History and culture: Exhibition “Secular popular print. Late 18th – early 20th century. From the collections of the Russian Museum” in St. Petersburg

The exhibition "Secular popular print. Late 18th – early 20th century. From the collections of the Russian Museum" opens August 20, 2015 in the Mikhailovsky Palace (St. Petersburg).

The exposition features about 100 works from the collection of the Russian Museum, allowing to trace the history of secular popular print and evolution of its themes and artistic techniques within one and a half century, from the second half of the 18th century to 1917.Of all the stylistic diversity of this artistic phenomenon the exhibition shows the most traditional and typical works. There are the well-known prints and unique prints and lithographs, which are not found in other collections. Many of them have never been displayed before.

Irreligious, secular pictures decorated apartments of petty bourgeois and middle class merchants, homes of artisans and the urban poor, little rooms of post stations, houses of poor noblemen and officers of lower ranks. Popular prints as a major component of national culture were highly valued by Russian avant-garde artists of the early 20th century.

Throughout its more than a two hundred year history, the secular popular print had several times changed its appearance. However, in all periods of its existence, it remained a striking phenomenon of mass culture, being on the verge, which separated professional art from folklore, feeling the impact of new artistic trends and mass taste. Despite the fact that the number of secular images was much smaller than the number of spiritual prints, these works are distinguished by a surprising variety of genres and subjects (including fabulous, epic, battle and everyday life), which in our time draws attention of experts and the audience.