On July 28, 2016 in the Greek courtyard of the State Museum of Fine Arts after Pushkin was opened an exhibition of Leon Steinmetz “The spell of antiquity”. It will last until 18 September 2016.
The exhibition was opened by Irina Antonova, President of the Pushkin Museum, who highly appreciated the artist and the ideas inspiring him. I. A. Antonova said that L. Steinmetz chose “the right path for the modern artist through the understanding of developments in the art up to him.”
Leon Steinmetz is an American artist who was born in a Siberian village in Mountain Shoria. He graduated from Central art school at the Academy of fine arts in Moscow. Moved to the United States. In addition to the artwork, L. Steinmetz teaches.
Today the artist’s paintings are in private collections and famous museums in the world: the Metropolitan Museum in new York, the British Museum in London, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, in the Dresden gallery, Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin and etc.
The exhibition, which shows 18 works of the series “the Variation of the vase”, is a graphical image, consisting of the silhouettes of ancient Greek vases (amphorae, pelik etc), filled with a free improvisation of the artist (he works in styles from abstract to figurative).
“Antique – wire to us, charged with spiritual energy. We’re not going back to it, we’re not breaking up,” explained the essence of his inspiration to the author. Antique inspired also Dante, Servantes, Swift, Corneille, Byron and many others. Ancient Greek vase fit in his view of the cosmos, the world.
Antique vessels, which served as the prototypes of the works are in the collections of the Pushkin Museum and the Metropolitan Museum in new York.
Irina Antonova also drew attention to the fact that at the end of the year in tune with the exhibition of L. Steinmetz will be held André Malraux show. He was a prominent French writer, scholar and politician. “It was he who proposed the idea of a dialogue of contemporary art with the past”, – said Irina Antonova.
Sources: Leon Steinmetz, Art Museum.
