Russian avant-garde art exhibit to open at Hermitage Amsterdam in January

The Hermitage Amsterdam museum is organizing an exhibition next year of Russian avant-garde artwork from the last years of the Tsarist era to the period of the Stalin dictatorship. The event is being produced in cooperation with the main Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The exhibition will be called "Russian Avant-Garde - Revolution in the Arts.” It features art from an era when pioneers like Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky brought innovation not only on canvases, but also in theater set design, interiors, utensils and books.

Porcelain was a favorite material of the Tsars, but after the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg was essentially handed over to the avant-garde artists, the museum said. “The factory became a breeding ground, where old stocks of unpainted plates and dishes could serve as a carrier for their innovative work,” the Hermitage Amsterdam stated.

Porcelain has been preserved so carefully that it can tell the story of the Russian avant-garde better than anything else, the museum added. Influenced by Malevich’s Suprematism, the artists used designs based on geometric figures and a combination of primary colors, white, and black. “The parallels between the work of the Russian avant-garde and the Dutch artists of De Stijl, founded by Theo van Doesburg, are clearly present.”

Eventually, the factory was purged of the avant-garde artists. The era came to an end when abstract art eventually gave way to the imagery of socialist realism.

"Russian Avant-Garde - Revolution in the Arts” is expected to open on January 29, 2022, and will run through January 8, 2023. It will feature about 500 works of art on canvas, paper, textile, and porcelain.