OREANDA-NEWS. March 28, 2012. IC Allianz (ROSNO trademark) has sponsored an exhibition of the sculptor V.A. Beklemishev, which was opened in the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg. This is the first personal exhibition of this sculptor, dedicated to his 150-year anniversary. The exposition opened in the building of the Mikhailovsky (Inzhenerny) Castle, and it will last till mid-May 2012, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

IC Allianz has been consistently pursuing socially responsible business policies for many years, providing charity and sponsorship support to projects in most diverse fields. The company pays special attention to preservation of the Russian cultural heritage, including visual arts, painting and sculpture. In this respect, IC Allianz has been supporting the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg for over 8 years. Unlike the previous project, when Allianz sponsored the art exhibition of Grigory Gagarin, this year the company chose the art of one of the most popular sculptors of XIX — XX centuries — Vladimir A. Beklemishev.

Mr. Hakan Danielsson, President of OJSC IC Allianz, comments on this event as follows: "Our company is a longstanding partner of the Museum of Russian Fine Art, founded in St. Petersburg in 1895. Today, the Russian museum is one of the largest centres of cultural enlightenment hosting up to 50 temporary exhibitions per year. I am sincerely pleased that our company has managed to contribute to organization of one more interesting projects of the Museum — exhibition of V.A. Beklemishev, and I hope that all art connoisseurs will share our sympathy towards the work of this talented sculptor. In our opinion, the assistance provided to museums by large businesses will enable them to strengthen as full-fledged members of the cultural community, and it will take off some financial load from the government".

The most important part of the cultural heritage left by V.A. Beklemishev (1861 — 1919) is constituted by the portraits of his contemporaries, many of whom played a notable role in social and artistic life. This is an entire portrait gallery consisting of over thirty statues, figurines, and busts — the best of those are demonstrated at the exhibition in the Russian Museum. Overall, we may see at the exposition 27 sculptures in marble, bronze, and tinted gypsum. Many of these works have not been exhibited or published before. The exhibits of the Russian Museum complement the works included in collections of The Tretyakov Gallery, The M.I. Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture, The All-Russian Pushkin Museum, The State Museum "Pavlovsk", and the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts.