- 501
Boris Orlov
Estimate
30,000 - 40,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Boris Orlov
- Monument
- signed in Cyrillic (on the base)
- bronze and enamel
- H: 17 in.
- H: 43.2 cm
Provenance
The Roman Tabakman Collection
Literature
V. Allakhverdieva, "O pol'ze vozvrashcheniia (Interview with Boris Orlov)," Iskusstvo, 2004, no.6, pp. 59-65
V. Hillings, "Boris Orlov," in Russia!, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2006, p. 249
V.Patsukov, "Boris Orlov," A-Ya (Unofficial Russian Art Review), 1984, no. 6, pp. 13-17
V. Hillings, "Boris Orlov," in Russia!, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2006, p. 249
V.Patsukov, "Boris Orlov," A-Ya (Unofficial Russian Art Review), 1984, no. 6, pp. 13-17
Catalogue Note
Boris Orlov's work satirizes the art-historical tradition of celebrating military and political leaders and other revered figures in the form of sculpted portraiture. Orlov started his career as a sculptor after graduating from the Moscow School of Art and Industry (formerly the Stroganov Institute) in 1966.
In the 1970s, Orlov began a series of "portraits" of military heroes of the Soviet Union that deploy the conventions of Roman imperial, Neo-Classical, and Baroque portraiture, in particular, the practice of conveying a subject's importance through a profusion of external accoutrements rather than through revealing his inner life. Lacking any facial features, the "subjects" of the present lots are identified primarily by their military uniforms and medals. Depicting social types rather than actual individuals, Orlov's faceless portraits comment on the dehumanizing process that occurs in totalitarian societies like the Soviet Union.
In the 1970s, Orlov began a series of "portraits" of military heroes of the Soviet Union that deploy the conventions of Roman imperial, Neo-Classical, and Baroque portraiture, in particular, the practice of conveying a subject's importance through a profusion of external accoutrements rather than through revealing his inner life. Lacking any facial features, the "subjects" of the present lots are identified primarily by their military uniforms and medals. Depicting social types rather than actual individuals, Orlov's faceless portraits comment on the dehumanizing process that occurs in totalitarian societies like the Soviet Union.