Dates: 22/11/2023 - 24/03/2024
Address: Volga-Vyatka Branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Building 6, The Kremlin, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
On November 24, 2023, the exhibition “Named by Vasari: Mannerism” opened at the Volga Branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (The Arsenal, Nizhny Novgorod).
The project takes its cue from the figure of Giorgio Vasari—the Italian painter, architect, and theorist who first proposed the division of European art history into three major periods: the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and Mannerism. “Named by Vasari: Mannerism” follows two earlier parts of the project: “Named by Vasari: Gothic” and “Named by Vasari: Renaissance”. The exhibition presents works by European masters of the 16th and early 17th centuries alongside pieces by contemporary Russian artists who have drawn inspiration from Mannerist art.
Like the two previous parts of this exhibition trilogy, the show brings together diverse works from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum—painting, sculpture, graphic art, and decorative objects. These museum pieces are placed in dialogue with works by contemporary Russian artists that resonate with the drama and emotionality of Mannerism, its interest in metaphor and self-reflection, and its fascination with the bizarre and the strange. Featured artists of the 20th and 21st centuries include: Olya Avstreikh, Konstantin Batynkov, Evgenia Voinar, Ekaterina Gerasimenko, Petr Dyakov, Angelina Ermachkova, Sveta Isaeva, Egor Koshelev, Vlad Kulkov, Boris Makarov, Daria Neretina, Masha Obukhova (participant of the art residency program in Vyksa), Vitaly Pushnitsky, Artur Samofalov, Ivan Yazykov, and Kirill Garshin.
This exhibition presents Mannerism not only as an artistic movement, but also as a pivotal historical moment, marked by a distinctly ambivalent, often paradoxical, relationship of humanity to life. The heightened emotionality and dynamism, unusual angles and compositions, decorative flair, and intellectual sophistication seen in 16th-century European works signal the end of the Renaissance era while simultaneously foreshadowing the emergence of Baroque aesthetics. The rise of Mannerism in art coincides precisely with the major upheavals of European history. “Named by Vasari: Mannerism” is about the changing of epochs and generations, and the ability to find pleasure in life even in difficult times.
Photo: Alexey Shevtsov. Courtesy of the Volga Branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
The project takes its cue from the figure of Giorgio Vasari—the Italian painter, architect, and theorist who first proposed the division of European art history into three major periods: the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and Mannerism. “Named by Vasari: Mannerism” follows two earlier parts of the project: “Named by Vasari: Gothic” and “Named by Vasari: Renaissance”. The exhibition presents works by European masters of the 16th and early 17th centuries alongside pieces by contemporary Russian artists who have drawn inspiration from Mannerist art.
Like the two previous parts of this exhibition trilogy, the show brings together diverse works from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum—painting, sculpture, graphic art, and decorative objects. These museum pieces are placed in dialogue with works by contemporary Russian artists that resonate with the drama and emotionality of Mannerism, its interest in metaphor and self-reflection, and its fascination with the bizarre and the strange. Featured artists of the 20th and 21st centuries include: Olya Avstreikh, Konstantin Batynkov, Evgenia Voinar, Ekaterina Gerasimenko, Petr Dyakov, Angelina Ermachkova, Sveta Isaeva, Egor Koshelev, Vlad Kulkov, Boris Makarov, Daria Neretina, Masha Obukhova (participant of the art residency program in Vyksa), Vitaly Pushnitsky, Artur Samofalov, Ivan Yazykov, and Kirill Garshin.
This exhibition presents Mannerism not only as an artistic movement, but also as a pivotal historical moment, marked by a distinctly ambivalent, often paradoxical, relationship of humanity to life. The heightened emotionality and dynamism, unusual angles and compositions, decorative flair, and intellectual sophistication seen in 16th-century European works signal the end of the Renaissance era while simultaneously foreshadowing the emergence of Baroque aesthetics. The rise of Mannerism in art coincides precisely with the major upheavals of European history. “Named by Vasari: Mannerism” is about the changing of epochs and generations, and the ability to find pleasure in life even in difficult times.
Photo: Alexey Shevtsov. Courtesy of the Volga Branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.