Guggenheim Museum's "RUSSIA!" Exhibition

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York launches the most ambitious and comprehensive exhibition ever of Russian art, canvassing the country's heritage from the revered icons of the XIII century to the masterpieces and avante-garde of the XX century through the present. This unique exhibition runs from September 16th 2005 through January 11th 2006 and has been realized under the patronage of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.

International Foundation of Russian and Eastern European Art (INTART) is a Corporate Sponsor of the "RUSSIA!" exhibit. The president of the foundation, Alexandre Gertsman, is a Member of the Leadership Committee for this unprecedented show conceived as a reflection of significant moments in the history of Russian art. Several contemporary artworks distinctively selected from both International Foundation of Russian and Eastern European Art (INTART) and Mr. Gertsman's private collections are on loan to the Guggenheim Museum for the exhibition. Mr. Gertsman has avidly and generously supported and contributed to "RUSSIA!" and with his vast curatorial experience and expertise in contemporary Russian art, he was invited to collaborate with the show and catalogue. In addition, he is the founder and president of The American Friends of The Tretyakov Gallery Foundation which promotes the undertakings of Russia's major museum of national art, The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. On loan to the Guggenheim museum for the RUSSIA! exhibit from the State Tretyakov Gallery are combined works of over 120 pieces from the revered icons and old masters to the provocative post-modern and captivating contemporaries.

The majority of contemporary artists on show in the RUSSIA! exhibition have been represented in exhibits organized by INTART and curated by Mr. Gertsman in American, European and Russian museums for over a decade. These exhibitions have explored the pluralism of Soviet art from Russian Symbolism, Socialist Realism and Idealism, the post-Stalin Expressionists and the discernible sensibility of contemporary artists. Amongst these innovative and acclaimed artists are Grisha Bruskin, Eric Bulatov, Ivan Chuikov, Rimma and Valeriy Gerlovin, Ilya Kabakov, Komar and Melamid, Svetlana and Igor Kopystiansky, Alexandr Kosolapov, Tatiana Nazarenko, Ernst Neizvestny, Vladimir Nemukhin, Natalya Nesterova, Boris Orlov, Oscar Rabin, Mikhail Roginsky, Leonid Sokov, Oleg Vassiliev, and Vladimir Yankilevsky.