"Youth Union. Russian avant-garde 1909 - 1914"

The Jewish Museum and the Center for Tolerance, the Encyclopedia of Russian Avant-Garde and the State Russian Museum present the Youth Union exhibition dedicated to the creative unification of key avant-garde artists of the first third of the 20th century. The project will present the works of Kazimir Malevich, Olga Rozanova, Elena Guro, Mikhail Matyushin, Vladimir Tatlin, Pavel Filonov, Joseph Shkolnik, Mikhail Larionov and others - there are about 80 works by 35 artists in total. The exhibition will be held in two cities - first in St. Petersburg (from July 4, 2019), then it will arrive in Moscow. It will open in the Jewish Museum on October 24, 2019; VTB Bank will be the general sponsor. The partners of the exhibition are Transneft PJSC and SAFMAR Charitable Foundation businessman and philanthropist Mikhail Gutseriev.

The St. Petersburg Youth Union Society is the first officially registered association of avant-garde artists, six months ahead of the Moscow Jack of Diamonds. From 1910 to 1914 they organized seven exhibitions that demonstrated a wide range of artistic ideas and styles - from symbolism to cubofuturism.

The main idea of the curators of the exhibition is to tell about the “Youth Union” as a revolutionary phenomenon of Russian art through works of art and documentary materials and evaluate its impact on subsequent movements and works of the avant-garde.

As part of the exhibition, such masterpieces as, “An Improved Portrait of I.V. Klyun” by Kazimir Malevich, “Feast of the Kings” by Pavel Filonov, “Radiant Landscape” by Mikhail Larionov will be brought to Moscow. Also, little-known avant-garde works from the Russian Museum, art museums of Russia, Latvia and private collections will be shown. Works for the exhibition were provided by 15 Russian and foreign museums, as well as three private collections.

During the existence of the “Youth Union”, more than 80 authors were able to show their work. Participation in the activities of the society influenced the work of key figures of the Russian avant-garde - Larionov, Malevich, Tatlin and others. The forces of the members of the "Youth Union" organized an all-Russian platform for communication between artists and the exchange of new artistic ideas. A great public outcry was caused by a series of disputes about contemporary art and performances carried out by the Youth Union, including Victory over the Sun.

Almost all members of the association played an important role in the development of pre-war avant-garde art, but many were undeservedly forgotten. The “Youth Union” included not only Rozanova, Malevich, Matyushin, but also Verkhovsky, Mashkov, Ballier, Schleifer, Baudouin de Courtenay and many others almost unknown to the modern public - their work will take its place in the creative chronicle of the Russian avant-garde.

Curators of the exhibition: Irina Arskaya, Andrey Sarabyanov, with the participation of Alisa Lyubimova and Natalya Kozyreva.