- 476
Vladimir Nikolaevich Nemukhin
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- Vladimir Nemukhin
- The Card Table No. 3, 1966
- signed in Cyrillic and dated 1966 (lower left); signed, titled and inscribed in Cyrillic, dated 1966 and inscribed 80 x 100 (on the reverse); also signed and inscribed in Cyrillic and dated 1966 (across spreader on the reverse)
- mixed media on canvas
- 31 3/8 by 39 3/8 in.
- 79.7 by 100 cm
Provenance
Private collection, Chicago
Literature
Sergei Kuskov, Vladimir Nemukhin, Paris and New York: Tret'ia volna, 1992
Norma Roberts, ed., The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad, 1965–1990, Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Museum of Art, 1990
"Vladimir Nemukhin," in Renee Baigell and Matthew Baigell, Soviet Dissident Artists: Interviews after Perestroika, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1995, pp. 53–59
Norma Roberts, ed., The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad, 1965–1990, Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Museum of Art, 1990
"Vladimir Nemukhin," in Renee Baigell and Matthew Baigell, Soviet Dissident Artists: Interviews after Perestroika, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1995, pp. 53–59
Catalogue Note
Playing cards figure prominently in the oeuvre of Vladimir Nemukhin. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s Nemukhin created many works in various media--oil paintings, watercolors, mixed-media collages--featuring painted depictions of playing cards or incorporating actual ones. Nemukhin appreciates the playing card for its banality and, at the same time, its associations with mystery, chance, and fate--a stark contrast to the Soviet government's emphasis on planning and predetermined social processes. As the artist describes it, he arrived at the playing-card theme, appropriately enough, entirely by accident, upon seeing cards in the sand on a day at the beach in 1963. In his words: "I did not choose the playing card; rather, the playing card chose me. The card, which is the object of the game and the imagination, cuts through the plane of a picture and imparts motion to the painting surface, evokes recollections."
Among the important influences on Nemukhin were Paul Cézanne, the Cubists, and two artists whose work also embraced the role of chance and the commonplace: Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Part of the first generation of the nonconformist movement, Nemukhin entered the studio of Petr Sokolov, a former student of Kazimir Malevich, and Pavel Kuznetsov, in 1942. In 1957 he enrolled at the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow, but was expelled for his unorthodox views. During the late 1950s and 1960s the politically-minded Nemukhin was a member of the Lianozovo group, which advocated freedom of expression, and took part in notable nonconformist exhibitions, including the 1967 show at the Druzhba Workers' Club, which was shut down by the KGB and the Moscow Party Committee. Nemukhin was both a participant and played a key role in the famous "Bulldozer Exhibition" of 1974, serving as negotiator between the artists and the authorities. The artist today divides his time between Moscow and Germany.
Among the important influences on Nemukhin were Paul Cézanne, the Cubists, and two artists whose work also embraced the role of chance and the commonplace: Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Part of the first generation of the nonconformist movement, Nemukhin entered the studio of Petr Sokolov, a former student of Kazimir Malevich, and Pavel Kuznetsov, in 1942. In 1957 he enrolled at the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow, but was expelled for his unorthodox views. During the late 1950s and 1960s the politically-minded Nemukhin was a member of the Lianozovo group, which advocated freedom of expression, and took part in notable nonconformist exhibitions, including the 1967 show at the Druzhba Workers' Club, which was shut down by the KGB and the Moscow Party Committee. Nemukhin was both a participant and played a key role in the famous "Bulldozer Exhibition" of 1974, serving as negotiator between the artists and the authorities. The artist today divides his time between Moscow and Germany.