Since June 26, the Primorsky State Art Gallery presents the exhibition “UNION OF EARTH AND WATER. The theme of the shell in the works of applied art of the 16th – 21st centuries from the collection of the State Hermitage.
The union of earth and water is an allegorical embodiment of the unity of two principles - male and female, two elements - Earth and Water, which gives rise to many associations about the indissoluble unity of man and nature.
For millennia, mankind has admired shells - one of the oldest and most beautiful creations of nature, which also played an important role in the formation of the spiritual and cultural life of different peoples. The symbolism of different types of shells is truly endless. Legends, tales, traditions, the way of life of people near the seas and oceans, fashion have largely determined the fate of shells in artistic creation. It is curious that mollusks were depicted in reliefs and paintings, used as a malleable material for the manufacture of objects for various purposes and, finally, imitated in a variety of materials - stone, metal, porcelain - recreating the very union of two diametrically opposite elements.
For the first time, the audience and guests of Vladivostok and the Primorsky Territory will see thirty-two exhibits from the Department of Western European Applied Art of the State Hermitage, demonstrating the wonderful metamorphoses that the seashell underwent in the works of artists from Western Europe and Russia in the 16th – 21st centuries. In some of the exhibits, real shells are used, in others the craftsmen, having creatively rethought the shape of natural shells, borrowed it for products made of other materials. The earliest work at the exhibition is the French Cup of the mid-second half of the 16th century, and the most recent ones are two snails: from Germany (2009) and Russia (2010).
The exhibition is accompanied by a rich cultural and educational program: lectures, including lectures by employees of the State Hermitage, quests, excursions.
Detailed information - on our website and pages on the Internet.
The exhibition will run until September 30, 2021.
Ticket price: 300 rubles. - adults, 200 rubles. - pensioners, 150 rubles. - students, schoolchildren.
We are waiting for you in the Hall-Safe of the Primorsky State Art Gallery, at the address: st. Aleutskaya, 12. Inquiries by phone: 241-06-10