The third annual Moscow World Fine Art Fair opens its doors in the Manege for its seven-day run on Monday, May 22. Over eighty international dealers from the United States, Switzerland, France, England, Israel and Russia offer a wide range of specialties including furniture and works of art spanning the 16th through 21st centuries, sculpture, Old Master paintings, Impressionist and modern masters, drawings, tapestries and carpets, Asian art,ceramics, silver, porcelain, and jewelry.
The Manege
The Manege was built in 1817 to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Russia's victory over Napoleon. Engineer Augustin Betancourt used ground breaking construction techniques for the time; not a single supporting column was used to uphold the structure and all the wooden beams remained exposed. Both the faade and the interior decoration were designed by the renowned French architect Joseph Beauvais - Ossip Ivanovitch Bovet - who also designed the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters in Moscow.. Large enough to hold an entire infantry regiment of more than two thousand men, it was originally built for military parades. After the 1917 revolution, the building was used as a government garage, In 1957, it was transformed into a Exhibition Hall. In the early 90s, it underwent further reconstruction, but in 2004, a fire broke out in the wooden rafters and beams, and though the walls withstood the flames, the roof caved in. Extensive restoration during the past year has brought the building back to its original splendor,.a perfect setting for this fair.
The new Russian collectors already have a defined taste They appreciate more form than period and are very open in their interests. Contemporary art is no longer contained in the specialised fairs, and Moscow is no exception with a dozen contemporary art galleries from France, the US and Russia. Haute Rive Fine Arts will present an intricate video installation as well as ten or more street banners by Patrick Mimran throughout the busy streets of the Golden Triangle, replicating those in Venice during the Biennale. The jewellery wing which was inaugurated in 2005 in a rather timid way has now exploded with almost twice the exhibitors, adding such strong names as Chanel, Sabbadini, Chatila, Boghossian and House of Eight, to name a few.
