Stroganov Palace, Russian State Museum
Veronese's Adoration of the Shepherds, Hermitage Museum
Petrov Vodkin's Bathing of a Red Horse, State Tretyakov Gallery
Kugach's Before the Dance, State Tretyakov Gallery
Statues of Antonius Pius, Youth and Caryatid, Hermitage Museum
Matisse's Still Life, Hermitage Museum
Malevich's Self Portrait, Russian State Museum
Gerasimov's Stalin and Voroshilov at the Kremlin, State Tretyakov Gallery
Michelangelo's Moses and the Dying Slave, Pushkin Museum
Goncharova's Parrots and Peacock, State Tretyakov Gallery
2nd Century Mummy Masks, Pushkin Museum
Repin's Portrait of Baron von Hildenbandt, State Tretyakov Gallery
Altman's Portrait of I.P. Degas, State Tretyakov Gallery
Portrait of Y. M. Yevreinov, Artist Unknown, State Tretyakov Gallery
Nesterov's Blessed St Sergius of Radonezh, State Tretyakov Gallery
Konchalovsky's Family Portrait, State Tretyakov Gallery
Rublev and Daniil's The Deesis Tier, State Tretyakov Gallery
Vatagin's Irene Starzhenetskaya and Anatoly Komelin, State Tretyakov Gallery
Infante's Sign on a Bush, State Tretyakov Gallery
GUARDIANS
In the art museums of Russia, women sit in the galleries and guard the collections. When you look at the paintings and sculptures, the presence of the women becomes an inherent part of viewing the artwork itself. I found the guards as intriguing to observe as the pieces they watch over. In conversations they told me how much they like being among Russia’s great art. A woman in Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery Museum said she often returns there on her day off to sit in front of a painting that reminds her of her childhood home. Another guard travels three hours each day to work, since at home she would just sit on her porch and complain about her illnessess, “ as old women do.” She would rather be at the museum enjoying the people watching, surrounded by the history of her country.
The pictures in this series were made at museums in St Petersburg and Moscow in 2008 and 2009.