OREANDA-NEWS. The Deineki Art Gallery in Kursk today held the opening of an exhibition of unique paintings and sculptures from the collection of Moscow's world-famous Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The paintings and sculptures from the Moscow museum have been brought to the Kursk Region for the first time with the financial support of Metalloinvest, as part of a three-party agreement on socio-economic partnership with the Kursk Region.

Alexander Mikhailov, Governor of the Kursk Region, and Andrey Varichev, CEO of Management Company METALLOINVEST, attended the opening event for the exhibition.

Alexander Mikhailov said: “An exhibition of artworks on such a level in the Kursk gallery is an unprecedented project. It is one of the most exciting events in the region's cultural life. Each canvas holds great artistic value and has an individual story - from the moment of its creation to its acquisition by the Pushkin Museum, while the names of the artists are known around the world. On behalf of the region's residents, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to Metalloinvest for facilitating such a prominent cultural project. It is particularly important that our co-operation is more than a one-time event. It is a long-term, comprehensive, multi-faceted collaboration, aimed at developing the social and cultural and spiritual sphere and improving quality of life in the region.”

The exhibition project focuses on the presentation of family relationship ideals in fine art from around the world.

Andrey Varichev commented: “Family is something relevant to all of us, something we all understand and value. This project gives people the chance to see works by great artists and to experience the genuine, deep feelings that they invoke. Interacting with such magnificent works is spiritually enriching. This enrichment is a part of harmonious development and constitutes an improvement in quality of life, which we take into account when determining the priorities of our partnership with the region's leadership.

50 artworks, created by the masters between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, were displayed at the exposition. Just some of the names include: Camille Claudel (The Prayer, 19th Century), Marguerite Gerard (Motherhood, 19th Century), Etienne Aubry (Farewell to the Nurse, 18th Century), Rudolf Dammeier (The Poor Family, 19th Century), Richard Brackenburg (Family Portrait, 17th Century), and Gabriel Metsu (Family Breakfast, 17th Century).

Apart from paintings, the museum of fine arts has brought to Kursk a variety of sculptures. These include small low-relief compositions, independent sculptural groups, as well as two relief sculptures. Among the exhibits, there are smaller copies of large sculptures and 'chamber' pieces (Pierre Lepautre's 'Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius' copied by an unknown master, Kurt Steen's 'Woman with a Child' and 'Venus in Vulcan's Workshop' by an unknown 17th century Italian master).

The exhibition will be open until 18 April 2014. It will not only be Kursk locals who have the chance to see it. Metalloinvest will organise trips to the museum for school children from Zheleznogorsk, art students, as well as the Company's unit in Zheleznogorsk, Mikhailovsky GOK.

The exhibition in Kursk continues the long-standing collaboration between Metalloinvest and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. With the support of the Company's shareholder Alisher Usmanov, art exhibitions of the following artists' works have taken place: the master British landscape painter William Turner (1775-1851), the prominent English poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827), and “The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” (19th Century), a body of work almost unknown to the Russian people. In 2013, Alisher Usmanov donated to the museum a unique painting, 'St Mark', by the Dutch artist Frans Hals the Elder (1582/83-1666). Last year, exhibits from the 'Family Circle' exhibition, staged with financial and organisational support from Metalloinvest, were displayed at the Belgorod State Art Museum in the region where Lebedinsky GOK and OEMK, the Company's units, are located.