in Moscow. Both are marking their 160th anniversary this year and have decided to celebrate by swapping treasures in one of the visual arts’ biggest UK-Russian cultural exchanges. The importance of the event is reflected by the stellar nature of some of the loans, including a national…
The exhibition at the National is entitled: Russia and the Arts and is promoted as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see masterpieces on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
The exhibition will focus on the great writers, artists, composers and patrons, including Tolstoy, Chekhov and Dostoevsky, whose achievements helped develop an extraordinary and rich cultural scene in Russia between 1867 and 1914.
The exhibition will also show how Russian art of the period was developing a new self-confidence, with the penetrating Realism of the 1870s and 1880s later complemented by the brighter hues of Russian Impressionism and the bold, faceted forms of Symbolist painting.
In return, Elizabeth 1st will grace the Russian Gallery in the form of the Ditchley Portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.
