Exhibitions: Exposition “Pavel Mikhailov. 1786-1840. Journey to the South Pole” in Saint-Petersburg

March 28, 2013 at the State Russian Museum (Saint-Petersburg) opened the exhibition “Paul Mikhailov. 1786-1840. Journey to the South Pole”, which presents watercolors, drawings, lithographs, objects, collected by members of world expedition of F. F. Bellingshausen (1819-1821) and M. N. Stanyukovich (1826-1829), in which the author participated.

The artist recorded in his working album the newly discovered islands, towns and villages, executed portrait sketches of aboriginals carefully figured specimens of exotic flora and fauna. Watercolors and drawings of Mikhailov, including many sketches, are characterized by high accuracy and reliability. He faithfully followed the instructions from both the Navy Department and the Academy of Fine Arts, demanded “that all the presented <...> was right image of the visible”. Many of the drawings have saved the authors’ signs, that allow not only “build” these drawings according to the route of travel, but it is a documentary proof of priority of Russian researchers in the discovery of Antarctica. 

The exhibition features about one hundred drawings and watercolors of Pavel Mikhailov from the collection of the State Russian Museum, which has a unique collection of graphic works by the artist. These works, created during the circumnavigation expeditions are of great interest to specialists in different areas - art historians, anthropologists, geographers. The connection of art and scientific principles in the drawings make it a wonderful and still popular monument of Russian culture of the first third of the XIX century. Proceedings of the first expedition in the exhibition are complemented with lithographs from the Atlas to the “Voyage of Captain Bellingshausen in the Southern Arctic Ocean and around the world during 1819, 1820 and 1821s” as well as items brought by expedition of F. F. Bellingshausen.

The exhibition is organized by the Russian Museum with participation of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) and the National Library of Russia.