On 25 December 2018, an exhibition in the Christmas Present series opened in the Hermitage. It is devoted to the work of the artist Rudolph Feodorovich Wilde.
In the first three decades of the 20th century, pieces were made to Wilde’s designs at the Imperial Porcelain Factory and the Imperial Glassworks (after 1917 the State Porcelain Factory).
Wilde’s name is well known in art-historical literature and among collectors. The pieces created to his designs before and after the revolution occupy a significant place in museum and private collections, participating with equal success in exhibitions devoted to the art of the early 20th century and the “Agitation Style” of the early post-revolutionary years.
The exhibition was opened by Svetlana Adaksina, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage, who said: “Today, on this splendid day, 25 December, we are making a Christmas present. This is something very traditional for the Winter Palace: the imperial family would always order porcelain articles so as to give each other wonderful gifts at Christmas and the New Year. We are continuing that admirable tradition – this is the 17th year in a row that we are opening an exhibition in the Christmas Present cycle prepared by the staff of our department – the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, and our colleagues, partners and real friends – the Imperial Porcelain Factory.”
At the ceremony, Galina Tsvetkova, Chairwoman of the Board of today’s Imperial Porcelain Factory company, thanked the State Hermitage and its Director, Mikhail Piotrovsky, for years of productive collaboration: “This exhibition marks 150 years since the birth of the artist Rudolph Wilde, who worked for thirty years at our enterprise during the difficult period of two eras separated by the revolution of 1917. Nonetheless his work is highly romantic and attractive, and our artists have inevitably been inspired by such a figure and have also produced a few works that are on show in the exhibition today.”
The display contains around 150 exhibits – original works from the collection of the State Hermitage, the Pavlovsk State Museum Preserve and the Yelagin Island Palace Museum. These are supplemented by the creations of present-day artists at the Imperial Porcelain Factory who have taken inspiration from Rudolph Wilde’s artistic legacy.
At the opening, the Imperial Porcelain Factory company presented to the State Hermitage a gift of works by Vera Bakastova: an Art Deco table service and five vases, two of which feature in the exhibition. The pieces that Vera Bakastova creates are marked by a search for new artistic devices. They are to a certain extent a contemporary interpretation of the enamel painting technique.
