Vyacheslav Kalinin is an artist of the legendary “Lianozovo group” — an informal community of like-minded people who gathered in the barracks of Evgeny Kropivnitsky and his son-in-law Oscar Rabin. Kalinin from the student's bench was excommunicated from the official exhibitions. The commission of the Moscow Union of Artists quickly identified “non-Soviet” mood of his work. However, such a life was destined to many original artists — apartment exhibitions, shows at physics institutes and in cafes.

The works of “Vasya the Lanternman” — Vasil Yaklich — Vasily Yakovlevich Sitnikov are a rarity at auction. And so characteristic of his nude — a rarity and even more so. That's exactly the kind of Sitnikov collectors are after. Sitnikov, as it is commonly said, is a legend of the 1960s. A self-taught man who went through hell in prison and a mental hospital. No formal education. Only books, museums, lectures at the Surikov Institute (there he showed slides on a projector — hence the “lanternman”). Vasily Sitnikov is in the top of the most expensive 1960s artists.

Together with Zverev, he became a symbol of unofficial art. These are still two names that first come to mind: the rebellious Zverev and the quiet, soulful Yakovlev. An artist of a difficult fate. He spent many months in psychiatric institutions. Poorly saw, at the end of his life he almost completely lost his sight. But the sixties and seventies are the peak of the creative form of Vladimir Yakovlev.