Guardians
March 5 – 29, 2009
In the art museums of Russia, women sit in the galleries and guard the collections. When you look at the paintings and sculptures, the presence of the women becomes an inherent part of viewing the artwork itself. I found the guards as intriguing to observe as the pieces they watch over. In conversations they told me how much they like being among Russia’s great art. A woman in Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery Museum said she often returns there on her day off to sit in front of a painting that reminds her of her childhood home. Another guard travels three hours each day to work, since at home she would just sit on her porch and complain about her illnessess, “ as old women do.” She would rather be at the museum enjoying the people watching, surrounded by the history of her country.
The pictures in this series were made at museums in St Petersburg and Moscow in 2008 and 2009. Guardians won the Photolucida Book Award and it was published by them in 2009.
Andy Freeberg was born in New York City where he learned at an early age to be a critical observer of the world and the people in it. After studying at the University of Michigan, he began his photography career in New York taking portraits for such publications as Rolling Stone, Time, and Fortune. In 2007 Freeberg emerged on the contemporary art scene as a wry commentator on the art industry itself.
He has four books published of his works, Guardians: pictures of the women that guard the art in Russian museums, Art Fare: photographs of gallery owners and their workers at the big contemporary art fairs in New York, Miami and Basel, Switzerland, Advisor: featuring a company of art consultants delivering works to their San Francisco Bay Area clients and Where Art Thou?: a compilation of his four art world series published in conjunction with his 2022 retrospective at the Serlachius Museum in Finland.
Freeberg’s photographs have been exhibited extensively around the world in London, Russia, Mexico City, China, South Korea, Paris, New York and Los Angeles. His work is in many public and private collections including SFMOMA, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the George Eastman Museum, the Portland Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Serlachius Museum.