A fine exhibition of \u201cRussian avant-garde\u201d painting entitled \u201cThe Big Change\u201d is being shown at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht from 12 March to 11 August 2013. It might be thought of as no more than yet another exhibition were if not for the fact that a great number of works are on display, and furthermore that the exhibition is being held in a city visited by major professional and amateur art lovers from all over the world every year during the month of March. Leading figures in the art world are drawn to Maastricht by the TEFAF – the internationally-famous art fair presenting the finest works to be found on the art market. As a good friend of mine commented to me, \u201cit\u2019s like walking around a great museum, except that everything here is for sale\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Big Change\u201d exhibition\u2019s dates were calculated to coincide with this art fair, and a well-informed visitor such as myself would theoretically expect no great surprises, as the works came from Russian museum collections: the St. Petersburg Russian Museum, Moscow\u2019s Tretyakov Gallery and the Rostov Veliky Museum. For the first time the such a presentation includes a few of Tatlin\u2019s paintings, which for particular reasons are kept in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI). Having been familiar with these collections for a great many years, I looked forward to an enjoyable visit or at least a pleasurable routine inspection of the works.<\/p>\n
But no. In the last of the exhibition rooms I suddenly found myself face to face with a pathetic imitation of Malewicz\u2019s 1913 \u201cSamovar\u201d. One of his few Cubo-Futurist paintings. \u201cSamovar\u201d is among Malewicz\u2019s most important works of that period and one of his most thoroughly documented works (in the spring of 1914 it was one of the artist\u2019s three canvases exhibited at the \u201cSalon des Ind\u00e9pendants\u201d in Paris) and therefore one which holds an important place in the whole history of modern art. One could perhaps forgive the inaccuracy of the dates given in the information notice alongside the picture, which bothers only the specialist, but the visual shock of the pseudo-Malewicz painting hanging in Maastricht was enormous and a great deal more serious. I had already indicated the existence of this imitation eleven years ago, notably in one of the most abundantly detailed notes in my \u201cCatalogue Raisonn\u00e9\u201d of this artist\u2019s work (see Andrei Nakov, Kazimir Malewicz, Catalogue raisonn\u00e9, Editions Adam Biro, Paris 2002, cat. F-377, note 4). I have to conclude that outside of the major Western museums this publication of mine is not widely known, and\/or has been deliberately ignored, not only in Russia but also by the (Dutch?) authors of the exhibition catalogue and the curators of the Rostov Museum. (And what about their colleagues, who cannot have failed to see the whole exhibition?).<\/p>\n
It is no service rendered to Malewicz that this ridiculous imitation (because it cannot even be regarded as a copy) should be exhibited under Kazimir Malevich\u2019s name, and even more so in a city where it will be seen by numerous visitors whose knowledge of modern art is often lesser than it is of old masters, which are the main focus of the Maastricht art fair.<\/p>\n
Some weeks ago I had the good fortune to see In the Accademia Gallery in Venice Titian\u2019s \u201cMartyrdom of St. Lawrence\u201d, a major painting whose splendour had been once again revealed at the end of one of the most remarkable restorations carried out lately in Italy, country considered to be the greatest specialist in this discipline. It was one of the most extraordinary artistic experiences I have been lucky enough to have for quite a while.<\/p>\n
After admiring Titian\u2019s masterpiece at length, I wandered around Venice and found myself at the Jesuit church where the work came from. Suddenly, in place of the \u201cMartyrdom of St. Lawrence\u201d I saw what looked like a brownish waterfall: this was evidently a copy (a real copy this time) hung purposely there as such to stand in for the original during the long years while the latter was undergoing restoration. The comparison between this very averagely-untalented copy and the fresh memory of the magnificent masterpiece I had just seen was highly instructive and I shall never forget it.<\/p>\n
The shock produced by the phony Malewicz\u2019s \u201cSamovar\u201d was just as violent.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A fine exhibition of \u201cRussian avant-garde\u201d painting entitled \u201cThe Big Change\u201d is being shown at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht from 12 March to 11 August 2013. It might be thought of as no more than yet another exhibition were if not for the fact that a great number of works are on display, and…<\/p>\n