Named after the Futurist opera by Mikhail Matyushin – a landmark in the history of the Russian avant-garde – Victory over the Sun presents a broad canvas of the artistic movements that accompanied the socio-political upheavals in Russia during the 20th century. In the comprehensive exhibition catalogue, fascinating essays by Head Curator of Prints and Drawings Tanya Sirakovich and other experts in the field trace the complex evolution of avant-garde art in Russia, from Kazimir Malevich’s radical artistic revolution in the second decade of the century, through the nonconformism of Ilya Kabakov, Komar and Melamid, and others in the sixties to the eighties, and up until the work of a new generation of artists such as Pavel Pepperstein and Vadim Zakharov. Featuring an impressive album of major avant-garde works and books, the catalogue discusses such themes as Malevich’s Black Square, the Moscow Conceptual School, underground art, the illustrated album, and Sots Art, uncovering what might be described as the DNA of the Russian avant-garde: innovative thinking, a spirit of experimentation, cross-disciplinary practices, and a fascination with the written word.