Society and culture: The collection of paintings and drawings of artists-emigrants donated to the House of Russian Abroad in Moscow

From November 5, 2015 in the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad (Moscow) is opened a permanent exposition "Paintings and drawings from the collection of Andrei Lvovich Smetankin and Maria Vasilyevna Smetankina-Gudkova (Paris)".

The presented collection of paintings and drawings is transferred to their owner, A. L. Smetankin, a gift to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad.

Living in Paris, the son of Russian emigrants of the first wave, Andrei Lvovich Smetankin (b. 1928) is a longtime friend and donor of the House of Russian abroad. He and his wife Maria Smetankina-Gudkova (1923-2011), being a doctor for many years collected Russian paintings and graphics. Their collection of paintings, drawings, engravings and lithographs includes hundreds of works of Russian writers from different eras, including the artists 'first-line'.

Gift to the House of Russian Abroad includes more than 120 paintings and drawings. Collection was collected mainly in the 1970-1990s. All these works are practically unknown to art historians, especially to the general public.

This is not the first gift of Smetankins to the House of Russian Abroad. Previously, they donated the rich collection of postcards (about a thousand pieces), interesting archival materials, photographs, rare books, museum objects. Recently A. L. Smetankin, which has always distinguished the desire to preserve the cultural and historical heritage of Russian emigration, also conveyed exclusively informative family archive of M. I. Tolstoy.

A wonderful collection of paintings and drawings from the collection of Andrei Lvovich and Maria Vasilyevna Smetankina-Gudkova will be constantly available to connoisseurs and lovers of Russian art in the special exhibition hall of the House of Russian Abroad.