the pdf

maY 21, 2015 - 4pm
Russian & Soviet
photographs
exposition
May 18, 2015 - 10am-7pm
May 19, 2015 de 10am-7pm
May 20, 2015 de 10am-7pm
May21, 2015 de 10am-12am
PIASA
118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris - France
PRESS & COMMUNICATION
Cécile Demtchenko Woringer
T +33 1 53 34 12 95 - M +33 6 22 16 85 96
c.demtchenko@piasa.fr
Press release
On 21 May 2015 PIASA will stage their second auction of Russian & Soviet
Photography, offering a panorama of the prolific creativity of photographers
who bore witness to a past that united Slav and Oriental culture.
“Russia is rightly considered one of the richest nations in terms of photography
– whether for documentary images or art photography. After a long absence
from international events, Russian and Soviet photography has staged a major
comeback in the artworld over recent years. PIASA’s sale reflects this.
Russians were photography enthusiasts from the outset. By 1860 there were
already a number of studios in St Petersburg, like those of Sergey Levitsky and
the Scottish-born William Carrick. Photographers responded to the demands
of the Russian public by producing albums devoted to the distant, little-known
territories of their vast land – especially those lying beyond the Caucasus, a
natural barrier between the West and the Orient. Works like the album on
Georgian military highways, or Dmitri Ermakov’s studies of Caucasian ethnic
groups, composed an ode to the vertiginous dialogue between the long ribbon of
the Volga and the almost impenetrable mountains rising beyond.
Portrait photography, meanwhile, concerned not just the bourgeoisie and
aristocracy (cf portrait of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna), but also the
types and costumes of small craftsmen in St Petersburg or faraway lands.
Photographers, doubtless influenced by their training as painters, would often
add colour highlights to their images (a habit that lasts to this day in the work
of Galina Moskaleva and Guram Tsibakhashvili), or retouch them to remove
anything judged superfluous – a practice that took a political turn under Stalin.
The early 20th century was marked by a Pictorialism that successfully conveyed
family life and Slav love of nature. In the 1920s Constructivism developed the
forms and uses of photography; Rodchenko and Stepanova, heroes of this
incredibly fertile period, were creators and artistic directors who produced
visually exceptional works, some destined to promote the great projects of the
USSR Under Construction. Rodchenko’s portraits, with their close-ups and lowangle shots, are among his most startling works.
Remarkable artists who worked for publications included Max Alpert, with his
day-by-day account of the construction of the Fergana Canal; and Shulkin and
Yakov Khalip, who produced work in similar style glorifying the Soviet Union.
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Photographers like Dmitri Baltermants and Yuri Abramochkin, who were
influenced by this approach, caught the eye after World War II with their ability
to describe working society, large-scale projects and collective well-being – as
well as the scars of war.
From the 1960s onwards, St Petersburg and Moscow were no longer the only
photographic centres of the USSR: each Soviet republic developed its own
aesthetic approach. It is easy to recognize the Lithuanian taste for the world
of agriculture, evoked via off-centre compositions and unexpected close-ups
(Aleksandras Macijauskas). Other Lithuanians, such as Virgilijius Sonta and
Antanas Sutkus, sought to render the harmony between Man and Nature.
Mikhail Gorbachev’s sweeping Perestroika reforms of the 1980s, aiming to give
Soviet Communism a second wind, gave an incredible boost to alternative
movements and proponents of Unofficial Art. As always in such circumstances,
some stand-out figures emerged – like Oleg Kulik, Ilia Piganov or Igor
Makarevitch in the field of art photography, Igor Mukhin and Galina Moskaleva
in the documentary field.
All were concerned about the missing images the authorities had confiscated
from them. Like Galina Moskaleva, they reconstructed the missing link from
the past. The scenographist, painter and photographer Avvakumov was swift to
emphasize the artistic heritage of Constructivist aesthetics.
Members of the Hermitage group (Mikhailov, Piganov, Makarevich) freed
themselves from the constraints of Official Art to hold exhibitions and publish
more conceptual works – an allegory of deceit (Makarevich); collective life of
objects (Piganov); absurd vanities (Tsykalov); a world viewed upside-down
(Kissina); use of rediscovered photographs (Julia Borissova)…. All mocked the
senselessness of Soviet of society. At the same time, Igor Mukhin and Sergey
Leontiev became known for their studies of a lost generation.
Representatives of a younger generation, like Sergey Maximishin (New Russian
Society), Lucia Ganieva or Irina Polin display great independence in their varied
approaches – even if the traces of their culture and history remain omnipresent.”
Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
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Photographs
Iouri ABRAMOCHKIN, Max ALPERT, Said ATABEKOV,
Yuri AVVAKUMOV, Iouri BABITCH, Vytautas BALCYTIS,
Gintaras BALIONIS, Dmitri BALTERMANTS, Vladimir BAZAN,
Leonid BERGOLTSEV, Julia BORISSOVA, Carl Oswald BULLA,
William CARRICK, Dmitri ERMAKOV, Katia FILIPPOVA, Lucia GANIEVA,
Alexandre GRACHTCHENKOV, Alexandre Danilovich GRINBERG,
Yakov KHALIP, Olga KISSELEVA, Julia KISSINA, Constantin KOSTIOUK,
Oleg KULIK, Sergey LEONTIEV, Vitas LUCKUS, Aleksandras MACIJAUSKAS,
Igor MAKAREVICH, Sergey MAXIMISHIN, Galina MOSKALEVA,
Igor MOUKHIN, Margo OVCHARENKO, Tim PARCHIKOV, Ilia PIGANOV,
Irina POLIN, Iouri RIBTCHINSKI, Alexandre RODCHENKO,
RUDNEV Brothers, Vladimir SHAKHLEVICH,
Sergey SONIN & Elena SAMORODOVA, Virgilijus SONTA,
Aurimas STRUMILA, Antanas SUTKUS, Vladimir SYOMIN,
Andrej TARKOVSKY, Guram TSIBAKHASHVILI, Dimitri TSYKALOV.
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Max Vladimirovitch ALPERT (1899-1980)
Construction du canal de Fergana, Ouzbékistan, 1939
16 épreuves argentiques d’époque
Légendes dactylographiées (sur papier) au dos
15,5 x 23 cm
Provenance : collection privée, Paris
12 000 / 15 000 €
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Oleg KULIK (né en 1961)
Red Square, 1999
Épreuve chromogénique d’époque montée
sous diasec
Édition de 9 exemplaires + 3 AP
Image issue de la série «The Russian»
Joint : un certificat d’authenticité
155 x 230 cm
Expositions : «Un automne russe», Topographie
de l’art, Paris, septembre-novembre 2013
25 000 / 35 000 €
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Igor MAKAREVICH (né en 1943)
Tête de Buratino, 2003
Sérigraphie sur papier
Signée et numérotée « 27/37 »
50 x 70 cm
Exposition : Manifestations conceptuelles / Igor
Makarevich, Galerie Blue Square, Paris, janvier-avril
2010
Bibliographie : Igor Makarevich – E. Elagina, Within
the limits of the sublime, XL Gallery, 2005, pp. 115 à 118
2 000 / 3 000 €
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Saïd Atabekov (né en 1965)
My Soviet Union, 2013
Épreuve chromogénique montée sur aluminium
Édition 1/5
Image issue de la série «Flags»
Joint : un certificat d’authenticité
120 × 180 cm
5 000 / 6 000 €
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Iouri ABRAMOCHKIN (né en 1936)
Le pain des terres arides, Kazakhstan, 1961
Épreuve argentique d’époque
Signée, titrée et datée à la mine de plomb au dos
60 x 50,4 cm
Bibliographie : I Photo 60-70. Anthology of the XXth
Century Russian Photography, 2008
2 000 / 3 000 €
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Photographs departement
specialist
Fannie Bourgeois
artistiC Director
Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
www.piasa.fr
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