"RUSSIAN Vanguard FROM NORWAY. KSAN AND YULIA KRON"

On November 13, an exhibition of paintings by Ksan Kron, a Norwegian avant-garde artist who lived and worked in Russia for twelve years, will open at the Mikhailov Gallery. The exhibition will be held with the information support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Moscow.

Ksan (Christian Cornelius) Kron established himself as an important figure in the Russian avant-garde movement of the early twentieth century. Its appearance in the 1900s coincided with the formation of Norwegian modernism, represented by such artists as Ludwig Karsten, Per Krog, Axel Revold, Jean Heiberg and others. However, the creative fate of Crohn was completely different. He was the only Norwegian artist of his generation to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, and his art took off during his life in Russia.

In 1906, Kron, forced to leave the academy, went to Munich, where he appears in the circles of the Russian artist Vasily Kandinsky, one of the founders of abstract art and the founder of the Blue Horseman group. Then there was the Paris period and study at several academies, in one of which he met an aristocrat of Russian-Swedish origin, the artist Julia de Holmberg, whom he later married. In Paris, Kron meets Aristarchus Lentulov, Maria Vasilyeva and Lyubov Popova, whose art had a huge impact on the work of Kron. Thanks to them, bright colors and geometric shapes have become key elements in the artist’s works.

After graduation, Kron and his wife Julia moved to Kiev, where they joined a progressive circle of artists, which included Alexandra Exter, Alexander Bogomazov and the Burliuki brothers. In 1909, after participating in the exhibition "World of Art", the works of Kron were noted by such masters as Ivan Bilibin, Boris Kustodiev and Nikolai Roerich.

In 1912, while still living in Kiev, the first Moscow exhibition of Kron with the Jack of Bubnov, a progressive elite group founded by Mikhail Larionov and Natalya Goncharova, which also included Aristarkh Lentulov, Petr Konchalovsky, Robert Falk, Ilya Mashkov, was held.

In 1917, despite the revolutionary unrest in the streets of Moscow, on November 9th the last exhibition of the Jack of Diamonds took place at the Mikhailovsky Salon on Bolshaya Dmitrovka. Cron exhibited 4 works: Still Life, Sunflower, Boats on the Dnieper and Studies. In addition to him there were 16 more Russian artists, but Jack of Diamonds was no longer the same. Many members left society by then.

Kron’s success in Russia was also facilitated by his close relationship with Kazimir Malevich.

Ksan Kron painted two portraits of the collector Schukin, which are stored in the Hermitage. The artist is represented at the National Gallery in Oslo, at the Art Museum in Bergen, as well as in many museums and galleries around the world and private collections.

The Mikhailov Gallery will feature more than 50 works by Ksan and Julia Kron, as well as two works by her son Oleg Kron from the collection of Irina and Oleg Polovinkin (Norway), which fully reflect the avant-garde discoveries of the 20th century.

Entrance to the exhibition is free.