The owner of one of the most significant collections of Russian art said that he was also fond of Western contemporary artists
The presentation of the scientific catalogue of the collection of the Russian majolica of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries by Peter Aven was held in one of the halls of the new permanent exposition of the All-Russian Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Art - "Russian style. From Historicalism to Art Nouveau". Antourage as well as possible corresponded to the theme of the publication - the activities of the Abramtsevo ceramic workshop, the bright phenomenon of domestic decorative art of the art Nouveau era. Moreover, the new exposition was realized with the support of the patron, collector and friend of the museum Peter Aven, and the author-compiler of the catalogue Eleanor Paston was also the curator of the exhibition.
The experimental pottery workshop, in which the leading role was to be played by the artist Mikhail Vrubel, was established on the initiative of patron and collector Savva Mamontov in 1889-1890 at his Abramtsevo estate. The main task of the workshop was to revive the art of Russian majolica - products made of colored fired clay, covered with opaque glaze. The result of cooperation between the talented ceramist Pyotr Vaulin, who developed a new technological process and several unique recipes for colorful coatings, and artists Mikhail Vrubel, Alexander Golovin, Alexander Matveev, and Savva Mamontov himself was the appearance of outstanding works of ceramic art.
The scientific catalogue, compiled by art historian Eleonora Paston, who died in 2016 as a researcher of the work of Mikhail Vrubel and ceramic restorer Williams (Wil) Nevsky, presents a collection of Abramtsevo ceramics belonging to Peter Aven (listed in the catalogue as a "D2 collection"). The catalogue includes 55 items: ceramic sculptures, vases, dishes, plates and bowls made by Mikhail Vrubel, Alexander Golovin, Alexandra Kiseleva, Savva Mamontov, Alexander Matveev, Nikolai Sorokhtin and other artists from the Abramtsevo studio. The collection, which at first glance seems small and concise, nevertheless fully represents the activities of the Abramtsevo pottery workshop (1890-1918), which played a huge role in the formation of new technical and artistic techniques in ceramic sculpture and decorative and applied art in Russia. Eleanor Paston writes in the book that this is the most extensive private collection of Abramtsevo ceramics (the main museum is located in Abramtsevo), which allows "to go into the history of the emergence and development of ceramic art in the Abramtsevo circle, to understand the nature of one of the most vivid hobbies of the members of the Commonwealth. The structure of the catalogue, which is a very weighty and richly illustrated volume, can be divided into three main parts: an article by Eleonora Paston "Manor and Moscow life of the Abramtsevo pottery workshop of Savva Ivanovich Mamontov", an album with full-page reproductions and the collection's own catalogue. In their speeches at the presentation, art historians Olga Davydova and Svetlana Baranova noted that Eleonora Paston's research is virtually unparalleled in Russian art history and deserves a separate publication as an independent monograph, which would make the results of the work more accessible (the catalogue itself is not planned for open sale and will be distributed to museums and libraries). Maxim Boxer, a collector and former gallery owner of the Migratory Tavern, has taken on the role of producer and coordinator for the preparation of the catalogue.