RUSSIA EXPO showed how children saw the future a hundred years ago and how they see it today

The opening of the exposition "Little Creators of the Great Motherland. Children's Drawings of the 1920s-2020s" took place at the Pavilion No. 48 House of Culture of the International RUSSIA EXPO.

The general public can see 48 works from the selection of the International Collection of Children's Drawings of the Russian Academy of Education and works by the winners of the All-Russian Children's Drawing Contest "Russia of the Future". The things that children of the XX century depicted in their drawings became the achievements of Russia of the XXI century.

"Here today, as part of the RUSSIA EXPO, we are opening a unique exposition of children's drawings "Little Creators of the Great Motherland". When we were preparing this exposition, we had a task that was both simple and very difficult at the same time: to show through children's drawings how little citizens, little creators see the future of their country. We decided to take drawings from our collection - a unique collection of the International Collection of Children's Drawings, which includes 200 thousand drawings. The oldest drawing is dated 1897, the most recent one — the end of October 2023. This is the only collection of this scale", — said the President of the Russian Academy of Education Olga Vasilyeva.

She noted that drawings of the last century were taken for the exposition: from 1923 to 2023.

"At the RUSSIA EXPO you will see how our little compatriots envisioned the future of Russia 100 years ago. The last drawings are dated 2023, they are devoted, again, to children's vision of Russia's future. The age of the artists is very different — from six to 16 years old", — Olga Vasilyeva added.

According to her, the exposition demonstrates that children's creativity is capable of performing miracles, overcoming all boundaries, including temporary ones.

On the first day of the exposition, Natalia Fomina, the curator of the collection, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education, scientific head of the Laboratory for the Development of Supplementary Education at the Center for the Development of Education of the Russian Academy of Education, gave a tour around it.

The visitors saw unique archive works, some of which were created in the early XX century and vividly illustrate the life and routine of that time, as well as drawings of today's schoolchildren, dedicated to the achievements of Russian scientists in various fields of science and technology, the "city of the future" and space exploration. The works were submitted to a children's drawing contest organized by the Russian Academy of Education.

The drawings of children of the XX century presented at the exposition, in which they displayed their vision of Russia in the future, were embodied in the achievements of Russia of the XXI century, said Deputy Director General of the ANO «Directorate of the Exhibition of Achievements "Russia"» Anastasia Zvyagina.

"This exposition is unique: here we see the dreams of children that they put on paper 100 years ago. We see that the dreams they drew have become reality nowadays. For example, even back then children were already depicting the construction of the metro - today we see how actively the metro is developing in our cities. And our proposal is to extend this exposition and bring more works here. Here you can also take part in masterclasses: for example, learn to draw and paint a matryoshka doll", — she said and invited everyone to see how children's dreams turn into achievements of the country.

The exposition opening ceremony ended with a calligraphy masterclass.

Over the weekend, the exposition will host a number of thematic classes where participants will be able to learn old techniques of painting matryoshka dolls and create a unique clay handicraft, get acquainted with the pointillism art technique and draw a picture, as well as make musical instruments from improvised means and play popular melodies on them under the guidance of a teacher.

The International RUSSIA EXPO is the most important achievements of the country gathered on one platform. Throughout the entire time of the Exposition, guests can look forward to cultural events, a rich business and educational program. The expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations are presented to the visitors. The exposition takes place at VDNH in Moscow from November 4 to April 12.