Modern Atlanta

Lumière Presents Richard Pare’s Photographs of Soviet Modernist Architecture 1922-32

The Lost Vanguard- Melnikov House

Lumière is pleased to announce an important exhibition of Richard Pare’s exceptional photographs of Soviet modernist architecture constructed in the years immediately after the revolution, from 1922 – 1932, when the Stalinist regime put an end to one of the most innovative experiments in the history of architecture.

It was proposed as a new architecture for a new age and a new society. The works in the exhibition are coming to Lumière after being shown to wide acclaim at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2007.  Though rarely seen by Westerners, Soviet architecture immediately following the revolution included some of the most innovative and creative work of the Twentieth Century.  According to The Lost Vanguard, “In little more than a decade, some of the most radical buildings of the Twentieth century were completed by a small group of architects who developed a new architectural language in support of new social goals of communal life.

The Lost Vanguard- Melnikov House 

Rarely published and virtually inaccessible until the collapse of the Soviet regime, these important buildings have remained unknown and unappreciated.  “Richard Pare’s mission has been to document these buildings for those future generations, even as they crumble around him. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times notes Pare’s achievement, ” Great architecture exists somewhere between the world as it is and the world as we would like it to be.  Mr. Pare’s gift is to show us what happens when those visions are tested in everyday life, stripped of their original theoretical baggage. The sorrow arises from recognizing how fragile those dreams can be.”

Richard Pare will discuss his work in a lecture at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 7:00 PM. The event is free and open to the public.  An opening reception will be held from 6:30 – 8:30 PM, on Thursday, April 16, 2009, at Lumière in Atlanta.

The exhibition will be on display at the gallery from Friday, April 17 – Saturday, May 23, 2009. Lumière is located at 425 Peachtree Hills Avenue, Building 5, Atlanta, GA 30305, in the Galleries of Peachtree Hills development.

For more information about this exhibition, please call Tony Casadonte at (404) 261-6100 or at tony.c@lumieregallery.net.