Memorable Dates of Russia: Exhibition "My Unsearchable City... Marking the 140th Anniversary of Alexander Blok" opened in Saint-Petersburg

The exhibition "My Unsearchable City... Marking the 140th Anniversary of Alexander Blok" was opened at the new exhibition hall of the State Museum of Urban Sculpture (Saint-Petersburg). It will run until October 11, 2020.

The poet loved and knew his city perfectly - not only its central streets and squares, but also the most remote nooks, and all adjacent suburbs: Ozerki, Pargolovo, Sestroretsk, Shuvalovo.

The exhibition presents works by A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, A. S. Vedernikov, E. N. Pomerantseva, T. N. David, V. E. Vereshchagin, I. L. Chernovaya-Dyatkina; graphic series by Vitaly Tambovtsev "The City of Alexander Blok" of 14 coloured lithographs with views of Blok's favourite places in Saint-Petersburg: Shuvalov Park, the Bronze Horseman, Sphinxes near the Academy of Arts, Anichkov Bridge...

The paintings by M. V. Dobuzhinsky and P. A. Shillingovsky reveal Blok's idea of the city. Revolutionary Petrograd, embodied in poet's works, was portrayed by the artist A. F. Bely.

Drawings and sketches for the monument to Blok by the Saint-Petersburg sculptor E. N. Rotanov are of particular attention. The exhibition presents ten works of the sculptor. They showcase many years of reflections on Blok and his monument, which should appear in Saint-Petersburg.

The displayed postcards feature not only places associated with the poet's life, but the capital as a whole.

Postcards reproductions from paintings and graphic works by famous masters of the Silver Age are also engaging. Blok's photo portraits show the changes in his appearance: from the portrait with L. D. Mendeleeva (1903) to the last photograph taken by M. S. Nappelbaum (1921).

Archival photographs of memorial plaques provide Blok's city, where he lived and created.