From 16 April to 30 June 2024 at the Andito degli Angiolini in the Galleria di Arte Moderna at Palazzo Pitti the exhibition Uzbekistan: the avant-garde in the desert. Light and Colour.
The exhibition investigates the so-called Avanguardia Orientalis, a school of painting that developed in the territory of Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan) at the beginning of the last century, and was characterised by a strong intercultural dialogue between artists from very different areas: from Eastern Russians to Kazakhs, to Georgians and Armenians.
The exhibition, held in two venues in Florence and Venice ( Ca'Foscari Esposizioni , until 29 September: 'The Form and the Symbol') will be presenting 150 works, mainly paintings on canvas, with some examples of the Uzbek textile tradition coming from the National Museum in Tashkent and the Savitsky Museum in Nukus and is promoted and supported by the Uzbekistan Culture Foundation.
All works on display were created in the 1920s and 1930s by Volkov, Tansykbaev, Karachan, Nikolaev (Usto Mumin), Elena Korovaj, Nadežda Kašina and many others, and introduce the visitor to an enchanted world full of bright colours, lights and symbols derived from Western, Russian and Eastern traditions, even recalling artists such as Paul Gauguin.
