Latest exhibitions at the on-line Gamborg Gallery.

Regular readers know that from time to time, I reintroduce my friend Allan Gamborg, Danish by birth and a longtime resident of Moscow, who has enjoyed much success in his "second" (third? fifth?) career as a purveyor and advocate of Soviet-era art and artists.

Use the handy search feature with "Gamborg," and see previous postings. The format's usually the same, and it's always worth a few minutes to peruse the art. You need not be a Commie to enjoy the links to Allan's on-line galleries.

As in the past, permit me to thank Allan for his boundless hospitality and to share his latest posting.

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Dear Friends,

We have a series of new exhibitions on the Gamborg Gallery on the web:

THEMES

Artists’ Double Lives in the Soviet Union
In the Soviet Union many artists led a double life. On the one hand, they earned their state commissions and a right for a decent studio to work, and on the other hand they painted according to their personal interests and passions. This exhibition confronts these two sides for a number of artists of the Soviet period. We show the artists Sergei Nikiforov (monumental socialist works vs church frescos), Roman Zhitkov (book illustrations vs landscapes), Boris Sholokhov (industrial themes vs. portraits), Mikhail Rojter, Nikolai Tereshenko (political posters vs landscapes), Boris Dyatlov (monumental communist murals vs landscapes), Vadim Volikov (political poster vs landscapes), Veniamin Briskin (political posters vs landscapes), Boris Uspensky (political posters vs ballet).

Russian Folk Tales
Soviet artists often depicted the classic Russian folk tales, for example “Brother Ivanushka and Sister Alyonushka”, “The Crane and the Heron”, “Vasilisa the Wise”, “The Little Hump-Backed Horse”, “The Fox and the Hare”, “The Tower Room”, “The Bean Seed”, “The Flying Ship”, “The Frog Prince”, “The Turnip”, “The Three Bears”. We show works by artists Evgenia Endrikson, Natalia Gippius, and Dmitrii Dmitriev.

ARTISTS

Dmitrii Minkov (1908-1998)
Well-known Moscow graphics artist and book illustrator. Worked with industrial themes, mainly with illustration and drawings from the coal industry, including the Donbass.

Konstantin Lekomtsev (1897-1977)
Konstantin Lekomtsev studied at the famous VKhuTeMas institute. Amongst his teachers were Geramisov, Kardovskii, Falk and Fyodorov. In the early 1930's he taught at the Perm Art College, where he met his future wife Natalia Gippius (1905-1995). They later worked together on various graphic arts and lithography projects at the famous VKhuTeMas Institute in Moscow. In the early 1930's he mainly painted genre landscapes, inspired by the Russian avant-garde. In the late 1930's he adopted a form of "soft" socialist realism, to be seen in a series of genre portraits. He is famous for his portraits of the 1950's in the classical Russian realism style. During this period he painted many children and young people.

Pyotr Ossovsky (Born 1925)
Pyotr Pavlovich Ossovsky studied at the Surikov institute under Gerasimov. Famous landscape and genre painter, as well as graphics artist. In 2005 he became a member of the Academy of the Fine Arts.

BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

Go - I Don't Know Where, and Bring Back - I Don't Know What
Original watercolour illustrations from 1949 by Evgenia Endrikson to Russian folk tale in Aleksei Tolstoy's retold version: "Поди туда - не знаю куда, принеси то - не знаю что" (Go - I Don't Know Where, and Bring Back - I Don't Know What)

Fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen
Original watercolour illustrations from 1954 by Marina Uspenskaya to famous Danish storyteller. The book was issued in German.

Lace from Vyatsk
Original gouache illustrations from 1982 by Marina Uspenskaya to book by Stanislav Romanovskii "Вятское кружево", issued by Detskaya Literatura.

Enjoy the shows !