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On 19 November, RSAL Hosted the Lecture ‘Portraits of Russian and Foreign Writers in the Works of Luis Ortega’

Publication date: 23.11.2021

The Incorel Foundation for Culture and Art presented the work of the world-famous artist, philosopher, and poet Luis Ortega (1937–2012) at RSAL’s Readers Museum.

In early childhood, during the Spanish Civil War, Luis Ortega lost his family and was taken to the USSR where he remained. Today, his works are in 109 museums and collections in 30 countries. They are exhibited in the largest museums in Moscow and St Petersburg, are in the US Library of Congress and the Vatican, and have received 14 national and international awards.

President of the Incorel Foundation for Culture and Art, collector Andrey Arkhipov, spoke about Luis Ortega’s work and innovations in the art of engraving. Luis Ortega created his own unique technique—roll engraving, a portrait on copper from nature, a coloured roll. The master created a true portrait gallery of Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Bulgakov, and other writers.

Culturologist Lana Borisova, author of artistic essays about the portrait gallery of Luis Ortega, spoke about the pictorial features of the artist’s portrait graphics, in particular, about the information encoded in his works that has been unravelled by art historians.

The Incorel Foundation for Culture and Art presented participants of the meeting with the rare opportunity to see original engravings by Luis Ortega.