From Collection of Alexey Petrichenko

Works of the modern artists from states of former USSR.

In the local history and art museum of Domodedovo, a small town located in Moscow region an exhibition took place last autumn named "Artistic cuttings of paper" from collection of Petrichenko A.M.

The works of 16 artists from Russia, Byelorussia, Armenia and Lithuania performed in various periods were presented at the exhibition.

PETRICHENKO Alexei Maksimovich (1911-1996), Dr. of Engineering sciences, professor, Honoured Scientist of Ukraine, academician, during 38 years headed the sub-faculty "Technology of metals and material science" at the Kharkov Motor Road Institute. A famous scientist in the field of casting, he had published over 400 writings on the history of art casting, on the theory and processes of foundry, some of them has been translated into foreign languages.

Professor Petrichenko was born in the village of Bykovo near Dnepropetrovsk and when a child already was familiar with the national art of "Wycinanki" - cuttings from paper which were used by Ukrainian peasants for decorating their houses or as stencils and patterns of artistic designs for painting walls and stoves.

However, only during his long stay in China he became a true enthusiast of this art. Chinese cuttings (window flowers) amazed him with their finest finish, abundance and diversity of compositions and topics, artistic level and high technique of performance. Aleksei Maksimovich studied the art of , its history and styles of various provinces of China, became familiar with the manner of many artists in the field cutting in their creative studios, began to collect and classify cuttings.

On returning home professor Petrichenko, willing to acquaint his compatriots with the amazing art of Chinese artists, arranged home shows, delivered lectures and organized demonstrations. Much was written about this collection, it was twice shown on the TV (in Moscow and Riga); on its basis seven city, republican and all-union exhibitions of artistic paper-cutting were organized. At the first international exhibition "Paper cuttings of the world '89" the collection was marked with a special prize.

Domestic cutters reacted as well. Many artists sold their works, more often presented them as gifts, thus, completing the famous collection.

At present the collection contains over 2000 Chinese cuttings and about 3000 works of paper cutters of Ukraine, Byelorussia, Russia, Armenia, Lithuania. Kazakhstan and also cuttings from Poland, Vietnam, Denmark and even Mexico.

This is the world biggest collection of artistic paper cuttings, and, in size, it has long been beyond the volume of a cabinet one.

The exhibition "Artistic cuttings of paper" in the Domodedovo museum was initiated by professor's daughter Asya Petrichenko. She did us a kindness having given us a possibility to get familiar with some of the works from this unique collection.