Matveevich Michael Schwartzman (1926-1997) - painter equally remarkable, as it is difficult to comprehend. Uninitiated spectator of Schwartzman may seem conglomeration of shapes and colors. However, it is much deeper. The author considered himself the conductor of the divine principle, and his works called "Hieratures" (from drevnegrech. Hieros - «the sacred", "sign") - the presence of the deity forms.
Schwartzman was a kind of painter, and many of his boards without reason are called "faces". However, this is not the faces of the saints. In religious and philosophical concepts ieratizma by Shvartsman, every man, dying, leaves a trace of iconic in the tomb. Lived the way imprinted on his face, and it is not just the face, and the "face". There is a kind of "spiritual birth to death».
Mikhail Shvartsman
Awesome eye
Oil on canvas. 100 x 75
Sotheby's. 15.02.2007
Estimate: £ 40-60 thousand
The result: 192,000 pounds
Source: artinvestment.ru
Another type of
Hieratures Schwartzman - it marks the construction of layered on each other many shapes and forms. These abstract paintings he called "the mouth of the entrances to heaven and earth." Created these works planned coats of tempera paint, multiple "fusing" of one form to the other until the finished product. Schwarzman called a change of metamorphosis, inevitable as the change of generations. Intermediate result and the charm of some forms did not have to knock down ierata, he must sacrifice for the sake of the momentary beauty of truth, that is a divine sign. To hear this voice of God sends signs, the artist must be meek, free from preconceived notions and theories, to act on a whim. Schwarzman believed that he had obtained it.
You might think that an artist who lives in a world of their spiritual character, could not be time for earthly life. But it was not the case. After Schwarzman in 1956 graduated from the Higher School of Industrial Art (studied with Paul P. Kuznetsova and AV Kuprin ), he worked as a poster artist, engaged in registration books. Then, almost twenty years (from 1966 to 1985) worked as the chief designer of the Special Design Bureau of art, engaged in the development of trade marks. Schwartzman has achieved outstanding success in the field of industrial graphics.
On the basis of Art and Design Office with a group of students, he created his "hieratic school" of painting, which at different times were Valery Bashenin , Dmitry Gorokhov, Dmitry Komissarov, Nikita Medvedev, Gennady Spirin, Vladimir Teplukhin, Mikhail Fedorov, and Anatoly Chaschinsky . This group elected Schwartzman revealed the secrets of their symbol system. In the works of students ieratizm Schwartzman evolves and takes on new meaning.
Mikhail Shvartsman
The ship sails. 1975
Canvas on board; oil. 89,5 x 74,5
Sotheby's. 09.06.2008
Estimate: £ 50-70 thousand
The result: 157,000 pounds
Source: artinvestment.ru
But Schwartzman, apparently, believed that not all are able to understand the true, deeper meaning of his Hieratures, and therefore not much in a hurry to share them with the general public. He was an artist, a loner, distant from both the official unions (never entered into the Union of Artists), and from the non-conformist bohemian circles. Exhibited reluctance, his first full-scale exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery was in 1994, several years before his death.
Nevertheless, during the life work of Schwartzman recognized one of the most unusual and talented Russian unofficial art layers. Appreciated by the artist George Costakis appreciated and Norton Dodge. His name was exhibited in Europe, and the auction house Christie's asked for his work on their trades. But Schwarzman declined. He was never interested in the success and fame, he preferred to live in a world of their Hieratures.
Mikhail Shvartsman
Fortress of the chapter. 1978-1987
Canvas on board; temperature. 105 x 105
Sotheby's. 17.04.2007
Estimate: 80-120 thousand dollars
Result: 204 000 USD
Source: artinvestment.ru
Ten years ago, before the boom in the sixties, the work of Schwartzman was extremely difficult to acquire even a lot of money. They simply did not exist in the market, during the life of an artist to sell quite a bit, and almost all the work was controlled by the heirs (as now). In the mid-2000s, at the peak of interest in the informal post-war art, a matter of things began to appear at auction. The three most successful sales Schwartzman refer to 2007-2008. The most expensive piece is still "face", "Awesome eye", sold at Sotheby's in February 2007 for 192,000 pounds (estimate 40-60 thousand pounds). The second highest price of oil remains the work of "The ship sails," pushed at Sotheby's in June 2008 for an impressive 157,000 pounds (estimate 50-70 thousand pounds). And the third most successful selling again took place at Sotheby's: in April 2007, tempera on "Fortress of the head," sold for 204,000 dollars (estimate of 80-120 thousand dollars).
Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI
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Editorial: Formally, the base from 2006 to the auction exhibited 19 works of Mikhail Shvartsman - paintings and drawings. Really - less because some of the exhibited works, obviously, can not be attributed to the original. However, collectors need to be vigilant but elementary. Creativity Schwartzman well protected against counterfeiting. Released almost a complete catalog of his works (Raisonné). There are plenty of knowledgeable experts in this topic. So there is every opportunity to verify the authenticity before you buy.
Works Schwartzman is still rare at auction on the grounds and point of purchase. So hard to say mathematically confirmed by the price dynamics. Over the past five years, the masterpieces of the class, "an ardent eye" never again to appear at auction. But in the 2010/2011 auction, it sold a half-dozen paintings Hieratures (not faces) is about the size of meter. We can say that the level of resistance to this class of work established at 50,000 pounds (about 80,000 dollars). If higher, increasing the risk of not sold (this also happens). At the same time, making decisions about investment purchases, should take into account the fact that the work of Schwartzman do some serious driving force (current exhibition to be confirmed), the artist is in a cage, and an auction of his work has been and remains cool ornament collections of the sixties. So what advice, as always: to choose the time and buy masterpieces.
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Mikhail Shvartsman 
Mikhail Shvartsman 
