On 16 February 2015 the exhibition space of the IN ARTIBUS foundation hosted a panel discussion entitled «Vladimir Weisberg. Traditional and modern». The discussion was attended by art historians, Moscow and regional museums’ representatives and experts of the art market.
The exhibition “Vladimir Weisberg. Enamoured in Art Classics. Paintings and drawings from Russian museums and private collections» organized by the IN ARTIBUS foundation, had prompted for an open discussion of art and personality of the artist. Unspoken or unformed thoughts and memories of the master got boosted to the discussion surface.
February 16, 2015 the round table “Vladimir Weisberg. Tradition and modernity» gathered art historians, representatives of Moscow and regional museums and art market experts at Fund’s exhibition space to express their views on the work of Weisberg, hear other points of view, share memories about the artist.
The discussion was opened the founder of IN ARTIBUS Inna Bazhenova, welcoming the invited experts and guests of the event, giving special thanks to the representatives of museums that provided Weisberg’s works for the exhibition.
The curator of the exhibition Elena Rudenko told the audience the story of the idea of the exhibition. She expressed hope that the simplified definitions accompanying Weisberg’s art throughout its history, might stop intrusively pop in the foreground, obscuring a more complex wordings that are closes to the truth. Co-curator of the exhibition PhD in Art Elena Khlopina reminded the audience what an important role in the scientific debate plays the deeply structured methodology of the study of artist’s work.
The discussion was attended by an art critic, art historian Elena Murina, a painter, student of V. Weisberg Galina Azarkh, a senior fellow at the Department of Private Collection of Pushkin Museum Anna Chudetskaya, a senior fellow for painting of the second half of 20 century at the State Tretyakov Gallery Maria Bodrova, Deputy Director for Science of Vologda Picture Gallery Irina Balashova, Deputy Director of the “Rostov Kremlin” State Museum Sergei Sazonov, Director of Perm Art Gallery Julia Tavrizyan, art historian Maria Plavinskaya, and Deputy General Director of Sotheby’s Russia and CIS Irina Stepanova.
The participants talked about the role of the artist in the history of art, what place he was given in life, and what place he takes now. Speech by Elena Murina who knew the master himself, clearly presented the human Weisberg: a thin, extremely educated connoisseur. Galina Azarkh read out some excerpts from the memoirs of Svetlana Shcheglova, the first wife of the artist. Topics also touched differences in the interpretation of Weisberg’s ideas by his students and researchers of his work, and the attitude Weisberg found at his contemporary artists.
At the end of the conference, Irina Stepanova, Deputy Director of Sotheby’s Russia and CIS, presented to the participants a report on the assessment of Weisberg’s art in categories of impartial auction statistics. From her research it can be seen that the artist’s works regularly set price records at auctions. Continuous growth in world prices for Vladimir Weisberg’s art has been shown clearly to the conference participants: in tables and graphs. The artist himself, according to the memoirs of Elena Murina, was convinced that when he dies, all his canvases will be thrown to dump.
Things turned out differently, however: in terms of numbers, a calm and confident state of Weisberg’s works at the market is pretty similar to auction statistics observed at the segment of old masters.
