Venues:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Berlin: Deutsche Guggenheim, July 10–October 17, 1999.
London: Royal Academy of Arts, November 10, 1999–February 6, 2000.
Bilbao, Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, June 12–September 3, 2000.
New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, September 14, 2000–January 10, 2001.

Curators:
John E. Bowlt, Matthew Drutt, Zelfira Tregulova.

Artists:
Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova Varvara Stepanova and Nadezhda Udaltsova.

Exhibition description:
The exhibition Amazons of the Avant-Garde was dedicated to six women artists of the Russian avant-garde: Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Varvara Stepanova and Nadezhda Udaltsova. The first museum show of its kind, Amazons of the Avant-Garde brought paintings from private collections and museums in Russia (and former Soviet regions such as Kiev, Ufa, Kazan, Perm and Kirov, as well as Moscow and St Petersburg), to a western European audience. The exhibition traced the evolution of Russian avant-garde painting from the turn of the century to the mid-1920s, one of the most vital and prolific chapters in the history of modern art. During those years, artists had a crucial impact on political, ideological and social thought. One of the singular phenomena of that era was the outstanding work produced by women artists who were at the forefront of Russian art. Poet Benedikt Livshits was the first in describing these women artists as “real Amazons, Scythian riders.” Livshits continued, stating that they were an “important driving force for the avant-garde movement and brought with them a pioneer spirit, without which the successful development of the movement would have been unimaginable.” The presentation of this exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice offered an understanding of the achievements of these Russian artists against the background of Parisian Cubism and of works by other Russian artists (Malevich, El Lissitzky, Chagall, Kandinsky, Pevsner), as well as of Italian Futurism, represented in the Gianni Mattioli Collection.

Catalogue:
Bowlt, John E. and Matthew Drutt. Amazons of the Avant-Garde. Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Varvara Stepanova and Nadezhda Udaltsova. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2000.

Two catalogues, in English and Italian. Catalogues include preface by Thomas Krens (Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation), acknowledgements by John E. Bowlt, Matthew Drutt and Zelfira Tregulova, and an introduction by Matthew Drutt. Catalogues also contain essays by John E. Bowlt, Charlotte Douglas, Laura Engelstein, Olga Matich, Nicoletta Misler, Ekaterina Dyogot, Georgii Kovalenko, Jane A. Sharp, Natalia Adaskina, Dmitrii Sarabianov, Nina Gurianova, Vasilii Rakitin, and Alexander Laurentiev. The catalogues have an appendix with a selection of documents, and a bibliography.

Library location: GUGG PGC 2000 .05 (English), GUGG PGC 2000 .02 (Italian), UFFICIO 26 0004.