We are delighted to have this opportunity to show Henry Moore's graphics in twelve museums across Russia, under theheadingof a new British Council programme entitled Russian Ring.
Irkutsk: 2 February – 15 March 2007
Krasnoyarsk: 27 March - 10 May 2007
Tomsk: 20 May - 5 July 2007
Novosibirsk: 17 July - 9 September 2007
Omsk: 18 September - 4 November 2007
The idea of linking twelve Russian museums in a new style of federation originated with theBritish Council in Moscow. We have selected six museums and galleries west of the Urals, and six East: Volgograd, Ekaterinberg,Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Rostov, Samara, Sochi, Tomsk and Yaroslavl. The curatorial staff of all twelve museums visited Britain, and as a result, begun to develop a series of exhibitions. The exhibition that launches our programme is Henry Moore - Master Printmaker.
Although Moore is a familiar name, we hope that by focussing on a less familiar aspect of his work - his work as a printmaker rather than that of thesculptor - that the exhibition will provide aninsight into his working methods, and that many of the themes that pre-occupied him during a long life can be explored in some depth and from several angles: skulls, bones, animal skeletons, ancient rocks and monuments, figures that recline so that they form their very own landscapes, as weathered and as fundamental as the hills and downs of the English countryside.
The selection of 80 graphics, drawn from the British Council collection, is testament to Moore’s continuing fascination with the boundless possibilities of printmaking. The exhibition covers all the main subjects that interested Moore throughout his long career, highlighting his treatment of texture, light and depth of tone in the mediums of etching and lithography.
The exhibition will also present an imitation of Moore’s working studio.
Printmaking is a detailed and considered process. In etching, the artist draws with a needle on a copper, zinc or steel plate that has been covered with acid-resistant wax. When the plate is immersed in acid, the bare metal exposed by the lines of the drawing is eroded, creating the etched plate. The plate is covered with a greasy ink, which is forced into the etched grooves; the surface is then wiped clean with muslin, leaving only the etched areas retaining ink. A sheet of paper is placed over the plate and passed through a press under high pressure. When the paper is peeled off, it reveals a faithful mirror image of the etched drawing. This inking procedure is repeated for each print.
Lithography ('writing on stone') is a different process, the image being drawn on a large flat block of limestone with a grease crayon, which is then fixed with a mixture of nitric acid and gum arabic. The stone is immersed in water, the grease from the crayon acting as a water-repellent, and the grease-based ink rolled across the stone adheres only to the drawing.
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