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Venir Romanovich Knyzhov
Sunny Day, Bathers (1953)
oil on card,
signed in cyrillic bottom left
20" x 26"
£2295
Born in Gorki, Vladimir region, 1930.
Studied at Penza Art College 1947 – 56; REPIN INSTITUTE 1957 – 63.
Active in Kuibyshev. Began exhibiting 1957.
Bibl: A Dictionary Of Twentieth Century Russian & Soviet Painters 1900 – 1980’s
Matthew Cullerne Bown
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Evgeni Spiridonovich Logvinenko
‘Natashka’
(the diminutive of Natasha)
oil on canvas
31" x 27"
inscribed in cyrillic verso
dated 1983
£2200
free delivery within UK mainland
Born 1944. Active in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.
Bibl: A Dictionary Of Twentieth Century Russian & Soviet Painters 1900 – 1980’s
Matthew Cullerne Bown
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Mikhail Egorovich (Georgievich) Biryukov (1927-1995)
Skiers
oil on board
13½" x 19½"
signed
dated verso 29th December 1986
£485
free delivery within UK mainland
Biryukov was born in Dobryatino, Ryazan Province in 1927. He studied at the ‘1905 Art College’, Surikov Institute from 1950-1956.
He was very active in Moscow, where he specialised in landscapes and graphics.
He was a member of the ‘Union of Artists’, the professional body of artists.
Biryukov died in 1995.
Bibl: A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian & Soviet Painters 1900 – 1980’s
Matthew Cullerne Bown
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Elana Vatslavovna Yanchak (1918-67?)
Wheat Fields
created 1948
oil on board
5½" x 15¼"
£535
sold
Having the misfortune to be born during troubled times, Elana Yanchak suffered the privations of all three famines in the Ukraine.
The first, 1921-23, was largely a natural occurance, the second 1932-33 was the result of Stalin's policy of farm 'Collectivisation', and of course the Great Patriotic War was instrumental in the third of 1946-47. It is therefore only too clear why to Elana a field full of wheat nearly ready for harvest should have been a subject so full of hope, captured in this beautiful little painting.
Elena Yanchak was born in 1918 in Stakhanov, Donbass, Lugansk region.
She studied at the Grekov Art College, Odessa and at Repin's Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad in 1938.
She studied with the famous Ioganson and considered her true teachers to be Vrubel and Kramskoi whom she admired greatly.
Yanchak very much loved the representation of artists from the Russian School of Art of which she became one of. Her paintings can be found in Ukrainian museums and private collections worldwide. Her work is representative of the Romantic School of the Russian School of Art.
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Grigori Andreevich Shponko
Boy Hanging Out Washing
oil on board
30" x 19"
£1600
free delivery within UK mainland
Grigori Andreevich Shponko was born in 1926 in the village of Balki, Zaporozhye region, Ukraine. He drew much as a child. During World War II he lost two older brothers at the front, and he himself worked in the reconstruction of Kiev that had been destroyed in the war.
Shponko studied in the master class of famous professor Trokhimenko in the Painting Department of the Kiev Art Institute, and under professors M. Sharonov, E. Konstantin, and G. Melikhov until his graduation in 1954.
He became a member of the Artists’ Union of the Ukraine that same year under academician Tatyana Yablonskaya’s recommendations.
He is a member of the Union of Artists, and was awarded the title ‘Merited Artist of the Ukraine’.
He participated in the restoration of the legendary Sevastopol panorama by Rubo, later working as a painter-decorator in the Kiev Opera and Ballet theater under the direction of Anatoli Petritskogo.
He has participated in many Ukrainian and All-Union Art Exhibitions in the Ukraine and Moscow.
His works are included in the collections of several museums:
• The Nikolaev Art Museum: “On the Open Space”
• The Dnepropotrovsk Art Museum: “Poultry-maid”
• The Donetsk Art Museum: “The Summer Court Yard”
Many of his works are also included in official and private collections all over the world.
Shponko’s works have been published in several books and journals, including:
• “Arts”. Moscow (magazine)
• “Ukraine”. Kiev (magazine)
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Konstantin Lomykin (1924-92)
Thaw
oil on board
19½" x 27½"
£3400
free delivery within UK mainland
Konstantin Matveevich Lomykin 1924 - 1992
KONSTANTIN MATVEEVICH LOMYKIN (1924-1992) Born August 19, 1924, in
the village of Gluchov near Sumy. An Honored Soviet Artist and Honored Ukrainian Artist he served in the Soviet Army from 1941 to1945.
Lomykin entered the Odessa Art Institute in 1946 and graduated in 1950, having studied under the well-known artists/teachers Muchnik and Sheluto.
As a student, Lomykin excelled in all mediums and throughout his career, he painted with oil, watercolours and pastels.
His range of subject matter also showed a never-ending versatility, as he devoted his creative energies equally to portraits, landscapes and genre paintings.
He became a member of the Union of Artists in 1953.
Lomykin first came to the public’s attention in 1952, when his painting, “Young Sponsors”, was included in a Ministry of Culture exhibition in Moscow. The painting won high critical praise and Lomykin became well known in Soviet art circles.
Lomykin was well known in the USSR as an artist of the theatre.
He created more than 300 paintings of ballerinas (mostly pastels) dedicated to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad and the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre. The best collection of these paintings can be found in the Odessa Museum of Art and the Christie’s Collection in London.
The artist worked with the Odessa Theatre many years as a set designer.
He was highly respected for his ability to capture the intensity and graceful movements of the ballet dancer.
The tremendously versatile Lomykin also achieved fame for his paintings portraying the USSR’s struggle against Germany in the Great Patriotic War.
The Kiev Art Museum purchased three of his paintings dealing with this subject.
They were “During the Occupation” (1964), “Invaders” (1971-73), and “Father” (1974). The St. Petersburg Art Museum purchased a number of Lomykin’s paintings that were devoted to V.I. Lenin. His paintings “Word of Lenin” (1965-67) and “In the Presidium” (1969) were hailed as model presentations of his immense talent by the art critics.
In, “In the Presidium”, Lomykin portrayed an old peasant collective farm worker named Efim Ovchinikov talking to Lenin about problems on the farm. Lomykin also painted a portrait of Ovchinikov sans Lenin that was purchased by Fire Sky Art of Scottsdale, USA.
While the USSR produced many great artists, few were more highly regarded than Lomykin.
The impressionist developed an excellent reputation within the art communities of the USSR, Great Britain, Germany and France. He was awarded three Medals for Artistic Merit and received the Sign of Honor in 1964 and 1971. He participated in USSR-sponsored exhibitions in Germany, France, Sweden and Japan. His paintings are in the collections of Moscow’s Tretiakov State Gallery (seven paintings), the St. Petersburg Museum of Art, the Kiev Art Museum and the Odessa Art Museum. More than 50 of his paintings have been auctioned by Christie’s of London in the 1990’s. From 1954 to 1985 he was a visiting professor at the Odessa Art Institute.
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Vladimir Grigorevich Vlasov (1927 - 2001)
Portrait Of A Girl
oil on board
signed and dated 1946 verso
13¼" x 8¾"
£860
free delivery within UK mainland
Vladimir Grigorevich Vlasov (1927 - 2001) was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1927.
He studied at the Odessa Art College 1942-47; Moscow Art Institute/SURIKOV INSTITUTE 1947-53.
He was a member of the Union of Artists, who began exhibitng in 1953.
He was a Merited Artist of the Ukraine.
He was active in Odessa, Ukraine, and his paintings hang in the prestigious Odessa Fine Art Museum and in most national museums, as well as in private collections worldwide.
This painting was created when Vlasov was only 19 years old.
Bibl: A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian and Soviet Painters 1900 – 1980’s
Matthew Cullerne Bown
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Victor Pirogov
On A Park Bench
oil on board
21" x 30"
£2300
free delivery within UK mainland
Victor Pirogov was born in 1923 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In 1941-45 he took part in the military actions of the World War II ( The Great Patriotic War).
In 1947 he began studying at the Baku Aziz-Zade Art School and in 1951-57 was a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kiev, Ukraine.
In 1957-59 the artist was active in Kiev and from 1959 until his death in 1993 in Vinnitsa (big Ukrainian regional centre). In 1967 Pirogov joined the Artists' Union of the USSR.
He took part in countless Ukrainian and all-union annual exhibitions.
Works by Pirogov are displayed in the museums of Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and in many private collections abroad.
Bibl: A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian and Soviet Painters 1900 – 1980’s
Matthew Cullerne Bown
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Attributed to Olga (1892-1956) and Galina (1891-1967) Chichagova
Constructivist Fabric Designs
watercolour and gouache on paper
signed with a mongram in cyrillic,
dated(19)24, titled in cyrillic 'image for a textile'
11½" x 8"
£NFS
This painting is not for sale , in fact it in our own collection, but we have included it here as there is an interesting story attached.
We bought them from a European dealer who explained:
"This watercolor was acquired with a group of other works by the same artist, mostly signed with a Cyrillic monogram (which could be read as ChCh) and dated from 1919 to 1924.
Two paintings of this group were painted with oils on canvas with addition of collage made with using of old Ukrainian newspapers printed in Poltava (an Ukrainian province center) in the late 1910s.
Both oil paintings have old Cyrillic inscriptions on verso saying they are works by the artist Chichagova (female name) from collection of V.S. Zinoviev. So we have the name of the artist: Chichagova.
Unfortunately we couldn't find any listed Ukrainian artists with this name. We suppose this to be a work by a young woman who studied art (in Poltava?) in the late 1910s".
Here at A&K Wilson Gallery we have various reference books on Russian art and after a bit of a search, in 'A Dictionary of Russian & Soviet Artists 1420 - 1970' by John Miller I found an entry for a Galina & Olga Chichakova, (k not g).
It also mentioned in other literature about the artists a book 'Russian Constructivism', by Christina Lodder.
I managed to track down a copy, but whilst it mentioned them, and their dates and output seemed right, sadly there were no illustrations to compare the style or more importantly the monogram.
The dust jacket information did however say that Christina Lodder was Professor of History of Art at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. So I emailed her, attaching photos of the work and asked the question.
I was delighted when she replied that;
"I think the images you have are designs for textile prints. One is inscribed "obraz dlya tkani" ie "image for a textile". This would certainly tie in with what we know about the sisters, who were members of The First Working Group of Constructivists organised by Aleksei Gan. From the images you sent me, the designs look fairly promising. Although it is always difficult to judge authenticity from digital images, I think that these may well be by the sisters. They were very active as graphic designers, producing a lot of book illustrations".
So now these paintings are at home and it is great to think that we may posess a piece of art history from those exciting and ground breaking times.
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Attributed to Olga (1892-1956) and Galina (1891-1967) Chichagova
see above
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Sergei Danilovich Dumenko (1909- )
Study Of A Shirtless Man
oil on canvas
created 1949
13" x 17"
signed in Cyrillic and dated 1949
£1185
sold
Dumenko was born in Odessa (Ukraine) in 1909.
He studied at the Odessa Art Institute/College from 1932 to 1938. He was active in the Odessa area. He began exhibiting in 1937. Important shows in which he exhibited include the ‘All Union Art Exhibition’ in Moscow in 1950.
He was also a monumentalist, theatre artist and graphic artist during World War Two.
Bibl: A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian And Soviet Painters 1900 – 1980’s
Matthew Cullerne Bown
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G. P. Kusochkin
"Ours have Won !!"
tempera on canvas
signed unframed
29” x 54”
£840
"Amongst the flat fields, We have caught a prisoner, And decided in a swamp, To cut him into pieces !"
Kusochkin comes from Ivanovo, not far from Moscow, and was involved with The Mitki.
The Mitki were the stalwarts of the underground art scene in Soviet Russia. During the years leading up to Perestroika, in 1986 the notorious Mitki group upset the establishment by sticking two fingers up at the unimaginative Soviet system –becoming celebrities in the process. While government-approved Socialist Realist painters depicted a rose-tinted view of life under Communism, the non-conforming Mitki chose instead to paint ordinary people and their minor every day troubles. They tackled these subjects with gentle, self-deprecating humour, as their slogan proclaimed; "the Mitki don’t want to conquer anybody."
Critic Lydia Ginzburg, said their work portrayed ‘intentionally shabby images of our crude everyday reality, with the aesthetic of hard drinking bouts and four letter words; a game of idiocy; a language as simple as mooing; and the vocabulary of the average cannibal’.
The work of Mitki now hangs in the Russian State Museum in St.Petersburg, as well as many other art collections throughout the world.
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Mikhail Semenov
Anya, Girl From The Kolkhoz
oil on board
28" x 15"
£2400
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