Exhibition "The Magic Light of Ivan Schultze"

For the first time in Moscow, a monographic exhibition of the great Russian painter, master of landscape painting and, according to contemporaries, the true "wizard of the world" - Ivan Fedorovich Schultze will be presented. His works reflect the experience of the famous classics of Russian art of the 19th century and rightly belong to the best examples of Russian realistic landscape. Being a talented student of Konstantin Kryzhitsky and Arkhip Kuindzhi, he created paintings that were highly valued in the Russian Empire: so, among his admirers was the crowned Romanov family. However, Schultze was forced to leave his homeland in the post-revolutionary years in order to become famous in the West. Today, his work can be seen at the Washington State Museum of Art, the Hillwood State Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Fine Arts, the Chile Baburizza Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and many other museum and private collections. The large-scale exhibition of the artist in Moscow is a unique project dedicated to the repatriation of Russian art. After almost a hundred years of oblivion and on the anniversary of the revolution, the name of Ivan Schultze returns to his homeland. Throughout his life, Ivan Schultze (1874 - 1939) was valued as a brilliant portraitist of nature. From 1906 to 1916, his works participated in regular exhibitions of the Academy of Arts and the Association of Artists in St. Petersburg and Moscow, they were acquired by many Russian collectors, among his connoisseurs was Carl Faberge. In the early 1920s, not accepting the October Revolution, Schultze went to Paris, and his name in Russia was forgotten, but became widely known in Europe and America.

The works of Ivan Fedorovich Schultze aroused great interest among the most famous gallery owners of Paris, London, Chicago and New York, such as Gerard Frerere, Arthur Tuss, John Levy, Arthur Ackermann and Eduard Jonas (gallery owner and later curator of the Cognac-Je Museum in Paris). Jonas, being a well-known expert on old art, only once exhibited the works of a contemporary artist - and these were works by Schultze. The masters who passed with great success strengthened his name among the representatives of art criticism, who recognized him as a “wizard of light”.

In 2015, at the initiative of the head of the Russian department of the Koller auction house (Switzerland), Vadim Goncharenko, the “Ivan Fedorovich Schultze Foundation” was created to preserve the heritage of the great Russian artist. Today, the Fund stores part of the artist’s works, as well as archival documents. “We managed to plunge deeply into the world of Ivan Fedorovich Schultze, trying to get to know him better, to discover his thoughts and feelings, to understand his actions. With each new element of the mosaic, the appearance of that present, Schultze, became more and more distinct. And although there are still gaps in his biography, it is indisputable that the “wizard of light”, as he was called, was a true genius in the field of realistic art, ”says Foundation President Bettina Goncharenko.

The exposition will include 60 significant works of the artist’s life in Russia until 1920 and emigration from 1921 to 1939 from the Fund’s own collection, private collections of Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland and Canada, the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in St. Petersburg. Already in Schultze’s early works, the master’s talent is discerned for conveying complex solar effects throughout the day: the lyrical landscape “Lake shore at sunset” (1909), representing the artist’s native lands, “Arctic landscape. Svalbard ”(1910), written after a trip with Kryzhitsky to the Svalbard archipelago and shown in 1911 at the Academy of Arts,“ Oaks in the Bread ”(1917). The exhibition will also show significant work on the way of recognition of the artist in Europe. Written on the recollections of Russian nature already in Europe in 1923, the painting “November Evening” was successfully exhibited by the Gerard Gallery at the 136th Spring Salon in the Grand Palais on the Champs Elysees in Paris. “The Cliffs of Faraglioni, Capri”, one of the most important works in the master’s work, was widely recognized as being exhibited by the Gerard Gallery at number one at the largest Schultze exhibition in 1925 in Paris and then in New York. The exposition in Moscow will reflect the peculiarity of the perception of European nature through the prism of nostalgic memories that have been heard in the artist’s work throughout his life. It is no coincidence that in the work of “Wisteria” of the 1920s flowers are shown that attracted the artist’s attention with an unusual resemblance to Russian lilacs. Part of the exhibition will be the original postcards of 1912-1916, written by Schultze. Along with the works of Repin, Kuindzhi, Arkhipov, Makovsky, Surikov, the artist’s landscapes were effectively decorated with miniature forms of “open letters”. That is what the pre-revolutionary postcard was called - the most important source for studying the work of many outstanding artists today.

To exhibit the exhibition in Moscow, the Museum-Estate of the Muravyev-Apostolov was chosen - one of the best examples of Moscow neoclassical architecture of the first half of the XIX century, revived after restoration by the Foundation established by Christopher Muravyov-Apostol. The foundation continues to restore a once-broken connection with the past of Russian art. An artist who left Russia, known at the beginning of the last century, was forgotten and deleted from the history of Russian art. As the Muravyovs discovered Russia at the end of the century, so Russia opens the works of Ivan Schultze. Return is the key word. Restoring another link in a broken chain.

A catalog of works by I.F. Schultze has been published for the exhibition.

As part of the exhibition, the following events will be held:

• round table in conjunction with MGHPA them. S. G. Stroganova "Russian realistic landscape: tradition and development in the XXI century"; poetic evening; lecture program (once a week) on the painting technique of Arkhip Kuindzhi and Ivan Schultze.

The exhibition is held under the patronage of the family of patrons Anisimov.

Exhibition opening hours and address: Tuesday to Friday - 14.00-20.00, Saturday, Sunday - 13.00-19.00

Museum-Estate of the Ants-Apostles, ul. Old Basmannaya, building 23/9, p. 1 (entrance from the side of Alexander Lukyanov St.)

Ticket price: 350 rubles, 150 rubles - preferential.

Picture. Schultze Ivan Fedorovich In the garden of the villa "Cyprida", Cap-Martin. Signed lower right Iw. F. Choultse. Oil on canvas. 38 x 46 cm.

Picture. Schultze Ivan Fedorovich Lunar path on the water. Signed lower right Iw. F. Choultse. Oil on canvas. 38 x 46 cm

Picture. Schultze Ivan Fedorovich More. Signed lower right Iw. F. Choultse. Oil on canvas. 54 x 65 cm.

Picture. Schultze Ivan Fedorovich Glow of snow. Signed lower right Iw. F. Choultse. Oil on canvas. 45 x 45 cm.

Picture. Schultze Ivan Fedorovich Rocks of Faraglioni, Capri. Signed lower right Iw. F. Choultse. Oil on canvas. 65 x 81 cm.

Picture. Schultze Ivan Fedorovich Sunny afternoon. Signed lower right Iw. F. Choultse. Oil on canvas. 65 x 81 cm

Picture. Schulze Ivan Fedorovich Arctic landscape. Svalbard. 1910 Oil on canvas. 130x86 cm. Frame - 98x142 cm. Museum of the Arctic