Annual spring exhibition
at the exhibition center of the Union of Artists
38, Bolshaya Morskaya Str., St. Petersburg, Russia
From March 31 until April 23,  2005


Spring 2005 did breathe some extraordinary life in the St. Petersburg art scene.
The reason of this hectic activity is the the 60th anniversary of the great russian historical revival of its victory in the great patriotic war.
The Union of Artists has opened again its art spring exhibition of their union members, which is a regular important event on the cultural scene of the city. This exhibition is placed in a surpassingly huge space - there are 8 rooms for more than 1400 works. All sections of art are presented (paintings, graphic arts, sculptures, applied arts, photos). Also the works of  modern artists and veteran artists are shown.

There are works of such well known artists that represent the realistic soviet school of painting and graphic: for example Lija Ostrova, I.Varichev, Trufanov, Boris Smirnov, and many others
Boris Smirnov's works occupy one entire room - a memorial exposition indeed. He is presented not only as a graphic but also as a photo artist.

This exhibition defines the general level of art and leading tendencies in St. Petersburg at the moment.

The display of individual virtuosity becomes an important criterion of artistic achievement. It is very noticably lately that the art has been influenced by the renaissance style.  It is possible to note, that artists draw attention to cleanliness of  line,  perfect silhouette, construction of a composition.   
At this exhibition it is obvious that the tendencies of impressionism in painting already have become a rarity. However the works of the "younger" generation of artists which continue the school of Soviet impressionism are presented as well, i.e.Nabatov, Scherbakov and others.