"Evgeny Malykh's "Returning Home," a 19- by 23-inch oil on canvas. (Contributed Photo)If you go
› What: “From Russia With Love.”› When: Through April 22. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.› Where: Exum Gallery, 305 W. Seventh St.› Phone: 423-266-8195.› Website: www.stpaulschatt.org/the-exum-gallery.
Artists
› Alftina Alexeeva› Lila Dolganova› Olga Fomina› Alexander Kremer› Mark Kremer› Nadyezhda Lozhkina› Evgeny Malykh› Dmitri Nadiah› Nadezda Nadiah› Gennady Ulybin› Ivan Vityuk› Vitaly Yekleris
Russian politics may dominate news headlines, but an exhibition on view at Exum Gallery aims to show there's more to the world's largest nation than oligarchs, espionage and Putin.
Twenty-eight pieces from 12 artists trained at the St. Petersburg School are included. Linda Woodall of Linda Woodall Fine Arts is presenting the show, which features oil paintings, pastels and woodblock prints she has amassed from the artists over the years.
"I have a huge collection of Russian art," Woodall says. "These are artists I have a relationship with and have had for many years."
Her first forays into Russian art began in the late 1980s after her daughter became friends with a Russian artist in art school.
"The Iron Curtain was just coming down," she says, "and I told her, 'See if you can get some art for me.' She made connections, and I started buying art. Once I started, I kept on. I've been getting [Russian] art since 1993."
Curt Hodge, who curates shows for the gallery housed inside St. Paul's Episcopal Church, had seen part of her collection and suggested the show.
"Despite our current feelings toward Russia, the artworks presented in this exhibit are a sampling of the rich history of that country," Hodge says. These artists have been classically trained at the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and the work "celebrates the beauty of technique and subject matter."
The St. Petersburg School has a prestigious pedigree. It was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, Russia's first Minister of Education, as the Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Empress Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the institution went through a series of names and transformations. Since 1991, it has been called the St. Petersburg Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, though often referred to as the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (for a famous alumnus), the Russian Academy of Arts, the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts or, simply, the St. Petersburg School.
All of the pieces in the show are for sale, and Woodall says it's much easier to supplement her inventory than it was in the early days of her endeavors.
"It used to be hard to even get photographs back and forth," she says. "Nowadays, we have the internet and UPS ships things."
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.