Artemyev the artist rediscovered

A well-known artist and director at two of Moscow's leading puppet theatres, Mikhail Artemyev, was also a talented painter. More than 2,000 portraits, landscape paintings and life drawings created with oil, watercolor and pencil are on display in Moscow.

The works are being exhibited as a part of the “Forgotten Moscow – Forgotten Artists” project.

Artemyev's whole life was connected with the puppet theatre. He was the author of hundreds of sketches of stage sets. Drawing was his passion in his spare time.

“He never stopped drawing – and what's surprising, he could do it with both hands. An exceptional and rare ability,” recalls Ekaterina Obraztsova, the artist’s daughter.

Landscape paintings were his personal favourites. The artist loved the historical cities of Russia's Golden Ring, but Moscow was his real passion. The exhibition's name is “Moscow of the 50s” and Artemyev's work lets viewers travel back in time straight to the old city's streets.

“He could draw even sitting in a metro cab. As the doors opened on a station, he had just enough time to produce a quick sketch – and develop it later on,” says Ms Obraztsova.

The artist didn't think of his creations as something outstanding and never organised any personal exhibitions. He couldn't imagine that once his pictures would become the images of a long-forgotten epoch. The views of retro-Moscow, seen alive only by his contemporaries are now a guide to the old city for modern Muscovites.