Iosif Vasilievich Gerasimovich

The first musical comedy produced in the Soviet Union, Grigory Aleksandrov’s Veselye rebyata (Jolly Fellows) premiered on 25 December 1934 and proved an instant success. Having visited the U.S. with his mentor and the director Sergei Eisenstein in 1929, Aleksandrov was determined to create a Soviet version of Hollywood, which would introduce basic Marxist-Leninist concepts into light-hearted entertainment. Veselye Rebyata was his first independent film and its plot revolves around the adventures of the musically gifted shepherd Kostya (Leonid Utyosov), who is repeatedly mistaken for a famous conductor, and Anyuta (Lyubov Orlova), a maid and aspiring singer who is in love with Kostya. The film’s success propelled both Utyosov and Orlova to instant fame.

In his review of the film, Graham Greene referred to it as ‘the best thing that has happened to the cinema since René Clair made The Italian Straw Hat. Aleksandrov, who has been awarded a Soviet Order for his direction, has produced, just as Clair did then, out of the smallest resources and apparently with poor-quality film, a picture of almost ecstatic happiness’ (Spectator, 27 September 1935).

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.