Regions of Russia: Exhibition project "Selected Paintings and Photographs on the History of Samara Province" presented in Samara

The Samara Regional Art Museum presents a unique exhibition project, which marks the 170th anniversary of Samara Province. The exhibition combines painting and photography. It highlights the past of Samara, recreated both with a brush on the canvas and with a camera lens. The exposition includes pictures that represent the personal ideas of the artist about the past, as well as the authentic historical photographs with true images of the city and its suburbs.

The painter is Alexander Alfredovich Bakanov. He was born in 1957, in Samara and graduated from the Samara Art School and the Theatre Academy in Saint-Petersburg. Bakanov is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, the Union of Theater Workers of Russia, a participant in more than 130 exhibitions in Russia and abroad. In 2003, the State Tretyakov Gallery hosted a personal exhibition of Bakanov's works. The world-class galleries and museums acquired his paintings, in particular, four pictures decorate the halls of the Naval Residence of Russian President (Konstantinovsky Palace, Strelna).

The exposition "Selected Paintings and Photographs on the History of Samara Province" is a part of Bakanov's art and historical project "Great Traditions. Far and Near", devoted to the 150th anniversary of the expedition of the great Russian artist Ilya Repin to Shiryaevo in the summer of 1870. Also, for the first time, it presents to the general public one of the artist's main works on the history of Samara - "The Big Samara Still Life". It is a detailed story about the features and everyday life atmosphere of a city at the beginning of the XX century, conveyed by the language of painting. A close examination of this picture allows imagining the world of the Samara resident, his interests and even profession. The author did not paint the still life from nature but composed it like a short story about the city and its people.

The authentic pre-revolutionary photographs from the collection of Sergei Rudnyaev form historical and archival part of the exhibition. It includes the works of Samara photographers of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries, taken in the open air. They provide us with the world of old Samara, its specific atmosphere and characteristic landscapes. Each photograph has its features: author, place, time and subject.