Anatoly Pavlovich Belsky

Belsky studied at the Imperial Stroganov Central School of Applied Arts (1912–17) later the State Free Art Studios in Moscow (1917–20) alongside the Stenberg brothers, pioneers of Constructivist design. In the late 1920s he found his true calling as a designer of film posters, encouraged by the burgeoning interest in cinema and the government's sanctioning of graphic arts.

Dzhanki was directed and scripted by Alexander Tsutsunava (1881-1955), a pioneer of Georgian cinema, who directed the first Georgian feature film Christine (1916). Based on the historical novel by Egnate Ninoshvili (1859-1894), Dzhanki tells the story of the 1841 rebellion against the duties and taxes imposed on Georgian peasants by the tsarist government. According to Tsutsunava, his aim was to 'preserve the historical truth and to relate the tragedy of the peasant uprising in a truthful manner'.

The Soviet art critic and dealer Victor Kholodkov (1948-2015) was particularly drawn to the graphic works and typographical experiments of the Russian avant-garde. He published a number of articles on the subject and contributed to exhibitions after his emigration from the Soviet Union in 1989, including the 1992 Guggenheim exhibition The Great Utopia: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde. His extensive collection of papers and artwork relating to VKhUTEMAS was acquired by the Getty Museum in 1995 and his collection of Soviet music sheet covers is now in The Library of Congress.

The present selection of graphic works, oils and original film posters (lots 107-138) from the first half of the 20^th century is characteristic of Kholodkov’s interests in the convergence of artistic, cultural and political concerns of the period. He is known to have purchased much of his collection directly from the artists or their families; others were acquired directly from Nikolai Khardzhiev, another well-known collector of the Russian avant-garde.