BARTH Viktor Sergeevich

April 8, 1887 (Velichaevo, Stavropol province) — May 27, 1954 (Moscow)

Painter, graphic artist, art theorist

Barth was born to a family of veterinarian. In 1906 he entered Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he met M. Larionov, N. S. Goncharova, D. D. Burlyuk, and V. Mayakovsky. In 1911 he graduated from the School with the title of the artist. In 1911–1912 Barth studied at the Imperial Academy of Art under Y. Tsionglinsky.

Barth was one of the organizers of the first exhibition of the association Bubnovy Valet (“Jack of Diamonds”) in Moscow, Osliny Khvost (“Donkey’s Tail”, 1912) and Mishen (“Target”) exhibitions. He also took part in exhibitions of the Union of Youth. In the same year Barth began to elaborate on theoretical issues of the composition. He painted pictures in an experimental manner, adverting to latest pictorial trends.

At the beginning of World War I, he was drafted as a warrant officer, was sent to France to the Russian expeditionary corps; in 1917 he was transferred to Algeria. After the war Barth returned to France and settled in the Latin Quarter in Paris, in the neighborhood of Larionov and Goncharova.

In 1921 Barth exposed his works at the exhibition Hundred from Parnassus, collaborated with the Russian magazine Udar (“Beat”). In 1922 he published his theoretic work Relativity of pictorial expressions. In the same year Barth joined the union Art — life, published his drawings in the magazine Makovets. In 1923 he together with I. Zdanevich and S. Romov became a member of the executive committee of the group Cherez (“Through”). In 1925 Barth decorated the pavilion of the USSR at the International Exhibition in Paris. In 1928, he exposed three paintings at the exhibition of the Modern French Art in Moscow.

Barth painted portraits, landscapes, multifigured compositions, and compositions of allegorical content. He took part in group exhibitions. His personal exhibitions were held in galleries in Paris. However, despite this, Barth’s works did not win the recognition in France.

In 1936 the artist returned to the Soviet Union and settled in Moscow. He was primarily engaged in book graphic; in particular he created illustrations for the books The tale of Tsar Saltan by A. S. Pushkin, Bear’s neighbors by Z. N. Alexandrova (both works — 1937), Poems by N. A. Nekrasov (1939), Olesya by Y. Kupala (1940), and calendar All the year round (1948). In 1943–1948, Barth worked on a cycle of lithographs Moscow in its past and present. Since 1951 he was engaged in work under teaching aids.

Works by Viktor Barth are in many museum and private collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and Victoria and Albert Museum in London.