The Khoroshevskaya metro station is part of the Moscow government's grandiose plans to develop the metro. It is included in the third interchange circuit, in its first segment: Savelovskaya - Shelepikha. All stations are arranged according to the same principle: a large-span column station, a central island-type hall with two platforms. The difference is in the color of the marble and the decoration of the ceiling. But monumental compositions based on the Russian avant-garde gave the station's architecture an uncommon expression.
The Metrogiprotrans company has been working on the Big Circle Line of the Moscow Metro for many years. “Since many historic metro stations have become architectural monuments, we wanted to achieve timelessness through decoration,” says Vsevolod Medvedev. - Leading masters of contemporary monumental art, artists Nikita Medvedev and Vasily Bubnov were invited to participate in the competition. For about two years they were engaged in sketches. Medvedev worked on the Khoroshevskaya and Nizhnyaya Maslovka stations, and Bubnov on the Petrovsky Park and CSKA stations.
The theme of Khoroshevskaya's decorative and artistic design did not arise by chance. My father immediately decided that the theme would be the most important trends of the 20th century, Constructivism and Suprematism, because in Moscow there is not a single metro station dedicated to artists and architects. The unique Russian avant-garde is a symbol of Russian art that has opened up endless possibilities for creativity. This is Russia's contribution to world culture, and we do not even have a Malevich Museum in Nemchinovka yet."
Indeed, there is no prophet in his homeland, and queues at the Tretyakov Gallery are on Serov, and Malevich and his "Black Square" are not spoiled by the attention of the population. It is unlikely that people on the streets will name the artists and architects of the Russian avant-garde. And although the impulse into the future and into space is undoubtedly inherent in the Russian avant-garde, and the feeling “And I saw a new Heaven, and a new Earth” captures, even among researchers there is still no clarity of what kind of heaven and earth it is, not to mention ordinary citizens. In a word, the authors faced not only a decorative, but also an educational task.
The eastern lobby is dedicated to Suprematism, while the western lobby is dedicated to constructivism. The ceilings of the checkout rooms and descents above the escalators are covered with monumental murals, more strict, orthogonal in the case of architects, more dynamic in the case of artists. We see familiar motifs on the ceiling, including the many times enlarged black square of Malevich and the inscriptions "Suprematism", "Exter", "Rodchenko". The inscriptions are made in authentic fonts, Suprematist or Constructivist, in the western, architectural, lobby - as if taken from the SA magazine. The calculation, in particular, was that people would be interested and look on the Internet.
The "architectural" lobby presents the avant-garde Olympus: Melnikov, Leonidov, Ginzburg, Golosov, the Vesnin brothers. In the composition, generalized fragments of stairs, walls and windows are guessed, perceived from below in an acute foreshortening against the background of the blue sky. Heavens in the metro, in mosaics or otherwise, are also found at historical stations, for example Mayakovskaya and Oktyabrskaya, so here you can see the continuation of the tradition.
Since the funding was less than expected, it was not possible to implement the idea of transparent glowing stained glass light boxes, on which the texture of painterly strokes was to be imprinted. All surfaces had to be made of aluminum.
And the idea of manual painting was conceived, so that the artist's hand was visible, so that the relief, and the texture of the paints, and multilayer glazed surfaces were felt. According to Vsevolod Medvedev, monumental art individualizes design, introduces a human dimension. At a low price compared to construction, the return on monumental art is extremely high, and its impact lasts for many years - we can see this in the example of mosaics and stained glass windows of historic stations.
Architectural motives of constructivism and painting of Suprematism appeared in unusual Cezanne colors. Vsevolod Medvedev explains this softened coloring by the fact that the Russian avant-garde, with its intense color, increased to such an enormous size, would be too aggressive and overwhelming. It must be said that where in painting there are fractures of planes, corners and breakthroughs in depth, the illusion of surface metamorphosis is very great. That is, the plane breaks through, flattens and breaks in full. If you add an open color there, the passengers can really feel dizzy.
The main task was to compositionally combine the pictorial motives of the avant-garde and the laconic, austere space of the station. The fact that all this is located above the escalator, on the bend of the planes and is perceived in motion, adds additional dynamics to the already energetic compositions.
And black marble with white stars and veins, like the night sky, came in very handy. The avant-garde is placed in a new space, where its cosmic impulses are sharpened, wedges cut into circles, fly and fall - they allegorically demonstrate space wars, close in spirit to modern man.
