Oleg Vassiliev
Encyclopedia
Oleg Vassiliev is a Russian painter associated with the Soviet Nonconformist Art
style. Vassiliev emigrated to the United States
, arriving in New York
in 1990 and currently lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota.
(1886-1964), Robert Falk
(1886-1958), and A.V. Fonvizin (1882-1973).
as a children's book illustrator. They developed a unique style of illustration that combined realist painting with graphic elements, such as text. This "official" source of income provided the means and materials for Vassiliev to take part in the Soviet Nonconformist Art
movement, also known as "unofficial" or "dissident" art. Along with friends, Ilya Kabakov
, Erik Bulatov
and Victor Pivovarov, Vassiliev belonged to a large group of Soviet artists that took advantage of the Nikita Khrushchev
"thaw" in official policy that opened up the Soviet Union
to Western culture in the years following Joseph Stalin
's death in 1953.
During this period of time Vassiliev developed his mature style. In his art Vassiliev combines the traditions of Russian Realism of the 19th century with the Russian avant-garde
of the beginning of the 20th century. "Vassiliev’s principal themes, which were born while he was in Russia and continue to the present day, are his memories of home and houses, roads, forests, fields, friends and family. Vassiliev always starts his creative process from a very personal memory, from his sacred space, the safeguarded inner center, and connects it with the visual image. Vassiliev masterfully incorporates elements from different times and spaces and arranges them throughout his paintings according to the logic and 'energetic' space of the painting."
"Leading Soviet graphic artist Vladimir Favorsky was a major influence on Vassiliev's work. Favorsky emphasised the constructive qualities of image-making, understanding painting as a rhythmic organisation of space swirling about time. Such abstract aesthetic thought was alien to mainstream Soviet Realism and demonstrates the liberties afforded graphic designers during this period. With a preoccupation for the structural qualities of a composition, these aesthetics
also find their origin in Russian Constructivism of the 1920s.
"...Vassiliev's recurring preoccupation with light and shade in his oeuvre also points to a psychological dimension, with light symbolising consciousness and dark, the subconscious. Elements of German Romanticism influence his thought. He searches for answers in an unfathomable world, posing questions without obvious answers and leaving the viewer feeling nonplussed, a hallmark of Postmodernist art...."
Soviet Nonconformist Art
The term Soviet Nonconformist Art refers to art produced in the former Soviet Union from 1953-1986 outside of the rubric of Socialist Realism...
style. Vassiliev emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, arriving in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1990 and currently lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Education
Vassiliev graduated from V.I. Surikov State Art Institute, Moscow, in 1958. In the late 1950s he became influenced by the Russian avant-garde formalists, Vladimir FavorskyVladimir Favorsky
Vladimir Andreyevich Favorsky was a Soviet graphic artist, woodcut illustrator, painter, muralist, and teacher. He was a People's Artist of the USSR from 1963 and a full member of Soviet Academy of Arts from 1962, as well as of the Four Arts society....
(1886-1964), Robert Falk
Robert Falk
Robert Rafailovich Falk was a Russian painter.-Biography:Falk was born in Moscow in 1886. In 1903 to 1904 he studied art in the studios of Konstantin Yuon and Ilya Mashkov, in 1905 to 1909 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with Konstantin Korovin and Valentin...
(1886-1958), and A.V. Fonvizin (1882-1973).
Biography
From the 1950s through the 1980s, Vassiliev worked with friend and collaborator Erik BulatovErik Bulatov
Erik Bulatov is a Russian artist born in Sverdlovsk in 1933 and raised in Moscow. His father was a communist party official who died in World War II at Pskov, and his mother fled Poland at age 15 in support of the Russian Revolution. Bulatov's works are in the major public and private collections...
as a children's book illustrator. They developed a unique style of illustration that combined realist painting with graphic elements, such as text. This "official" source of income provided the means and materials for Vassiliev to take part in the Soviet Nonconformist Art
Soviet Nonconformist Art
The term Soviet Nonconformist Art refers to art produced in the former Soviet Union from 1953-1986 outside of the rubric of Socialist Realism...
movement, also known as "unofficial" or "dissident" art. Along with friends, Ilya Kabakov
Ilya Kabakov
Ilya Kabakov, Russian Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в , is a Russian-American conceptual artist of Jewish descent, born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. He worked for thirty years in Moscow, from the 1950s until the late 1980s. He now lives and works on Long Island...
, Erik Bulatov
Erik Bulatov
Erik Bulatov is a Russian artist born in Sverdlovsk in 1933 and raised in Moscow. His father was a communist party official who died in World War II at Pskov, and his mother fled Poland at age 15 in support of the Russian Revolution. Bulatov's works are in the major public and private collections...
and Victor Pivovarov, Vassiliev belonged to a large group of Soviet artists that took advantage of the Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
"thaw" in official policy that opened up the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to Western culture in the years following Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's death in 1953.
Style
Russian avant-garde
The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960...
of the beginning of the 20th century. "Vassiliev’s principal themes, which were born while he was in Russia and continue to the present day, are his memories of home and houses, roads, forests, fields, friends and family. Vassiliev always starts his creative process from a very personal memory, from his sacred space, the safeguarded inner center, and connects it with the visual image. Vassiliev masterfully incorporates elements from different times and spaces and arranges them throughout his paintings according to the logic and 'energetic' space of the painting."
"Leading Soviet graphic artist Vladimir Favorsky was a major influence on Vassiliev's work. Favorsky emphasised the constructive qualities of image-making, understanding painting as a rhythmic organisation of space swirling about time. Such abstract aesthetic thought was alien to mainstream Soviet Realism and demonstrates the liberties afforded graphic designers during this period. With a preoccupation for the structural qualities of a composition, these aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
also find their origin in Russian Constructivism of the 1920s.
"...Vassiliev's recurring preoccupation with light and shade in his oeuvre also points to a psychological dimension, with light symbolising consciousness and dark, the subconscious. Elements of German Romanticism influence his thought. He searches for answers in an unfathomable world, posing questions without obvious answers and leaving the viewer feeling nonplussed, a hallmark of Postmodernist art...."
Public collections
- The State Tretyakov GalleryTretyakov GalleryThe State Tretyakov Gallery is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection,...
, Moscow, Russia - The State Russian MuseumRussian MuseumThe State Russian Museum is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg....
, St. Petersburg, Russia - The State Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
- The Pushkin MuseumPushkin MuseumThe Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour....
of Fine Art, Moscow, Russia - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen DresdenStaatliche Kunstsammlungen DresdenStaatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It belongs to the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the collections of the Saxon electors in the 16th century .Today, the Dresden State Art...
, Dresden, Germany - Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art MuseumJane Voorhees Zimmerli Art MuseumThe Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum is located on the Voorhees Mall of the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1966...
, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - The Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Soviet Nonconformist ArtNorton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Soviet Nonconformist ArtThe Dodge Collection is the largest collection of Soviet Nonconformist Art in existence.The collection was amassed by an economics professor from the University of Maryland, Norton Dodge, from the late 1950s until the advent of Perestroika. The collection comprises roughly 20,000 works of art and...
, New Brunswick, New Jersey - Norsk-Russisk kultursenter, Kirkenes, Norway
- Art Museum, Murmansk, Russia
- Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina
- Art Museum of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
- Denver Art MuseumDenver Art MuseumThe Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....
, Denver, Colorado - Kolodzei Art FoundationKolodzei Art FoundationThe Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc. promotes the contemporary art of Russia and the former Soviet Union. The Kolodzei Art Foundation often utilizes the artistic resources of the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, one of the world’s largest private collections, with over 7,000...
, Highland Park, New Jersey - The Ludwig Collection, Aachen, Germany
- The Costakis CollectionGeorge CostakisIn the years surrounding the 1917 revolution, artists in Russia produced the first non-figurative art, which was to become the defining art of the 20th century...
, Athens, Greece - Art4.ru, Moscow, Russia
Solo exhibitions
- 2008 Oleg Vassiliev: Recent Work, Faggionato Fine Arts, London (cat.)
- 2007 Oleg Vassiliev: Drawings, Forum Gallery, New York, NY (cat.)
- 2004 Memory Speaks (Themes and Variations), retrospective, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, traveled to The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (cat.)
- 2000 Recent Works, Galerie Andy Jllien, Zurich
- 2000 The Past Isn’t Dead, It Isn’t Even Past, University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (cat.)
- 1999 Works 1987-1995, Blomquist, Oslo, Norway (cat.)
- 1999 On Black Paper, Wake Forest University Fine Arts Gallery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, traveled to Denison University Art Gallery, Granville, Ohio (cat.)
- 1997 Oleg Vassiliev, Phoenix Gallery, Moscow
- 1996 Litografier til Tsjekhovs novelle ‘Husel med Arken’, Oljemalerier Galleri Cassandra, Drobak, Norway (cat.)
- 1995 Windows of Memory, Sloane Gallery, Denver
- 1995 Conceptual Posters by Oleg Vassiliev, Art Museum of the University of Kentucky,Lexington
- 1993 Recent Works, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1991 Oleg Vassiliev, Galeria Fernando Duran, Madrid (cat.)
- 1968 Oleg Vassiliev, Bluebird Café, Moscow
Group exhibitions
- 2005 Russia! Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (cat.)
- 2005 Collage in Russia XX Century, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (cat.)
- 2004 Berlin-Moscow/Moscow-Berlin, Kunst 1950-2000, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Martin Gropius BauMartin Gropius BauMartin-Gropius-Bau, originally a museum of applied arts and a listed historical monument since 1966, is a well-known Berlin exhibition hall located at Niederkirchnerstraße 7 in Berlin-Kreuzberg.- History and architecture :...
, Berlin (cat.) - 2004 REMEMBRANCE: Russian Post-Modern Nostalgia, Yeshiva University Museum, New York (cat.)
- 2004 Global Village: The 1960s, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada (cat.)
- 2003 Finding Freedom: 40 Years of Soviet and Russian Art, Selections from the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, The Bergen Museum of Art and Science, Paramus, New Jersey
- 2002 Moskauer Avantgarde: Grisha Bruskin, Erik Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov, Dmitri Prigov, Oleg Vassiliev, Andy Jllien Gallery, Zurich
- 2002 Malevich, Cinema and Beyond, Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon (cat.)
- 2002 National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
- 2001 Realities and Utopias, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey (cat.)
- 2001 Cold War/Hot Culture; American and Russian Nonconformist Art, Barrick Museum, University of Las Vegas, Nevada
- 2000 Seeing Isn’t Believing: Russian Art Since Glasnost, The Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire (cat.)
- 1999 Forbidden Art: The Postwar Russian Avant-Garde, organized by International Art and Artists, Washington, DC, traveled to: Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio; The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg; The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California; McMullen Museum, Boston College, Massachusetts; Bruce Museum of Art and Science, Greenwich, Connecticut (cat.)
- 1999 It’s the Real Thing…Soviet and Post-Soviet Sots Art and American Pop Art, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (cat.)
- 1998 The Russian Thaw, Tabakman Gallery, New York
- 1998 Selections from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art of the Soviet Union, Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg, Florida
- 1996 Art Russia, Radar, Rome (cat.)
- 1995 Flug, Entfernung, Verschwinden, Konzeptuelle Kunst aus Moskau, Sadgalerie im Sophenhot, Kiel Haus am Waldesee, Berlin (cat.)
- 1995 From Gulag to Glasnost: Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (cat.)
- 1995 The Damaged Utopia, Kraftmessen, Munich (cat.)
- 1995 Russian Images 1966-1995, Morlan Gallery, Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky
- 1995 Group Show, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1995 A Mosca…A Mosca, Museum Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany (cat.)
- 1994 Works on Paper, Kolodzei Collection of Contemporary Russian Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- 1994 No! and the Conformists. Faces of Soviet Art 1950-1980, Dunikowski Museum Palac, Krolikarni, Poland and The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (cat.)
- 1994 Zeitgenossen, Kunstmuseum, Bern
- 1994 Stalin’s Choice: Soviet Socialist Realism 1932-1956, P.S.1, Long Island City, New York
- 1993 Monuments: Transformation for the Future, Central House of Artists, Moscow
- 1993 Temporary Address for Contemporary Russian Art, Post Museum, Paris
- 1993 Old Symbols, New Icons in Russian Contemporary Art, Stuart Levy Gallery, New York
- 1993 M’AIDEZ/MAYDAY, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1993 Tre Kunstneres syn pa Tjekov, Norsk-Russick Center, Kirkenes, Norway
- 1993 After Perestroika: Kitchenmaids or Stateswomen, Centre International d’Art Contemporain de Montreal, Canada (cat.)
- 1993 Monumental Propaganda, exhibition organized by Komar & Melamid and Independent Curators Incorporated, New York, traveled to: Courtyard Gallery, World Financial Center, New York; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow; AI Gallery, Institute of History, Tallinn, Estonia; Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan; The Muckenthaler Art Center, Fullerton, California; The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland; Uppsala Konstmuseum; Helsinki; Kennisaw State University, Georgia (cat.)
- 1992 Lianozovo-Moscow: Vsevelod Nekrasov’s Russian Art Collection, Bohum Museum, Bohum, Germany
- 1992 Three Points of View, Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow (cat.)
- 1992 A Mosca…A Mosca, Villa Campolieto, Herculaneaum, Italy and Museum of Modern Art, Bologna (cat.)
- 1992 Erik Bulatov and Oleg Vassiliev, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York (cat.)
- 1991 , Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- 1991 Erik Bulatov/Oleg Vassiliev, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1991 Group Exhibition, The State Literature Museum, Moscow
- 1991 Back to Square One, Berman-E.N. Gallery, New York (cat.)
- 1991 The Other Art: Moscow 1956-1976, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow and The Russian Museum, Leningrad (cat.)
- 1991 Soviet Contemporary Art: From Thaw to Perestroika, Setagaya Museum, Tokyo
- 1990 Logic of Paradox, Palace of Youth, Moscow
- 1990 Alternative Art of the 60s, Soviet Foundation of Culture, Moscow
- 1990 Contemporary Soviet Art: Adaptation and Negation of Socialist Realism, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut (cat.)
- 1990 Foire International d’Art Contemporain (FIAC 90), Paris
- 1989 Erik Bulatov/Oleg Vassiliev, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1989 From the Revolution to Perestroika, Soviet Art of the Ludwig Collection, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland, traveled to Palau de la Virreina-Ajuntment de Barcelona, Spain, and Musee d’Art Moderne de St. Etienne, France (cat.)
- 1989 Photo in Painting, First Gallery, Moscow
- 1989 Behind the Ironic Curtain, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1989 100 Artists from the Kolodzei Collection, The State Museum of Fine Arts, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, USSR
- 1988 Ich Lebe, Ich Sene, Kunstmuseum, Bern (cat.)
- 1988 No Problem, Exhibition Hall Begovaya Ulitza, Moscow
- 1987 Direct from Moscow, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
- 1987 Soviet Art, Marconi Galleria, Milan and Rome
- 1987 The Artist and His Time, Exhibition Space, Kashirskoye Shosse, Moscow
- 1982 Photography and Painting, Conference and Exhibition at the Center of Aesthetics, Moscow
- 1982 New Tendencies of Soviet Unofficial Art 1956-1981, Villedien Culture Center, Elancourt, France
- 1981 25 Years of Soviet Unofficial Art 1956-1981, The C.A.S.E. Museum of Unofficial Soviet Art, Jersey City
- 1977 La Nuova arte sovietica: una prospettiva non ufficiale (New Soviet Art: a Non-official Prospective), Venice Biennale
External links
- Official Website http://www.olegvassiliev.com/index.html
- Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, Kolodzei Art Foundation http://www.kolodzeiart.org/olegvassiliev.html
- Art4.ru Contemporary Art Museum http://art4.ru/en/artists/detail.php?ID=1520
- Artnet http://www.artnet.com/artist/617017/oleg-vassiliev.html
- Oleg Vassiliev. Memory Speaks. Themes and Variations at The State Russian Museum, 2005 http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/exhib/lenta/exhibition2005/exhibition362/
- Forum Gallery Vassiliev page http://www.forumgallery.com/current_on1.php?id=188
- Faggionato Fine Arts http://www.faggionato.com/exhibitions/?object_id=65