VIEW FROM MY WINDOW… ASPECTS OF “HOME” IN THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE. WORKS FROM THE COSTAKIS COLLECTION.

In early 20th century Russian art, Home as a concept, symbol and representational object, was transformed in less than twenty years from a setting that safeguards and promotes personal poetry, from a romantic refuge and a depository of childhood memories, from a symbol of familiarity and familial serenity, variously into a communal residence, a place marked by its modern and intentionally unfamiliar internal decoration, a constructivist skyscraper or utopian flying construction that traverses the unknown areas of deep space. The element of surprise that the Home provokes as part of the urban environment is captured in one of Lyubov Popova’s teenage works, which depicts the view of buildings from her window. Although these houses would evolve into “Space-dynamic Constructions” and “Painterly Architectonics”, dynamically combining geometrical forms, volumes and materials, that original idea that professes that for man to improve and evolve he needs first to overcome many of the experiences imprinted on his subconscious always remained a powerful claim of Russian avant-garde art. The evolution of the concept of Home and the Familiar in Russian avant-garde art is presented through 90 works from the SMCA’s Costakis collection.

Curator: Maria Tsantsanoglou