V.N. Lewandowski. Self-portrait. 1933

From April 5, the main exhibition of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (Lenin St., 104) will present an exhibition of one painting “V. N. Levandovsky. Self-portrait. 1933".

The genre of self-portrait not only captures the artist’s own personality, but also allows him to talk about himself and his time. It represents a person in his social essence, especially when the author tells truthfully about himself, his moral well-being and his understanding of the era. Self-portraiture is determined by the internal state of the artist, and not by his appearance. This feeling is clearly conveyed to the viewer when referring to the work of Vsevolod Nikolaevich Levandovsky (1884 - 1935) - the first director of the Kaluga Art Museum, written two years before his death.

V. N. Levandovsky was a painter and graphic artist. He was born into the family of a railway employee. He studied at the Penza Art School in 1898-1906, and at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1906-1914, and worked in the workshop of I. E. Repin. From 1914 to 1918 he was in military service and brought to Kaluga by military events, where his talent as an organizer and leader was clearly demonstrated and where he lived through the difficult decades of the post-revolutionary period.

The artist continued to strive for creative work and worked quite successfully, but from the end of 1921 he devoted most of his energy to the art museum, originally called a gallery. The staff of the museum (since 1924 a department) consisted of only a manager and one technical employee. However, V.N Lvandovsky, along with fulfilling his official duties, was involved in the restoration of paintings and icons, and paid great attention to the formation of a collection of works by Russian artists, including contemporary ones. He achieved the transfer of a number of works from the State Tretyakov Gallery, and then from the State Hermitage, although not those that were selected by him. Back in 1922, the Kaluga Museum received graphic works from the collection of Prince S. D. Gorchakov, drained of blood by the central museums, on the Baryatino estate.

In 1926, on the basis of the art department, a branch of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR) was organized, the chairman of which was V. N. Levandovsky. He had his own concept of a museum - a cultural, educational, educational and scientific center. There was a studio at the museum and numerous exhibitions of works by Kaluga artists were organized. In his artistic practice, Lewandowski remains within the framework of the realistic method.

The intense rhythm of work led to premature death. From the “Self-Portrait” a man is far from advanced in age, clearly tired of life. In 1938, an exhibition of his works was held in Kaluga. Some of them were transferred to the museum in 1940 by the artist’s widow. Portraits predominated in the work of A. A. Levandovsky.