The works of eighteen female artists, from Goncharova to Turnova, from Masterkova to Petrakova, spanning nearly a century chronologically.
November 17, 2022 - January 30, 2023

How do we create our own beauty?

On November 17th, the Alina Pinsky Gallery opened the exhibition "And how can we create our own beauty?" which presented the works of eighteen women artists - from Goncharova to Natalia Turnova, from Lidia Masterkova to Irina Petrakova, covering almost a hundred years chronologically.
Many gender discussions and social aspects are associated with the "women's" issue, deeply rooted in history. Does "women's" exhibitions really transmit the traditional "male" perspective on visual art? Or are women actually seeking their own niche, their authenticity? Or - to paraphrase the title of the book by the Franco-Belgian feminist, linguist, and philosopher Luce Irigaray - are they "creating their own beauty"? Do female artists attempt to distract from the issue of gender differences, search for its boundaries, or want to forget about it? Why is the myth of the "woman-muse" still the most enduring of all ideas about female creativity and "female nature"? Why shouldn't we consider Larionov as the "muse" of Goncharova, and Zhegina or Chekrygin as the "muses" of Vera Pestel? Does a female aesthetic exist, or is it enough to mention the infamous "wool, not marble" to exhaust the issue of pure "femininity" in artistic creativity? And finally, if the truth about what is considered "female" in art has not been found to this day, why not continue the search?
The exhibition features works by Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962), Vera Pestel (1887-1952), Marevna (1892-1984), Olga Potapova (1892-1971), Anna Staritskaya (1908-1981), Lydia Masterkova (1927-2008), Rimma Zanevskaya (1930-2021), Natta Konyshova (1935-2022), Alyona Kirtsova (b. 1954), Natalia Turnova (b. 1957), Maria Serebryakova (b. 1965), Viki Begalskaya (b. 1975), Alexandra Paperno (b. 1978), Irina Petrakova (b. 1980), Maria Koshenkova (b. 1981), Fedora Akimova (b. 1987), Dunya Zakharova (b. 1987), and Sveta Hollis (b. 1995).
"How do we create our own beauty?" – This is a "women's exhibition" in a gallery that hasn't sworn allegiance to the feminist movement. Alina Pinsky Gallery is known for its consistent and active interest not only in contemporary art but also in retro-modernism and the work of underrated 20th-century artists. Therefore, the exhibition primarily raises questions about the boundaries and limits of painting, and to a lesser extent, it touches on the theme of the role of the "female" in the works of female artists.
Ludmila Bredikhina
from the introductory article
to the exhibition catalog
The catalogue with an introductory article by Lyudmila Bredikhina, a philologist and specialist in gender studies, has been published for the exhibition. It contains illustrations of the works presented at the exhibition, statements about the artists' creative endeavours, and biographical information
The exposition views
The selected works

Scenery design for a ballet, 1940s

Watercolour and pencil on paper

44.5 х 55.5 cm

Nude, 1935
Oil on canvas
70 х 46.5 cm
Portrait of a Woman (Marika), 1930
Oil on canvas
55 х 46 cm

Rithm, 1950-е
Oil on canvas
100×50 cm
Corridor Interior with Mirror, 1986
From the series ‘Northern Chertanovo’
Oil on canvas
160 х 85 cm

Abstraction, 1959
Oil, plywood
30 х 39.5 cm

Composition, 1994
Mixed media, collage on paper
68 х 53 cm

‘Foliage’ from the series ‘Pike Perch’, 1988
Oil on canvas
120 х 120 cm

Ash, 2022
Fabric, embroidery
133 х 133 cm

From the series ‘Diagnosis’, 2009
Oil on canvas
170 x 110 cm

TD#1, 2022 (2020)
Steel

Sniper, 1994
Oil on canvas, silver enamel
200 х 170 cm

Composition, 1968
Tempera on cardboard
54 х 54 cm

Presentation of Lavrin’s Book ‘The Chronicles of Charon’, 1993
Oil on canvas
75 х 143 cm

Pictorial Space, 2015 - 2018
Acrylic, rice paper on canvas
200 х 160 cm

Pilot, 2008
Oil on canvas
141 х 195 cm

Android Tatianaв 14, 2021

Canvas, oil, embroidery

60×50 cm

Antianthrop 12, 2021
Soviet-period shredder, IKEA cutting board, glass from a clock dial, Soviet furniture details, fabric, embroidery, toys
45 х 30 х 35 cm

Object №24 from the series ‘Bodegones’, 2021
Aluminium, sand casting, enamel painting, mirror
159 х 77 х 12.5 cm
Connection of the Invisible with the Blind, 2021
Oil stick and charcoal on canvas
153 х 104 cm

Side Story, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
136 х 99.5 cm