MASTERPIECES

SVESHNIKOV Boris Petrovich (1927–1998) Crossing the May River. 1989. Oil on canvas. 70 × 50

Nonconformist Boris Sveshnikov called his masterpiece “Crossing the May River”. May — with a capital letter. We did not find such a geographical name. There is the Far Eastern Maya, a tributary of Aldan. But Sveshnikov, obviously, had in mind something else. Something mythological or metaphorical. In the background we see a bridge over a gorge that two people cross. And probably a family of three is looking at us from the foreground. What kind of transition? What is the bridge? Bridge over fate? The border of two worlds? Or just the end of a difficult spring? In the mythology of different countries, the bridge over the river symbolizes the border between heaven and earth. The world of people and the world of the divine.

What kind of people? Three ages? We don’t know. The riddle will be the first task for the new owner.

And we will additionally pay attention to the quality of the work. Sveshnikov had several degrees of elaboration of pictorial surfaces — several degrees of complexity of his specific divisionism, a picturesque mosaic from which he composed his plots. Before us is the work of the very highest complexity. Good luck to collectors. Even for those who have this is not the first Sveshnikov in the collection.

ZVEREV Anatoly Timofeevich (1931–1976) Village houses. 1976. Oil on canvas. 60 × 40

What does the expertise of the Repin Center done by Valery Silaev tell us? “Apparently, this work was written by Zverev from nature in a characteristic powerful, expressive and innovative manner. Using a rather meager set of colors and invented unconventional writing techniques, such as the back side and neck of a tube of paint, dusting and scratching to achieve expressiveness,.. achieving decorative work in this small painting and creating a special mood for a winter, rustic motif.”

RARITIES

YAKOVLEV Vladimir Igorevich (1934–1998) Bird. 1979. Cardboard, gouache. 50.5 × 34.5

Rarely such a “Bird” reaches the middle of the Dnieper. Gouache of 1979. The thing is very difficult. An unexpected plot. Not a flower or portrait familiar to all of us in Yakovlev’s drawings, but the plot is more complicated. Work for the eye and for the heart. In a word, a find for those who are looking for the unexpected Yakovlev. Expert Valery Silaev in his conclusion notes that the work has museum significance.

FOR THE FIRST TIME

TAL Andrey Alekseevich (1951–2010) Puppets. 1989. Oil on canvas. 68 × 81

Puppets are pulled, they have smiles on their faces, and a clown plays the trumpet... The author of our “Puppets” is Andrey Tal. Apprentice of Vladimir Weisberg. Tal was born in 1951, but certainly refers to the orbit of unofficial art. We were told how in 1974 he was detained at a bulldozer exhibition, where he was present not as a participant, but as a spectator. After the appearance of the city committee of graphics, Tal was exhibited in Malaya Gruzinskaya. He was a member of the independent group “Archipelago”. Despite the modernist plots, Tal called himself a painterly fundamentalist, referring to a commitment to old technology. He carefully prepared canvases, paints, used painstaking painting techniques and methods. And “Puppets” is evidence of this. Before us is a strong painting with a very metaphorical theme — puppets, as an image of lack of will, controllability, lack of freedom. This painting was created in 1989. The USSR is still in the yard, but the system is already cracking at the seams.

Tal painting appears for the first time not only at our auction, but also on the auction market in Russia.

ORIENTAL RARITIES

BIRSTEIN Max Avadievich (1914–2000) Autumn in Khiva. 1989. Oil on canvas. 70 × 100

Birstein is a student of Grabar, a friend of Deineka. He is called the Soviet Impressionist, although this combination still seems outlandish. He was in love with travel. After the war, Birstein found inspiration in trips to the North, in Central Asia. Our “Autumn in Khiva” is a later memory of those travels. The place depicted is wonderful. Before us is Khiva — the ancient city of the Khorezm kingdom in modern Uzbekistan. The city is more than 2500 years old. The picture probably depicts the mausoleum of the philosopher and patron of Khiva — Pakhlavan-Mahmud.

CLOSE-UP

ZUBAREV Vladislav Konstantinovich (1937–2013) A woman with a dagger. 1981. Oil on canvas. 138 × 89

Abstraction with a figurative name. And, if you look closely, then everything is visible. A woman. And a dagger. Everything is in place. Please note that the signature is located in an unusual place — in the upper third of the canvas. And it was made in Russian “Зубарев”, although the artist most often signed in Latin.

Vladislav Zubarev is a student of Ely Bielutin and his colleague in “New Reality”. Later, Zubarev himself will become the founder of his own studio “Temporal Reality”, will study the issues of time in art. “A woman with a dagger” refers to a particularly valuable period in the artist's work. This is just the period of gaining full independence, three years after leaving Bielutin.

KAZARIN Viktor Semenovich (1948) Pierrot. 1994. Oil on canvas. 100 × 60

Another big canvas. Although not gigantic in size. Russian neo-expressionist Viktor Kazarin. He was one of the founders of the “21” group and the creator of the “Hammer” group. Exhibited at Malaya Gruzinskaya, in 1992 made a personal exhibition in the Manege. “Pierrot” is 1994. Pastous, voluminous, very effective painting. Note.