The Russian Museum

In the Jubilees 2006 exhibition cycle the State Russian Museum presents the retrospective show of the Leningrad-Petersburg sculptor Lev Lanets. The exhibition of his artworks from the State Russian Museum and the private collection of the sculptor's widow opens on 23 November. In his oeuvre Lev Lanets followed the traditions of West-European and Russian art, and his artistic preferences determined the themes and the stylistics of his works. The sculptor treated classical themes of the world art (fate of a man, bearing his cross; sacrifice; harmony of a man and the world around him, relations between a man and a woman) from the position of the 20^th century art and lent them vivid individual interpretation. The master expressed one of his main themes of sacrifice in such works on religious subjects as Crucifixion (1969, bronze), Lamentation (1969, bronze) and Entombment (1972-73, terracotta). Later he developed the theme in his Headstone for a Deceased Child of the Siedge (1992, chamotte, enamel and glazes, paintwork by G. Kornilov) and In the Memory of Holocaust (1999, bronze). Lev Lanets employed different materials, such as bronze, plaster, chamotte and porcelain. Most fully and vividly the sculptor revealed himself in easel painting alongside his interesting works in monumental plastics. The sculptor created a number of decorative-monumental artworks adorning the facades and interiors of the buildings. The Concordance fountain is one of the most interesting works. It was erected by the architect Z. Verzhbitsky in the Leningrad House of Flowers in 1982.