"Compositions and still lifes." Exhibition of works by Boris Messerer

December 19, 2017 at 16.00 the Russian Academy of Arts in the halls at the address: st. Prechistenka 21 presents an exhibition of works by the national artist of the Russian Federation, laureate of State Prizes of the Russian Federation, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Boris Asafovich Messerer - “COMPOSITIONS AND STILL LIFES”.

The retrospective exhibition included about 100 paintings and graphic works of the master, created over the past decade. These are portraits, landscapes, still lifes, abstract compositions, etc.

The name of the famous set designer B. Messerer is well known far beyond the borders of our country. He is the author of artistic solutions to more than 150 opera, ballet and drama performances, most of which have become classics of Russian art. B. Messerer with equal success draws operas and ballets, dramas and comedies. The artist was inventive and innovative in his bold scenographic decisions, which was especially evident in his work on ballet performances, which brought the master wide acclaim. Many of them were shown in Europe, America, Japan. He worked in the largest theaters in our country, collaborated with famous directors of our time.

True theatricality, a sense of style, a wealth of expressive means, high culture and erudition are characteristic features of the artist’s personality. The talent of B. Messerer has always been aimed at enhancing the expressiveness of images, at denying everyday life and illustrativeness. Each time, the master created his own special plastic image of the performance, acting simultaneously as an architect, as an installer and as a schedule.

The unique talent of B. Messerer, a man of powerful creative temperament, and his desire for universality were manifested in different areas of fine art: both in theatrical and decorative art, and in painting, graphic art, design, monumental art, sculpture and architecture.

B. Messerer is endowed with the rare gift of transforming things in a theatrical performance. He uses the most diverse means of figurative expressiveness - from genuine things to various forms of easel art. According to the author, the use in scenography of the expressive capabilities of easel art gives a new sound, a new meaning to the theatrical spectacle. Often the most mundane prosaic things find symbolic expressiveness in the author’s scenery.

Messerer’s paintings and drawings are akin to the theater. The artist brings the features of theatrical thinking - constructivism, special spatial solutions - into easel art. The exposition is unusually diverse in composition. It presents portraits dedicated to people dear to his heart - an outstanding poet, wife and faithful friend Bella Akhmadulina and the cousin of the artist, the great ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Of undoubted interest are both striking, diverse in terms of plasticity and color scheme, picturesque compositions from the Ballerinas series and color etchings from the Retro Style Dancing series, and city landscapes from the Baltic States, Svaneti, Bukhara series. The picturesque compositions with decorative and theatrical objects of the world - gramophones, samovars, bottles, irons, antique kerosene lamps, chairs and other objects - have an acute rhythmic structure, the artist gives them a "close-up", emphasizing the solidity, strength, constructiveness and beauty of the subject.

B. Messerer enthusiastically engaged in easel graphics, in particular, etching. He designed a machine that has no analogues, which makes it possible to create large-format sheets that enhance the decorative beginning of graphic works. The artist also developed a unique technique for printing multilayer color etchings with a thin color palette and a peculiar architectonics. In these works, the master seeks to reveal the deep essence and nature of things, their harmony, giving the usual and everyday objects a certain spirituality and refined expressiveness. The artist demonstrates an excellent command of various graphic techniques: among them are color etchings from the “Compositions with Saws” series, abstract compositions, etc. The charcoal drawings “White Nights” are dedicated to St. Petersburg. In the watercolor technique, urban landscapes with views of Rome, Yalta, Tarusa, Vologda, as well as still lifes with floral arrangements, are made.

B. Messerer’s installations are another step in the development of spatial arts. The creation of these complex, multi-scale designs was facilitated by the artist’s desire to realize his creative plans in the field of architecture, design and monumental art. For many years he worked enthusiastically on realizing the idea of synthesizing the arts.

No less significant area of B. Messerer’s creative activity is exhibition design. He was the author of concepts and spatial solutions for more than 30 prestigious exhibitions at the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin, Central Exhibition Hall "Manege", State Historical Museum, etc.

The exhibition allows you to appreciate the scale of B. Messerer’s talent, his artistic artistic nature, to feel the spirit of innovative search, a bold experiment that has always been distinguished by the work of this bright and original master.

The exhibition runs on January 8, 2018.