Exhibition of Nikolai Zhitkov on the 80th anniversary of the author

January 26 at 16.00 in the Gallery of Siberian Art of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. V.P. Sukachev (st. Karl Marx, 23) opens the anniversary exhibition of Nikolai Zhitkov (1938-2009), dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the author. About 50 works from the funds of the Irkutsk Art Museum, private collections and the artist’s family provide an opportunity to present the master’s work most fully.

A pupil of the Irkutsk art school, he was one of the most prominent representatives of the realistic school. The main topics of his work were Russian history and Russian people, with his difficult fate and unbending will to live. In addition, the painter was very fond of painting Baikal landscapes, in which the great lake appears in all its epic scope.

“The strict traditional pictorial style of works divided into classical genres (landscape, still life, portrait, picture), the realistic method of analysis and figurative interpretation of life material did not prevent Nikolai Zhitkov from remaining a modern and sought-after painter. He was attracted not by fragments from a motley kaleidoscope of modern events and phenomena, but by some time-invariable features of quality and category of being. The constancy of the plot and thematic interests and the dynamics of the creative self-development of the master allowed him to avoid the static replication of previously found interpretations. Landscapes, portraits, paintings of village life, historical allegories of Nikolai Zhitkov are conquered by the classically clear simplicity of execution, the harmonious trinity of a restrained-monochrome color palette, the faceted clarity of the linear-rhythmic drawing of the composition and the solid, almost meticulous, academic writing out of forms, ”says the artist’s creativity Irkutsk Art Museum and curator of the exhibition Tamara Dranitsa.

The exhibition opens on January 26 at 16.00 in the Gallery of Siberian Art of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. V.P. Sukachev (st. Karl Marx, 23) and will work until February 25, 2018. Entrance to the opening is free. Phone for inquiries: 33-41-12.