Review of the exhibition and catalog: Girlfriends. For the anniversary of Varvara Stepanova. Exhibition catalog. Moscow: Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (2024)

The exhibition "Girlfriends. To the anniversary of Varvara Stepanova", (curators A.A. Danilova, A.A. Savinov, A.N. Lavrentiev), which opened in July 2024 at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts reveals the contribution of Russian avant-garde artists to the formation of constructivism as an influential global trend in architecture and design, the development of domestic fashion design, graphic design, theater. The exhibition presents the works of A.I. Akhtyrko (students of A.M. Rodchenko in VKhUTEMAS), E.A. Ignatovich (a photojournalist and journalist who worked with V.F. Stepanova), L.S. Popova, O.V. Rozanova, V.F. Stepanova, G.D. and O.D. Chichagov (artists of children's books). The cultural and educational foundation "Magic of Fashion" under the leadership of N.B.Kozlova provided reconstructions of clothing models according to the projects of N.P.Lamanova, V.I. Mukhina, L.S.Popova and V.F.Stepanova. 15 museums and private collections provided works from their collections for the exhibition: paintings, graphics, photographs, drawings for fabric and theatrical costume designs (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, GTG, RGALI, Theater Museum, museums of St. Petersburg, Saratov, Ulyanovsk and other collections). The unifying historical and documentary space of the exhibition was excerpts from the diaries of V.F.Stepanova about the avant-garde exhibitions held in 1915-1920, where artists participated, documents and articles by O.V. Rozanova. The exhibition catalog, prepared by a team of authors (design by the ABCdesign publishing group), reflects the main sections of the exhibition: "Acquaintance", "The Birth of constructivism", "Theater", "Fashion", "From a futuristic book to a new layout". The publication was recognized as the "Book of the Year" by experts of the Annual National Competition 2024. The exhibition and catalog reflect the bright innovative nature of the art of the artists of the 1920s, who boldly invaded new areas of the designer's activity, such as cinema, photography and mass media, poetry and fashion. They have left a significant mark on Russian art, pedagogy and art criticism.