The exhibition "WARSAW-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-WARSAW 1900-2000" will open on November 17th, 2004, at the "Zacheta" National Contemporary Art Gallery in Warsaw, and subsequently travel to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in March of 2005. The exhibition concept is based on previous projects, including "PARIS-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-PARIS 1900-1930" (held in 1979), "BERLIN-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-BERLIN 1900-1950" (organized in 1995) and a very recent continuation thereof titled "BERLIN-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-BERLIN 1950-2000", which opened at the Gropius Bau in Berlin at the beginning of 2004 and subsequently traveled to the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

Kazimir Malevich, "Suprematist Composition", 1920 oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Tula

The exhibition WARSAW-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-WARSAW 1900-2000 will open on November 20th, 2004, at the "Zacheta" National Contemporary Art Gallery in Warsaw, and subsequently travel to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in March of 2005. The exhibition concept is based on previous projects, including PARIS-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-PARIS 1900-1930 (held in 1979), BERLIN-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-BERLIN 1900-1950 (organized in 1995) and a very recent continuation thereof titled BERLIN-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-BERLIN 1950-2000, which opened at the Gropius Bau in Berlin at the beginning of 2004 and subsequently traveled to the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

WARSAW-MOSCOW / MOSCOW-WARSAW 1900-2000 will attempt to examine art of the 20th century from Poland and Russia in a manner free from the burdensome relations that reigned between the two countries through 1989. The limited space available for the project will not allow for full examination of the multi-faceted artistic links that existed between Poland and Russia during a turbulent century. Rather, the exhibition will provide a bird's eye-view highlighting hitherto little-known facets of the relationship, or, in some cases, entirely unexamined topics (e.g. the reception in Russia of the work of renowned Polish playwright and artist Stanislaw Wyspianski) that should in the future become the subject of specialized research.

Kazimir Malevich, "TWO MALE FIGURES", beginning of 1930., The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The spatial layout of the "Zacheta" Gallery and the nature of the assembled objects suggested the exhibition's arrangement. The presentation will focus on a number of concepts considered important in the individual historical stages of the past century. A number of Symbolist works of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries will open the exhibition, presented against a background of typical "salon art" by grand masters. Subsequent rooms will present in chronological order the artistic currents that flourished in both countries, highlighting similarities and differences in approaches to specific artistic, stylistic and political issues. Also included will be examples of the work of the many Polish artists who were educated in Russia, especially those who were students of the Saint Petersburg Academy (Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Jan Ciaglinski, Konrad Krzyzanowski, Kazimierz Stabrowski, Ludomir Slendzinski and others), and those who lived and worked for a time in that country, namely, Boleslaw Cybis, Zygmunt Waliszewski, Witkacy, Wladyslaw Strzeminski and Katarzyna Kobro. The principle of chronological narration will at times be disrupted by exhibits focusing on specific topics, like images of man, reflections on World War II, or art deriving from or referencing the concepts of Kasimir Malevich.

Marc Chagall, "Wedding", 1918, oil on canvas, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Alexandr Gerasimov, "W. STALIN OVER THE COFFIN OF ANDREI ZHDANOV", 1948, oil on canvas, Centre ROSIZO, Moscow

Wassily Kandinsky, "Improvisation of Cold Forms", 1914, oil on canvas, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The items on view will number approximately four hundred and include many masterpieces from Russian and Polish museums, as well as from private collections in both countries. Polish viewers are sure to flock to see the works of Mikhail Vrubel, Kasimir Malevich (including "CZARNY KWADRAT / BLACK QUADRILATERAL") and Wassily Kandinsky, the early works of Marc Chagall, examples of the achievements of Russian Constructivism or the entirely unknown works of Russian dissidents dating from the end of the 1950s to the fall of Communism. The final exhibit will be a symbolic confrontation of works from the beginning and end of Modernism with Katarzyna Kozyra's "SWIETO WIOSNY / RITE OF SPRING" presented among documents illustrating the first-ever presentation of this ballet choreographed by Vazlav Nizhinsky in 1913, which was the reference for Kozyra's multimedia project.

Organizers:
Centrum Miedzynarodowej Wspolpracy Kulturalnej Instytut Adama Mickiewicza
"Zacheta" Narodowa Galeria Sztuki
Panstwowa Galeria Trietiakowska
Panstwowe Centrum Muzealno-Wystawiennicze ROSIZO
Ministerstwo Kultury Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
Ministerstwo Kultury i Komunikacji Masowej Federacji Rosyjskiej

Koordynator generalny projektu: Grzegorz Wisniewski
Kurator wystawy: Anda Rottenberg
Komisarz wystawy: Piotr Nowicki
Koordynacja wystawy w Warszawie ze strony Centrum Międzynarodowej Wspolpracy Kulturalnej "Instytut Adama Mickiewicza": Marta Walkowska-Lipko - sekretarz wystawy, Zuzanna Pasiewicz - asystent, Ewa Chwedenczuk i Beata Jankiewicz - wspolpraca.
Wspolpraca ze strony Zachety: Magda Kardasz, Joanna Sokolowska

"Zacheta" National Gallery of Art
"Zacheta" Narodowa Galeria Sztuki w Warszawie
Plac Malachowskiego 3, 00-916 Warszawa
tel. (+48 22) 827 58 54, 827 69 13, 826 83 81, 827 69 09, 827 68 24
fax (+48 22) 827 78 86
www.zacheta.art.pl

Browsing history