|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
In
Memoriam: Yury A. Rusakov (1926-1995) The exhibition celebrating the memory of Yury A. Rusakov is organized in connection with the 75th anniversary of this distinguished scholar's birthdate. The exhibit includes books, catalogues, prints, drawings, photos and a few paintings which represent the scholar's interests and ideas and his outstanding contemporaries. Yury A. was born in Leningrad in 1926. His father Aleksandr I. Rusakov and mother Tatiana I. Kuperwasser were members of the Painters' Circle. Family background determined both lifestyle and choice of profession. In 1950 Yury A. Rusakov graduated with honors from the Art Criticism Department of the Academy of Arts. He wrote his diploma about the painter I.S. Ostroukhov. After graduating, Yury A. Rusakov worked first at the Russian Museum and then at the Iskusstvo Publishing House. In 1955 he joined the Hermitage's Department of West European Prints and, from 1965 till his last days, stood at the Department's head. While working at the Hermitage, Yury A. Rusakov continued to study Russian art. In 1966 he defended as a candidate dissertation his book about Dmitry I. Mitrokhin. One more focus of his attention was the art of his parents' friends from the Painters' Circle, Vyacheslav A. Pakulin, Pyotr A. Osolodkov and Gerta M. Nemenova. However, his principal Russian interest was the art of Kuzma S. Petrov-Vodkin. As a young man Rusakov together with his wife Alla Aleksandrovna helped the artist's widow to prepare Petrov-Vodkin's drawings for transfer to the Russian Museum. In 1970 the painter's autobiography prepared by Yury A. Rusakov was published; in 1975, he issued a publication which later was used as a basis for the book Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin: Paintings, Drawings, Theatrical Designs (1986); in 1978, he put together an album of the artist's drawings. For Petrov-Vodkin's centenary, Yury A. Rusakov published a conceptual article about the artist's thematic paintings. The years of Yury A. Rusakov's work at the Hermitage were still more productive. The exhibitions prepared by Yury A. such as "From Callot to Toulouse-Lautrec" (1960) and "One Hundred Etchings of the 15th to 19th Centuries" (1964) were distinguished by a wide scope of exhibits on display. He was especially interested in French prints and lithographs of the late 19th-20th centuries in the Hermitage collection. Yury A. Rusakov used these materials for a number of exhibitions for which he himself created catalogue layouts. In the early 1960s the Hermitage established contacts with Lydia N. Delectorskaya, the long-time friend and secretary of the outstanding 20th century French painter Henri Matisse, Rusakov's greatest love in the world of art (the scholar devoted to him quite a number of exhibitions and publications). Excellent books illustrated by the artist laid the foundation of the Hermitage's collection of French livres d'art of the 20th century. This collection is now singularly rich due, first of all, to Yury A. Rusakov. During the 1970s and 1980s the Hermitage acquired books illustrated by Bonnard, Picasso, Braque, Dufy, Mirò and Maillol. Yury A. paid special attention to this absolutely unexplored theme and had just enough time to complete his book about French livres d'art. The manuscript is now awaiting publication. Part of the literary heritage of Yury A. Rusakov is dedicated to his Hermitage colleagues; these are serious and touching literary portraits of Antonina N. Izergina, Vladimir F. Levinson-Lessing, Georgy S. Vereysky and Yevgeny G. Lisenkov. Drawings and photos displayed in the exhibit portray these people whom Yury A. esteemed and loved so much. |
|
|||||
|
Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
