The "Northern Ark" is the soul of the peoples of the North

On November 2, Moscow hosted the grand opening of the personal exhibition of the talented painter, ethnographer and researcher Dmitry Gusev “The Northern Ark”. This project, unique in our time, is the result of more than 10 years of individual expeditions to the areas of the Russian North and Siberia that are almost inaccessible to almost untouched modern civilization.

The exhibition will run from November 3 to 19 at the Museum of Russian Art (Tokmakov Lane, 21, p. 1).

The exhibition features paintings and drawings, lectures and dialogues about the Russian North, Siberia and Old Believers are held, unique artifacts of the 17th-20th centuries and traditional clothing of the indigenous peoples of the north are collected. The event is supported by the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church and the Oleg Krashevsky Foundation.

“The truth is that everything turned out, what he lived, breathed, what he had been thinking and reflecting on over the past years, found its physical embodiment and his creative rethinking in this exposition. Beautiful paintings and graphic works appeared, Dmitry was able to collect the rarest ethnographic material and, very importantly, to attract such amazing people, his comrades-in-arms, outstanding and equally enthusiastic, ”says the curator of the exhibition Daria Sevostyanova,“ The exhibition’s exposition is conditionally divided into halls, in each of which their image is revealed, these are the still ice of Pomor, and the landscapes of Siberia and Taimyr, the Putorana plateau, and portraits of the Old Believers - strong people who are not bent by difficulties and deprivations. In each room there are several large works that create a certain defining character, and many sketches and sketches made by Dmitry on his long trips. "

Daria emphasizes that the exposition of the exhibition-forum also included unique ethnographic objects directly related to the regions where the artist traveled, wrote, the nature, life and spiritual traditions of which he studied. In the halls there are manuscript and first-printed books of the Vygsky settlement, clothes of the indigenous Dolgan and Nganasan peoples, reindeer harnesses, plaques made of mammoth bone and even ancient shamanistic amulets.

“At the same time, there is no antagonism and semantic contrast in the exposition. The exhibition shows that mutual respect and the balance in which to this day they live in these regions, how calmly Orthodoxy and indigenous and traditional cultures coexist, how nature and man have learned to interact and not tear each other apart, ”summarizes Daria Sevostyanova.

A few words about the concept of the exhibition.

The painting exhibition "The Northern Ark" is dedicated to the way of life of the Old Believers and their values, ethnography and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the north. The theme of the Old Believers reveals handwritten books and miniatures of the XVII - XX centuries, cast and painted icons, antique clothing. You can get acquainted with the theme of indigenous peoples on the example of jewelry and costumes of the Dolgan and Nganasan peoples, silver belts, deer harness, mammoth bone items from the private collection of Oleg Krashevsky. The leitmotif of the exhibition was the interaction of cultures on the basis of the common foundation of traditional ethics, the influence of the external environment and nature on the formation of the worldview and attitude of the peoples of this region. The museum-archival and library department of the Moscow Metropolitanate of the Russian Orthodox Church Center (leader Priest Alexei Lopatin) takes part in the exhibition. The department provided and prepared Old Believer icons, books, utensils and other exhibits from the Museum of the Russian Orthodox Church and private collections.