POLENOVO
A UNIQUE AND LIVING LEGACY OF 19TH CENTURY RUSSIAN ART, CRAFT AND COMMUNITY

1st - 12th October 2012

This fascinating exhibition presents Polenovo, the unique estate museum and centre of Russian art heritage, established by the great painter, Vasily Polenov, in 1892. A special feature will be the exhibition of fine prints, never before seen outside Russia, of portraits drawn by his mother, Maria Alekseevna Polenova in the 1840s and 1850s.

These striking portraits by Maria Alekseevna Polenova (1816-1895) offer a fascinating glimpse into life on a provincial Russian estate in the mid 19th century. Maria Alekseevna depicted, with loving attention to detail and texture, the wholesome beauty and exotic folk costumes of young country women, the weathered faces and piercing gazes of elderly men, and the bright eyes and silken hair of young children. Her ability to capture mood and facial expression demonstrates the remarkable psychological insight with which she approached her work. Maria Alekseevna was a gifted and professionally trained artist, yet as a gentlewoman, she always worked as an amateur. For this reason, her remarkable drawings of family, friends and simple country folk have seldom been published or exhibited.

Today the Polenovo Estate Museum is unique in Russia, not only as a rare surviving example of an artist´s country estate from the pre-Revolutionary era, but also because its rich art collections and original nineteenth century interiors have been meticulously preserved. The museum holds many family possessions of the Polenov family, who care for and manage the property to this day, and perpetuate Vasily´s commitment to art and community.