Van Abbe Museum in the Dutch Eindhoven and timed to the 100th anniversary of the appointment of Marc Chagall as the art commissioner in his hometown and the centennial of the Vitebsk Folk Art School. It will feature over 180 works from around the world, most of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and other major American and European collections.

In addition to the authors declared in the title, the exhibition includes works by teachers and students of VNHU. The names of some of them (Vera Ermolaeva, Nikolai Suetin, Ilya Chashnik) are well known, others are less familiar to art lovers.

- Representatives of the Pompidou Center selected 20 Suprematist compositions and sketches of David Yakerson from the period 1918-1920, two graphic sketches "At the station" and "Torgovka" by Alexander Romm, as well as the only remaining picture in Vitebsk from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art created by Mark Chagall - table "by David Shterenberg. By the way, in the Pompidou Center for the first time there will be exhibited works not only from the Vitebsk museum, but also from Belarus in general, - said Olga Akunevich.

Negotiations about which specific works will be held at the exhibition were held for more than a year. And the other day a researcher of the Pompidou Center Sofia Glukhova came to Vitebsk, who took part in sending works to Paris.

"The names of famous artists are connected with Vitebsk, it was in this provincial city that the history of the Russian avant-garde was created, which will undoubtedly arouse the interest of visitors to the Pompidou Center," said Sofia Glukhova.

By the way, the Pompidou Center owns a rich collection of works by Marc Chagall, the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven - the largest collection of works by Lisitsky. And most of the works of David Yakerson, whom Marc Chagall invited to lead the sculpture workshop in the art school and which became one of the active members of UNOVIS, created by Kazimir Malevich, is in Vitebsk.

- The name of Alexander Romm is connected with VNHU. He met and became friends with Mark Chagall in St. Petersburg, where they studied painting together with Bakst, then went to Chagall in Paris. We have a photo in the museum, which shows one of these meetings in the Luxembourg garden. And when our fellow countryman was appointed to the post of commissioner for arts of the Vitebsk province, he invited Romm to move from the city on the Neva to the city on the Dvina, and he began to work in the sub-department of fine arts of the provincial department of public education. He was also chairman of the commission to decorate the city for the first anniversary of the revolution, according to his sketch Chagall performed the panel "The Destruction of the Vendome Column". Alexander Romm helped Chagall create a museum of contemporary painting, - said Olga Akunevich.

Center Georges Pompidou
Chagall, Lisitsky, Malevich. Russian avant-garde in Vitebsk (1918-1922)
28 March - 16 July