The first exhibition of the season at In artibus foundation is dedicated to the graphics of Vladimir Weisberg. This is the third exhibition of the artist in the space of the foundation. The other two, in 2014 and 2018, represented mainly the master’s paintings and were held jointly with state museums (the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and a number of regional ones).
This time, the exhibition will feature 40 drawings by Weisberg from different years — from the 1960s to the 1980s, as well as several of his classic watercolors from the collection of the Moscow collector Inna Bazhenova.
Vladimir Veisberg did not consider himself a draftsman, he never kept a register of graphic works, but drawing was present in his work throughout his life. After the period of the 1940s — 1950s, when the young Weisberg mastered the virtuoso, mainly portrait drawing of the Mashkov school and then moved away from it, it is difficult to find an artist among his contemporaries who would demonstrate to a greater extent that drawing is an independent art form.
As such, the drawing has occupied a place in Weisberg’s work since the early 1960s. At this time, the artist teaches in the studio of the Institute of Advanced Training of the Union of Architects of the USSR (1959-1984), and the drawing becomes a successful pedagogical aid. Weisberg’s drawings of the 1960s are distinguished by a variety in the choice of motif and material. Trying different techniques, the artist seeks to identify the vector of his inclinations, to understand that he is “on hand”. Since the 1960s, the main genres of Weisberg’s graphics have been nudity and landscape.
By the 1970s and 1980s, Weisberg’s sensual, spontaneous drawing was gradually becoming more analytical. Now the artist is fully aware of his plastic preferences. His range is from the classic linear drawing, complicated by tonal relationships (similar to the drawings of Maillard and Despiot, sometimes Rodin), to the “painter’s drawing” — ink with brush washings, close to watercolor.
In the 1980s, Weisberg’s drawing continues to improve, while the nude motif almost disappears from his work, but still lifes with shelves in the workshop appear. Their material is mainly graphite pencil. The compositions are laconic and are based on the balance of geometry and a picturesque spot. Weisberg does not draw individual forms, but the relationships between them. The contours of objects dissolve in a spot or space of a white sheet, which resembles his own painting — the re-creation of a real still life into a compositional structure, which, like a crystal, organically grows out of color ratios.
Drawing for Weisberg is a constant experiment, a search and clarification of the boundaries of materials and their own abilities. This is an opportunity to analyze different types of your spatial perception — architectural, sculptural, linear — and look at your painting from the outside.
The exhibition presents Weisberg’s drawings of all stages of his work, with the exception of the earliest, and the main genres of his graphics are nudes and landscapes.
Additional information
In artibus foundation is a non—profit organization supporting research in the field of classical art. The main activities of the foundation are the organization of exhibitions in cooperation with museums, cultural foundations and private collections in Russia and abroad, publishing program, organization and holding of scientific conferences, support of international cultural initiatives. The exhibition space of the foundation was opened in 2014.
Address of the In artibus foundation: 17 Prechistenskaya Embankment (entrance from Kursovy Lane)
Opening hours:
Tuesday — Friday: from 11:00 to 20:00,
Saturday — Sunday: from 11:00 to 19:00,
Monday is a day off.
Entrance ticket to the exhibition: 250 rubles.
For children from 7 to 17 years and students: 150 rubles.
For privileged categories, including pensioners: free of charge.
