Russia!: Nine Hundred Years of Masterpieces and Master Collections

by Robert Rosenblum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Building upon 20 years of groundbreaking exhibitions of Russian avant-garde art—including The Great Utopia: Russian and Soviet Art, 1915–1932 (1992) and Kazimir Malevich: Suprematism (2003), among others—the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents this blockbuster show, which demonstrates that Russia's contributions to world art history extends far beyond the early twentieth century. Like the exhibition, this catalogue explores the vast and complex phenomenon embodied by the word "Russia" through the lens of the masterworks of Russian art from the twelfth century to today, as well as art from the world-class collections amassed by Russian tsars and merchants from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. The remarkable and interconnected history of Russian art and Russia's most important collections over nine centuries includes icons, portraiture in both painting and sculpture, social realist works since the nineteenth century, landscapes from all periods, pioneering abstraction, and experimental contemporary art.

Librarian of Congress and renowned historian of Russia James Billington contributes the introductory essay, providing a context for the more specialized selections by Robert Rosenblum, Evgenia Petrova, Lidia Iovleva, Mikhail Allenov, Alexander Borovsky, Alexander Kostenevich, Valerie Hillings and others. The book's design subtly evokes the six major periods covered—Medieval Russia (twelfth to seventeenth centuries), the epoch of Peter and Catherine (the eighteenth century), the nineteenth century, the early twentieth century, the 1930s–1960s, and the 1970s to present. This scope makes Russia! one of the most comprehensive sources on the history of Russian art ever to be published in English. The companion publication, Russia! Catalogue of the Exhibition, provides expanded and detailed, curatorial information for each work in the exhibition.

464 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2005

About the author

Robert Rosenblum was a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He is the author of multiple volumes on modern and contemporary art, including The Paintings of August Strindberg and Paintings in the Musee d'Orsay. Rosenblum is the recipient of a Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism.

Reviews

[Robert Hund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checked out from the Port Austin Library during our vacation at Pointe Aux Barques, MI in August 2000.

There are three museums in st. Petersburg - the Russian Museum, the Hermitage and the Museum of the Academy of Arts. The Russian Museum displays native artists and artisans - icons, wood sculptures and arts and crafts. After the Hermitage, these are MUST SEE!

[Jono · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's one thing to see the old masters that had been "lost" behind the Iron Curtain for years--fantastic Monets, Bronzinos, Murillos. Then to see the Russian paintings!