BEYOND FIGURATIVISM IN THE RUSSIAN ART OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY

The 1960s and 1970s were a period in Russian art when those who could not accept the system of the Academy of Arts sought their own paths of progression and figures of authority. This was when new gurus appeared to replace the leading Russian avant-garde artists of the beginning of the 20th century (Kazimir Malevich, Pavel Filonov, Mikhail Matyushin and others). These artists who created their own schools had no access at all to institutes of art. Instead, they passed on their ideas mainly by word of collaborative work. There were not many of these artists, but one outstanding example was Moscow artist, teacher, art historian Ely Belyutin (1925-2012). Many of his pupils are still active today. They comprise a rather large group and their styles are many and varied.

The exhibition tells the story of "The New Reality" studio, founded by Ely Belyutin, from its very first experiments in the 1950s and 1960s to the new interpretation of the artist's "metalanguage". This is the first "New Reality" studio exhibition aimed not only to demonstrate the results of the studio's work, but also to give an idea of its life and explain the mechanisms of how the works were created. The exposition brings together over 70 paintings and graphic works by E.Belutin, V.Zubarev, L.Gribkov, V. Preobrazhenskaya, A. Safokhin, T. Ter-Gevondyan. Also there are unique archive materials, photographs and examples of training exercises presented.