Dmitry Lion. Procession

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Russian Jewish Congress are proud to present a solo exhibition by Dmitry Lion (1925–1993). The project is part of the Holocaust Remembrance Week in Moscow programme. This is the second joint initiative after the exhibition Rescuers. Ways of Salvation held in 2025.

Dmitry Lion is recognised as an artist-philosopher and innovator, who had not joined any of the well-known official or unofficial movements. Master of graphic art, he developed his own concept of light-bearing paper and drawing, using short strokes, dots and touches as his main tools. As if dissolving and reappearing on white, his works balance between the figurative and the abstract.

The tragedy of the Holocaust, after which, in the words of Theodor Adorno, it was ‘barbaric’ to write poetry, marked a turning point for Lion. He started working in the mid-1950s and took on the tough job of visually capturing the Holocaust, which he had learned about in the early post-war years after 10 years in the army. Almost all of his works are direct or indirect references to Jewishness. The history of the persecuted people became one of the main subjects of his art.

The 100th anniversary of Dmitry Lion is not only an occasion to show his original graphic series, but also an opportunity to rediscover his creative method. The exhibition has a three-part structure, combining a conceptual introduction, an exposition of graphics, and a media installation based on Lion’s works. The display includes works from the collections of the artist’s family, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the AZ Museum, the ART4 Museum of Contemporary Art, and private collections..

Curated by

Elena Kamenskaya

Research consultant

Elena Milanovskaya

Dmitry Borisovich Lion (1925-1993) was a graphic artist who developed his own concept of light and drawing. After studying at art school and serving in the army for many years, he enrolled at the Polygraphic Institute in 1953, where he studied under teachers from the VKhUTEMAS generation of artists, including P.G. Zakharov, A.D. Goncharov, and I.I. Chekmazov.

From the late 1950s, Lion worked as a book and magazine illustrator, while also creating original graphic sheets ‘for himself’. These were on the Holocaust, the Bible, poets and writers of the past, and old European masters. His triptych in memory of Janusz Korczak, experimental frescoes, and large-format ink sheets date back to the 1960s. By the end of that decade, the artist had developed an original concept of graphic art that influenced many of his contemporaries. In the 1970s, he created a series of drypoint etchings on biblical subjects. As a mature artist, Lion joined the Union of Artists of the USSR in 1977. Lion’s works were part of many group exhibitions, including some abroad, but it wasn’t until 1990 that he had his first solo exhibition Procession, at the Central House of Artists in Moscow. His works are in the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the ROSIZO State Museum and Exhibition Centre, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the ART4 Museum of Modern Art, regional museum collections in Russia and other countries, as well as in private collections.