The Society of Easel Artists

1925-1932, Moscow

Members-учредители: Yu. p. Annenkov, J. L. Weiner, V. A. Vassiliev, P. V. Williams, K. A. vyalov, A. A. Deineka, . F. Denisov, S. N. Kostin, A. A. Labas, Y. A. Merkulov, Y. I. Pimenov, D. P. Shterenberg.

the Members and exhibitors: S. Y. Adlivankin, M. M. Axelrod, V. S. Aleevski, V. F. Antonov, E. A. Arkin, A. O. bars, . P. Bektaeva, G. S. Barenghi, B. P. Bulgakov, E. V. Vinogradov, B. I. Volkov, A. D. Goncharov, M. E. Horsman, M. S. Granavtseva, M. L. Gurevich, . T. Gurov, M. V. Dobrokovsky, L. Y. Zevin, E. S. Zernova, L. P. Zusman, I. V. Ivanovo, A. I. Igumnov, L. I. Kisenkov (LIC), I. V. Klyun, A. N. Kozlov, K. A. Kozlov, F. F. Kondrashov, I. A. Kudryashov (Kudryashov), Kukryniksy (M. V. Kupriyanov, P. N. Krylov, . A. Sokolov), . N. The Kupreyanov, T. A. Lebedev, S. A. Luchishkin, V. I. Lyushin, E. K. Melnikov, S. B. Nikritin, K. K. Parkhomenko, F. F. Platov, M. S. Perucki, A. I. Poberezhskii, I. G. Popkov, B. I. Rabichev, . A. Treskin, A. G. Tyshler, P. V. Tyagunov, A. A. Shakhov, . A. Shifrin, A. V. Schipitsyn (Shipitsin), V. Ellonen.

Exhibitions: 1-я (1925, Moscow) — 4-я (1928, Moscow); 3-я exhibition of paintings (1927, Feodosiya); the exhibition of German artists (1928, Berlin)@the semicolon "the life of the children of the Soviet Union" (1929, Moscow); 1-я travelling exhibition of paintings and drawings (1929, Moscow).

Largest (along with AHRR) art Association of the second half of 1920 — early 1930-х years. Founded at the beginning of 1925 graduates of VKhUTEMAS, the members of the group "Method" ("Projectionist") and "Contractivity", which United under the slogan of struggle against Orlovskogo naturalism, and constructivism bespredmetnichestva; advocated for a new realistic form and the creation of the modern easel picture. A significant influence on the formation of the Society had 1-я Discussion exhibition associations active revolutionary art (1924), and 1-я the General German art exhibition (1924), which was widely presented works of German expressionists.

At the initial Board has entered J. L. Weiner, P. V. Williams, . F. Denisov, Y. I. Pimenov;, was elected Chairman D. P. Shterenberg (after 1-й of the exhibition). A selection of works engaged in by the jury, which was invariably P. V. Williams, Y. I. Pimenov, D. P. Shterenberg, and at different times — J. L. Weiner, K. A. vyalov, A. A. Deineka, S. N. Kostin, A. A. Labas, V. I. Lyushin, A. G. Tyshler, . A. Shifrin.

Developed a Charter (registered in September 1929), which formulated an ideological platform of the EAST: "IN the era of building socialism the active power of art participants are in this building and one of the factors of the cultural revolution in the field of reconstruction and making a new life and create a new socialist culture... the Lines have to go work: a) the rejection of abstraction, and peredvizhnichestva in the plots; b) refusal of askinosie as the phenomenon of disguised amateurism;) waiver of pseudocatalase as a phenomenon, corrupting the discipline of drawing and color; d) revolutionary modernity and clarity in the choice of subject; d)the pursuit of absolute mastery of the subject of easel painting, drawing, sculpture... e) desire for the finished painting@W semicolon) focus on the artistic youth.

1-я exhibition the OST was opened on 26 April 1925 at the Museum of painterly culture in Rozhdestvenka, 11 (right wing VKhUTEMAS); was exhibited by 19 artists. Among the two hundred works were presented such "soft" works as: "Boxing" (1924) Y. I. Pimenov, "Before descending into the mine" A. A. Deineka, "a Portrait of V. E. Meyerhold" P. V. Williams, the "Motor run" K. A. vyalov, "Pipe" S. A. Luchishkin, "the organ Grinder" A. D. Goncharov (all — 1925).

the Exhibition has received numerous friendly feedback in the press. J. A. Tugendhold believed that "the left" young people, the basis of OST, "came to believe that the picture as such is not obsolete what exactly it resonates in the soul of the masses, so widely visiting museums... But unlike AHRR, "OST" is committed to creating paintings, modern not only in its content but also in its visual tools" (under exhibitions // news, 1925, may 8). The critic F. S. Roginsky who hold positions AHRR, also praised the exhibition: "Young artists OST cannot imagine painting without actionable content. The story for them — starting point, and because the center of their aspirations it is on the seeking of formal methods, most fully and clearly revealing it. This bias is not only proper, but absolutely necessary for painting in the moment" ("Exhibition of the society of easel" // True, 1925, may 12). Criticism only I. V. Klyun and I. A. Kudryashov, which presented non-figurative work.

2-я exhibition (may 1926) took place in the rooms of the State Historical Museum; 26 artists presented 280 papers. Exposure differed from 1-й exhibitions of great variety in genre and thematic relations. Among the exhibits, the proportion of theatre and film credits, appeared production design and graphics, book illustration. Among the most significant works of — "On the construction of new plants" (1926) A. A. Deineka, "Disabled war veterans" (1926) Y. I. Pimenov, "Aniska" (1926) D. P. Shterenberg, "I love life" (1926) S. A. Luchishkin, "Director of the weather" (1926) A. G. Tischler, the cycle of drawings "Sochi" (1924) A. A. Labas. Evaluation of the exhibition was diverse. A. M. Efros wrote: "the EAST until the lab, not a workshop. But it has a definite program, real tenacity and — is the most important — collective talent... OST while only one of our group, which was able to process, clear and to introduce further artistic practice that was honed and obezatelno in cubism, Suprematism, constructivism..." (Exhibit OST // Spotlight, 1926, June 30). I. E. Ephedra noted: "the Second exhibition OOST finds that "formal" way this young group is not only worn and impersonal modern story, but through it become particularly acute. The exhibition is full of contemporary themes and motifs, taken from the thick material a new life" (the Second exhibition OST // Soviet art, 1926, No. 6). However, controversial and controversy was aroused by the work Y. I. Pimenov ("Invalids of war"), P. V.Williams ("Landscape with figures"), Y. A. Merkulov, and especially A. G. Tischler and A. A. Labas. F. S. Roginsky said: "...overall, the show produces a mixed impression. Undoubted personal success of individual artists and the relatively high artistic competence they do not cover the fact that the Union as a whole much more than last year, fell under the power of alien influences, which are the dominant impressions of the exhibition" (Review of scenic season // Krasnaya Nov, 1926, № 7).

3-я exhibition (April 1927) was again set in the halls of the Museum of painterly culture; 29 artists showed more than 250 works. On the composition affected the employment of the artists preparing for the two anniversary public exhibitions of 10-летием the red Army and 10-летием Oct;, a number of major works executed by Otousama in 1927, was not included in the exhibition. However, among the exhibits were significant works: "the Man in the boat" (1926) and "Acrobat" (1927) P. V. Williams, "the Balloon flew away" (1926) S. A. Luchishkin, "Football" (1926), "In the foundry" (1927) Y. I. Pimenov, "the Woman and the airplane" (1926), paintings and graphic works from the series "Makhnovshchina" (1926) A. G. Tischler, "Rise" (1927) A. N. Kozlov, graphic series "the settlement on the Volga" (1926-1927) . N. Of kupreyanov, "the town square" (1926) A. A. Labas.

In 1928, the Society has left A. A. Deineka from-за disagree with "hypertrophy easel" and underestimation of the role of industrial arts, including poster and magazine illustration. It was followed by M. V. Dobrokovsky; and the two artists soon became members of the Association "October".

In the same year in the EAST there has been a conflict between two groups of artists at odds in understanding the style and content of contemporary art. One of them was S. A. Luchishkin, P. V. Williams, Y. I. Pimenov, P. V. Tyagunov, K. A. vyalov, V. I. lyushin, . F. Denisov, K. A. Kozlov, M. L. Gurevich, A. A. Shakhov, A. I. Igumnov, V. F. Antonov, E. K. Melnikov, E. S. Zernova, I. A. Kudryashov. This group gravitated to contemporary topics (technology, sports, industrial landscape), solved in hot-динамичном the key. Another group, United around D. P. Shterenberg, made A. D. Goncharov, A. G. Tyshler, A. A. Labas, . N. The Kupreyanov, . A. Shifrin, A. N. Kozlov, I. V. Ivanovo, L. Y. Zevin, M. M. Axelrod, M. E. horsman, L. P. Zusman, T. A. Lebedev, V. S. Aleevski; in her work was dominated by "painting" the beginning of lyric-романтическое perception of modernity.

4-я exhibition (April 1928) in the halls of the Museum of painterly culture brought together about 250 works by 28 artists. This exhibition was different from the previous appearance of an entire galaxy of young artists (most — pupils D. P. Shterenberg later), for many of which this exhibition started exhibition activity. Among the most significant works: "the Death of Marat" (1927) A. D. Goncharov, "Run" (1928) Y. I. Pimenov, "Cinema (Eisenstein and Tise on the shooting)" (1927-1928) K. A. vyalov, "aircraft" cycle A. A. Labas (1928), "Lyric cycle" (1928) A. G. Tischler. Almost all reviewers of the exhibition have noted the discrepancy definitively established in the EAST by this time groupsspeaking with so different works that all the more obvious, according to critics, became the artificiality of the Association itself. So, F. S. Roginsky wrote that the departure A. A. Deineka of the EAST in "October" have already testified to the fact that "the most vigorous and vital branch of the EAST begins to stall, expelled from the Association. Instead, it is a lush, double flowers bloom another — is one that is particularly thick, covers the young face OST expressionist paint" (exhibition 4 OST // Izvestiya, 1928, may 6). Critic A. I. Kurilla said that paintings of the EAST "speak not the language of solid organized proletarian vanguard, but a language divorced of the Soviet intelligentsia" (OST true face of our time // Life-arts, 1928, No. 28, 8 July). A positive score of 4-й the exhibition gave only A. M. Efros, noting that of all the unions only "OST one managed to stay in motion. He worked for both the jubilee exhibitions as much as others, — but had not returned home, and in the laboratory" (the exhibition of OST // Spotlight, 1928, No. 20, p.18).

Except four exhibitions, members of the OST participated in the exhibition of German artists in Berlin (1928), a separate group was presented on 3-й exhibition of paintings in Feodosia (1927), "the life of the children of the Soviet Union" (1929), 1-й traveling exhibition of paintings and drawings (1929) in Moscow.

For 1928-1931, the demarcation of the two groups in the EAST increased. In the press ensued a heated debate between OST and AHR. Its culmination of articles L. P. Vasilevskogo "Artistic "quality" or Soviet ideology" (art to the masses, 1930, No. 2), F. S. Roginsky "Face the EAST" (art to the masses, 1930, No. 6); and the responses of the members of the EAST L. P. Vasilenka entitled: "letter to the editor" (work and art, 1930, No. 17, March 25) and "Between the bast and the blast furnace" (art to the masses, 1930, No. 4). F. S. Roginsky, highlighting OST three distinct ideological and artistic groups, describe one of them (A. A. Labas, A. G. Tyshler, A. D. Goncharov, S. A. Luchishkin, A. N. Kozlov): "All this breakthrough sentiment, characteristic of the bourgeois intelligentsia of the era of reaction, — mysticism, the patient erotica, individualistic detachment from reality, signals a decisive trouble in the EAST. The old hereditary respect had to overcome in his work ties with the Soviet reality. There is degeneration, the transition to the position of bourgeois culture (the Entity OST // Art in mass 1930, No. 6). OST has responded to the criticism: "We know our mistakes. Do we even know what these mistakes are very, very much. OST in the most part represents a laboratory for new forms, new style, new content. Only from such a lab OST will come to the great Soviet theme. Replacement cockade red star naive to think the art of revolution" (art to the masses, 1930, № 4).

by the Governing bodies of the Federation of associations of Soviet artists, AHR supports the policy of the division of Society. The resolution of FOSH group D. P. Shterenberg were marked as "pravoporyadka", "slipping into a position of bourgeois art".

January 31, 1931 for an emergency meeting of the OST, after a long debate there was a split within the Association. P. V. Williams, K. A. Vyalov, S. A. Luchishkin, V. I. Lyushin, P. V. Tyagunovdisagreed with ideologically-политической line held by the management Board, upon proposal of V. P. Taganova demanded a change of leadership. They proposed a new composition of the Board: Y. I. Pimenov, P. V. Williams, S. A. Luchishkin, P. V. Tyagunov. In the vote of this group were in the minority (14 to 19), however, the meeting came to the conclusion about the necessity of demarcation of two groups.

Beginning to emerge from the EAST suggested by the supporters D. P. Shterenberg, but after meeting the second group, led by the P. V. Williams declared the establishment of independent enterprises "Izobrigada". Thus, the name of the OST kept the group D. P. Shterenberg. In 1931-1932 the Association consisted of 27 members, the new Board included D. P. Shterenberg (Chairman), A. A. Labas, A. G. Tyshler, A. N. Kozlov. Among the new members of — Kukryniksy.

April 23, 1932 the activity of the EAST had ceased by the decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) "On restructuring literary-художественных organizations."

the group's Activities is devoted to the monograph of V. I. Kostin "OST" (Leningrad, 1976), catalogue of the exhibition "Graphic Society easel" (M., 2009).