Alexandre Roubtzoff

Alexandre Roubtzoff (1884–1949) – a unique Russian artist who, by the will of fate, turned out to be the "singer and chronicler" of Tunisia. Being a pensioner of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, from 1914 he lived and worked in Tunisia. The First World War made it impossible for him to return to Russia. The young artist settled in the suburbs of the capital of Tunisia, traveled around North Africa, repeatedly visited Algeria, Morocco. The land of great contrasts: with the sands of the Sahara and the snowy Atlas mountains; from the uninhabited expanses to the narrow city streets of the "medina" – was where the skill of the landscape painter Alexandre Roubtzoff flourished.

His name soon becomes known: his art works are getting published in magazines, he participates in exhibitions, receives commisions for portraits. This would be the only source of livelihood after 1917, when his ties with Russia would break. In French artistic circles in the 1920s, Roubtzoff, a native of St. Petersburg, gained fame for his art works, conveying the image of a wonderful world that captured him with its fabulousness, exoticism and colorfulness.

Almost all of Roubtzoff 's creative life was spent in Tunisia. Most of the subjects are North African landscapes with their amazing lighting, Moorish folklore, Arab life and applied art. From time to time, Roubtzoff, who has taken French citizenship, traveled to Europe; almost every year he exhibited his works in France, and also repeatedly – in the capital of Morocco, Rabat. The artist was awarded the Order of the French Academy of Arts; and in Tunisia he took part in the creation of the Center for the Arts.

Throughout his life, Roubtzoff was reluctant to sell his work, so that his extensive legacy has been well-preserved. The exhibition at the Russian Museum will feature more than 80 paintings and drawings of different years from the private collection of Mehdi Douss. The exposition will also include several works by Y. Zionglinsky, D. Kardovsky - the artist's academic teachers from the collection of the State Russian Museum.

For visitors above 16 years.