EXHIBITION THAT DOES NOT FIND OWN GALLERY
Friends! First one, but in my opinion, an important observation about the article Alastair Sooke on June 11, 2018 "Van Gogh and Japan ..." published on the BBC website
Under the illustration (the eighth and the most recent) under the portrait of Madame Ginoux there is a signature that it is a "Woman Rocking the Cradle" and that she is provided by the Institute of Arts from Chicago.
Japanese influences are clear in works like Woman Rocking the Cradle (Augustine Roulin), 1889 (Credit: The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection
In the collection of the Institute of Arts there is indeed a work "A Woman Rocking the Cradle" and looks like this:
This is one of the portraits of Augustine Roulin, the wife of the postman Roulin
On the BBC website a portrait of Madame Ginoux (with books), which is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. Therefore, the question arose: what kind of work was at the exhibition in Amsterdam, and what museum did it provide?
It's strange that neither the workers of several museums, who probably read this article, nor the author of the article noticed the substitution of the work ...
Curiosity here is absolutely not idle. The fact is that my exhibition "Unknown journey of Van Gogh to Japan. With friends " was prepared in 2017 and is devoted, in general, to the same topic. The article about the project in the Lithuanian newspaper Obzor was published on February 18, 2018, that is before the opening of the exhibition in Amsterdam. And the article on the BBC website appeared on June 11, 2018. But the coincidence of the topic, Van Gogh and Japan, is encouraging.
Of course, my budget (and reputation) is not comparable to the budget (reputation, and staff ...) of the reputable museum in Amsterdam and I do not think that the Art Institute in Chicago or the Metropolitan Museum would decide on such an adventure as giving me the same generous and picturesque credit, as a museum in Amsterdam ... Therefore, solely in the interests of my future viewers, I had to make copies of several portraits of Van Gogh, because talking about the work of Van Gogh without his paintings is like retelling the "Mirror" of Tarkovsky without his movie (or even without a regular mirror, although we all know how it looks)
Using their own copies (as paintings by Van Gogh, and works of Japanese artists engraving) allowed to significantly expand the scope of the exhibition space. I was able to provide copies of not only Van Gogh, but also the work that I discovered a unique Japanese master Yoshiharu
(see links to the exhibition "Yoshiharu - matchmaker"
The volume of this article does not allow to tell in detail about the new project, about Van Gogh's transition from Impressionism to Expressionism, about the (long-playing) influence of Japanese art on the genius artist... But trust me that this exhibition is not inferior to that of Amsterdam museum as far as its cultural intensity and ability to educate are concerned. But it does need a larger space in a gallery. So I'll just put here as an illustration triptych "Unknown journey of Van Gogh to Japan. With friends" "Big Wave ...", Hokusai and "Postman Roulin (with his wife) come to the aid of Japanese sailors "
In the central part of the triptych - a group of travelers (friends of Van Gogh) on Japanese soil. From left to right: Zouave (in red trousers), Moussme, Van Gogh, postman Roulin, Augustine Roulin, old shepherd and Madame Ginoux.
On the second canvas diptych, an important addition to the figures of the postman Roulin and his wife Augustine, who warn the Japanese sailors of the danger.
But in our city, which by the way, gave artistic education to Chaïm Soutine and Marianne von Werefkin (regular school), it's difficult to surprise anyone with art. Therefore, BBC remains our only hope, which might want to tell the news about a project that started before the exhibition in Amsterdam, but went completely unnoticed in the art world, because it remained at the start point without financing. Because real art cannot do well without a series of obstacles. These obsactles are necessary for training and maturing, so that later connoisseurs (and art historians, of course) could say: "We always believed in this guy. And he hasn’t let us down! "
Sergey Evtuhov, author of the project "Yellow Road"
