November 21, as part of the Year of the Theater in Russia, in the Voronezh Regional Art Museum. I.N. Kramskoy hosted the grand opening of the personal exhibition of Honored Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Maria Fedorova “Costume Theater Maria Fedorova.” Theatrical and decorative art, costume, graphics, collage.

First Deputy Head of the Department of Culture of the Voronezh Region, Maria Mazur, in her welcoming address noted:
“About 90 major events have already been held as part of the Year of the Theater, and the exhibition project opening today within the walls of the Voronezh Museum will become one of the most outstanding cultural events in Voronezh, completing the theater year at the highest level.” Words of sincere gratitude sounded to the artist Maria Fedorova, who conquered the audience with her brilliant works, as well as to the Voronezh Museum, which did a great job to organize the exhibition.

Professor, art critic Bronislav Tabachnikov in his speech emphasized that there is not a single event in the artistic life of the city, by which the Voronezh Museum named after Kramskoy would have passed. And that this exhibition, demonstrating the amazing delicate taste of Maria Fedorova, her understanding of the aura of the performance and the ability to create amazingly accurate costumes for action, will certainly give all the spectators great pleasure and introduce the personality of an outstanding artist of our time.

The director of the Voronezh Museum, Olga Ryabchikova, said that the exhibition consists of several sections that tell about the complex process of creating a costume, which begins from the design, from the sketch, the feeling of the costume in color and continues to its full artistic expression. The center of the exposition is the stage concert costumes owned by the artists of the Moscow State Academic Theater “Russian Song” under the direction of People’s Artist of Russia Nadezhda Babkina.

The exhibition was realized thanks to the “Veres Gallery” in the person of its director Nikolay Veresov, who participated in the design of works and the delivery of the exhibition to Voronezh. He read out a welcome letter from the Academy of Arts in which the president of the academy Zurab Tsereteli congratulated Maria Fedorova on the opening of a personal exhibition in the capital of the Black Earth Region and expressed gratitude to the Voronezh Museum for its high professionalism in organizing the event.

Maria Vladislavovna Fedorova herself shared her impressions with the audience, who noted that this day will forever remain in her heart and her memories. A lot of kind words were said by the author to everyone who supported this project at various levels. Special thanks went to the curator of the project, Galina Bolotskikh (corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts), who put a lot of effort into the work on the exposition. The author admitted that she is immensely grateful to all the organizers for the opportunity to see their work in a new light.

The guest of honor of the vernissage was a person who has a direct relationship to the Year of the Theater and to the artist herself – the husband of Maria Fedorova – Honored Artist of Russia, State Prize laureate, actor of the State Academic Maly Theater Yuri Ilyin. In his performance, an excerpt from the story of I.A. Bunin’s “Bernard”, revealing the artist’s contribution to the cause for which he was born. This performance has become a kind of link between the outgoing Year of the theater and the upcoming year of the 150th anniversary of the native of Voronezh region, the great Russian writer Ivan Bunin.