Before us is a great rarity. An example of a large, nervous painting by Vladimir Yakovlev. And one of his most important themes is the cat. There is a beautiful legend that Yakovlev once saw from the window of a psychiatric hospital how a cat caught a pigeon. He was shocked, imagining himself in the place of the unfortunate bird. But knowledgeable people say otherwise. The cat in Yakovlev's work was inspired by Picasso's “Cat Catching a Bird”. Dramatic philosophical subject: a metaphor of human destinies, a conversation about the predator and the victim, about the defenselessness of man in the face of circumstances.

This is the astounding story of how Vladimir Yakovlev, a retoucher for a publishing house, began to draw under the impression of exhibitions of foreign artists as part of the 1957 Youth Festival. And he quickly revealed himself as a phenomenal intuitive painter. In the 1970s, his gouaches became symbols of unofficial art. They were bought by representatives of the Soviet creative and scientific intelligentsia. Against the background of the dominance of propaganda art, the purchase of Yakovlev's works was certainly a form of intellectual resistance.

The history of this gouache can be traced back to 1969, when it was acquired by the American collector Arthur Odum. In the U.S., this piece participated in the exhibition «Russian Painting of the 1960s, «was published in a catalog in 1990. “The work under study belongs to a rare cycle of Yakovlev's works painted in pointillé. Such pieces from the late 1960s, executed at such a high level, are a great rarity... This is certainly a creative success of Vladimir Yakovlev... It is a monument to Moscow's unofficial art...” These are quotations from Valery Silaev's expertise.

1996 — the golden period of the famous duo Vinogradov-Dubosarsky, when they split the community of connoisseurs. Some considered them deliberately kitsch artists, almost opportunists to please the tastes of merchants. And they were definitely considered art hooligans. Knowledgeable people, on the contrary, noted the thoughtful conceptual irony of Vinogradov and Dubosarsky and predicted the role of the duo as spokesmen for the spirit of all the 1990s. Now, at a distance, it is clear that they were right.

One of the favorite subjects of the Freudian, the ideologist of psychophysiology in painting, is nude in space. And, of course, the signature technique of the “Russian Morandi” is the immersion of a character or object in an atmosphere cleansed of everything superfluous. This watercolor has it all. The secret of whiteness. “Invisible” colors. Cold silence. And even the model's face in his system should not distract from immersion in this infinity. Weisberg is a phenomenally subtle colorist who works painstakingly and precisely.

What unites Belenok's “panic realism” and Gintovt's “pre-dawn”? Of course, that very heavy oppressive atmosphere, the nature of which was scary to formulate. A premonition of a universal catastrophe. And a very valuable accurate hit in its own time. And it is no coincidence that this premonition of the apocalypse, the atmosphere of an impending catastrophe, is becoming one of the core themes in art these days.

In 2005 this painting was sold at Christie’s Russian Sales under the title “Portrait of a lady with dark eyes”. No clarification. Only later, experts identified the model as Ashkhen Melikova. She was a friend of the brilliant Salome Andronikova, who was called the last muse of the Silver Age. Melikova moved in the circle of artists and poets, which included Shukhaev, Grigoriev, Sorin, Sudeikin, Serebryakova, Tsvetaeva. Melikova is known, in particular, for the portrait of another Russian Parisian, Alexander Yakovlev, which depicts her and Salome in 1922.

Vasily Yakovlevich Sitnikov is a legend of unofficial art of the thaw era. His nickname Vasya the Lanternman is due to the fact that he worked on a projector for showing transparencies at the Surikov Institute. A virtuoso artist who was able to paint a picture with a broom or a floor brush was actually self-taught or a person of natural gifts (whoever you like). He painted beautifully and kept a whole “academy” of his students.

Two meters of aesthetic pleasure. It would seem that everything is clear: columns and columns. But in fact — a big philosophical topic. This is a conversation about feminine sophistication and girlish harmony. And, of course, about the beauty of ancient architectural orders, one of which was inspired by the grave of an unnamed poor young woman.