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“There is an angel and a devil in you. We like the angel, but we will erase the devil out of you”, Nikita Khrushchev, first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, tried to teach him. Khrushchev himself had no idea that in less than two years his “comrades-in-arms” surrounding him would remove him from power and give up with great difficulty the organization of the staged murder. And in another 13 years, his “ideological enemy” Ernst Neizvestny, who was standing in front of him, would build and erect a tombstone for him. He would erect it in time for his emigration.

Artist of the Lianozovo group. Participant of the historical exhibition in the “Beekeeping” pavilion in 1975. A distinctive master, whom colleagues called “a preacher of the good”. The famous collector and enthusiastTalochkin pointed out that Kharitonov's paintings are “a small gem, iridescent in hundreds of colorful and semantic shades”. And his technique resembles “a shimmering mosaic of fine smalt”.

The innovator of metaphysical still life, an intellectual, a loner, an artist out of time, a recluse, shunning fashion and current trends. Today Dmitry Krasnopevtsev is one of the most expensive and sought-after masters of unofficial postwar art. The artist is still a favorite of collectors, as it was in the times of Richter, Costakis, Sanovich.

Vyacheslav Kalinin , an artist of the 1960s, created his own very recognizable style, which has been called “carnivalism” — from the word carnival. Very aptly. Kalinin's characters are almost always fun. The regulars in his paintings are broken ladies, drunkards, and cheerful artist friends. His works are very moody, phantasmagoric, with elements of cubist deconstruction. And “A beer bar in Serpukhov” — a model example of the genre. A large, powerful painting. Published. The main theme. A jewel in the collection.

Vladimir Nemukhin deeply understood and appreciated the Russian avant-garde. And often entered into an extramural dialogue with its masters. In particular, in this composition, experts see Nemukhin's conversation with El Lissitzky and polemic in the territory of Suprematism. At the same time, the original symbols of Nemukhin's card theme are harmoniously woven into the composition: a part of a deck, a card table, a candlestick.

It is believed that Sokolniki is the cradle and “domain” of Zverev. There he once went to classes at the local art studio. There he was noticed by the sister of actor and choreographer Alexander Rumnev, who became Zverev's mentor and patron for several years. It was at the painting of the pavilions in Sokolniki that Zverev's virtuoso brushwork was noticed by knowledgeable people. From there, his way to fame began.

Several major nonconformist artists have interpretations of the plot with a cat seizing a bird. Yakovlev has a cat with a bird in its teeth. Nemukhin has a cat with a card. Zverev has a similar subject. And here we have “Cat that ate a bird” by the main member of the Lianozovo group and the organizer of the Bulldozer exhibition, Oscar Rabin.

Alexander Kharitonov was aptly nicknamed “the preacher of good”. Not without a hint of a religious fondness. And so it is. Not only in narrative, but at the level of aesthetics Kharitonov drew on religious styles, especially Byzantine mosaics. He was also inspired by beadwork on church vestments. So his “pointillism” is not the divisionism of Paul Signac, but mosaics, beads and pearls in painting techniques.

The master of metaphysical still life, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, is today one of the most expensive artists of unofficial art. His auction record at the peak of the market was almost a million dollars. The philosophical basis of Krasnopevtsev's metaphysical still lifes is the idea of the frailty of the world and the desire for natural harmony, embodied in the equilibrium without symmetry.

And again the uncompromising Shulzhenko. Comparable to his scandalously famous “Outhouse” or “Rural dump”. There seemed to be a real existential horror in the current state of the Russian countryside. If it weren't for the sneering faces and muzzles of Shulzhenko’s characters. Hard Russian absurdism is a theme for which he is respected. And a theme for which he is hated.