Just space: Kudryashov exhibition opened in Orenburg
For the first time in more than a century of work of the artist Ivan Kudryashov came to Orenburg, in a city closely connected with his creative path
Ivan Kudryashov is one of the leading domestic artists-suprematists, and the frontman of pictorial cosmism. Orenburg is a landmark place for him, in 1920 he came here as a missionary instructor of the avant-garde Free Workshops and, together with Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky, undertook to reform Russian art. Here was created a landmark work that brought him fame – “General scheme of painting the auditorium of the 1st Soviet Theater in Orenburg”, which is often considered as a harbinger of cosmism in his work. The work is also presented at the exhibition.
- For Orenburgers, the exposition is an opportunity to take a new look at the history of the city and discover an artist whose “space” art still sounds modern today, said Alexander Ushakov, director of the Orenburg Museum of Local History.
The last time the works of Ivan Kudryashov in Orenburg were exhibited in 1921 at the 1st State Exhibition of Paintings. Moreover, this year marks 130 years since the birth of the artist, which was another reason for the dedication to the artist. And the first retrospective exhibition in our century took place in the year of its 125th anniversary in the walls of the Tretyakov Gallery.
The project tells about the creative path of the artist through archival materials, documents and his landmark works, as well as about his creative method - Kudryashov developed a series of paintings connected with a common plastic program. The exhibition demonstrates paintings from the cycles “Constructions of rectilinear motion”, “Constructions of curvilinear motion”, “Spatial painting”.
The “cosmic” theme is given special attention, telling about the origins of the master’s interest in this issue – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and his works had a great influence on him, which was later reinforced by friendship with colleagues in the brush Ivan Klyun and Zenon Komissarenko, as well as Yuri Merkulov and Nikolai Khodataev, who created the first in the USSR cartoon “Interplanetary Revolution”.
The exhibition also presents a rare example of figurative painting in the work of Kudryashov – “Self-portrait”, one of the later paintings – “Composition”, where he affirms in his work the principles of objectlessness.
