500 years of women's art in Russia

Maria Bashkirtseva died of tuberculosis at age 24 but left this masterpiece of emotion

By CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The first-ever major exhibit of Russian women's art over the past five centuries has opened at the Tretyakov Gallery, one of the country's outstanding state museums.

"It's a woman's view of a woman's world in Russia, with our troubled history," says exhibit curator Nadezhda Yurassovskaya.

"And it shows how the talent of Russian women, and women artists, came through so powerfully in the midst of the most difficult circumstances."

The women artists and art curators who put the exhibit together encountered a lot of opposition since the idea was born more than five years ago.

VIDEO CNN's Jill Dougherty looks at a retrospective of art by Russian women. (January 22) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Both men and women asked them, "Why do you need and exhibit like this? What is it about?"

Their answer: It's about art, it's about life, it's about ourselves.

The exhibit begins in the 15th century with funeral shrouds sewn in silk, gold and silver thread -- "women's work" created in monastic workshops by nameless artists who were not allowed to paint icons.

It wasn't until the 19th century that women were considered professional artists

Three hundred years later, Russian noblewomen such as the Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna were creating outstanding works of art.

But it took another century before women could be considered professional artists.

Some faced personal tragedy: Maria Bashkirtseva died of tuberculosis at age 24 but left a masterpiece of emotion.

In the 20th century, Russian women artists faced Bolshevik censorship, but the avant-garde, the so-called Amazons like Lyubov Popova, broke every rule in the book.

Nameless women artists in monastic workshops created funeral shrouds

Five hundred years of women's art includes sculpture -- and even funky furniture -- among the 500 pieces in the exhibit.

"We want them to see the breadth of Russian women's art," says sculpture curator Natalya Alexandrovna.

"It was not only equal to men's art but actually defined world art in the 20th century."