Sitting by the Moskva River, the New Tretyakov Gallery is one of Europe’s top Modern Art museums, a must-see for anyone interested in 20th century art movements. About 500m away from the ‘New’ modern gallery sits the ‘Old’ Tretyakov Gallery, also known as the ‘State Gallery’, the foremost depository of Russian fine art on the globe. Pavel Tretyakov was the visionary behind the creation of the Old Gallery in 1856, a collection of Russian art which grew from just two major works in 1856 to the abundant collection which still exists today.
Since its establishment in 1856, the Old gallery went through many important changes, from becoming property of the city of Moscow in 1892 to surviving the damages caused by bombs during WWII to major building renovations during the late 20th Century. Today marks the 127th anniversary of the Gallery’s opening to the public in 1893, just one year after the Gallery was given to the city of Moscow! The New Gallery was completed in 1983 and hosts an incredible and extensive collection of Modern Art.
Russian artists have played an integral role in our own history here at BeaMalevich, even providing the inspiration for our first product Architecton, designed after the works of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich: https://www.beamalevich.com/products/architecton-c3/. Architecton embodies the architecture of the Suprematist movement which highlighted space, geometricity, and non-objectivity. The Architecton kit is a creative and dynamic construction game which allows you to design your own architectural masterpieces, just like Malevich himself!
Another important artistic movement which has influenced our products is the Russian Constructivism movement which emphasized utility, industrial materials, and mass production. To see the designs of Constructivist artist Gustav Klutsis come to life be sure to see our Spatial Constructions. Klutsis’ designs embody Constructivist architecture in their simplicity, minimalism, and functionality. To respect Klutsis’ vision of plasticity, the sculpture can be moved and rearranged endlessly, creating a versatile and beautiful decoration piece for your space.
And this is because the Vanguardist artists always played on floating playgrounds that moved, not literally, but figuratively - relentlessly and steadily ahead into the future. This is the ultimate symbolism of the European Vanguards.
Sources:
https://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/about/history/
https://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/about/history/novaya-tretyakovka/#:~:text=The%20construction%20begun%20in%201965,finally%20completed%20only%20in%201983.
Picture: Google Images