World Culture: Exhibition, dedicated to the Renaissance and its interpretations in the art of subsequent eras, presented in Nizhny Novgorod

The exhibition dedicated to the Renaissance and its interpretations in the art of subsequent eras, from the 19th century to the present day, is presented in the Volga-Vyatka branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Nizhny Novgorod – Arsenal). The three-part exhibition project Named Vasari combines exhibits from the collections of the Pushkin Museum and works of modern art. The project refers to the name of Giorgio Vasari, an Italian artist, architect, art historian, who was the first to propose dividing the history of art into three large periods. Three parts of the project are dedicated to them: Gothic (took place in the winter of 2021-2022), the now opening Renaissance, and Mannerism (scheduled for autumn 2023 – winter 2024).

The second part of the exhibition trilogy – Renaissance – tells about the classical principles that this era gave to world culture and art. The Renaissance era is the time that laid the foundations of the modern world. “Reviving” antiquity and the canons of classical culture, the Italian humanists, and then the intellectuals of Northern Europe, sought to restore the image of the ideal harmony of the world and man, which they saw in the ancient monuments and which seemed lost for a thousand years of the Middle Ages.

The exhibition Named Vasari. Renaissance brings together various works from the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts: from paintings and graphics to books, medals and decorative art. In particular, works from the collections of the Department of Old Masters’ Art, the Department of Graphics, the Department of Numismatics, and the Research Library are presented.

The historical exhibits are juxtaposed with the works by Russian masters – our contemporaries inspired by the Renaissance culture and reflecting its relentless influence on the modern understanding of the world.

The exhibition reveals a number of concepts, themes and images typical of the Renaissance era that have been further developed in world culture.

A special section of the exhibition is devoted to the diverse, non-linear and sometimes contradictory influence that the era had on subsequent generations of artists, antiquarians, collectors, researchers, and art connoisseurs. In modern era, the fashion for the Renaissance was so widespread that a whole industry appeared for the production of various kinds of imitations of old masters, and sometimes outright fakes. Today, these items are of great interest as documents of the era, a number of similar exhibits are also displayed in the exposition.

The exhibition will be complemented by a parallel program (lectures, discussions, concerts) with the participation of well-known experts on the history, culture and art of the Renaissance and our time.

The exhibition will run until April 9, 2023.