The complainant saw sedition in the paintings of the Tretyakov Gallery in 2005

Fly in, don’t be afraid, criticize the painting

A certain Sergei Shadrin wrote a letter to the Ministry of Culture, in which he was outraged by the cycle of paintings by Natalia Nesterova “The Last Supper” (2005) and the sculpture “Pieta” (1978) by Alexander Burganov. And in general, the entire permanent exhibition of the 20th century of the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val seemed suspicious to a vigilant citizen – with “signs of a destructive ideology.” It seemed to the man that the works that had been exhibited in the main national gallery of the country for several years “do not fully correspond to spiritual and moral values.” There would be no cross (if it seems), call the guide and ask what’s what, or in the end google. Why, if you can immediately go to the Ministry of Culture? Let them figure it out – and explain!

One could laugh or mourn over the reflex impulses of a person who did not bother to figure it out before scribbling complaints, or marvel at the situation, which seems already typical of our turbulent times. At about the same level of absurdity, a recent story about a patriot from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, who came to a kindergarten with an in-depth study of the English language and was indignant when she saw – oh horror – British flags there. One could laugh, yes, if the story had not been picked up by all domestic, and most importantly, Western media.

And now, without going into the details and meaning of the mentioned works of art from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, headlines like this rush around the world: “The Tretyakov Gallery is under pressure” or “The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation will check the Tretyakov Gallery for compliance with traditional values.” In an instant, absurd obscurantism turned the cultural department into a stronghold of formidable censorship.

If the guardian of traditional values ​​really wanted to understand the creative intentions of Natalia Nesterova in more detail, then he would probably know that the artist turned to the theme of The Last Supper back in 1969, this cycle of 13 canvases was the result of her many years of reflection and was born in early 2000 -X. Since 2005, he has been in the Tretyakov Gallery. Art critics wrote about it in an accessible way almost 20 years ago: “The Last Supper” (Nesterova. – Auth.) – the essence of what a feast is in general, why people gather to break bread and drink wine together; the meeting of the apostles is the essence of what can generally happen between people when they are together for a long time and someone loves someone … “.

In another work – “Drink” by Alexander Burganov (1978) – the author of the complaint generally discerned “devilish interpretations” of the religious plot. Why does the viewer not see here the Mother of God and Christ, but only one garment of the mourner? And you, vigilant citizens, try to mentally “try on” this garment of sorrow and, perhaps, feel the grief described in one of the main episodes of The Passion of the Christ. By the way, this is one of the most powerful sculptures from Burganov’s “Italian cycle” – few people are able to fill the drapery with such powerful emotions, conveying the tragedy of loss. In the exhibition of art of the second half of the 20th century, Comrade Shadrin found scenes of “numerous funerals, including in the presence of marginal social elements”, “drunken alcoholism” and “voluntaristic interpretations”, however, without specifying the titles of the works and their authors.

I wonder how he would describe his impressions of the main exposition of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane? For example, from the painting “Rural Procession at Easter” by Vasily Perov, where a drunken priest can barely stand on his feet? Or from a pile of skulls and spiked heads from Vereshchagin’s paintings? Or from Ivanov’s The Appearance of Christ to the People, where there are naked people in the foreground? By the way, for the note of the especially vigilant – the Tretyakov Gallery has a whole guide to such paintings from the “golden fund” of the museum – called “Rejected Masterpieces”. At one time, about a hundred years ago, someone was indignant at Kramskoy’s “Unknown” and “Christ in the Desert”, while others saw depth and philosophy in them. As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In them, it happens that ghosts of a “destructive ideology” also grow up. In a word, nothing has changed in a hundred years.

Or is there a catch? Maybe the point here is not so much in the content of the Tretyakov exhibition, but in a complaint for the sake of a complaint? Watch your hand movements. A letter arrives at the Ministry of Culture and, according to the standard procedure, the department sends it to the museum referred to in the citizen’s appeal. The Tretyakov Gallery explains in writing to the applicant the value of the works he mentioned (this was done, according to MK, on ​​January 23). That, it would seem, is all. But no. A standard letter from the Ministry of Culture to the Tretyakov Gallery suddenly pops up in The Moscow Times, and a scandal begins in which the state department refuses to be the main anti-hero. In fact, no one was going to check the Tretyakov Gallery for compliance with “traditional values”, but it looks the other way around.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28963 dated February 2, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Fly in, don’t be afraid, criticize the painting