The Russian Avant-Garde: Siberia And The East

Exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 27 September 2013 - 19 January 2014

The rituals of Siberian shamans, the ancient funerary sculptures from the steppes, Chinese popular prints, Japanese engravings, Theosophic and Anthroposophic theories and Indian philosophy are but some of the elements that inspired the aesthetic and theoretical pursuits of the new Russian artists and writers just before the October 1917 Revolution.

Featuring works by Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Pavel Filonov, Natalia Goncharova, Wassily Kandinsky, Mikhail Larionov and Kazimir Malevich, this exhibition catalogue is devoted to the complex relation between Russian art and the East with a special focus on the radical artists who shaped the development of modern art a century ago.