History and Culture: The exhibition “…In Herzen’s reading circle” opens in Moscow

The exhibition …In Herzen’s reading circle opens on October 20, 2022 in the Herzen House-Museum in Moscow.

The exhibition is dedicated to the great writers, who took an important place in A. I. Herzen’s – the leading Russian publicist and public figure of the XIX century – reading circle.

Year 2022 is filled with anniversaries and memorable dates: the 400th anniversary of Jean-Baptiste Molière, 280th anniversary of Pierre Beaumarchais, 210th anniversary of Charles Dickens, and the 220th anniversary of Victor Hugo. The memorable dates are associated with the names of Pushkin, Goethe, Hoffman.

In four museum spaces, visitors will have an opportunity to explore unique materials: antemortem books, portraits, illustrations from the collections of the Dal State Museum of the History of Russian Literature (GMIRLI) that are dedicated to the work of writers-“anniversarians”.

The first section of the exhibition focuses on the role of books throughout various periods of Herzen’s life and defines his literary preferences. The priority of interest, “tsar” and “the ruler of literary movement” for Herzen has always been Pushkin. In the second section I have a passion for rereading Goethe…, there are presented classics of German literature – Goethe and his younger contemporary Hoffman. A small space of the third section is dedicated to French classic playwrights Molière and Beaumarchais. The fourth section reminds visitors about Hugo and Dickens, their popular characters, who penetrated the core of Herzen’s writings.

Visitors will have a chance to see rare portraits of the writers from the collections of the GMIRLI, including the picture of young Goethe and the signed portrait of Victor Hugo. Engravings depicting interiors of their cabinets reproduce the atmosphere, in which the writers conducted their work, in detail.

The large collection of illustrations to the world-famous works of Goethe, Hoffman and Molière, complemented with detailed quotes and comments, is of special interest. The artists’ identities are no less interesting than the writers’. Thus, the exposition includes woodcuts by Vladimir Favorsky for Dickens’ novel Hard Times (1933) and drawings by Alisa Poret for Hoffman’s novel The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1936).

The true diamond of the exhibition is the rarely exhibited series of engravings for Molière’s compositions by François Boucher, French painter, engraver, decorator, vivid representative of the creative culture of Rococo.

The exhibition will run until March 23, 2023.