Arts Academy Exhibition is Devoted to Kurilko-Ryumin Art Dynasty

The exhibition of works of two great scenery designers, members of the old family of Kurilko-Ryumin, has displayed a bright page of the Russian theatre history. On Wednesday, the Russian Academy of Arts hosted the opening of an exposition of theatre sketches and decorative works made by these outstanding art designers.

The works of the two Kurilko-Ryumins, the father and son, are parts of Russia's largest museum collections such as the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Russian Bolshoi Theatre Museum, the Glinka Musical Culture Museum and others.

Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin, Sr. /1880-1969/, was one of the most gifted artists of the epoch of development of avant-garde art in the 20th century. An active participant in the process, he became a famous painter and graphic artist, inventor and teacher. New methods of scenery-making for musical and dramatic performances in the first post-revolutionary decades are to a great extent connected with the name of Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin.

The famous ballets, the Red Poppy by Reinhold Gliere and the Salome by Richard Strauss staged in the Bolshoi Theatre are just two milestones in the creative life of the prominent scenery designer, displayed at the exposition. It includes many sketches of costumes and scenery kept in the Bolshoi Theatre Museum and with the family members. The 1949 sketches for the Aida opera by Verdi are also worth seeing. Next to them, there are peculiar philosophical paintings, portraits and compositions, echoing the Northern renaissance and Russian symbolism.

The family traditions are being preserved by Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin, Jr. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Secretary-Academician, People's Painter of Russia and designed scenery for over 150 performances in Moscow, other Russian cities and abroad.