Artist of the week. Igor Snegur
ARTinvestment.RU   20 ноября 2017

Snegurovskogo abstract composition, 1989 — the most significant paintings of the sixties, participant of "Taganka" and "Bee" offered for public auction in Russia

Still a student at the Polygraphic Institute belyutinskoy group Igor Snegur (1935) participated in the resonant "Taganka" — experimental exhibition in the House of folk art on a Large Communist 9. The exhibition opened on November 26, 1962 — will soon be 55 years old. A rare event — semi-forbidden abstraction formally show in Moscow! — have collected not only a progressive city audience, but many foreign correspondents. Artist and teacher Ely Belyutin at the time, invented to strengthen the exhibition of the artists of his Studio, and invited to participate Unknown, Vladimir Yankylevsky, Hulot Sooster and Yuri Sobolev-Нолева. That familiar line-up? You guessed it. A large part of this group of artists will trap to the exhibition 30-летия Mosha. And all of a sudden the pilot of "x" will turn into a historic "arena-62", which starred the most influential art-критик 1960-х Nikita Khrushchev.

the Second time Igor Snegur fell into the great story of the post-war unofficial art in February 1975. In 20 of Moscow artists, among whom were Oscar Rabin, Vladimir Yakovlev, Anatoly Zverev, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, Vladimir Nemukhin, Dmitry Plavinsky, Vladimir Yankilevsky, Oleg Tselkov, he participated in the famous exhibition of independent art at ENEA in the pavilion "beekeeping" (not to be confused with the "culture House" ENEA, who was later in another composition).

"beekeeping" was a breath of fresh air in the stifling atmosphere of the socialist realist uniformity. To the great displeasure of the authorities, and items from art, to see the current exhibition lined up a long queue of Muscovites and guests of the capital.

Reactionary to the non-Soviet art "Evening Moscow" (it was previously published "the Priests "Garbage №8"" and other historical works) responded to the "beekeeping" devastating article Soviet art critic and journalist Yuri Nekhoroshev, "the avant-garde of the bourgeoisie". Claims were familiar: "most of the work — only slavish repetition (to put it mildly) of the discoveries or experiments formal order, which was for the last 75-80 years in Russian and European art. It is my contention it is easy to check: take albums, flip through and you will see that the current “avant-garde” borrow everything that catches their eye. Here and in the “World of art”, and abstract impressionism, surrealism and expressionism, the beginning of “poparta” and “new materiality”, “naive” and “KINETICA” — in short, with the world on a string — “avant-garde” shirt. It is known that the repetition of — is the mother of learning, but it is also known that repetition in art — mortal enemy of creativity. A good avant-garde, braiding the baggage of history!"

everything Seems to be clear. Perhaps that is too straightforward, to the point of absurdity, complete opposites in meaning.Why? And it is not the first time. And that's weird. So let me make a digression and to suggest a conspiracy hypothesis. Damning article such as this we have been reading a lot of. They are written in a deliberately crude, without courage. Mind that wrote-то not blockheads. Then, maybe, they are specifically? Judge for yourself, well, how else at that time in the Soviet press, it was possible to write about artists-несоцреалистах? Enthusiastically? Do not miss. Laudatory? And whether Rabin and Kropivnitsky, them to praised the hated "Evening Moscow"? Of course, no — on the contrary, it would be offensive. More important than to have written anything-то at all that the public learned that there is a "other art", remember the names of the artists. For history, as we now realize, is important, not the author's events, and about the fact. And all these in the form of deliberately exposing publish this valuable information, as if on purpose, was carried. And to read between the lines thinking people in the USSR really even know how. Conjecture, of course, so-so — but it has to be at least some-то explanation for all of this nonsense masquerading as criticism.

In the late 1970-х, after the scandal with the "bulldozer" exhibition, the government reduced the political pressure on artists working outside the system of socialist realism. Appeared if not quite free, it is far more liberal art reservation — hall in the basement on Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28, housed the city Committee of artists-графиков and could be exposed to non-conformists. Artists "Georgian women" were combined into separate groups according to the community views. You may have heard such names as "Twenty", a group of "Twenty-one" or "Seven"? Everywhere were leaders, exhibition plan, creative competition. Snegur was one of the founders of the "Twenty" — gorkomovskoy group "Twenty Moscow artists". The first exhibition, it includes, for example, well known to participants of our auctions Sergey Simakov and Konstantin Khudyakov. Later, near the end of the eighties, a group was present Peter Belenok, Alexander Kharitonov and Semyon Faibisovich. Snegur participated in all ten exhibitions twenty — from 1978 to 1987. And then began a new time and a new role. In 1988, Igor Snegur became the founder of the first private gallery "Mars", 1993 — publisher of the magazine "Art-Панорама", exhibited in Russian and foreign galleries. And continues to exhibit. In March 2017 major solo retrospective the exhibition of Igor Snegur "Endless journey" (over 120 works) was held in the Museum-выставочном the Academy of arts on Prechistenka, 19.

To date, the paintings of Igor Snegur are in the collections of the New Tretyakov gallery, State Russian Museum, Moscow Museum of Modern Art and other museums in the country. Since the sixties the main subject in the work of Snegur remains the relationship between space and time. In addition to the original of the original plastic solution, its abstractpaintings are often beautiful philosophical names — clues to decode idea: "Mimicry of the gesture", "Three inversions" — are examples of names of abstractions 1980-х years.

About the public market. In our database for the Snegur — 14 auction events, with painting, graphics, collage. Over the last couple of years we AI Auction too a few times successfully sold works Snegur. But before we it was either graphics, or a small painting on cardboard in the region of 30 000 rubles. Now put up a large canvas — 100 × 120. The thing is much more high-level, so nothing to compare with yet. In Russia — so sure. Last paintings of this size were exhibited at auction 9 years ago, and overseas. Then one of them asked and gave in the neighborhood of $ 4 500-6 000. The current auction record for the artist — $6 000 — was installed on the American auction Shapiro in 2008, before the crisis. Now the works of the artist, from my point of view, significantly undervalued. But I think the collectors on this omission more work.

Vladimir Bogdanov, AI

Sources: artinve stment.ru, snegur-art.ru