New permanent exhibition titled “Porcelain Plastic Art by Inna Olevskaya” opens at Hermitage Museum with support from Gazprom

Today, the new permanent exhibition titled “Porcelain Plastic Art by Inna Olevskaya” has been unveiled in an opening ceremony at the General Staff Building of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Taking part in the ceremony were Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, and Tatyana Tylevich, Director General of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory.

The new exhibition, which was arranged with support from Gazprom, showcases the works by the porcelain artist Inna Olevskaya, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts. Ms. Olevskaya worked at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St. Petersburg for more than 50 years. A special role in her unique artistic heritage belongs to multi-figure compositions which, being a symbiosis of painting and sculpture, require using the maximum possibilities of porcelain as a material for their creation.

The centerpiece of the newly unveiled exhibition is the artwork titled “Genius and Villainy are Incompatible.” Another two impressive works by the artist on display at the exhibition are "Journey into the Past” and “JACO PASTORIUS.”

“Gazprom continues its cooperation with the Hermitage Museum. And today, we are glad to present a new project: the exhibition titled “Porcelain Plastic Art by Inna Olevskaya.”

This is a remarkable exhibition, because the art of porcelain and porcelain compositions form part of the historical and cultural heritage of St. Petersburg and Russia. I think you will agree that the porcelain plastic art of St. Petersburg is truly a very considerable part of the porcelain art as a whole.

Inna Olevskaya worked at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory for many years. And it was her wish that her “Genius and Villainy are Incompatible” artwork be placed in the Hermitage Museum. Today, this wish came true. This is a gift from Gazprom. We are absolutely confident that the masterpieces created by Inna Olevskaya deserve to be on display at the world's greatest museum,” said Alexey Miller.

“Today, we are celebrating another remarkable occasion. Together with Gazprom and the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, we are opening a new permanent exhibition of contemporary porcelain artworks. I would like to thank Gazprom and personally Alexey Miller for making it possible to open this exhibition and for donating the wonderful works of Inna Olevskaya to the Hermitage Museum .

Ms. Olevskaya passed away in 2021; we remember her very vividly. Inna Olevskaya was and remains an outstanding master and a great artist of an amazing talent, who expressed her creative ideas in porcelain.

The presented sculptures are a big event in the history of porcelain and Russian arts. We are very happy that the works of Ms. Olevskaya have newly found home at the Hermitage Museum and returned back at the place where they had once been presented at her personal exhibition. We have long-standing and very special ties to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory. Such relations can be found between no other manufacturer representing great artwork and no other museum. Thanks to porcelain, we open new avenues for contemporary art presentation,” said Mikhail Piotrovsky.