Kandinsky, Other Russian Masterpieces in Seoul

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia

Staff Reporter

The richness of Russian art and culture may be unknown among many Koreans, but the new exhibition ``Kandinsky and Russian Masterpieces'' is hoping to change that.

Ninety-one works by prominent Russian artists such as Vassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova and Ilya Repin are currently on display at the Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center complex, southern Seoul.

Two of Russia's most prominent galleries, the State Russian Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery, lent the works for the exhibition that covers 19th century to early 20th century Russian art, the first of its kind in Korea. It runs through Feb. 27.

In an interview with The Korea Times, Tretyakov Museum deputy director Lidia Iobleva said it took three years to prepare for this exhibition since they had to decide which works would be able to travel to Seoul.

Seoul National University professor Park Jong-so said, in the exhibition catalogue, that Russian paintings of the late 19th century are ``the culmination of the art of realism which depicts 'social reality just as it is.'''

``Korea will be able to see how 'art as an active force of social participation' (one of the essential characteristics of Russian art) manifests itself in the territory of high art, meet the questions of what is life and what is truth, and bump into those souls of art who are struggling to find the answers to these questions,'' Park said.

The first part of the exhibition focuses on 19th century realism. If the lighting in the room seems a bit dark, it is done intentionally to create the appropriate conditions for viewing the portraits of famous writers and musicians. Russian painters chose to do portraits depicting the person as they were, with no attempt to beautify them.

Among the works displayed are, Repin's portraits of authors Leo Tolstoy (``L.N. Tolstoy at Rest in the Forest'') and Ivan Turgenev; Nikolai Kuznetsov's portrait of composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky; and Vasily Perov's portrait of writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

There are also historical, landscape and scenery paintings. Ivan Aivazovsky's ``Storm'' depicts chaotic seas in the middle of a storm, while Vasily Perov's ``Drowned Woman'' shows a soldier smoking while a dead woman lies in front of him.