Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty: Watercolors and Collections @Carnegie Museum

Iridescence, 1925/1947, graphite, pen and ink, and watercolor on paper mounted on artist’s board; Carnegie Museum of Art,

I have actually not seen this yet but it looks interesting on lots of levels. (BTW, The Paul Thek show at The Carnegie IMHO, will blow your head clean off. I haven't blogged about it partly because it's very hard to put into words.)

What I think I will like about this show is that it attempts to to create shows both artist's paintings and collections in a way that gives insight into an amazing life story involving global travel,serious science and artistic exploration. From 1926 -1945 Arinoff was director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

"Born in 1884 in Tulchin, Ukraine, Mr. Avinoff earned a law degree from Moscow University and in 1913 joined the protocol staff of Nicholas II. His interest in butterflies developed early, and in 1908 and 1912 he used inheritance money to fund collecting expeditions.

Mr. Avinoff first traveled to the United States in 1915 to purchase war supplies for the Russian Army. By 1918, as the Russian Civil War raged, he, his mother and his sister's family had immigrated to New York. When their dairy farm failed, he turned to commercial illustration to earn a living while his sister, Elizabeth Shoumatoff, developed a career as a portrait painter. (Her formal portrait of Mr. Avinoff is in the exhibition.)"

And then it goes on from there.

As you can see, he had mad technical skills as a painter too. Check out the Slide Show.

More articles and reviews.

Recollecting Andrey Avinoff Carnegie Magazine

Carnegie Museum of Art Unveils the Visionary and Rarely Seen Art by Andrey Avinoff Art Daily

Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty
February 26–July 24, 2011
Works on Paper Gallery