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The Myths of St. Petersburg:
Impressions of the City from the Hillwood Collection
An exhibition celebrating St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary
On view at Hillwood Museum & Gardens
February 4 through December 31, 2003
Hillwood Museum & Gardens, which holds the most comprehensive collection
of imperial Russian fine and decorative arts outside Russia, will
present its first special exhibition, “The Myths of St. Petersburg:
Impressions of the City from the Hillwood Collection.” The exhibit
is being staged to honor the 300th anniversary of that city’s
founding and will be on view from February 4 through December 31,
2003. Hillwood’s inaugural exhibition—featuring fifty-five
objects normally displayed throughout the late Marjorie Merriweather
Post’s mansion—will explore St. Petersburg’s symbolic
meaning and place in Russian history. It will illustrate the changing
culture of Russia as experienced in St. Petersburg, weaving the story
of how Russians debated the meaning and importance of this city, its
art, and its architecture. Did the city symbolize a path out of “backwardness”
toward science, reason, and culture? Or, was it an artificial, even
dangerous, graft onto the body of Russia, one that might lead the
nation away from its proper political, religious, and cultural destiny?
Hillwood’s extensive collection of Russian objects lends itself
well to tell this fascinating story. The museum’s board and
staff felt obliged to explore this subject because St. Petersburg
and its history are so prominent within this unique museum that Mrs.
Post created and left to the nation. Further, they felt it was imperative
to tell its story in a separate space where visitors could focus entirely
on the fascinating history of the city and how Russians interpreted
the meaning of its existence.
The exhibition will feature some of Hillwood’s most important objects,
such as a late-eighteenth-century gold box decorated with a profile
portrait of Catherine the Great as Minerva. Catherine II commissioned
many representations of herself as Minerva, declaring herself to be
an enlightened ruler, a defender of the arts and sciences, and a monarch
who continued Peter the Great’s work of modernizing Russia.
One of Hillwood’s greatest treasures, a chalice by Iver Windfeldt
Buch, will also be featured. Catherine commissioned this magnificent
example of neoclassical design for the interior of one of St. Petersburg’s
cathedrals, and cut stones from her personal collection adorn its
surface.
The exhibition’s themes and connections to the Russian imperial
art on view in the mansion will be explored in both audio and docent-led
tours.
Public programming throughout 2003 will provide exhibition-related
programs that will include a spring symposium in collaboration with
Georgetown University, “Capitals by Design,” focusing
on architecture and the arts in St. Petersburg and Washington, D.
C. from 1703–2003. In addition, in June, Hillwood will present
a White Nights Festival that will feature performing arts influenced
by eighteenth-century St. Petersburg.
Family programming includes a “Meet the Romanovs” audio tour
created especially for young visitors, with members of the Romanov
family sharing stories about objects in the
collection that once belonged to their family. In addition, one Sunday
each month Hillwood will open its doors to families and children’s
groups for special tours and activities related to the “Myths
of St. Petersburg” exhibition.
Hillwood was the Washington residence of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887–1973),
cereal heiress, collector, and philanthropist. Mrs. Post collected
art throughout her life, concentrating on the finest French and Russian
objects. The collection contains the largest collection of Russian
imperial art outside of Russia, as well as a magnificent collection
of eighteenth-century French decorative arts. Notable items include
imperial eggs by Fabergé, chalices, icons, and liturgical vestments
from imperial Russia as well as Beauvais tapestries and Sèvres
porcelain from France. Hillwood is set amid twenty-five acres of natural
woodlands and formal gardens including a Japanese-style garden and
a French parterre.
Hillwood is located at 4155 Linnean Ave.,
NW, Washington, D. C.
Open Tuesday– Saturday, 9:30 A.M.–5
P.M., except national holidays. Closed in January.
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED:
202-686-5807/ 1-877-HILLWOOD.
$10 adults, $8 seniors 65 and older, $5 full-time students w/ ID and
children ages 6–18.
Café. Parking on premises. www.hillwoodmuseum.org
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