MASTERPIECES

PLAVINSKY Dmitry Petrovich (1937–2012) Paleographic composition. 1970. Oil on canvas, see vol. 100 × 79.5

The 1960s artist from the clip of the first names of unofficial post-war art. Master of Structural Symbolism. Plavinsky was inspired by the achievements of ancient cultures, their symbols and signs. He traveled a lot in the USSR since the late 1950s, walked half the country, studied historical monuments and artifacts of the past. And, admittedly, our big country gave him enough material for difficult experiences. The Russian North was already a land of ruined churches, dilapidated huts and devastation. But what struck fear in an unprepared traveler sometimes became a source of strong emotions for a cosmist and a born artist-researcher.

Since the mid-1960s, Plavinsky has been fascinated by the theme of paleography with artistic reinterpretation of artifacts of ancient writing. And today we have just exemplary work from this most valuable period. What do we see here? Fragments of icon setting and sheets with texts in Church Slavonic are intricately intertwined on the presented paleographic composition. And we, the audience, involuntarily want to start deciphering them. But the idea of the work goes much deeper. This is a symbolic monument to the leaving village, a reminder of the destruction of the centuries-old way of life, a kind of “farewell to Matera”.

So, the first masterpiece of our auction. Plavinsky. 1970 year. Highest level. And certainly a museum value.

RUKHIN Evgeny Lvovich (1943–1976) Composition with the icon of the Mother of God (1968–1969). Composition with an icon (1969). Oil on cardboard, PVA tempera (titanium white). 47 × 33 (each)

1970s legend. Forever young, who died at the age of 32, nonconformist Evgeny Rukhin. Today, his authentic confirmed works are very rare at auction. Buyers need to be very vigilant. Because, alas, there are many fakes.

Since the early 1960s, Rukhin was one of the most active participants in the unofficial artistic process and, perhaps, the main ambassador of the Leningrad underground in Moscow. He came to Nemukhin and Rabin, learned a lot from them, sold works in Moscow and was one of the leaders of the underground. Nemukhin recalled how Rukhin came to the “bulldozer exhibition”: “Zhenya Rukhin was dressed in a bright blue suit, he came as if to a holiday. The rain is dripping, and he is in full dress, without an umbrella. His mother Evgenia Valerianovna also came — after all, her son has an exhibition. A few minutes will pass, and Rukhin in this blue suit will be knocked down and dragged through the mud into a police car”. However, the provocations and repressions of the authorities only gave him strength. Rukhin was one of the few who was not afraid. “Rocked the boat”, demanded the right to organize exhibitions for independent artists in Leningrad. In general, he set a bad example of independence for the rest: he was friends with American artists and exhibited abroad. It is not for nothing that the version that the tragedy in his workshop was not an accident still remains plausible. The artist died in a strange fire. All were saved, but Rukhin suffocated in the smoke.

Two paintings by Evgeny Rukhin presented today returned to their homeland from the other side of the world. They were found in Australia, where in the seventies they were taken away by Rukhin's friends — geologists (Rukhin himself was a geologist by education and even worked by profession for some time).

What's especially interesting: both paintings are works of the late 1960s. And this is the beginning of a particularly valuable “classical” period in Rukhin’s work. At that time, he mastered complex original plastic techniques, began to apply his own signature techniques that imitate ready-made. As in the case of Plavinsky, both of Rukhin's works refer to a Christian theme, using iconographic subjects for the images of the Trinity and the icon of the Mother of God. A rare artist. Especially valuable period. Silaev's expertise.

LEONOV Pavel Petrovich (1920–2011) Maslenitsa. Oil on canvas. 71 × 92

Pavel Leonov is one of the main artists of Russian naive art. He only got time for painting after he turned 50. Mikhail Roginsky, his teacher at the correspondence institute, helped him with technical knowledge. And there were plenty of ideas and inspiration. A difficult life was left behind: prison camps, the front, and the North. Such that it was not a sin to escape from it into his own fictional world, where there is an eternal holiday and life is arranged fairly. Today we have an extraordinary “Maslenitsa” by Leonov. There is still a long time to wait for the real one — it will only start on March 8, 2021. But with Leonov's painting, the spring festival will be every day.

RUSSIAN CLASSICS

KHARITONOV Nikolai Vasilievich (1880–1944) Evening. Landscape with a fisherman. 1920–1930s. Oil on canvas. 47.2 × 70

The landscape was painted already in exile, in the 1920s, when Kharitonov worked in Europe, and then in the USA. But the spirit of the picture is completely Russian. Fisherman, fishing rod, sunset over calm water. Most likely this is a memory of Russia, of Valaam, where he was a novice in his youth and studied icon painting. Later Nikolai Kharitonov successfully graduated from the Imperial Academy, studied under Repin, participated in exhibitions of the Itinerants, was a member of the Kuindzhi Society. There is evidence that for many years after emigration, the artist dreamed of returning to his homeland. But the White Guard past made this step suicidal. The artist is buried in the USA. In Russia, his work is presented in the Russian Museum, the Krasnodar Museum named after Kovalenko, and others.

1960s UNOFFICIAL ART

TURETSKY Boris Zakharovich (1928–1997) 6 drawings. Abstract series. Early 1960s. Ink on paper. 14.5 × 18.5 (each)

Boris Turetsky is one of the most mysterious innovators of post-war unofficial art. He does not belong to any group. Conditionally, we can say that Turetsky is an artist of the circle of Mikhail Roginsky (with whom they were friends and taught at the correspondence institute), Vladimir Weisberg and Yevgeny Izmailov. “Circle” in the sense of a circle of like-minded people, not a creative association. In art, Turetsky was a loner, an incomprehensible eccentric, a philosopher ahead of his time. In Soviet times, the main exhibition halls of Turetsky were the apartments of friends — Andrei Volkonsky and others. Official shows were out of the question. In the seventies, mental illness knocked him out of the saddle for several years. And when he returned to art, his style changed a lot. Black geometric constructions from the abstract series of the 1960s are his valuable period, the most recognizable Turetsky, hunted by discerning collectors.

KAZARIN Viktor Semenovich (1948) Bird. 1988. Oil on hardboard. 100 × 79

And again, the work of a particularly valuable period. Viktor Kazarin. Bird.

1988 year. An artist in his prime. Ahead is an exhibition in the Manege, grandiose plans, new ideas. At that time, Kazarin was working for wear and tear, relying on the overstressing method invented by him. Creating several works a day, falling off his feet, the artist, in fact, put himself into a trance, reached the peak of creative revelation.

Kazarin belongs to the generation of the seventies, unofficial artists of the “City Committee”. As part of the “Group 21”, he participated in exhibitions on Malaya Gruzinskaya together with his friend and co-author of the cycle of works Anatoly Zverev. He was the founder of his own group “Hammer”.

ACTUAL ART

SAVKO Alexander (1957) Hello, beauty! 2018. Canvas, print, acrylic. 120 × 80

Alexander Savko is one of the few artists in contemporary Russia who has been prosecuted for inciting religious hatred. His palimpsest, a comic rework of the plot of a famous engraving, was declared extremist material in 2011, by the court of the once free-thinking Tarusa.

In the case of the painting “Hello, beauty!” this does not threaten. After all, we have before us a grotesque reinterpretation of the painting “Chimney Sweep” by the itinerant Firs Zhuravlev. In it, in modern terms, a specialist from a cleaning company, grimy as a devil, accostes another representative of a cleaning company. The moment is tense: in a second he will either achieve his goal, or get a rag in the face (the poor guy steps on the freshly washed floor). A small painting of 1875 is kept in the Ulyanovsk Museum.

Ours is four times more. Instead of an unclean chimney sweep, the role of the tempter is played by the Joker — the idol of the era of romanticization of mental disorders. The chances of the villain are much higher. In the background, the towers of Moscow City sparkle with windows. And, most importantly, the Joker does not make the classic ladies' man's mistake — he does not walk on a freshly washed one.

Firs Zhuravlev is an artist of interesting destiny. He was a tailor, but at the age of twenty he decided to become an artist. And he succeeded. An excellent student of the Imperial Academy, he became one of the participants in the “riot of the fourteen”. In 1863, graduates of the Academy demanded freedom in choosing a competitive theme. The authorities interpreted this as a riot, the artists were expelled from the Academy. The incident was reported to the Emperor. And the rioters were put under police surveillance. However, the repressions did not prevent Zhuravlev and his friends the Itinerants from entering the history of art. The author is appreciated for his courage and accuracy in the choice of acutely social subjects. He is remembered for his works “Before the Crown”, “Merchant’s funeral feast”. And also for the frivolous canvas “Bachelorette Party in the Bath”. However, this is a completely different story.