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Russian exhibit puts Marx in the picture, 200 years after his birth
No Russian artist painted revolutionary thinker Karl Marx during his lifetime and yet his image even now 200 years after his birth remains ubiquitous.
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A visitor looks at the artwork 'Chapel of Marxism' pictorial and architectural object by the Wizard artists artistic sect at the exhibition 'Karl Marx forever' at the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg on October 17, 2018. An exhibition on the occasion of the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx offers a comprehensive overview of images of the influential thinker in Russian culture and everyday life from the beginning of the 20th century till nowadays. The display includes over 100 works of fine art, household items, and archival records. (AFP/Olga Maltseva)
N
o Russian artist painted revolutionary thinker Karl Marx during his lifetime and yet his image even now 200 years after his birth remains ubiquitous.
Hundreds of those images -- on canvas, in bronze, on vases, tapestries and posters -- have now been brought together in a new exhibition in Saint Petersburg.
"Attitudes towards Marx have changed many times, but the works of art will stay forever," said Evgenia Petrova of the State Russian Museum at the opening of the three-hall display.
Statues of the German philosopher, whose theories were turned into the basis of communism by his followers, are still a common sight in Russia and most cities have a street named after him, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
Marx died in London in 1881 at the age of 64. His grave at the city's Highgate Cemetery is still a major tourist draw.
The exhibition includes pre-Russian revolution works such as a 1905 bust by sculptor Anna Golubkina, as well as irony-tinged contemporary works.
"For those of us who grew up in the Soviet era, Marx, Engels and Lenin were like the Holy Trinity. They were everywhere in public life," said Tatyana Yakovleva, a 69-year-old pensioner visiting the museum.
"The exhibit, Karl Marx Forever", runs until 14 January, 2019, at the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.
