By the time it closed on January 11, Russia! - the most comprehensive presentation of Russian art ever held in the United States - had become one of the most successful exhibitions in the history of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. With over 401,885 visitors in just 17 weeks, RUSSIA! attracted more viewers than any other special exhibition running for a similar period of time.
The exhibition was under the patronage of Russian President Vladimir Putin and made possible by the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Fund. Major sponsors were Sintezneftegaz (Moscow) and the ALCOA Foundation (Pittsburg).
A modified and expanded version of Russia! will be presented at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao from March 29 to September 3, 2006. Among the highlights will be sections of religious art from the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries, including rare icons as well as dazzling decorative artworks; remarkable nineteenth-century paintings, among them monumental academic pictures; innovative avant-garde works from the early twentieth century; and epic Socialist Realist paintings as well as a representative section of contemporary Russian art.
This project was conceived by Mikhail Shwydkoi, then Russian Minister of Culture and myself during meetings in Venice in the summer of 2001. A team of Russian and American curators worked for three years selecting works from major Russian museums and collections and a distinguished group of authors contributed to the catalogue.
A wide international acclaim was echoed in the world media.
I am especially grateful to the State Russian Museum and their publication branch "Palace Editions" for producing this book which makes the art works shown in the New York and Bilbao exhibitions and the catalogue essays available to the Russian speaking world. Special credit goes to Yevgenia Petrova, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg for her enthusiastic support in preparing both exhibitions and for making this publication possible.
The Guggenheim has a long tradition of exhibiting Russian art and it is gratifying to see another publication in the Russian language which bears witness to our efforts. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Russia - in New York and Bilbao