Natalia Eduardovna Grigorieva-Litvinskaya is a founder and Chief Curator of The Lumiere Brothers Gallery – the first Russian photography gallery, aimed at encouraging promotion and sales of the finest Russian and European photographs in Moscow. In 2010, Natalia founded the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography. The Museum's exhibition program aims to provide a broad perspective on photography with a special emphasis on Russian 20th century artists. The program has been built around the center's collection and collaborations with contemporary photographers and private collectors.
Life and work
In 1995, Natalia Grigorieva graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute; in 1998 - from International University in Moscow; In 2001, Natalia, together with her husband, Eduard Litvinsky, opened Lumiere Brothers Galleryat the Center House of Artists – first photography gallery in Russia. For the past 19 years the gallery has amassed a vast collection of prints featuring chef d’oeuvres by renowned Soviet and the World famous artists: Alexander Rodchenko, Antanas Sutkus, Yakov Khalip, Vladimir Lagrange, Arnold Newman, Wynn Bullock, Ruth Orkin, Elliott Erwitt, Steve Schapiro, Guy Bourdin, Vivian Maier, Sabine Weiss, Harry Benson, Sheila Metzner, Miles Aldridge. In 2010, Natalia and Eduard founded the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, private exhibition organization, renowned for presenting an in-depth look into Russian 20th century photography and highlighting acclaimed and emerging foreign artists. The Center possesses one of the largest collections of the 20th century Russian photography in the world spanning from Pictorialism and Avant-garde of the early 20th century through Socialist Realism of the 1930s and photojournalism and artistic photography of the 1960s – 1970s to underground movements of the 1980s – 1990s and contemporary art. With over 19 years of experience in the field Natalia has been actively involved in developing photography market in Russia and establishing cross-cultural relations. For the last few years Natalia has closely worked with American, European and Asian artists, including recent participation as a portfolio reviewer at Lianzhou FotoFest 2015 and FotoFest Houston 2016. For the last 5 years Natalia has curated over 70 exhibitions, including:
The Soviet photography 60-70: Yuri Abramochkin, Lev Borodulin, Igor Gnevashev, Naum Granovsky, Yakov Khalip, Vladimir Lagrange
The Phenomenon of the Lithuanian photography school: Antanas Sutkus, Vitalijus Butyrinas, Aleksandras Macijauskas
Alexander Rodchenko. From the Still Art Foundation Collection
Guy Bourdin. Follow me
Having organized a number of monographic exhibitions of foreign artists, the Center aims to expand its international program by creating conceptual exhibitions that would become a meeting ground for works produced by different artists and covering various countries and periods. Starting from 2017, Natalia is curating Moscow's first internationalcontemporary photography and photobook festival PHOTOBOOKFEST. The focus of the festival is the issues of actual documentary and art photography, the transformation of the photographic image in post-digital time, alternative models of art and media markets.
Publishing programme
Natalia is also curating a major research project of the Center - The Anthology of Russian Photography of the XX Century. Publications result from research activities and accompany the major projects of the Lumiere:
