The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

temporary exhIbItIons
J The preSS
on The exhiBiTionS
painTingS By remBrandT and
hiS pupilS in The nicholaS hall
I know it myself that you are inevitably
drawn to the Rembrandts when you come
to the Hermitage – whether you come often
or for the first time. It would be an injustice
to rob the public of the joy of appreciating
his genius, even for a short time. The museum
respects its visitors so it has found
a solution, which at the same time permitted
it to engage in a favourite pastime of playing
with the space of the palace. It has often
been said that the vast Nicholas Hall was
a trial for artists. It puts everyone in their
place. There is no doubt as to what it makes
of the Rembrandts.
Ludmila Leusskaya,
“The Rembrandts Have Moved!”,
Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti,
3 February 2010
We were at first saddened to discover that
the Rembrandt Room in the New Hermitage
was going to be closed for a routine restoration
of the parquet floors. We thought we
were going to have no opportunity of seeing
the works by this great Dutch master
for a whole month. But no, it looks like
the exhibition of Rembrandt and his pupils
has moved to the Nicholas Hall of the Winter
Palace for this period. One immediately
wants to see the familiar canvases in their
new surroundings and in a new light.
Mikhail Kuzmin,
“The Rembrandts Have Moved!”,
Chas Pik, 17–23 February 2010
SpaZialiSmo. riccardo licaTa
and veneTian painTing
aT The end of The 20Th cenTury
The exhibition contains 80 works by Spatialist
artists – Lucio Fontana himself and
his followers. They didn’t waste time thinking
of the titles for their works: there is either
no title at all or a title which is not really
a title, like Composition No…. Or take the
Scratches by Mario Deluigi, which are, indeed,
scratches on the pigment surface of
the painting. And Santomaso made a collage
of geometric shapes in subdued colours –
and called it Venice.
Tatiana Kirillina,
“Venice in Squares”, Vecherny Peterburg,
12 February 2010
It is difficult to see any familiar images in
these abstract paintings, however hard one
tries. Those interested in the art of the previous
century may be reminded of the Art
Informel, a post-war style of painting which
offered abstract images as a way of breaking
with the realistic tradition of the 1930s and
early 1940s. This is Informel, which is now
primarily associated with bourgeois interior
design, since it has been used for several
decades in offices, reception rooms and
sitting rooms. But one needs to remember
that in the 1950s, the works by Fontata or
Licata were not designer projects but artistic
experiments.
Stanislav Savitsky,
“Problems of the World and
Spatialism”, Kommersant,
11 February 2010
noSTalgia for The rooTS.
daShi namdaKov’S univerSe
of The nomadS
I cannot even begin to interpret the meaning
of the Tsar-birds and garudas, shamans and
legendary warriors, but I can try to sense the
mood and the inner spirit which the artist tried
to convey. Thus, to understand the meaning
of the huge Surrealist head with three pairs of
eyes one only needs to read its title, Clairvoyance.
But there is something more profound
here. The huge, bulging head with empty eye
sockets which seem to be concealing the
hidden eyes looks really alive and provokes
At Nostalgia for the Roots. Dashi Namdakov’s Universe of the Nomads exhibition
a slightly creepy feeling: it seems to be burning
my body and soul with its gaze.
Alexei Tsoi, “Dashi Namdakov Conquers
the Hermitage”, Novaya Buryatia,
1 March 2010
The large-scale bronze sculptures and the
small-scale golden ones, stationary by definition,
are filled with the passion of pursuing
a goal. The goal is the prey (not the harvest;
Namdakov is a nomad, not a ploughman).
The prey is a literal one – we have here
a warrior, a fighter, a ruler or a captor. It can
also be an inner one – then it is a lama or an
observer. It can be both – in an erotic feeling
with its temptation of delight and playfulness.
And it can be all together as in Composition
2: Abduction: the woman, the beast
and the myth are one…
Olga Shervud, “Dashi Namdakov:
Abduction”. Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti,
10 March 2010
A cynical cosmopolite critic will see in this
story only a glimpse of the mythological selfawareness
of a nomadic people; the Europeans,
charmed by the Orient, are ready to perceive
the bronze embodiment of shamanism
and the higher forces in the creations of this
death-defying hero, but it is, amazingly, the
archaeologists who will be able to appreciate
this newly-created art in the best way possible.
They don’t care that Dashi Namdakov’s
figures may be stalked by the shadowy salon
Modernist Mikhail Shemyakin or the joyful
Columbian Fernando Botero. They don’t care
that this sculpture is in no way “contemporary
art”, as it never even attempts to speak
its language. They value the cultural experience
of discourse in plastic form, which
is all the more evident when these sculptures
are viewed side by side with the monuments
left behind by the ancient nomads.
The Scythians, of course, have won this battle
too – but we have the opportunity to see
the transformation of the Ancient East in the
age of Avatar.
Kira Dolinina, “Avatar B.C.”,
Kommersant, 2 March 2010
waTercolour porTraiTS
and decoraTive porcelain.
new acQuiSiTionS
At the end of 2009, the Hermitage made an
awesome acquisition. It bought 92 watercolour
portraits and over 140 Russian porcelain
pieces from the Paris Gallerie Popoff (Popov
Gallery). These are unique objects, perfectly
in line with the museum’s academic programme.
According to Mikhail Piotrovsky,
Director of the Hermitage, “this is a once-ina-century
opportunity, we had to bend over
backwards but get it”.
Olga Luzina, “The Russia We Gained”,
Fontanka.Ru, 19 April 2010
For the first time, the visitors could see
92 watercolours and over 140 porcelain
pieces. The Hermitage bought these objects
from Maurice Baruch, the current owner of
the famous Parisian Gallerie Popoff. According
to the experts, the unique watercolours
and exquisite porcelain from the Popov collection
reflect a high style of museum collecting.
They are of interest for professionals and
amateurs alike, which is in like with the collecting
policy of the Hermitage.
Ludmila Leusskaya, “Returned Home
Without an Auction”, Sankt-Peterburgskie
Vedomosti, 22 April 2010
“The wind in The pineS…”
5,000 yearS of Korean arT
These unique and original works seem to
have cheated time itself. Unscathed by hundreds
of centuries, they have preserved their
beauty to this day. Just like the old Korean
song “The Wind in the Pines”, they have not
been lost, swept away forever, and its pure
sound can attune your perception for a special
mode needed to appreciate the art unknown
before…
At Watercolour Portraits and Decorative Porcelain. New Acquisitions exhibition
The imagination of those who created these
masterpieces is original, and their execution
is exquisite. Take a horseman which is not
really a sculpture but rather a vessel or bell,
topped with a dragon holding a pearl.
Marina Yeliseyeva, “Twelve Treasures
from the Land of the Morning Calm”,
Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti,
3 June 2010
This exhibition was long prepared and long
awaited: in 1991 the Hermitage took its
Scythian gold to the National Museum of Korea,
and a return exhibition was first planned
at that time. These plans were remembered
thanks to a purely political anniversary – it is
twenty years since the establishment of diplomatic
relations between Russia and South
Korea. The exhibition was arranged by the
Hermitage curators, who tried to achieve the
temporary exhIbItIons
most representative selection, to show all the
most representative and outstanding pieces.
The finds from royal tombs, Buddhist sculptures,
ceramics and porcelain, portraits, applied
art have filled the Nicholas Hall of the
Winter Palace…
Olga Luzina, “‘The Wind in the Pines’.
5,000 Years of Freshness”, Fontanka.Ru,
9 June 2010
The poetic title is reminiscent of an old tune
played on the plucked strings of a komungo.
In the Korean tradition, the noise of the wind
in the tops of the mighty pines is a symbol of
all the pure, noble, and chaste. This spiritual
mood is reflected by the exhibition itself.
Yakov Yevglevsky, “The Wind in the Pines’,
Parlamentskaya Gazeta,
11 June 2010
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