Royal Academy exhibition runaway success
Major Russian collections under review following runaway success of Royal Academy exhibition
The landmark exhibition, From Russia, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, explores the fascinating exchange that existed between French and Russian art during a crucial period that was witness to upheaval and revolution. For the first time, works from these principal Russian museums have been gathered for a single exhibition, surveying the main directions of modern art from Realism and Impressionism to Abstract painting.
Modern masterpieces include groundbreaking paintings by van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Repin and Malevich. Following the success of the exhibition, Bridgeman is pleased to report that licensing opportunities for many of the paintings on display, as well as countless other important and striking Russian and French works, remain plentiful.
Jaguar Attacking a Horse, 1910 (oil on canvas) 
State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest museums in the world, presenting the development of world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great purchased a collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings, Catherine called her art gallery my hermitage as very few people were allowed within to see its riches. However, by the time of the Revolution of 1917 it was claimed as the property of the Soviet state and expanded when private art collections from several palaces of the Russian Tsars and numerous private mansions were being nationalized.
After World War II, Henri Matisse donated forty canvases to the museum and today it houses many other important Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings.
Black Square (oil on canvas) State Russian Museum was established in 1895, upon the enthronement of Nicholas II to commemorate his father, Alexander III; its original collection was composed of artworks taken from the Hermitage Museum, Alexander Palace, and the Imperial Academy of Arts. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, many private collections were nationalized and relocated to the Russian Museum. These included Kazimir Malevich's Black Square.
"As the first European picture library to represent a Russian museum, we are thrilled to see the pictures exhibiting in London and extremely pleased to be able to respond to the demand for licensed products following the exhibition" Harriet Bridgeman
For more information on these collections please contact your Account Manager or our Collections Manager, Adrian Gibbs.