On November 21, Larisa Finkelstein, a good friend of the library, a well-known Belarusian art critic, art critic, curator of exhibitions, gallery owner, founder and art director of the author's non-profit conceptual gallery "Brama", a member of the Belarusian Union of Artists, the Belarusian Union of Designers, the Belarusian Union of Literary and Art Critics, the Association of Art Critics (Russia), passed away.
Cooperation with Larisa Finkelstein has become a good tradition of the National Library. Larisa Finkelstein has been our loyal reader and incredible organizer of exhibition events for more than 50 years. Her role in gallery and exhibition life cannot be overestimated. She started working on landmark exhibitions in the former library building, and in the current one she organized numerous expositions in her favourite gallery "Rakurs" on the 2nd floor. Under her bright curatorship, a number of talented projects were organized – the exhibitions "Favourites" by Serafima Potapova (2023), "30 years of the first Belarusian gallery "Brama" (2022), "Personal" (2018), "Talks in green" (2016),"Snowy Summer" (2015), "Smart Metal" (2014), "Texture" (2005) and many others. Larisa Finkelstein often took part in the opening days of the library's exhibition projects. She planned a joint exhibition for 2024.
For many years of curatorial activity Larisa Finkelstein has opened hundreds of exhibitions in Belarus and abroad. The projects of the Brama Gallery and its founder decorated numerous festivals and premieres, discovered new names and impressed with their conceptuality. The gallery and its incredible curator presented to the audience the most original authors and the most iconic works of painting, graphics, sculpture, magnificent examples of decorative and applied art.
Larisa Finkelstein's curatorial and teaching activities, her articles, projects, interviews, excursions and creative meetings are a whole epoch that has become an event in the Belarusian fine arts. She was a kind of engine of artistic processes, a legend of exhibition activity in Belarus, created as a curator herself and was able to distinguish the "real" in culture. She generously shared her knowledge, inviting everyone to the space of exquisite taste, professional quality, fundamental depth and extraordinary beauty.
The library staff mourns the irreparable loss and keeps the memory of an extremely talented art critic, a charismatic interlocutor, a professional gallery owner and curator, a wonderful author and storyteller, an enthusiastic personality, a strong and bright person – the unique Larisa Finkelstein.
The material was prepared by the department of gallery and exhibition activities.
