Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/753090
32 www.russianartweek.com LW: What were some of the different movements that developed in Russia at that time? NM: The most important mainstream movement which had full support from the new Bolshevik state was the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia [AKhRR] which was created in 1922. Drawing on the traditions of the Wanderers movement , members of AKhRR aimed to depict the present-day reality, which varied from cheerful demonstrations and street fairs in the paintings of Boris Kustodiev and happy peasant women on the canvasses of Abram Arkhipov, to iconic portraits of Lenin by Isaak Brodsky. This art organisation of increasing power was created specifically to oppose the avant-garde. Its effect was such that as early as 14 July 1926, Kazimir Malevich was writing to Nikolay Punin about his fight with the Association: 'We must overthrow AKhRR … But we must be careful – so that this rot doesn't bring any damage.' Malevich felt that AKhRR was drowning the remains of art in its quagmire. At the same time as AKhRR, around 72 other groups, such as OST, Makovets, 4Arts, Being and the Society of the Young existed in Soviet Russia in the 1920s. In 1932 they were all replaced by one group, the Union of Soviet Artists. LW: How did you choose which artists to include in the present exhibition? NM: Originally we wanted to show only artists who were included in the 1932 exhibition. However, since we are no longer controlled by the same strict censorship as Punin had to face under Stalin, we decided to extend our selection to the artists who were active in Russia in the first years after the Revolution but left in 1921-22 and became personae non gratae in the Soviet Union, like Vasily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall. LW: Visitors will have heard of artists such as Kandinsky and Chagall, but the exhibition also includes some less familiar names on the international stage. Can you please highlight a few who are particularly compelling to you? NM: When I first conceived of the exhibition, my main aim was to be able to include artists who are very important for the history of Russian art, but although famous in Russia, remain unknown in the West, mainly because their paintings are absent from the public collections here. So this exhibition will give us an opportunity to show our visitors such brilliant artists as Pavel Filonov, Alexander Samokhvalov, Isaak Brodsky and Ekaterina Zernova. We are also very proud to dedicate a special room at the exhibition to the most brilliant artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. INTERVIEW