JUBILEE EXHIBITION OF GRAPHIC WORKS BY THE PEOPLE’S ARTIST OF RUSSIA ALEXEY SHMARINOV AT THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS

Dates: April 12 – May 14, 2023

Venue: Exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts

            21 Prechistenka street, Moscow

The Russian Academy of Arts presents a major retrospective of works by the People’s Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Alexey D. Shmarinov timed to the 90th jubilee of the Master. The exhibition features over 50 watercolors, graphic works fr om his series “Zadonshchina”,  “Heroes of the Russian People of the 13th – 15th Centuries”, “The Battle of Kulikovo” and the cycle of illustrations to the book “On the Field of Kulikovo”.

Alexey Shmarinov is a representative of the noted art dynasty. His father Dementy  A. Shmarinov was a distinguished Russian graphic artist, illustrator of books by many eminent Russian and international writers. Alexey D. Shmarinov was born in Moscow in 1933, since his childhood he has been living in the village of Abtamtsevo near Moscow. The beauty of this place, its spiritual and historical aura have left an indelible mark on his soul, set his life priorities and moral accents.

The artist started his creative career in 1955 as a painter, soon he became interested in graphic art and mastered easel graphic works, book design and illustration. He is proficient in all the graphic techniques,  among  his favorite ones is water color. For several decades Alexey Shmarinov has been working at his famous series of large pictures-watercolors entitled “Russia is My Love” distinguished by its lyricism and love for the native land.  His canvases are a remarkable portrait of Russia with its unique original beauty and heroic history.

The connoisseur of historical texts and chronicles Alexey Shmarinov has created a cycle of fundamental books “The Russian Chronicles and Military Stories of the 14th – 16th Centuries”. His easel series on the historical theme “On the Battle of Kulikovo”, “Zadonschina”, “Heroes of the Russian People of the 13th – 15th Centuries” have been appreciated by the Academician Dmitry Likhachev as a powerful urge of patriotism. Well-known are the artist’s easel graphic series “Kamchatka”, “The Sky over the Motherland”, etc.

The ardent traveler, Alexey Shmarinov has visited the most remote corners of  Russia and other countries, which he often recollects: “Since the 1950s, there has been a series of incredible romantic trips: Archangelsk, Dixon, New Land, Western and Siberian Islands – by an icebreaker; football  on the ice several hundreds of kilometers from the North Pole; the fabulous, fog-covered Bay of Providence; traveling in the jungles of Eastern Pakistan, Egypt, India, Ceylon, Indonesia, Vietnam – as a sailor on merchant ships. Later in the 1960s there was Italia, Karelia, Kola peninsular.  Alone in Kamchatka – on foot, on horseback, by “small” planes and by ships.  The dinner – at the threshold of  the “Devil’s Lair” – on the edge of the crater  of the fire-breathing Avachinsky volcano.  In the 1970s  - the Near East, Central Africa, Khartoum, Addis-Ababa, Aksum, Tana Lake. The hunting for pharaohs in the savannah.  And of course, the Central Asia which I have walked along and across with my dog and gun”. 

Alexey Shmarinov has an outstanding literary talent. He is an author of several books and articles dedicated to the themes that are far beyond art problems. The book “Abramtsevo is My Fate” (2013) has resulted from many years of his hard work. The artist has great merits in the field of teaching and aesthetic education, preservation of monuments of Russian culture.  Since 1997 he has been heading the Graphic Creative Workshops of the Russian Academy of Arts  wh ere many dozens of young artists upgraded their skills.

The master’s art is well-known and internationally recognized. His exhibitions have been of great success in many cities of Russia and other countries. The present exposition in the halls of the Russian Academy of Arts is the 61st solo show of the artist. For his more than half a century creative, teaching and public activity Alexey Shmarinov has revealed himself as an artist of multi-sided talent and high professional culture.

The opening of the solo exhibition will be preceded by the creative meeting with Alexey Shmarinov to be attended by representatives of the Russian Academy of Arts, his colleagues and family members.                    






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