Exhibition of lithographs by Semyon Mikhailovich Bely "Roman with a Stone"

The project was implemented with the assistance of the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg.

The exhibition of lithographs by Semyon Mikhailovich Bely "Novel with a Stone" has several levels. The first level is a story about the very technique of lithography, the key idea of which is the number of copies. This dictates the repetitive subjects of the exposition, revealing the method of work in the technique of traditional lithography, a certain sequence of actions that have developed over the centuries. First, a sketch is made on paper, then it is transferred to tracing paper, from tracing paper to a lithographic stone, then a drawing is applied to the polished stone with special materials that were made in the Soviet period by handicraft methods, the stone is etched with a mixture of gum arabic and nitric acid, after which the printing process takes place. Each color is printed separately, resulting in 15 or more multi-color prints. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to see not only the final print,but also to understand the artist’s method of work, where every work was carefully prepared. Often, over time, work materials can become as interesting as the work itself. For example, Raphael’s cardboard for the Athens School fresco, stored in the Ambrosiano Library in Milan, makes it possible to better understand the artist’s doubts, to see the composition options. In the case of Semyon Bely, hidden work was carried out on each lithograph - almost imperceptible in the final version, which seemed to be a simple popular print at an hour.In the case of Semyon Bely, hidden work was carried out on each lithograph - almost imperceptible in the final version, which seemed to be a simple popular print at an hour.In the case of Semyon Bely, hidden work was carried out on each lithograph - almost imperceptible in the final version, which seemed to be a simple popular print at an hour.

The second level is the structure of the exhibition. Four halls show the time in which the artist found himself, a successively unwinding spiral - from the early seventies to perestroika. The works seem to be illustrations for the constantly working radio - news of politics, sports, celebrations - from day to day, from month to month, from year to year. In order to immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of stopped time, to change his relationship with temporality, the exhibition has the opportunity to collect puzzles made on the basis of the artist’s works. The unhurried atmosphere of the period of stagnation was conducive to this.

And the third level is, in fact, the story about the artist himself, who belonged to the school of Leningrad lithography - on the one hand, and on the other, he always remained to a certain extent alone, as a representative of Sotsart, which actually did not exist in Leningrad in the seventies and eighties. Semyon Bely, unlike the main representatives of Sotsart, managed to avoid a direct critical attitude and saw almost biblical motives in an endless series of ideological processions, and in an early perestroika atmosphere - a mixture of Boschian hell and hope.

Semyon Mikhailovich Bely (1938–2010) - a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, since 1968 a member of the Union of Architects of Russia. He worked in architecture, easel and book and magazine graphics. The artist’s works are in many museums and private collections of the former USSR and abroad. Among them are the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, State Russian Museum.