Guggenheim's 'Amazons of the Avant-Garde' Exhibition Reassesses Six Russian Women Painters
Between September 14, 2000, and January 10, 2001, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York presented an exhibition titled 'Amazons of the Avant-Garde.' Curated by John E. Bowlt, Matthew Drutt, and Zelfira Tregulova, it showcased the talents of six artists: Nadezhda Udaltsova, Varvara Stepanova, Olga Rozanova, Liubov Popova, Natalia Goncharova, and Alexandra Exter, emphasizing modern Russian art from the early 1900s to the 1920s. Many of the works were borrowed from regional Russian museums, making their Western debut. Critics, including Benedikt Livshits and Marina Tsvetaeva, raised concerns about the focus on easel painting and the exhibition’s curation. Drutt wrote the catalog introduction, which featured notable pieces like Goncharova's 'The Evangelists' and Exter's 'Composition.'
Key facts
- Exhibition ran from September 14, 2000, to January 10, 2001, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York
- Featured six artists: Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Varvara Stepanova, and Nadezhda Udaltsova
- Curated by John E. Bowlt, Matthew Drutt, and Zelfira Tregulova
- Focused on Russian avant-garde painting from the 1900s to early 1920s
- Works sourced from provincial Russian museums including in Ekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Ufa, and Nizhnii Tagil
- Criticized for omitting artists' work in design, theater, and other media
- Walter Benjamin's 1927 diary entry questioned the originality of Russian avant-garde art
- Installed in Frank Lloyd Wright's building alongside preparations for a Giorgio Armani show
Entities
Artists
- Alexandra Exter
- Natalia Goncharova
- Liubov Popova
- Olga Rozanova
- Varvara Stepanova
- Nadezhda Udaltsova
- Walter Benjamin
- Ferdinand Leger
- David
- Goya
- Manet
- Benedikt Livshits
- Marina Tsvetaeva
- Alexander Rodchenko
- Mikhail Larionov
- Peter Bürger
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Giorgio Armani
- John E. Bowlt
- Matthew Drutt
- Zelfira Tregulova
- Anna Wexler
Institutions
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Moscow Museum of Painting
- ARTMargins Online
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Moscow
- Russia
- Paris
- France
- Berlin
- Germany
- Ekaterinburg
- Krasnodar
- Ufa
- Nizhnii Tagil
- Boston