Jewish avant-garde. Chagall, Altman, Shterenberg and others Automatic translate

The main exhibition project of the spring, “Jewish Avant-Garde. Chagall, Altman, Shterenberg and others,” which will trace the origins and development of Jewish modernism as a new unique phenomenon in the art of the twentieth century.

The exhibition is dedicated to one of the most vibrant periods in the culture of Russian Jews. The 1917 revolution proclaimed the equality of all nations, which was followed by the abolition of the Pale of Settlement. Talented Jewish artists and writers flocked to Moscow and Petrograd, where they played a vital role in the formation and development of the Soviet avant-garde. At the same time, thanks to the newfound freedom of creativity, a period of unprecedented national upsurge began in Jewish culture. Leading Jewish artists - Marc Chagall, Nathan Altman, Joseph Tchaikov, Eliezer (El) Lissitzky, David Shterenberg and others, authors belonging to various movements, successfully adapted the formal discoveries of modernism to their experiments in creating a “new Jewish art”.

The exhibition demonstrates the evolution of the Jewish avant-garde in Russia - from the actualization of Jewish folk art, adaptation of its manner and stylization of motifs to the avant-garde stage, expressed in a non-objective abstract form.

The largest experimental sites for new Jewish art were national theaters, primarily the Moscow State Jewish Chamber Theater (GOSET). Such leading cultural figures as Abram Efros, Alexei Granovsky, Yehezkiel Dobrushin, Solomon Mikhoels and Marc Chagall collaborated with GOSET. Chagall’s theatrical compositions, according to many testimonies, influenced not only the overall design of the production, but also the style of theatrical acting by Jewish actors. The cycle of works “Introduction to the Jewish Theater” presented at the exhibition is recognized as one of the indisputable peaks of Chagall’s work. This section will also include works by Alexander Tyshler and Mark Epstein, who collaborated with another avant-garde group - the Kultur-Liga Theater Studio under the direction of Ephroim Loiter.   

Exhibitions of Jewish artists, held in Moscow in 1917, 1918 and 1922, became significant stages in the formation of the Jewish avant-garde. The museum’s halls will feature a reconstruction of the 1922 Kultur-League exhibition, which featured works by Nathan Altman, Marc Chagall and David Sterenberg. It is this historical event, according to the curators of the project, that can be considered the highest point in the development of avant-garde trends in their work and in the Jewish art movement as a whole.

A separate hall of the exhibition is dedicated to the work of artists of the 1920s: from the bold cubist compositions of Alexander Labas, the color-dynamic designs of Alexander Tyshler, the analytical sculpture of Joseph Tchaikov and the Suprematist Prouns (“project for the approval of the new”) of Eliezer Lissitzky to works of the late 1920s, demonstrating a gradual attenuation avant-garde trends and the integration of Jewish art into the context of the Soviet “grand style”.

The exhibition features more than 100 paintings and graphic works by Marc Chagall, Nathan Altman, David Shterenberg, El Lissitzky, Robert Falk, Joseph Tchaikov, Alexander Tyshler, Solomon Nikritin, Yakov Pain, Nisson Shifrin, Issachar Ber Rybak and others.

The works were provided by the largest Russian museums, including the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, the State Russian Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of the History of Jews in Russia, the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, the Nizhny Tagil State Museum of Fine Arts, as well as by private collectors.

Curatorial group: Kristina Krasnyanskaya, Maria Gadas, Svetlana Amosova