"Paris Nights" by Baroness Ettingen. Russo, Modigliani, Apollinaire, Survage, Fera

The Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin presents the exhibition “Paris Nights” by Baroness Ettingen. Rousseau, Modigliani, Apollinaire, Survage, Fera ”, which will tell about the salon of Baroness Helen Ettingen and the artistic life of Paris since the heyday of the avant-garde. The exhibition will feature previously unknown documents and materials from the private archive of the French heirs to the Baroness - the Russo family - along with works from the largest French art museums of the twentieth century - the National Center for Arts and Culture of Georges Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art of Paris, and the Athenaeum (Helsinki), Petit Palais Museum (Geneva) and the National Library of France. Viewers will see about 30 paintings, up to fifty drawings, unique archival materials, works of applied art and design. The exhibition was organized with the support of Mastercard.

The central theme of the exhibition will be the salon of Baroness Ettingen - one of the key points on the art map of Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, a meeting place for innovators in art - artists, writers, critics and musicians. The born Polish aristocrat Elena Mionchinskaya, married Baroness Ettingen, arrived in Paris with her cousin, a talented artist Sergey Yastrebtsov, who adopted the pseudonym Serge Fera in the 1910s. Passion for new art, the intensity of creative energy, constant vibrant initiatives, often taking the form of romantic relationships, made Baroness Ettingen and Serge Fera one of the main figures in the creative life of that time.

Their apartments on Raspai Boulevard on Montparnasse, decorated with African sculpture (Ettingen and Fera were among the first to appreciate these unusual collectibles), were attractive to talents who worked in all forms of art. Over the years, Baroness Ettingen and Serge Fera managed to give impetus to dozens of avant-garde projects and participate on an equal footing: in their "inner circle" were Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, Cubists of the Golden Section and Italian Futurists, masters School of Paris, poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Jean Cocteau. It was Ettingen and Fera who were among the first to discover the artist Henri Russo and began to collect his paintings.

A separate part of the exhibition is dedicated to Ettingen and Fera in the role of patrons of the avant-garde. In the 1910s, the baronesses met and exchanged ideas in the salon of Jean Metsenje, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Leger, Francis Picabia, mutually enriching each other’s artistic methods. The compositions of Serge Fehr in their expression are not inferior to the textbooks of Cubism. Beloved Baroness, an artist from Finland Leopold Survaz, became one of the pioneers of abstract art.

A special section of the exposition will tell about writers. Poets and writers enjoyed the special location of the Baroness. The verses of Apollinaire, Cocteau, Max Jacob, Andre Salmon sounded in her house. Legendary was the magazine Paris Nights (Soirées de Paris), which Ettingen and Fera “presented” to their friend Guillaume Apollinaire in 1913. The publication published avant-garde poets and published articles about the most interesting artists.

1917 was the time of groundbreaking theater projects in Paris. Along with the “Parade” in Picasso’s scenery, the play Apollinaire’s “Breasts of Tiresias”, dubbed by the authors as “surrealistic”, was also a breakthrough. This famous word sounded for the first time.

The revolution in Russia deprived Oettingen and Fera of income, turned them from generous patrons to tireless authors of ever new creative initiatives. The Baroness wrote poetry and published, communicated and collaborated with the musicians of the famous French Six and the artists of the Paris School. Her 1920s fashion and design experiences, imbued with Art Deco aesthetics, echo the work of the famous contemporary Sonya Delaunay. In turn, Serge Fera in the inter-war twentieth became famous for his theatrical projects and philosophical compositions with harlequins, which Cocteau enthusiastically admired. Having lived to old age, Fera remained the keeper of the memory of the times of the formation of the avant-garde, carefully preserving the archive of Baroness Ettingen.

Sylvie Buisson, curator of the exhibition (Paris):

Thanks to the selection of works, the exhibition reflects a new spirit inspired by the Paris Nights. This spirit determined the tendency of the artistic life of Montmartre and Montparnasse and enthralled all the artistic youth of the world, who came from Europe (Italy, Spain), America, as well as from the East. It is from this constant movement of enthusiastic critics that Cubism, Orphism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism are born - avant-garde movements that strengthen the status of Paris as the world capital of arts.

Alexey Petukhov, curator of the exhibition, senior researcher of the art department of the countries of Europe and America of the XIX – XX centuries:

We set ourselves the task at this exhibition to recreate the lively and rich atmosphere of the Parisian life of Baroness Ettingen of the 1900s - 1950s. The biography of the heroine here comes to the fore. The study of her life is no less important than the study of images and symbols in art. Baroness Ettingen acted not only as the muse of artists, but also was a co-author, organized exhibitions, bought works. On the example of this extraordinary and very bright personality, one can see the process of emancipation at the beginning of the 20th century, a personal search for freedom and the liberation of art.

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

Exhibition "Paris Nights" by Baroness Ettingen. Rousseau, Modigliani, Apollinaire, Survage, Fera "- the second project in the exhibition season, which we called" the Picasso autumn ". Picasso is one of the heroes of the exhibition. However, the central place here belongs to Baroness Ettingen, a unique woman who managed to concentrate all the color of the Paris avant-garde around the beginning of the 20th century. This is an extraordinary success for the museum to get the opportunity to show the archive of the Baroness, which had never been exhibited before, and to tell the general public the mysterious and outstanding story of her life.

The educational program for the exhibition consists of two parts. One of them will be held as part of the large-scale educational cycle Autumn Picasso, combining three projects - the exhibitions Anatomy of Cubism and Paris Nights by Baroness Ettingen. Russo, Modigliani, Apollinaire, Survage, Fera "and" Picasso & Khokhlova ". Another one includes the author’s lecture program compiled by the curator of the exhibition, Alexei Petukhov. Also, specially for the exhibition, the department of inclusive programs of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin prepared a series of events for people with special needs.