November 10, 2006

Pre-reception for media & educators 4-6 p.m. November 28

(Columbia, MD) – Well in advance of the August ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Peter & Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College (HCC), a major art exhibit was being planned to feature unique works from the Horowitz's private collection.  The show, "Russian Realism: Stalin to Perestroika 1935-1989," opens in the new Rouse Company Foundation Gallery of the Horowitz Center on November 29, 2006 and runs through January 31, 2007.  A closing reception and gallery talk is scheduled for Wednesday, January 31, from 6 - 8 p.m.

Art from the fifty-year period of Soviet Realism was rarely accessible to the Western eye until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  With this HCC exhibit, art collectors Beth and Pete Horowitz are providing Americans with a rare opportunity to view and learn about masterpieces from the longest sustained representational art movement in the 20th century.  Over two dozen paintings on display reveal the Soviet Realist blend of Russian tradition with avant-garde political and social forces.  The works include landscapes, portraiture, depictions of traditional rural life, urban industry, the assertion of national identity, and the Soviet commitment to equal roles for women.    

The Rouse Company Foundation Gallery is located on the HCC campus at 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, MD 21044.  Exhibit viewing hours are Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. – 8 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.  For more information about the exhibition and gallery programs, contact Gallery Director Rebecca Bafford at 410-772-4189.