"The Dürer era. German graphics and paintings of the late XV - first half of the XVI century"

The Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Moscow Region "New Jerusalem" together with the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. Pushkin present an exhibition of works by Albrecht Durer, his predecessors and contemporaries "The Age of Durer. German graphics and paintings of the late XV - the first half of the XVI century. " The exposition will include graphic works of the great master - masterpieces of engraving art, as well as paintings by German masters from the collection of the Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin and private collections.

The graphic section of the exhibition is 100 works from the collection of the Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin. The centerpiece is the work of Albrecht Durer. Extraordinary artistic talent, versatility of interests and breadth of knowledge - all this is reflected in the master’s schedule. He was the first artist in Germany to work simultaneously in all graphic techniques that existed in the 15th – 16th centuries. In the wood engraving, incisor engraving on copper and etching, all the richness of his imagination and mastery of execution were most fully manifested. Engraving rightfully plays a leading role in the work of Dürer. Seventy engravings of the artist presented at the exhibition are executed in different techniques and reflect all aspects of the work of the great master.

The emotional woodcuts of the “Apocalypse” of early Dürer are side by side with the everyday stories from the series “The Life of Mary” by a mature artist, the composition “Adam and Eve”, strictly constructed using the technique of engraving, with the later, deeply philosophical work “Melancholy”.

The exhibition also presents graphic works by masters of the Dürer circle - works by teachers and students of the artist, as well as his contemporaries. The exposition includes a number of woodcuts - illustrations from the "World Chronicle" by Hartmann Schedel in 1493, created during the period when Dürer studied at the Nuremberg workshop of Michael Volgemut. It was by observing the process of creating these illustrations that Dürer could get acquainted with the features of work in woodcut.

One of Dürer’s outstanding predecessors was Martin Schongauer. He was not a direct teacher of Dürer, they did not even know each other, but from an early age the artist knew his copper engravings very well, studied his engraved boards, and later used and expanded the technical achievements of this master in his works. Several unique sheets of Schongauer can be seen at the exhibition.

Galina Semenovna Kislykh, curator of the exhibition, leading researcher in the graphics department of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin:

In the Dürer era, engraving, as the youngest and most flexible form of art, was widespread in Germany and entered the work of almost every German painter. It is impossible to overestimate the influence of Dürer on contemporary masters. This is evidenced by the exposed sheets. Among the works of contemporaries presented, most belong to the famous painters of the first half of the 16th century. This is a student of Dürer Hans Baldung Green, and, to some extent, a rival of Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder. At the exhibition you can get acquainted with woodcuts of Hans Holbein the Younger and Hans Burgkmire the Elder. Each of them followed Dürer, developing only one trait, one facet of the talent of the great Nuremberg.

The graphic section of the exhibition is complemented by a group of paintings from the collection of the Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin and Moscow private collections. All of them were performed by German masters for about fifty years - from the end of the XV to the first half of the XVI century - and are characteristic monuments of art of that time, which is commonly called the Dürer era.

The exposition demonstrates the different stages of Russian state and private collecting German painting of the late XV - the first half of the XVI century. The works are selected from several thematic groups.

Among the paintings presented at the exhibition, the earliest monuments were created by masters of the late 15th century. This is the composition "St. George Refuses to Worship a Pagan Idol" by an anonymous Swabian artist and dated to 1496, attracting with its powerful expression the work "Flagellation of Christ" by another anonymous Swabian artist.

In the painting section of the first third of the 16th century, of interest are the compositions “Descent from the Cross”, presumably considered to be the work of the monk-joannite Wilhelm Stetter working in Strasbourg, and also performed in the South German region, possibly by the Ulm artist of the circle of Martin Schefner, “The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles”. From the point of view of rare iconography, the cycle of eight small paintings depicting the Passion of Christ created in the Upper Rhine region is unique.

Vadim Anatolyevich Sadkov, curator of the exhibition, head of the department of old masters of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin:

Extraordinarily attractive are the works of artists who, to one degree or another, have experienced the influence of Albrecht Durer. The figurative system and stylistics of the painting “Walking on Water”, attributed to Hans Leonard Schaufelyain, bears the imprint of the direct influence of Dürer’s art, while “The Crucifixion with the Coming” (the so-called votive painting of the Einingen-Neunek family) is painted by an anonymous Master from Messkirche is a partial paraphrase of the famous engraving of Dürer. This work introduces the viewer into a circle of complex philosophical ideas and representations that are extremely popular among humanistically educated people in the era of the dramatic clash between orthodox Catholicism and the Reformation. A separate stylistic group is formed by the works of the once popular Cologne painter Barthel Brain the Elder (“Portrait of a Man”) and artists of his circle (“Descent from the Cross, with a Family of Worshiping Donors”). The expression of artistic images traditional for German art organically combined in them with a keen interest in the numerous expressive details of the real world and their virtuoso image, borrowed from the Netherlands. The small flight “Flight to Egypt” by AB Monogram is a fragment of the now fragmented altar dedicated to the history of the life of the Virgin or the childhood of Christ. The other five parts, also written on linden boards, are stored in the picture gallery of the old masters in Dresden.

Marina Devovna Loshak, Director of the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin:

We are pleased to present to a wide audience one of the outstanding sections of the collection of the A. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts - engravings by the brilliant Albrecht Dürer, his predecessors and students, as well as paintings by German artists of the Dürer era. With this project in the New Jerusalem Museum, we continue a large program of cooperation with museums in different cities of the country.

The paintings, collected as part of a single exhibition of graphics and paintings, will provide an idea of the main trends of German art of that time, while highlighting the deep originality of creative individuality and the highest skill of Albrecht Dürer.

Oksana Valentinovna Kosareva, Minister of Culture of the Moscow Region

The exhibition of the works of one of the greatest painters and graphic artists Albrecht Durer, his predecessors and contemporaries is another major project presented by the New Jerusalem Museum and Exhibition Complex in conjunction with the A. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

"New Jerusalem" - the best cultural site in the Moscow region - is slowly gaining experience in implementing large-scale projects, including inter-museum ones. Since 2016, the works of Ivan Shishkin, Ivan Aivazovsky, Isaac Levitan, Pablo Picasso, Boris Kustodiev were exhibited in its walls. These exhibitions were visited by tens of thousands of people: residents of Moscow and the Moscow region, guests from far and near abroad, experts in the field of domestic and world art. The museum’s leadership’s bet on innovative solutions turned out to be true - the New Jerusalem IEC loudly declared itself in the Russian museum space.

Exhibition “The Age of Dürer. German graphics and paintings of the late XV - first half of the XVI century ”will be accompanied by an educational program consisting of thematic lectures, master classes, meetings with curators.

Curatorial group:

Vadim Anatolyevich SADKOV - Doctor of Arts, Professor, Laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation, Head of the Department of Art of the Old Masters of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts A.S. Pushkin.

Galina Semenovna KISLYKH - art historian, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation, a leading researcher in the graphics department of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin.

Project Manager:

Daria Sergeevna MILOVANOVA - Deputy Director General of the New Jerusalem Museum and Exhibition Complex.