To See “the Unseen”
The Pavel Filonov’s exposition “Witness of the Unseen” has
visited Moscow. Muscovites can visit it in the Museum of Private Collections. In contrast
to the St. Petersburg exhibition, where the particular atmosphere was made specially for
it (particular light and music) the Moscow variant is less emotional, but I can’t say
that it doesn’t make an impression.
The Moscow exposition consists of 140 pictures, including both
avant-guard style (“Family of peasants”, “The cow”, “The head”, “Dairy
women”, etc) and typical portraits like Filonov’s sister’s and her husband. The
design of the capital’s exhibition was created by Boris Messerer. All the halls, except
for atrium, are quite simple. Rooms don’t press on quests; the atmosphere is light and
calm. But the disadvantage is that rooms are a little too small, and the number of
visitors is quite big, so it is a bit crowded there.
The atrium of the museum, where “The formula of the spring” and
“The formula of the Petrograd proletariat” are situated, can house crowds of people.
Boris Messerer made an illusion of flying pictures, without any frames, fixed by robes.
There were some strange aluminum constructions all around the hall. It makes a really
special climate, which, probably, reflexes some avant-guard and futurism ideas. It looks
really interesting and unusual.
Pavel Filonov. Self-portrait. 1925
On the second floor visitors can find some stands with Filonov’s
biography description and the ANS (Alexander Nickolaevich Skryabin) synthesizer, invented
by engineer Eugeny Murzin. It considered the translation of Filonov’s painting into
sound.
Outside the famous blue lion “The monument of Utopia”, created by
Vadim Zakharov is situated. It is meant for moving and telling biography of Filonov, but,
unfortunately, the frost has broken the mechanism, so I couldn’t be delighted by
listening to it.
Pavel Filonov. Beasts. 1925-1926.
Filonov’s works are really non-typical. He relates to the analytical
skill. People, who are interested in arts, think that Pavel Filonov has a little irregular
turn of mind. As for me, I think that they are quite right. There is something unusual in
his works, something strange, uncommon. Whatever, his paintings attract lots of gazers.
Pictures thought out to the smallest details; to the smallest touch, every centimeter has
its own meaning. Sometimes it is impossible to take eyes off of Filonov’s works. This is
really difficult to understand not only for people who are not interested in art, but also
for those, who are concerned with the history of abstract art. It is possible to gaze at
the pictures for hours but keep misunderstanding them.
Lots of visitors of the “Witness of the unseen” think that his
productions are really interesting and unusual, that they are the masterpieces, but for
many people it is too difficult to understand it, to see “the Unseen”, so, if you are
not interested in painting or avant-guard, the exposition can be not really attractive for
you.
By Alexandra Tsarkova,
11th grade,
School No. 1348, Moscow
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