Exhibition of modern French art in Moscow (1928) on the materials of RGALI and the archive of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Abstract

The cooperation of the new Soviet art and the artists of Russian emigration is a subject of particular interest. The period of the 1920s became a unique in the history of art when the new Soviet avant-garde artists, as well as artists who remained at home and those who decided to leave and not return, got along at international exhibitions within the Russian section. Russian art was still perceived as a single whole, geographical boundaries did not play a role, and the abyss of “non-return” had not yet opened between the creators themselves. The last chords in that still general composition were some art exhibitions that have become iconic. One of them was the exhibition of modern French art in Moscow (September – November 1928), which is the focus of the article. The organization of the exhibition brought together efforts of highranking officials of the USSR and France (A.V. Lunacharsky, E. Herriot), major cultural institutions (State Museum of New Western Art, Tretyakov Gallery, State Academy of Art Sciences), private French galleries and art dealers, as well as individual artists. On the basis of archival documents from the funds of the RGALI and the Archive of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the author restores the events associated with the preparation, organization, negotiations and participation in the exhibition of emigrant artists.