PAINTING AND GRAPHICS BY FRENCH AND RUSSIAN ARTISTS FROM THE COLLECTION OF INNA BAZHENOVA
April 22, 2025 – August 30, 2025
This project is part of the Biennale of Private Collections.
Curator: Elena Rudenko
The exhibition “Under One Sky. Painting and graphics by French and Russian artists from the collection of Inna Bazhenova”, first presented at the In artibus Foundation in 2017, has proven to be exceptionally resonant. The following year, in 2018, it was showcased at the M.V. Nesterov Art Museum in Ufa. In 2019, it travelled to the State Art Museum in Nizhny Novgorod, and subsequently, two further adaptations of the exhibition were viewed by audiences at the Novosibirsk and Yaroslavl Art Museums. A new chapter of the project unfolded in 2022 at the A.N. Radishchev State Art Museum in Saratov, where the exhibition was updated and expanded with works from the museum’s renowned collection. Between these nationwide tours, the exhibition is being presented once again in Moscow. Given the dynamic nature of contemporary life—with shifting contexts, perspectives, and audiences—the opportunity to reintroduce this artistic dialogue to the Moscow public is both timely and valuable.
“Under One Sky” presents a juxtaposition of French modernist masters and Russian artists, emphasizing a core theme of Inna Bazhenova’s collection: the international interconnectedness within the visual arts.
Until the mid-20th century, and for nearly three centuries overall, French art held a dominant position in the global art scene. Its openness enabled it to absorb the values of the classical Renaissance, the traditions of Northern European schools, and to pioneer the plein air revolution of Impressionism, thus inscribing a new chapter in art history. No professional school of painting in Europe or America remained untouched by the influence of French art. The relationship between French and Russian artistic traditions was particularly significant. Russian collectors Ivan Morozov and Sergei Shchukin, who regularly imported contemporary French artworks into Russia, along with the relative ease of travel across Europe, allowed Russian artists to engage directly with the avant-garde developments in Western art—often absorbing and eventually advancing them.
This exhibition is not intended to serve as a literal illustration of French influence on Russian painting; the task of the organizers of the exhibition is to give an idea of how the formation of the collection creates opportunities for understanding plastic juxtapositions in art. Inna Bazhenova’s collection is not structured around a socio-cultural framework but evolves organically, guided by the diverse interplay of classical art traditions. While the Russian section of the collection is singled out as an independent one, it nonetheless exists in the context of the European art history.
Among the earliest works in the exhibition is “Billiard Players” by Honoré Daumier, a seminal figure who notably influenced younger contemporaries, including Paul Cézanne. This piece is a rare example of Daumier’s compositional experimentation, particularly in conveying the movement of a character’s hand through expressive formal means.
Georges Seurat’s plein air study “The Hospital and the Lighthouse in Honfleur”, a quintessential tonal anchor of the exhibition, is a key highlight of the collection. Having featured in several international exhibitions, including the most recent major retrospective of Seurat’s work in the Netherlands, it remains one of the collection’s most celebrated pieces.
Maurice Utrillo’s views of Montmartre echo the urban landscapes of Moscow, while the influence of Cézannism is evident across works by both French and Russian contemporaries—André Derain, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, Ilya Mashkov, Alexander Shevchenko, Nikolai Sinezubov, and even the Socialist Realist Georgy Ryazhsky, once a gifted student at Mashkov’s painting studio within VKhUTEMAS. The exhibition also highlights French and Russian approaches to expressionism—a movement atypical for both traditions—through works by Georges Rouault and Alexander Drevin.
Additional Information:
The Biennale of Private Collections is a collaborative initiative involving over 50 cultural institutions across Russia, including those based in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Apatity, Kazan, Samara, Ufa, Kaluga, Vladivostok, Tomsk, and other cities.
Each institution presents a narrative centered on a collector who is significant both to the local cultural landscape and the broader national context. Throughout the Biennale, galleries, foundations, art centers, and museums of private collections will unveil exhibition, publishing, and educational projects, positioning the collector as a key figure in the shaping of art history and the cultural environment.
The collector is understood here as a mediator whose personal vision connects epochs—preserving the legacy of the past, activating it in the present, and supporting contemporary artists while influencing the trajectory of artistic development for years to come.
Through the Biennale’s various projects, audiences will gain access to typically unseen selections—individual choices, the art that surrounds collectors, and the reflections of their time. This will offer deeper insight into who the collector is and how their personal perspective actively transforms our shared cultural context.
The Biennale of Private Collections will take place from June through October 2025.
Website: www.biennalecollections.art
Organizer: New Collectors Foundation, an organization dedicated to the promotion and support of collecting practices in Russia.
