Studio: international art (82.1921)

STUDIO-TALK

PORTRAIT OF MR. PAUL ETTINGER
PAINTED BY FEDOR ZAKHAROFF

have been more than rare, and that in
general the character of Russian painting
and sculpture has shown very little
alteration. In the sphere of graphic art
some new developments might be
mentioned, but these I must reserve for
another occasion. Also some good work
has been done of late in connection with
theatrical representations, for in spite of all
difficulties the Moscow theatres have flour-
ished, and even more than formerly have
been fertile in artistic experiments. a
This brief narrative would not be com-
plete without reference to the public and
private art collections in the capital. The
admirable collections of Serge Shchukin
and Ivan Morozoff (modern French paint-
ings), Dmitry Shchukin (Old Masters),
L Ostroukhoff (modern pictures and
superb old ikons), Alexis Morozoff (Rus-
sian and foreign porcelain), have all been

nationalised and now have the status of
public museums. The functions of the
Tretiakoff Gallery, which contains some
fine examples of the modern French
school, including Carriere's delightful
Maternal Kiss ; the Rumiant2;off and His-
torical Museums, and the Museum of Fine
Arts, have not changed at all. In addition,
many new museums, have been estab-
lished in all the large cities. a a
The loss of works of art has not been
so great as people abroad may be led to
suppose. In the early days of the revolu-
tion no doubt many things of artistic value
were destroyed or removed from country
mansions, but the department for the
preservation of artistic monuments soon
took vigorous steps to stop this pillaging
and destruction, and most of the more or
less important collections of the landed
proprietors have been saved. P. E.

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