Contemporary graphics from the collection of the Center Pompidou. Gift of Florence and Daniel Guerlain Automatic translate

In the fall, visitors to the Pushkin Museum. A double discovery awaits A.S. Pushkin: for the first time, Pushkinsky will present modern graphics from the collection of the Pompidou Center and will give the Russian viewer an opportunity to get acquainted with the standard private collection of modern drawings. Starting from October 26, the seven rooms on the first floor of the 19th-20th century Art Gallery of Europe and America will exhibit part of the extensive collection of Florence and Daniel Guerlain, which in 2012 was donated by renowned collectors to the Center Pompidou, the National Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition will be held with the support of PJSC "TMK"

At the exhibition, visitors will see an outstanding collection of more than 200 graphic works, including works by Fabrice Ibert, who received the Golden Lion at the 1997 Venice Biennale, and Kiki Smith, an American artist and one of the most prominent figures in feminist art, as well as drawings by Christian Boltanski, Gerard Garusta, Giuseppe Penone, Sylvia Bakhli, Pavel Pepperstein, Alexander Ponomarev and many other representatives of the world of contemporary art.

Daniel took over his talent as a collector from his grandfather, perfumer Jacques Guerlain, who owned one of the largest collections of Impressionist paintings. Today, together with his wife Florence, Daniel continues the tradition of the famous ancestor - he forms a collection of contemporary art of his time. When the Guerlain perfume house was acquired by the LVMH holding in 1994, the Guerlain couple had new opportunities: they created a foundation, and a little later established a drawing award. Initially, Fondation d’Art Contemporain Daniel & Florance Guerlain was located in the family’s country estate, 40 km from Paris. In a specially built space, the couple exhibited works from their collection, and they also opened lithographic and engraving workshops.

Another initiative of the Guerlain family is The Daniel and Florence Guerlain Drawing Prize, an award in the field of contemporary drawing established by collectors in 2006. Since 2010, it has been awarded annually at the Paris Salon of Drawing to one of three contemporary artists selected by a jury of collectors, museum curators, museum directors, and is regularly rotated. From the candidates proposed by the expert commission, 3 finalists are selected, whose names are announced every December in the halls of the School of Fine Arts. At the end of March, after the presentation of the finalists’ works at a special stand of the Drawing Salon, the winner is announced. He receives a cash prize of € 15,000, and his work goes to the graphic collection of the Georges Pompidou Center for Contemporary Art.

Director of the Pushkin Museum. AS Pushkina Marina Loshak notes: “The exhibition of drawings from the collection of the Pompidou Center is more than an opportunity to acquaint the Russian public with the first names of the world of modern graphics. The works donated by the Guerlain family to one of the largest museums in the world are an example of a reference private collection, and it is a great honor for our museum to display it in its halls. Show not only the collection itself, but also how private collectors work with state museums. We do not always think about it, but without the collectors - not only their financial support, but first of all their artistic vision - not a single truly outstanding museum collection would have formed ”.

In addition, the viewer will be able to fully appreciate the richness and diversity of the collection of the Guerlains, most of which are not single drawings of a particular artist, but whole graphic series. “Our approach - to collect the most interesting works created in different countries of the world, was especially liked by the curators of the museum. In one collection, the Pompidou Center acquired a full palette of what happened and is happening in the field of graphics of the second third of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, - comments on the Florence collection. - Today the world of collectors is so arranged that in every country they give priority to their artists - Russians prefer Russians, Americans prefer Americans, Chinese prefer Chinese. Paradoxically, the French are the most open to international art. We are not focused on national art. Of course,there are many French artists in our collection, but we are interested in everything that happens in this area in the world. "

Finally, the Russian public will have a unique opportunity not only to get acquainted with an exemplary private collection of drawings, but also to learn how the graphic office of the Pompidou Center works, one of the richest departments of the National Museum of Modern Art in terms of the number of works stored in it, and at the same time - one of the the most hidden from the viewer’s eyes. When the Pompidou Center was inaugurated in 1977, the graphics department contained about 5,000 works, but today it has about 30,000 sheets. According to Jonas Storva, director and curator of the graphic office of the Pompidou Center, “since then, the collection has changed significantly, significantly enriched and really became a living memory of the creative thought of graphic artists from different countries of the 20th and early 21st centuries”. In France, there are three major collections of graphics: the Louvre graphics cabinet,the print department of the National Library, which is the reference, and the graphic office of the Center Pompidou. As Jonas Storv notes, "The presence of the National Museum of Modern Art on this list testifies to the importance of the collection of works on paper - a collection that has developed, however, relatively recently."

The Russian public will be able to see graphic works, the authors of which are the first names of contemporary art, from the private collection of Daniel and Florence Guerlain, as well as get an idea of ​​the work of one of the most important museum collections of drawing - the graphic office of the Pompidou Center from October 26, 2021 to January 30, 2022 in Art gallery of the countries of Europe and America of the XIX-XX centuries.