The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

temporary exhIbItIons
J curaTorS on exhiBiTionS
maTiSSe To malevich.
pioneerS of modern arT
from The hermiTage
Hermitage ∙ Amsterdam Exhibition Centre
6 March – 17 September 2010
The title of the exhibition – one of the most interesting
projects of recent years – was an exact reflection of the
compass and the high standard of this “away session”.
76 exhibits, predominantly paintings, helped to create
a display the like of which had never previously been seen
in the Netherlands. The status of any exhibition is chiefly
determined by the masterpieces featured in it. Among the
canvases that have long been included in any textbook
on modern art are: Matisse’s The Red Room, Game of Bowls,
Still Life with Blue Tablecloth and Moroccan in Green, Picasso’s
The Absinthe Drinker, Woman with Fan and Dryad, Derain’s
Portrait of a Man Reading a Newspaper, van Dongen’s Lady
in a Black Hat and Kandinsky’s Composition VI. One more
masterpiece, Matisse’s The Dance, which rarely leaves the
Hermitage as it is one of the museum’s trademark paintings,
joined the exhibition in April for a month.
In compiling the exhibition, we tried to highlight the most
influential trends of the first two decades of the 20th century
– chiefly the work of painters represented at the Hermitage
at the very highest level: Matisse, Picasso, Derain,
Kandinsky and their colleagues. In this way Fauvism, Expressionism,
Cubism and early Abstractionism were demonstrated
vividly and in great variety.
The Hermitage generously loaned its Amsterdam “namesake”
sixteen works by Matisse, fourteen by Picasso, nine by
Derain and five by Kandinsky. Each of these groups formed
a unique mini-exhibition within the broad panorama of
European avant-garde at the height of its popularity. In encompassing
the various trends followed by its pioneers,
the display in Amsterdam was organized as a combination
of five sections: Henri Matisse, the Fruit of Twinkling Light;
The Fauvists and Their Fellow-Travellers; Andre Derain, the Conservative
Avant-Garde Painter; Pablo Picasso, Equation of Super-
Realities and The Attraction of Abstractionism.
When negotiations on the organization of exhibitions from
the Hermitage collection in Amsterdam were held in 2008,
a decision was taken to begin with a display of early twentieth-century
art, and two years later to show works from the
preceding stage, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and
Nabi, which it is planned to do in the projected period.
By Albert Kostenevich
“The wind in The pineS…” 5,000 yearS
of Korean arT. from The naTional muSeum
of Korea
State Hermitage Museum
1 June – 5 September 2010
The exhibition was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary
of the establishment of diplomatic relations
between Russia and the Republic of Korea. Masterpieces
dating from the Neolithic Age to modern times from the
National Museum of Korea and provincial Korean museums
were shown in Russia for the first time.
Material from archaeological excavations, particularly
a fine display of ceramics and bronze, provided an idea
of the ancient history of Korea.
The period of the Three Kingdoms (1st century B.C. –
7th century A.D.) was represented by a number of fascinating
objects that provided evidence of the complexity
of religious concepts and the perfection of technologies
for working with various materials. They included ceramic
pieces made in Baekje and Silla – for example, a magnificent
vessel in the shape of a horseman, which was used
during various rituals and has the status of a national
treasure.
The jewellery pieces found in the burials of rulers of Silla
are famous the world over: crowns, bracelets, waist adornments
and earrings. The crown with pendants from the
burial of Sobon-Chong (5th century) also has the status
of a national treasure.
The development of culture and art received a new impulse
with the unification of the Three Kingdoms in 668.
The introduction of a common state language (spoken
and written) led to the erosion of differences between
regions. The powerful influence of Buddhism, imported
from China in the 4th century, and the consequent growing
demand for artistic works led to a boom in Korean art,
especially in sculpture. The sculpture included on display
demonstrates a stylistic unity among a variety of themes
and means of expression.
In the late 9th and 10th centuries the country was plunged
into a series of internecine wars that ended with the fall
of Silla and the founding of the Goryeo state (918–1392).
At that time the leading role passed to small sculptures
and decorative art. Ceramics enjoyed a particular boom.
Among the most remarkable achievements of Korean potters
were the famous Korean celadons, which were originally
influenced by Chinese pieces, but subsequently took
on an entirely different character. They included objects,
which had no analogues in the world, inlaid with coloured
sangam clays and painted with coloured oxides of metals;
decorated with gold, relief, carving and engraving.
The exhibition featured fine examples of celadons from
the period when their popularity was at its highest.
In 1273 Korea fell under the power of the Mongols, and
in 1392, as a result of a crisis of power, the Goryeo dynasty
collapsed and was replaced by the new Li dynasty (1392–
1897). The country started to be called Chosun (“Land of
Morning Freshness”). Confucianism became the official
religion, and this had a great influence on the country’s
cultural life.
One of the most important events was the invention in
the 15th century of a Korean alphabet and a mobile metal
script that enabled classical Chinese texts to be translated
into Korean. Painting became the principal type of pictorial
art in this period, since the skilful wielding of a brush
was considered to be one of the Confucian virtues. The
portrait genre became particularly popular. The exhibition
featured works by well-known masters in various genres.
Decorative art in the Chosun period was marked by outstanding
innovations in ceramics, like, for example, punchhon
pieces decorated with underglaze painting or carving
on engobe. Along with ceramics, an important place was
occupied by the manufacture of lacquered items. A particular
type of decorative art was hwagak pieces, decorated
with transparent strips of horn painted with coloured
paints. This technique, invented in Korea, was widely used
in folk crafts in the late Chosun period for decorating sewing
caskets, boxes, furniture, etc.
The exhibition included 238 items, eleven of which had
the status of national treasures. These masterpieces of Korean
national art provided a vivid idea of the original art
that has developed in the country over several millennia.
By Tatiana Arapova
“Since ToBacco you love So much…”
State Hermitage Museum
25 June 2010 – 4 September 2011
This exhibition, the title of which was taken from one of
Pushkin’s early poems, featured items of applied art linked
by a single theme – the history and culture of tobacco use
in Europe. Visitors could see 120 works that formed part
of the tobacco culture of Europeans from the 17th to early
20th centuries. These were tobacco graters – a rare item for
shredding tobacco leaves that has completely disappeared
from use – made of wood, ivory, mother-of-pearl and silver.
The largest group of works comprised containers for storing
tobacco: boxes, pouches, and particularly snuffboxes,
which were so firmly entrenched in eighteenth-century
life that the century came to be known as the snuffbox
age. There were portable and table snuffboxes, chosen to
suit a costume and the period. The exhibition included
elegant boxes of stone and tortoiseshell, ivory and porcelain,
mother-of-pearl and rock crystal that belonged to
society ladies and gentlemen. A special group consisted
temporary exhIbItIons
Opening of “Since Tobacco You Love so Much…” exhibition
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