Paintings from Alexander Osmerkin from Russian museums and private collections.
Curator: Elena Rudenko
In artibus Foundation presents an exhibition of works by the classic Russian painter Alexander Osmerkin (1892–1953) as part of its Masters of the Moscow School project. The exhibition is dedicated to the late, post-war period of the artist’s career, when, according to his contemporaries, after a difficult creative journey he wished to return to his early period and re-examine it from a different perspective. Osmerkin’s works from the 1940s and 1950s are not similar to his works from the 1910s and 1920s, but they echo them in the clarity of their imagery and, above all, in the leading role played by colour. The exhibition reflects the professional evolution of the artist — a colleague and contemporary of the Jack of Diamonds group — and also touches on his role as a teacher. Many Soviet artists were Osmerkin’s students, and his influence on the Russian, mainly Moscow, school of painting is still felt today.
The exhibition features not only works by Alexander Osmerkin but also those of his older contemporaries: Ilya Mashkov, Petr Konchalovsky, Robert Falk and those artists who, in one way or another, came into contact with Osmerkin the teacher during their creative lives.
The exhibition includes around thirty-five paintings. The presentation of unique works from private collections is a specific feature of the foundation’s projects, but this exhibition also includes works from twelve Russian state museums. It gives Muscovites a rare opportunity to see with their own eyes works from Novokuznetsk and Taganrog, Kursk and Petrozavodsk.
The term ‘continuous artist’ used in the exhibition title was coined by Soviet painter Sergei Gerasimov to emphasise Osmerkin’s inexhaustible creative enthusiasm and the logic of his artistic evolution. Despite his fame and recognition, Osmerkin is a rarely exhibited artist. The exhibition at In artibus Foundation will undoubtedly be of interest to professionals and art lovers alike.
