Today, April 9, 2010 the famous Russian sculptor Ernst Unknown turns 85 years old. We congratulate Ernst Iosifovicha Happy Birthday!

Talking about this wizard-sixties, it is impossible not to mention the event, thanks to which he, despite his name became known even in distant from the art circles. This, of course, the famous exhibition at the Manege in 1962, where the artist has entered into a dispute with the Soviet spectator number 1 "- the then Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the head of state, already somewhat tuned to the negative of his entourage - including Mikhail Suslov, who dreamed of settling accounts with one of its nomenclature rivals - vulture collided with "abstraktsistov, in particular the Unknown, fell upon him and other artists whose work for the sake of intrigue put on the second floor, the thread count of incompetent and simply battle. And then - the ideological commission consequences. Let later regretted, Khrushchev said then in the Manege, and still later it was unknown created a headstone on his grave, but the echoes of the Manege heard almost throughout the further "unofficial" history of Soviet art. After this show even that creative non-conformism that was far from politics and social issues, gained an aura of dissidence. For this new avant-garde glory had to pay a high price - access to the spectator for many years was virtually closed. If, as the unknown, the dissident writer can write "the table", what do sculptor, especially such as he, all of whose grand, all "with a capital letter, all require considerable funds? .. Tired of the Loire at every step of bureaucracy, in 1976, the artist, who has just turned fifty, he decided to leave the Soviet Union - Europe, Switzerland, and later, in the search space for the beloved of monumentality in America.

• Neizvestny The Tree of Life. 2004
  Source: schools.keldysh.ru

However, some of their big ideas he was able to carry out before departure. Among them - the 150-meter relief decoration in Artek, a monument to "Lotus Flower" for the Aswan dam (btw, one of the world's largest sculpture) and Khrushchev's tombstone - sculpted head encased in a loop, half of which is black, another white that symbolizes the ambiguity of the figure of the Soviet premier. In 1956, the Unknown began work on a key project - a giant sculpture The Tree of Life ", a kind of" hymn to humanity ", which finds expression" dualistic [e] contro [e] of man and nature, man and the second nature of man himself " . Crohn's fantastic tree, seized seven Möbius strip, like the human heart. The artist conceived to build a huge structure, in which you can enter, this maze, but so far all the options sculpture, saw the light, not even close to this scale were selected. This, of course, does not rob them impressively: the height of Moscow's "Tree", has taken root in 2004 in the business center "Moscow City", is 7 meters.

• Neizvestny Mask of Sorrow. 1996
  Source: ru.wikipedia.org
• Neizvestny heads
  Source: artnet.com

Art of Ernst Unknown distinguishes emotion and power. He dekonstruiruet human figure in the spirit of Cubism, inspiring her stormy expression: the heroes of the Unknown if want to get beyond the body. Often it seems that body in his work (as in the sculptures and in paintings and drawings) are made up of individual parts, that is associated with robots or cyborgs (very much in the spirit of the 1960's). This aesthetic gives new life to used by the artist in the classical manner - Orpheus, centaur, a prophet, and so forth - in full accordance with the worldview of the Unknown, which does work on the eternal themes, and believes in the scientific and technological progress. Monumentality and pathos, combined with the dynamism of demand made by the Unknown author of Urban Sculpture: on his account incredible "Mask of Sorrow in Magadan, dedicated to the victims of Stalinist repression, as well as a monument to Stalin's deportation of the Kalmyk people in Elista.

While the first three places in the list of the most expensive auction of works of the Unknown oddly enough, take a picture. Sculptures by famous muralist on the art market there are two times less than the paintings. Price record belongs to the same picture - the song "Head", sold 29 November 2007 for 42,5 thousand pounds (auction Christie's). Estimeyt blade is 8-12 thousand. On the same bidding painting "Man in the chains" brought 36,5 thousand in the same preliminary assessment.

Editor's comment:

Lovers of the artist certainly agree that the element of the Unknown - sculpture and graphics. And his later paintings, even decorative (even excessively), though correct and on the topics obviously lacks though not all, but a large part of the primitive energy of the author, emotional turbulence, power, expression, famous sculptor. In this light, investors should take a hard look not so much a giant five-foot canvas with a bright "aniline" palette (which appeared in profusion in late 1980 - early 1990's and actively offered for auction), but to mid-sized sculpture and highly expressive graphics 1960 -80-ies. For the schedule, as they say - is the soul of the artist.

prices at international auctions good powerful figures large in the range 8-10 thousand dollars. Late Paintings traded in the range of 25-40 thousand dollars, and if estimeyt close to 50 thousand, then the chances of finding a buyer is already declining. Large, 50-80 cm tall, the sculpture with a characteristic theme (torsos, centaurs, etc.), refers to 1960 years, can cost 20-50 thousand dollars. Price varies greatly depending on the decoration and the power works: not the most convincing instances of other things being equal can cost several times cheaper. In turn, the micro-worth to recommend compact, 20-30 cm tall, sculpture (particularly the Unknown could crucifixion), which is much more accessible and less expressive, but in the comfort of ownership have clear advantages over solid stuff. In general, according to ARTinvestment.RU, creativity Ernst Unknown today underestimated. The prevailing price levels obviously do not correspond to not only place the artist in the history of postwar art of the informal, but the objective artistic value of his work. Strange as it sounds, but the new Russian audience seems to be an artist to open again - a significant exhibitions, retrospectives and publications. And the anniversary - a good reason to.

ARTinvestment.RU congratulates today is not only an outstanding sculptor, but also a hero at the front of Ernst Unknown Happy Victory Day.

material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI
Comments - Vladimir Bogdanov, AI

Sources: enstudio.com , directorinfo.ru , artinvestment.ru