Bashkortostan Trip. Recent Acquisitions

Paintings by Boris Domashnikov, Viktor Pegov, Alexander Rybakov, Alexander Panteleev, Sergey Litvinov, Grigory Kharin

17.05.2008 — 28.06.2008

Preview — 16.05.2008

NB Gallery is proudly continuing the series of exhibitions dedicated to Bashkir artists of the second half of the 20th century. Among the works presented at this exhibition there are the works of the artists already known to you, such as Boris Domashnikov and Sergey Litvinov, as well as some never-before seen pieces from artists such as Viktor Pegov, Alexandr Panteleev, Alexandr Rybakov.
What is truly astounding about these artists is that each and every one of them has his own personal artistic style despite the fact they all came from the same art school. This is in great part due to the fact that Bashkir art has always developed as a synthesis of many different sources of influence. One of these sources is national tradition. Muslim religion disallowed any art images. Therefore, before the turn of the XIX and XX centuries applied folk art was the only type which existed in this region. Embroideries and damasks, carving and folk dresses determined a national art style.
Another serious trend developed in national art with the introduction of Russian artists in the beginning of the XX century. One of the first Russian artists to come to Bashkortostan was Porfiry Lebedev (1883 - 1976). A graduate of the Academy of Arts in St.Petersburg, he came to Bashkortostan in 1906 and he brought up and influenced practically the entire next generation of Bashkirian artists. Porfiry Lebedev brought into Bashkir art not only Russian realist tradition but an influence of European art. This influence culminated in the paintings of Lebedev's best student - Boris Domashnikov (1924 - 2003).
The luminosity and brilliance of his color is thus derived. Domashnikov is one of the most interesting followers of the impressionists, not only in Bashkir art, but also in Russian art of the late 20th century. The style of another renowned Bashkir artist Sergey Litvinov (1925 - 2003) formed and shaped during the 1950s and 1960s. This was a time of revolution for all soviet art traditions. Litvinov's artistic freedom was absolute. It's hard to imagine while viewing at his canvases that Litvinov had not seen European Modernist art and created, himself, some of its innovations. Beginning with impressions of reality, Litvinov dramatically transformed his compositions with the energy of colors and active palette-knife work. An artist of rare artistic culture, Litvinov enriched Bashkir art with a new language of his own. He seriously influenced the development of Bashkir art.
A search for a new type of harmony distinguishes the works of Alexander Panteleev (born in 1932) too. His industrial landscapes are based on dissonances. Behind the strict and logical positioning of geometrical figures lies the tension of nature's forces and the power of nature. Factories aren't seen as a transforming agent, but as a part of nature. Victor Pegov (born in 1938) studied at the Kazan Art College. Studying under the wonderful colorist Nickolay Mayorov and the affiliation with the works of Nickolay Feshin, many of which are in the Kazan Art Museum, greatly influenced the artistic style of Pegov. In his painting In the Kitchen the influence of Feshin can be seen especially strong. The common everyday life scene is transformed into something more sublime by the play and energy of light. The silver tone of the scene, colorful clouds of vapor, perfectly aligned movement rhythm of the shapes make this painting one of the best of its time.

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