
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art, Moscow (RU) 30 September 2019 - 15 November 2019
East West Jazz
The exhibition displays over 30 unique robes and textiles from Alexander Klyachin's collection and over two dozens of post-war abstract paintings from the collection of the Fondation Gandur pour l'Art. Curators expand this exhibition by adding works from the collection of The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the Centre Pompidou to further reveal the interaction between Eastern and Western cultures. This exhibition will be philosophical, emotional and contemplative, rather than didactic.
East West Jazz is primarily intended as a philosophical, emotional and contemplative journey rather than as a didactic presentation. The show explores the thinking and creativity of the artists exhibited in order to shed light on the origins of their abstract approach and on the connections between Eastern traditions and Western modern art.
For many artists, the diffusion of oriental art in the early 20th century completely overturned the canons of beauty inherited from Greco-Roman times. As a result, they turned towards new artistic horizons that opened up possibilities for alternative colour combinations, spatial arrangements and perspectives characteristic of oriental art, as well as an abstract perception of reality particular to this art. The artists assimilated these influences each in their own way, while at the same time renewing the decorative qualities of oriental art.
Alongside historical works of post-war abstraction (Hans Hartung, Jean Bazaine, Nicolas de Staël, Victor Vasarely, Simon Hantaï), the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art is also lending a group of artworks from the movement Supports/Surfaces (Claude Viallat, Patrick Saytour and Jean-Pierre Pincemin), in response to the Pushkin Museum's desire to introduce its visitors to the last avant-garde movement of the 20th century.
Artworks from the host institution and from the Centre Pompidou complete the exhibition.