Holy Russia: Russian Art from the Beginnings to Peter the Great Opens at the Louvre

04 March '10 by the editors

As part of France's "Year of Russia" celebrations, the Louvre, Paris is hosting a major exhibition dedicated to the history of Christian Russia, from the 9th to the 18th century.

The exhibition begins with the appearance of "Russians" in the historical record and the rivalries and power struggles between Latins, Vikings and Byzantines. There followed the early conversions in the Kievan Rus', culminating in the famed "baptism" of Vladimir the Great in 988. Rus' then became mostly Christian, borrowing its ecclesiastical model from Constantinople. Christian art thrived in Kiev, Chernigov, Novgorod, Pskov, Vladimir, Suzdal and elsewhere, wavering stylistically between Byzantium and the temptation of the Latin West.

After a hiatus during the 13th century with the invasion and subsequent domination of the region by the Mongols, Christian art returned in all its splendor in the major Russian centers, notable figures being the painters Theophanes, Rublev and Dionysius. This renaissance was accompanied by an unprecedented increase of monasteries and the gradual ascendancy of Moscow.

In 16th-century Moscow the self-proclaimed "Third Rome" and "New Jerusalem" the reigns of Grand Princes Basil III and Ivan IV the Terrible ushered in a new artistic golden age which reached its high point with the crowning of Ivan as Tsar (1547) and the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate (1589).

After the "Time of Troubles" interregnum came a 17th century of conflict and revival the rise of the Romanovs, the religious reforms of Patriarch Nikon then the sweeping political and aesthetic changes imposed by Peter the Great.

More news

	Saddam Hussein's Personal Physician to Show Works at University of Leicester After being 20 years in the service of one of history’s most notorious dictators, the artwork of Dr Ala Bashir provides a deep insight into the horror of Iraq’s recent history. 03 March '10
	Richard Hamilton: Modern Moral Matters at the Serpentine Gallery To start its 40th anniversary year, the Serpentine Gallery London presents Richard Hamilton: Modern Moral Matters, a solo exhibition by one of the world’s most respected living artists. This will be the first major presentation of Hamilton’s work in London since 1992 and will include several new works created especially for the Serpentine Gallery exhibition. 03 March '10
	Important Antiquities Sale to be Held at Christie's in April As part of the specialised sales on offer in South Kensington, Christie’s announced the upcoming Antiquities sale, to be held on 29 April 2010. The first Christie’s sale organised by Georgiana Aitken since her appointment as head of the Antiquities department in November 2009 is set to excite international collectors and connoisseurs as well as institutions with many important, rare and museum quality pieces. The sale will comprise approximately 350 lots, including sculpture, vases and bronzes as well as a selection of ancient jewellery. Estimates range from £500 to £400,000 and the sale is expected to realize in the region of £2.5-3.5 million. 03 March '10
	Medieval Mourning Sculptures from Court of Burgundy Featured at Metropolitan The famous 15th-century sculptors Jean de la Huerta and Antoine Le Moiturier worked together for more than 25 years on a grand and complex commission: the tomb of John the Fearless (Jean sans Peur, 1371–1419), the second Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Margaret of Bavaria, which featured 41 alabaster mourning figures, among other elements. Following the precedent of the mourners carved for the tomb of Philip the Bold, the first Duke of Burgundy, de la Huerta and Le Moiturier created astonishingly realistic and highly individualized pleurants (mourners) that serve as a permanent record of the lavish funeral of one of the richest men in medieval France. The figures convey a broad range of great emotions from melancholy to desolation through facial expression, gesture, and the eloquent draping of garments. The renovation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, France where 37 of the statuettes from the tomb of John the Fearless are housed provides an opportunity for the unprecedented loan of these figures for the exhibition The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, opening March 2 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first venue in an eight-city tour. 03 March '10
	Maria Lassnig Exhibition at Lenbechaus Presents Over Forty Paintings For over six decades, Maria Lassnig has explored perceptions and representations of the inner sensations of the body through her paintings and drawings. Lassnig, who was born in 1919 in Carinthia, Austria, already gave her early 1940s work the programmatic title of “bodyconsciousness drawings”. Soon thereafter she travelled to Paris and discovered surrealism and art informel. Through her non-figurative geometrical work she quickly became the most important protagonist in abstract art in post-war Austria. However, throughout her abstract works she still focused on subjective sensations and emotions. 03 March '10
	Graduates of Design Academy to Show Work in Selling Exhibition at Sotheby's Sotheby’s made known its collaboration with Design Academy Eindhoven and their first ever exhibition in the UK. From Thursday, 13 May to Tuesday, 18 May, 2010, Sotheby’s will host, in its New Bond Street galleries in London, a selling exhibition of work by some of the star graduates of the class of 2009 of the renowned academy in The Netherlands. Design Academy Eindhoven has an international reputation in the field of Design and the approaching selling exhibition at Sotheby’s is a chance to spot the next group of design stars of the future. Among the talents that will be represented in the exhibition are Anna van der Lei, Yoeri Treffers, Digna Kosse and Amélie Onzon. This exhibition will be a selection from the Milan Salone del Mobile, 14-18 April, 2010. 25 February '10
	Online Gallery Promises a Kultural Revolution! KounterKulture, the brains behind Newcastle-based gallery Opus Art, promises to revolutionise the art market by giving art lovers an unparalleled level of access to contemporary artists, their work, and a location for collectors to trade their pieces commission free. 25 February '10
	Van Gogh Experts Authenticate Unusual Painting Now on View at Museum de Fundatie 25 February '10
	The World's Wealthiest Artists? It is not easy to make a living as an artist. Even as the market for contemporary art has expanded in the past 50 years then lately contracted, only to begin expanding again, a mere handful of artists have made considerably amounts of money during their lifetimes. But those who have succeeded have done quite well indeed. 24 February '10
	Two Intriguing Artworks, One Believed to be a Rare Honore Daumier, Up for Auction The area around Washington, D.C., has always been a sweet spot for European art discoveries because so many high-ranking diplomats and government officials live there. Traditionally, these are sophisticated people who’ve traveled extensively and returned home to the nation's capital with art and antiques acquired during their overseas stints. 24 February '10
	Wangechi Mutu Wins Deutsche Bank “Artist of the Year” Award Wangechi Mutu, a multimedia artist best known for her fantastical, politically and socially engaged collages addressing the African diaspora, has been named winner of Deutsche Bank's first "Artist of the Year" award. As part of the honor, the 37-year-old artist will receive a survey of her work opening this April at the Deutsche Guggenheim, which is run in partnership with the bank. A collection of her works on paper will be acquired for the Deutsche Bank Collection and dispersed among its various offices. 24 February '10
	After London and Before Madrid, the Grand Palais in Paris Welcomes Turner and the Masters The British landscapist J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) was highly unusual in that he used elements from old Masters and his contemporaries throughout his lengthy career. This often anxious, pernickety, deliberately competitive but always fertile exchange was an integral part of his work as a painter. Turner emerged in the mid-1790s as a particularly gifted and ambitious watercolourist, rivalling his greatest contemporaries (including his friend Thomas Girton (1775-1802)) but also eager to better his painting technique by studying the Welsh landscapist Richard Wilson (1713-1782) and visiting private collections. In the absence of museums, the early British collections gave him access to the old masters he sought to equal. 24 February '10
	New Work by Dutch Artist Jacco Olivier at Marianne Boesky Gallery Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, will hold an exhibition of new work by Dutch artist Jacco Olivier. This is the artist's third solo show at the gallery. 24 February '10
	Exhibition Re-Asserts Henry Moore's Position at the Forefront of Sculpture Radical, imaginative and avant garde, Henry Moore (1898-1986) was one of Britain’s top artists. A major exhibition at Tate Britain will be put together by ‘Henry Moore’, an organization between Tate Britain and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Henry Moore hopes the exhibition will re-assert his position at the forefront of progressive twentieth-century sculpture, bringing together the most comprehensive selection of his works for a generation. Henry Moore will present over 150 works which include stone sculptures, wood carvings, bronzes and drawings. 24 February '10
	Giant artwork stolen from Witte de With in Rotterdam Staff at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, are baffled by the mystery that unfolded yesterday, when an artwork measuring 30 x 11m disappeared from its façade. 20 February '10
	Frantisek Kupka: Art Works from the Pompidou Collection at Picasso Museum František Kupka took painting to its vital elements: the plane, line and dot. During his career he developed a highly distinctive and exceptional style that still defies any attempt to classify it due to its focus on science, philosophy and mysticism. In addition, Kupka’s work suggests new approaches to interpreting the birth and evolution of modern art. 17 February '10
	Baltimore Museum of Art Presents First Exhibition to Explore Cézanne's Influence on American Art Discover how Cézanne transformed American art at the beginning of the 20th century. Cézanne and American Modernism, on view February 16 - May 23, 2010, brings together 16 of the French master's paintings and watercolors with more than 80 works by 33 American artists, including Marsden Hartley, Maurice Prendergast, Alfred Stieglitz, and Man Ray. Along with the Baltimore Museum of Art’s two great Cézanne paintings, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from the Bibémus Quarry and Bathers, the exhibition showcases outstanding works from public and private collections throughout the U.S., including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This nationally traveling exhibition is co-organized by the Montclair Art Museum and The Baltimore Museum of Art. It is a special ticketed event that includes complimentary audio tours for both adults and children. 17 February '10
	Oscar Winning Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins Exhibits New Collection of His Artwork Like many of the memorable, two sided characters he has played, one of the best actors of all time, Sir Anthony Hopkins, is revealing another side to himself in his beautiful, recently completed artwork. This superb art collection will be exhibited in the UK at Gallery 27, Cork St, London 16th to 20th February, and in The Dome, Edinburgh 2nd to 6th March. 17 February '10