American art on show in Moscow

Source: CCTV.com
07-27-2007 10:21
A major exhibition of American art has traveled to Moscow's prestigious Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation", premiered in Beijing earlier this year. It is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of American art ever to go on display in Russia.
The exhibition comprises a hundred works. It is presented as a commemoration of 200 years of diplomatic relations between Russia and the U.S.
Relations between Moscow and Washington may be a little strained right now, but the spirit was convivial. A Jazz band played as guests arrived at the Pushkin Museum of Fine arts for Monday's opening. Special guests included Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, and actors Dennis Hopper and Jeremy Irons.
The exhibits are drawn from several dozen museums and collections in Europe and America. It presents approximately 100 works by artists with important places in America's art history. Curators, in choosing the exhibits, say they tried to trace the evolution of developments over 300 years from the colonial period of the 18th century to the present.
Susan Davidson, senior curator of Guggenheim Museum in New York, said, "What we have been interested in is to try to show the diversity of American culture, to try to tell the history of the country through its art, to try capture the character of America. Whether it be shown in an American Indian or in the fast landscapes of the west or in the machine ages of the industrial times during the early 20th century, or perhaps easier identifiable through abstract expressions and pop art, which are uniquely American moments in our history."
The exhibition is divided into six historical periods. Each marks a significant phase of American development. Featured artists from the early 18th century to the present include, Charles Willson Peale, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Mark Rothko, James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol.
Tatiana Kolodzei, art collector, said, "Of course for Russian public it is fantastic to see the soul, you know you have the soul of all these three hundred years and you see pieces of the most important American artists."
The exhibition is organized by the Guggenheim foundation and the Terra Foundation for American art. It's an answer to RUSSIA!, a comprehensive exhibition of Russian art that went on show in the United States in 2005-06.
Russian visitors to the museum welcomed the showing.
Kira, student, said, "I was very surprised, because the relationship between our countries is not exactly warm at the moment, and I think it is very good that the Americans nevertheless decided to show their art here."
The exhibition premiered earlier this year in Beijing and Shanghai. Following the Pushkin presentation it travel to Bilbao in Spain.