Moscow celebrates the art and life of Eleonora Duse

(AGI) Moscow, Nov 23 - Moscow's State Contemporary History Museum will open the exhibition on "Eleonora Duse and Vera Komissarzhevskaja. Two Divas in the Mirror", on Nov 23. The exhibition is organised by major Russian and Italian institutions and museums, and by the Italian Cultural Institute in Moscow. The exhibition narrates the life and artistic career of the two great stars of the past century's theatre. They were both passionate in their search for new forms of expression and acting registers, experimenting through the method of psychological realism. They met in St. Petersburg in 1896 and developed a strong feeling of mutual appreciation and esteem. The exhibition is divided into several sections., one of which is entirely dedicated to Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) . Maria Ida Biggi, director of the Centro Studi per la Ricerca Documentale sul Teatro e Melodramma Europeo, and Marianna Zannoni, researcher in the above centre, who put Duse's numerous international tours back together, are the curators of this section. The Italian artist's most remarkable and famous tours took place in Russia in 1891, 1896 and 1908. They clearly outline the evolution of Duse's career and art. Anton Chekhov wrote a letter to his sister, in 1891: "I have just now seen the Italian actress Duse perform as Cleopatra in Shakespeare's play. I don't know Italian, but her acting was so superb that I thought I understood every word she said. What a marvelous actress!" Olga Strada, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Moscow said that "this exhibition gives an opportunity to understand the wealth of ideas and creative stimuli which contributed to the shaping of a common cultural geography in Europe between the 19th and 20th centuries. Italy and Russia shared common art values and fed a creative dialogue in art, architecture, literature, and music, but also in drama. It was a sort of common inspiration symbolized by Eleonora Duse and Vera Komissarzhevskaja." (AGI). .