- 227
Edvard Steinberg, b. 1937
Description
- Edvard Steinberg
- composition: burial and resurrection
- both signed with initials in Cyrillic l.r. and dated 1987; both also titled in Cyrillic and dated December 1987 on reverse, Resurrection further dedicated with date May 1988, Moscow
- both oil on canvas
- both 120 by 120cm., 47¼ by 47¼in.
Provenance
Catalogue Note
It is easy to see the influence of the Constructivist and Suprematist movements on Steinberg’s oeuvre. It is no coincidence that the basis of this diptych is a black square. Steinberg understands Malevich’s creation as the calculated antithesis of icon painting and his work emphasises how Russian perception of the post-Revolutionary avant-garde differs from the Western view.
I have deciphered Malevich and I believe I have not erred. The rectangle, that is death, loss, a yearning for God.
In the mid 1980s Steinberg began a cycle of works devoted to everyday life in the village of Pogorelka, several of which are offered in this sale. Above all, his compositions make clear the issues central to a Russian artist: life, death and one’s relationship with God and the universe. The offered work should also be seen in the context of the death of his close friend Vladimir Weisberg in 1985, and the work Steinberg painted in his memory to which the Burial panel of this diptych seems to be directly linked. (see Cullerne-Bown, Contemporary Russian Art, plate 67)