Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Exhibition of artists Alexandra Koltsova-Bychkova and Sergey Koltsov “Between Paris and Moscow”— is a cinematic walk. Its geometry is built like a city: wide squares are given over to monumental canvases, and narrow alleys lead to chamber works, sculptures, personal items and photographs. The laconic color scheme: his — deep green and hers — delicate lilac — emphasizes the dialogue of two creative universes. The exhibition is open at the Museum of Moscow until August 24.
Double Portrait of (Not) Forgotten Artists
“This exhibition was created following the previous project, ‘Muscovite. Women of the Soviet Capital in the 1920s and 1930s,’ which took place exactly a year ago,” says curator Ksenia Guseva. “One of the heroines was Alexandra Koltsova-Bychkova. Visitors asked questions: ‘Who is she? Why did no one know about her? How did she end up in Paris?’”
This is how the idea of a personal exhibition was born, which turned into a double portrait – of Alexandra and her husband, sculptor Sergei Koltsov.
These two artists did not shout about themselves, did not join groups, were not the “main” artists of the era, but perhaps they reflected it most accurately – not in manifestos, but in details and halftones.
Two retrospectives in one space
The exhibition has a geography and a clear storyline. The cities act as co-authors. “The story of a married couple is connected with two cities,” explains Anna Trapkova, General Director of the Museum of Moscow. The exhibition begins with revolutionary Moscow, and at its culmination takes the viewer to seething Paris. “This is a combination of a person’s biography, the life of the city and a creative path,” adds Anna Trapkova.
The exhibition unfolds like a literary script for a good film, divided into four chapters.
“Obretenie” – Moscow, 1910s, Stroganov School. He is a budding sculptor, in love with the Renaissance, she is a little older – a master of embroidery, unlike her avant-garde peers in red scarves and overalls, feminine and graceful.
“Paris” is a business trip in the late 1920s, where they discovered the freedom of European modernism and understood that an artist can create for himself and about himself.
“Outside the Current” – return to the USSR. Koltsov’s recognition – successes in monumental creativity. Koltsova-Bychkova’s rejection of art for the masses.
“Solitude” – Koltsov leaves life. Creativity became a way to transform loneliness into solitude and contemplation.
Each of the four sections has its half and its half. And, like in a good movie, there is a plot, a climax, a denouement. There is a general line – the artists’ biographies, their main works. There are details – documents, even Alexandra’s student card from Stroganovka, personal photos: chamber, intimate cards – she in a cambric shirt on a balcony on vacation in Crimea… A beautiful woman who loved to be photographed. She loved to paint her self-portraits and loved it when her husband painted her. She was a muse for him and for herself.
The exhibition’s graphic design also works to tell the story of two artists who reflected each other in their work. “The inverted titles live in an interesting way – this is a hint at mirrors. You can notice in the writing of the chapters that the capital letters are of an atypical design,” notes graphic designer Rustam Gabbasov, who said that he was inspired by the variety of fonts on Koltsova-Bychkova’s Parisian business card.
Sergei Koltsov: from Stroganov’s student to sculptor
The son of a skilled cabinetmaker, Koltsov entered the Stroganov School at the age of 15. During his student years, he created plaster bas-reliefs in the spirit of the Renaissance, a bronze St. George the Victorious, a wooden pagan Bacchus, and showed that he was not afraid of experiments and masterfully worked with different materials.
The curator points to the only surviving sculpture from the 1920s — a sketch for a monument to Mikhail Frunze. If you remove the Budyonovka, we will see a work that refers to the masters of the Renaissance. “He masterfully juggled various historical styles. Each of his monuments, created in the context of socialism, has a similar source of inspiration,” Ksenia Guseva emphasizes.
Alexandra Bychkova: Muse, Embroiderer, Artist
Bychkova came to Stroganov as an experienced craftswoman: she was much better at embroidery than her fellow students. Her diploma work, a panel with three melancholic muses in a flower garden, is a reference to either the Pre-Raphaelites or Borisov-Musatov. In the 1920s, she worked as a costume designer at the theater and headed the embroidery workshop. Among the key exhibits were the elegant hats that Bychkova decorated. Her signature style and color scheme were discernible in them. The hats were brought in worn out, and Alexandra gave them a second life and turned them into art objects rather than wardrobe details. After Stroganov, she entered VKHUTEMAS, but chose the painting department, which determined the direction of her work.
Unity and independence
In 1924 they got married, and the exhibition features a touching exhibit – a surviving marriage certificate. She took a double surname – Koltsova-Bychkova, emphasizing their unity and her independence.
“It’s surprising, but these are completely different artists, sometimes diametrically opposed,” notes Anna Trapkova, director of the Museum of Moscow. “But they are obviously in dialogue.”
Their dialogue was especially dynamic in their portraits of each other. Koltsova-Bychkova often depicted her husband, drawing parallels, as modernists loved. For example, she paints him with a bandage after an operation, making a reference to Vincent van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait with a Cut-Off Ear and a Pipe.” Among Koltsov’s surviving paintings is a portrait of Alexandra: she stands with a brush and palette, immersed in her work.
Of interest is Koltsova-Bychkova’s still life with a sculpture of her husband, “Portrait of a Wife,” which the Moscow Museum acquired at auction on the eve of the exhibition.
“Koltsova-Bychkova depicts herself through the eyes of her husband in a sculptural embodiment. This piece is significant in terms of how their creative destinies intersected and what their love story was,” notes Anna Trapkova.
Moscow – Paris – Moscow
In the 1920s and early 1930s, long trips abroad for Soviet artists were not uncommon. Koltsov spent two years in Paris on the orders of the People’s Commissariat of Education, his wife stayed for four. He painted pictures of Parisian life – he shared the views of the French socialists. The largest work of that period is presented at the exhibition – “Parade of the Disabled in Paris”: together with the artist, we observe the annual meeting of veterans of the First World War – the atmosphere and color of the work are tense.
Koltsova-Bychkova is in demand in Paris. She creates embroideries, prints for fabrics, textile panels. The panels are also at the exhibition – bright, contrasting and at the same time very harmonious.
After Paris…
When the couple returned from France, Moscow greeted them with a different city. The NEP was replaced by industrialization, the city was being built dynamically. Artists created frescoes, monumental sculptures, ceramic panels – art was supposed to become part of the architecture. Koltsov was looking for a balance between monumentality and chamber, personal art. And his wife completely immersed herself in painting, as she understood it, without looking back at trends.
“In Paris, they realized that an artist might not owe anything,” notes curator Ksenia Guseva. “After her return, Alexandra withdrew from professional life, but immersed herself in painting.”
A monumental artist without a monumental legacy
Koltsov became a sought-after monumentalist: he supervised the creation and installation of sculptures on the roof of the Lenin Library, and participated in the post-war restoration of Moscow. Ironically, almost none of the monumental heritage was preserved or was not implemented. In the 21st century, during restoration, his sculptures were removed from the facade of the Bolshoi Theater – their subsequent fate is unknown. But the chamber works presented at the exhibition surprise with their diversity: the figure of an old fisherman, a female torso made of wood, a bronze sculpture “Motherhood”, paintings, sketches – the master was interested in different aspects of life, styles, materials.
They loved living outside the city. For him, the dacha became an escape from endless orders, for her, a place of artistic discoveries. She paints a self-portrait in a dacha hat with a reference to Van Gogh, and draws colorful and complex still lifes with flowers that she grew herself.
(Not) The Finale. Solitude…
After her husband died of heart disease in 1951, Koltsova-Bychkova continued to paint the same subjects, but the colors became deeper: instead of fresh light green and pink, they were burgundy, violet, and dark crimson. She began the main late cycle with her husband, and finished it alone — views from the balcony of their apartment.
“This tragic part is reflected in the exhibition: Koltsova-Bychkova remains alone, continues to live in the famous Pertsov House, sees how the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is being demolished, watches how the House on the Embankment grows. In a series of works, we see changes from the same point in different time periods, in different seasons,” says Anna Trapkova.
This is a reference to Monet, to his views of the Rouen Cathedral. She devoted 30 years to this series of landscapes.
Return…
After her husband’s death, the artist devoted herself to preserving his legacy. She donated her works to museums, and in 1974, she organized her first solo exhibition, bringing back interest in the work of Sergei Koltsov. She painted until the end of her days and, according to her relatives, was a “tough nut to crack.” The archive was preserved by her niece Marina Medvedeva, and then by her children. The Koltsova-Bychkova family helped the creators of the exhibition and attended the opening. “These people were devoted to art their entire lives, and only amazingly talented people — my family — could write and create so much,” says Elena Krugova, Koltsova-Bychkova’s niece.
Absolutely unlimited artists
For most, Soviet art is Alexander Deineka, Vera Mukhina, Yuri Pimenov — the mastodons of that era. But there is another layer. “I am interested in looking at the Soviet history of art in a non-standard way. Our task is to discover forgotten names, to look at what was happening with art not from one point of view, but from different ones. These are absolutely unlimited artists,” sums up the exhibition curator Ksenia Guseva.
The exhibition is an example of a multi-layered approach to revealing the artists’ work. The selection of works, the geometry of the space, and even the unusual fonts tell a long story of great love for art, two cities, and each other.
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