Vanguard. On a cart in the XXI century

Exhibition September 18, 2020 − January 17, 2021
Yeltsin Center together with the "Encyclopedia of Russian Avant-garde" present "Vanguard. On a cart in the XXI century " - the first exhibition in the history of the study of Russian art, revealing the history of an unprecedented display of contemporary art for provincial cities.

The project contains almost one and a half hundred works from the collections of the Vyatka Art Museum, the Yaransk Museum of Local Lore and the Sloboda Museum of Local Lore.
The exhibition will show for the first time a number of works, specially restored for this project. In total, the "Encyclopedia of the Russian Avant-garde" and the Vyatka Art Museum. Vasnetsovs, restoration of ten paintings was carried out. Among them: "Lying Woman" by Georgy Lazarev, "Square. Set design for Khovanshchina by Fyodor Fedorovsky, Set design by Alexander Rodchenko.

Artists presented at the exhibition: Andreevskaya, Belyanin, Bubnova, Vshivtsev, Grigoriev, Denshin, Demidov, Drevin, Kandinsky, Kachura-Falileeva, Klyun, Knyazev, Kolesnikov, Kravchenko, Kruglikova, Kudryashov, Lazarev, Malyutin, Malyutina, Mashkov, Medvedev, Merkushev, Miganadzhian, Morgunov, Nikitin, Pain, Paltseva, Pestel, Pleschinsky, Popova, Radimov, Rodchenko, Rozanova, Sinezubov, Sokolov, Stepanova, Timofeev, Udaltsova, Falileev, Fedorov, Fedorova-Mashkova, Fedorovskiy, Feshinberg Shcherbakov, Exter, Yakimchenko.


The project “Vanguard. On a Cart in the XXI Century ”refers to the events of the turbulent post-revolutionary period in Soviet Russia, the new opportunities that opened up for art, and the difficult conditions in which it tried to pave the way for the viewer. In 1918 - 1921, avant-garde works were purchased in large quantities by the state commission to be sent to various regions of the country. More than 1,100 works were sent to 32 cities and towns, where state free art workshops were opened. On their basis, it was supposed to create a whole network of museums of modern art, which will show innovative art in the provinces and educate artists capable of making a cultural revolution. The devastation and hardships of the post-revolutionary time did not allow this utopian project to be realized.

Based on site materials Yeltsin Center.