THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART LENDS THREE MAJOR ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST WORKS TO THE HERMITAGE
First in Series of Loans Provides Rare Opportunity To View Postwar American Art in Russia
The Museum of Modern Art will lend three major Abstract Expressionist paintings to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, for a period of five months beginning in March, according to Glenn D. Lowry, director of MoMA. The paintings, by Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Robert Motherwell, on view from March 23 to August 15, will be the first in a series of loans of modern and contemporary American works from MoMA to the Hermitage. The exhibition is traveling under the auspices of The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
"This series of loans strengthens and extends the relationship that already exists between The Museum of Modern Art and the Hermitage and its director, Mikhail Piotrovsky," said Mr. Lowry. "We hope to bring a larger appreciation of MoMA's collection to a new and different audience."
"Although the Russian public has many opportunities to view outstanding examples of European modernism, both in their own Russian museum collections and through loan shows, there has been virtually no postwar American art seen in Russia before now," remarked Mr. Piotrovsky. "This series of loans will enable the Russian people to become familiar with the great achievements of American artists in the last half of the twentieth century."
The works to be lent for the first exhibition are de Kooning's A Tree in Naples (1960), Kline's White Forms (1955), and Motherwell's Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 54 (1957-61). The Hermitage has lent works to MoMA exhibitions since 1977, when it sent works to Cézanne: The Late Years. More recently, the Hermitage lent key works to Henri Matisse: A Retrospective (1992-93), Picasso and Portraiture (1996), and Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life (1997). Reciprocal loans from MoMA to the Hermitage have included Max Beckman's triptych Departure (1932-33), on view in Russia from 1995 to 1996. MoMA also lent five works last summer to the exhibition Paul Cézanne and the Russian Avant-garde, organized by the Hermitage and the State Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
"These three paintings will provide the Russian people with fine and telling examples of the variety of achievement within Abstract Expressionism, as embodied in highly characteristic canvases by three major progenitors of the movement," said Kirk Varnedoe, Chief Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art.
Chartered in 1953, The International Council comprises 200 individuals from 28 countries who support aspects of the Museum's international activities, which are coordinated by MoMA's International Program department. More than 260 exhibitions covering all areas of the modern visual arts have been circulated in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, and Africa under Council auspices. In addition, exchanges of library materials and publications, educational programs, and professional assistance to foreign museums have been organized.
Jo Carole Lauder, President of the International Council, noted that Mr. Piotrovsky was elected in 1998 to be among the Council's first Corresponding Members.
"The exchange of art between countries can do much to help increase understanding of diverse cultures. The International Council is pleased to work with Dr. Piotrovsky and our colleagues at the Hermitage to strengthen the friendship between the Russian and American people," remarked Mrs. Lauder.
