Tradition & Opulence: Easter in Imperial Russia

April 7 – August 7, 2020

No country is better known for its Easter eggs than Russia. Each year, Russia’s greatest jewelers, artists, icon painters, and craft persons were called upon to create new egg designs in every medium for the most important of the Orthodox Christian feasts.

This exhibition, of almost 200 objects, will explore the symbolism of the egg and Easter in Imperial Russia through the art and objects made to celebrate the religious holiday and the important role that imagery played throughout the entire year. It will include works from the firm of Fabergé and its competitors as well as designs by prominent artists and icon painters.

Image: Purpurine egg from the McFerrin Collection

Playground of the Autocrats

July 16 – November 15, 2020

Artist Anne Bobroff-Hajal has drawn on animation techniques, icons, and formats such as graphic novels to tell stories of Russian geography and history from Ivan the Terrible to Stalin (and Putin). These polyptychs portray – whimsically – the fiery struggles of individual human beings within vast social systems, as shaped by the landscapes in which those humans live.