DMITRI PLAVINSKY | Mozart in Autumn

signed with initial in Cyrillic and dated '87' l.r.; further signed and titled in Cyrillic and dated '87' on the reverse oil and collage on canvas Plavinsky has been described as a ‘cultural archaeologist’ – his interest in prehistoric art, medieval spirituality, Renaissance painting and music all inform his paintings; relics of extinct civilizations, hallowed objects as well as the everyday, are all incorporated into his paintings. Whether this is a kind of cultural optimism or a tragic commentary on the senselessness of human endeavor is open to interpretation, as Alexander Jakimovich points out in 'Dmitri Plavinsky’s Myths on Culture and Nature' (2000), but it is ‘dramatically incompatible with totalitarian ideology: what men believe to be absolute truth and the only right order of things inevitably becomes the dust of centuries and the province of museums… Plavinsky dealt with such powers as nature and history, creation and destruction, man and chaos'. What could the Soviet system make of 'an impertinent artist like Plavinsky, who demonstrated that there were systems in the past, and epochs in history, that were probably richer and more productive – and yet nothing is left of them except a few relics and residual tracks in the sand of time?'   Plavinsky moved to New York City in 1992. He returned to Moscow in 2004 where he spent the final years of his life.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1988

Original canvas. There is a layer of light surface dirt and a few very minor spots of staining in the upper section. Otherwise in good condition and ready to hang. Held in a simple wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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