Masterpieces of the 20th Century: Russian Realist Tradition
Their names might not be as familiar in the United States as the illustrator Norman Rockwell once was, but in the Soviet Union, Geli Korzhev, Sergei Gerasimov, Konstantin Maksimov and others were the realist art stars of the post-World War II era. As the Soviet state collapsed economically and politically in the early 1990s, American collectors acquired many of that country's most stirring works of representational art, paintings that are now showcased in "Masterpieces." Designed to "educate, uplift or indoctrinate," vigorously painted landscapes, still lives, portraits and urban scenes such as Igor A. Popov's "Our Courtyard," shown here, offer appealing insights into a time and place now enshrined in history. (Opens Sat. Free-$9. The Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Av. S., Mpls. 612-821-9045, tmora.org.)
Mary Abbe
