Events

The Amherst Center for Russian Culture will host an international symposium on the work of avant-garde writer and artist Elena Guro (1877-1913), the first of its kind in the US.  The symposium will take place on April 21-22, 2017 and include events at the Mead Art Museum and at the Center for Russian Culture (Webster Hall, 2nd floor). 

Elena Guro was the earliest of the “Russian Amazons,” the women who emerged as leading artists of the avant-garde in the pre-revolutionary period.  Guro also wrote experimental stories, poems and plays, making her the rare woman who contributed to the European avant-garde of the time.  

The opening event will be a reception in the Rotherwas room of the Mead Art Museum from 4:30-6:30 on April 21.  During the reception, composer and musician John McDonald will perform original piano pieces by Mikhail Matiushin, Guro’s husband and a leading figure in the Petersburg avant-garde.  The scores are rarities from the archives of the Russian Center and have never been performed together.

From mid-April to the end of May, visitors are welcome to view the exhibit on display in the gallery of the Russian Center, “Songs of the City: Elena Guro and Artists of her Times.”  The exhibit features works from the Mead’s Russian art collection by figures such as Kazimir Malevich and Natalya Goncharova, as well as Guro’s drawings.  The exhibition is curated by Nina Gourianova (Northwestern University). The gallery’s hours are Tuesday/Thursday 10-3 and Wednesday/Friday 10-2.

The symposium, “Tales and Visions of Elena Guro,” will take place on Saturday, April 22 in the Russian Center and will feature panels on her achievements in writing and art.  For the complete program, please consult the website of the Amherst Center for Russian Culture.  For additional information, email Catherine Ciepiela at caciepiela@amherst.edu.

The symposium is sponsored by the Lawrence '62 and Suzanne Weiss Fund of the Amherst Center for Russian Culture and Mead Art Museum.