Description
The first English-language account of Ivan Morozov and his ambition to build one of the world's greatest collections of modern art
"A century of Russian culture distilled in the story of the life, family and collection of the lavish, lazy, kindly, eccentric grandson of a serf who brought Monet and Matisse to Moscow, waited three years for the right 'Blue Gauguin'-and survived the first years of Bolshevik rule."-Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times "Best Books of 2020: Visual Arts"
A wealthy Moscow textile merchant, Morozov started buying art in a modest way in 1900 until, on a trip to Paris, he developed a taste for the avant-garde. Meticulous and highly discerning, he acquired works by the likes of Monet, Pissarro, and Cezanne. Unlike his friendly rival Sergei Shchukin, he collected Russian as well as European art. Altogether he spent 1.5 million francs on 486 paintings and 30 sculptures-more than any other collector of the age.
Natalya Semenova traces Morozov's life, family, and achievements and sheds light on the interconnected worlds of European and Russian art at the turn of the twentieth century. Morozov always intended to leave his art to the state-but with the Revolution in 1917 he found himself appointed "assistant curator" to his own collection. He fled Russia and his collection was later divided between Moscow and St. Petersburg, only to languish in storage for decades.
Morozov: The Story of a Family and a Lost Collection was published to coincide with "The Morozov Collection" exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, May 2021.
May 12 - October 10, 2021
About the Author
Russian art historian Natalya Semenova is author of The Collector: The Story of Sergei Shchukin and His Lost Masterpieces, coauthor of Collecting Matisse, and coeditor of Selling Russia's Treasures. She lives in Moscow. The award-winning Arch Tait has translated more than thirty books by leading Russian authors.
Reviews
"[A] jewel-like focus yet epic scope, reads as sumptuously as a 19th-century novel, and makes stunning use of material still emerging from Soviet archives to illuminate dark corners of history"-Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times
"A century of Russian culture distilled in the story of the life, family and collection of the lavish, lazy, kindly, eccentric grandson of a serf who brought Monet and Matisse to Moscow, waited three years for the right "blue Gauguin"-and survived the first years of Bolshevik rule."-Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times 'Best Books of 2020: Visual Arts'
"Semenova was wise to widen the focus, and make this the biography of a family, and also of a collection...The descriptions of their activities read like raw material for Gogol or Dostoevsky."- Martin Gayford, Spectator
"A narrative skilfully told by the art historian Natalya Semenova"-Martin Bentham, Evening Standard
"After [Semenova's] exhaustive searches, it is difficult to imagine what further revelations might usurp her volumes on Morozov and Shchukin as the definitive studies of their patronage."-Rosalind P. Blakesley, Literary Review
"This book is a tribute to the commitment of a patron of the arts and a timely warning about the arbitrary power of the state to destroy and mishandle material."-Alexander Adams, Alexander Adams Art
Book Information
ISBN 9780300267037
Author Natalya Semenova
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
"A century of Russian culture distilled in the story of the life, family and collection of the lavish, lazy, kindly, eccentric grandson of a serf who brought Monet and Matisse to Moscow, waited three years for the right 'Blue Gauguin'-and survived the first years of Bolshevik rule."-Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times "Best Books of 2020: Visual Arts"
A wealthy Moscow textile merchant, Morozov started buying art in a modest way in 1900 until, on a trip to Paris, he developed a taste for the avant-garde. Meticulous and highly discerning, he acquired works by the likes of Monet, Pissarro, and Cezanne. Unlike his friendly rival Sergei Shchukin, he collected Russian as well as European art. Altogether he spent 1.5 million francs on 486 paintings and 30 sculptures-more than any other collector of the age.
Natalya Semenova traces Morozov's life, family, and achievements and sheds light on the interconnected worlds of European and Russian art at the turn of the twentieth century. Morozov always intended to leave his art to the state-but with the Revolution in 1917 he found himself appointed "assistant curator" to his own collection. He fled Russia and his collection was later divided between Moscow and St. Petersburg, only to languish in storage for decades.
Morozov: The Story of a Family and a Lost Collection was published to coincide with "The Morozov Collection" exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, May 2021.
Exhibition Schedule:
May 12 - October 10, 2021
About the Author
Russian art historian Natalya Semenova is author of The Collector: The Story of Sergei Shchukin and His Lost Masterpieces, coauthor of Collecting Matisse, and coeditor of Selling Russia's Treasures. She lives in Moscow. The award-winning Arch Tait has translated more than thirty books by leading Russian authors.
Reviews
"[A] jewel-like focus yet epic scope, reads as sumptuously as a 19th-century novel, and makes stunning use of material still emerging from Soviet archives to illuminate dark corners of history"-Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times
"A century of Russian culture distilled in the story of the life, family and collection of the lavish, lazy, kindly, eccentric grandson of a serf who brought Monet and Matisse to Moscow, waited three years for the right "blue Gauguin"-and survived the first years of Bolshevik rule."-Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times 'Best Books of 2020: Visual Arts'
"Semenova was wise to widen the focus, and make this the biography of a family, and also of a collection...The descriptions of their activities read like raw material for Gogol or Dostoevsky."- Martin Gayford, Spectator
"A narrative skilfully told by the art historian Natalya Semenova"-Martin Bentham, Evening Standard
"Natalya Semenova, who told the story of Shchukin and his collection three years ago, now brings her expertise and narrative verve to the less well-known Morozov."-Lesley Chamberlain, Times Literary Supplement
"After [Semenova's] exhaustive searches, it is difficult to imagine what further revelations might usurp her volumes on Morozov and Shchukin as the definitive studies of their patronage."-Rosalind P. Blakesley, Literary Review
"This book is a tribute to the commitment of a patron of the arts and a timely warning about the arbitrary power of the state to destroy and mishandle material."-Alexander Adams, Alexander Adams Art
"Drawing on a lifetime of research, Natalya Semenova has produced a riveting biography of an intensely private man who became one of the world's greatest collectors of modern art. Her pioneering account of the life and times of Ivan Morozov restores a vital lost page in the cultural history of imperial Russia. Morozov's importance has always been unfairly eclipsed by the better-known and more flamboyant Sergei Shchukin. Natalya Semenova has been able to redress the balance, and her latest biography completes a magnificent diptych chronicling the life and times of Russia's two great collectors."-Rosamund Bartlett
Book Information
ISBN 9780300267037
Author Natalya Semenova
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
