The Nazi occupation in the graphic works of Meer Akselrod

MORE ABOUT THE EXHIBITION On the occasion of the 75. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Victory, the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Croatia, the Rossotrudnichestvo Representative Office in the Republic of Croatia and the Alexander Pechersky Foundation, with the participation of the Eurasian Jewish Congress, presented the exhibition "Nazi Occupation in the Graphic Works of Meer Akselrod", which was held in the period from February 27 to March 5, 2020 at the Šira Gallery. … Read More

MORE ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

On the occasion of the 75. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Victory, the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Croatia, the Rossotrudnichestvo Representative Office in the Republic of Croatia and the Alexander Pechersky Foundation, with the participation of the Eurasian Jewish Congress, presented the exhibition "Nazi Occupation in the Graphic Works of Meer Akselrod", which was held in the period from February 27 to March 5, 2020 at the Šira Gallery.

At the exhibition, for the first time, about thirty paintings and graphic works from the cycle of the famous Soviet artist Meer Akselrod "German Occupation" were presented to the Croatian audience.

Most of the works were created in 1942-1943 in Almaty, where the artist worked on the set design for Sergei Eisenstein's film "Ivan the Terrible". The horrors of war and the Holocaust, as well as conversations with refugees from Poland and Belarus deeply shook him. This series, for which Akselrod was called the "Goya of the 20th century", is not only a work of high art, but also an almost documentary testimony at the court of history to Nazism. Until recently, even experts were not aware of the existence of the cycle: the works were stored in the archives of the artist's family and were not shown.

The opening of the exhibition was held on February 27 with the participation of the Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb, izv.prof.art. Tomislav Buntak; President of the Alexander Pechersky Foundation, Ilya Vasilyev; granddaughter of Meer Akselrod, artist Mikhail Yakhilevich (Israel); Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Croatia, H.E. Dr. Anvar Azimov and Mayor of the City of Zagreb Milan Bandić.

As a musical gift for the guests, compositions were performed by the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Ekaterina Ivanenko (viola) and the professor of the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb, Yulia Gubaidulina (piano).