Unique high reliefs can be seen at the #TretiakovkaNaVDNKh exhibition

The Tretyakov Gallery exhibition is being held in Pavilion 1 (the Central Pavilion) at VDNKh. Among the large-scale exhibits on display, two high reliefs are particularly noteworthy. The first one was created by a team of eight sculptors headed by People’s Artist of the USSR Evgeny Vuchetich. The second is the work of Isidor Frich-Har, one of the most original Soviet-era ceramic sculptors.

The high relief Glory to the Banner Bearer of Peace, to the Soviet people! is one of the most outstanding works by Evgeny Vuchetich, the sculptor of the monuments The Warrior Liberator and The Motherland Calls!

The high relief shows a solemn procession of representatives of the Soviet people (people of different nationalities, professions and ages) against the background of the most iconic buildings of the Soviet era, including the main building of Lomonosov Moscow State University and a hydroelectric dam. On an area of 90 square meters, the sculptor depicted more than 1,500 people, including about 30 main figures, shown in the foreground. Researchers, in their study of historical documents, have discovered that their prototypes were real people. Thus, the elderly man on the left resembles academician Ivan Pavlov, in the smartly dressed woman next to him one can recognize the famous actress Alla Tarasova, and the man with a cotton flower on the right is two-times Hero of Socialist Labor Nazarali Niyazov. A bronze sculptural portrait of the famous cotton picker, created by Evgeny Vuchetich in 1948, is also on display at the #TretiyakovkaNaVDNKh exhibition.

Created for the opening of the Central Pavilion in 1954, the high relief was later hidden behind sheets of plywood. It was discovered in 2014 during the restoration of the pavilion. This work of art was one of the most significant finds at VDNKh. However, it turned out that some of the elements were missing. After learning about the beginning of the restoration, Moscow residents began to return fragments of the monument to the restorers. That is how original parts of the high relief were returned to their historical origin.

Specialists restored chipped fragments of the sculptures, removed dirt, stains and later layers of toning, strengthened the bonding of the individual sections and fragments, and the original protective and decorative coating applied by the artist. In addition, restoration specialists sealed cracks and technical joints, and recreated the paint coating using the color originally used by the artist, thus giving a bronze tint to the surface. It took just over a year to restore what was once believed to be a lost work of art.

The high relief Life has Become Better, Life has Become Happier (Festival on an Azerbaijani Collective Farm) was made using the majolica technique. Its dimensions are 153 by 265 centimeters. The work reflects the author’s view of collectivization, but without letting ideology dominate the artistic image.

Isidor Frich-Har is known as an outstanding ceramic sculptor who created utilitarian objects, small sculptures, easel-based and monumental decorative works, including large reliefs, as well as designing street lamps and figures for fountains. In 1926 he began working at the M.I. Kalinin Tver Porcelain and Faience Factory in Kuznetsov, where he later founded an experimental art laboratory. The high relief for VDNKh was also created there.

The immediacy of the language of folk art creates an atmosphere of universal and sincere fun and festivity, which is conveyed primarily through a bright color palette. The sculptor managed to capture a happy moment in people’s lives—a feast against a background of luxuriant and generous nature. In Isidor Frich-Har’s interpretation, the collective farm festival resembles a traditional feast to celebrate the fall harvest, with music playing and an overall atmosphere of harmony and love. In the shade of trees laden with pomegranates we see a table spread with food and generous gifts. The people participating in the feast are depicted strictly from the front and are solemnly lined up in front of the viewer. Using elements of the language of primitivism, the sculptor shows the sublime nature of the action, which is perceived as an important ritual.

The words on the red ribbon above the heads of the collective farmers: “Life has become better, life has become happier!” give this scene a sense of modernity.

This is a variant of a phrase from a speech made by Joseph Stalin in November 1935 at the First All-Union Meeting of Stakhanovite Workers.

The opening of new museum facilities at VDNKh corresponds to the goals of the national project Tourism and Hospitality. The #TretiakovkaNaVDNKh exhibition is a part of the collection of Russia’s largest national museum and unites art and history. The project was prepared specifically for Pavilion No. 1, the Central Pavilion.

#TretiakovkaNaVDNKh was the first art exhibition to be held in the pavilion, which reopened to the public after a large-scale restoration as part of the Revival of VDNKh program. It presents paintings and sculpture by leading masters from the 1930s-1960s, and also by contemporary artists. The eight exhibition halls with a total area of 2,500 square meters display more than 30 works in unique climate-controlled cases. In the two months since its opening, the exhibition has been visited by about 45 thousand people.

The exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery in Pavilion No. 1 will last until September 2025.

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