#11) “Memory” – Alexander Kalugin
EtchingDated 198321″ x 32″ I first met Alexander, or Sasha, Kalugin in Moscow in 1983 just after his release from the “White Posts” mental institution. He had been incarcerated with a diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia.” My late husband, Don McNeill, was the CBS News Moscow Bureau Chief at the time. We did a story about […]
#10) “Bubuka” – Alexander Kalugin
EtchingDated 198314″ x 10″ Kalugin spent a great deal of time incarcerated in Russian prisons and mental hospitals. His “crimes” and “medical diagnoses” were fabrications such as “sluggish schizophrenia” that kept him locked-up and quiet. He is a self-trained artist and liked to draw portraits of those around him while in confinement. According to Kalugin, […]
#9) Untitled – Alexander Kalugin
Oil on Canvas (framed)Dated 198335″ x 27″ Alexander Kalugin participated in the daring 1974 “nonconformist” art show in Moscow’s Izmailovsky Park. He was arrested after the art show and later released when he signed a letter agreeing to never create abstract art. Kalugin was never interested in abstract art but, as a form of rebellion, […]
#8) “Workers of the World Unite” with “Kolya” tattoo – V. Zhdan
Pen & Ink original drawing, thought to be based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrea Platonov. Not Dated17″ x 23.5″ “Kolya” is tattooed on the arm of one of the crushed workers. It is thought to be a reference to Stalin’s notorious “Gulags” or labor camps as it was common for “inmates” to have […]
#7) “Workers of the World Unite” – V. Zhdan
Pen & Ink original drawing, thought to be based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrea Platonov. Not Dated 24″ x 32″ Although “Kotlovan” is about the cruelty ordinary people suffered under Stalin’s policies, it’s unclear if the drawing was necessarily meant as an illustration for the book. Stalin’s face is on the flag with […]
#6) ”Safronov” or “Paskin” – V. Zhdan
Pen & Ink original drawing, based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrei Platonov. Dated 1978 20″x 34″ Vladislav Zhdan was inspired to draw the characters from the novel “Kotlovan” because the book was a revelation for him when he read it in the 1970s. Born in the Stalinist era, a book that dared to […]
#5) “Voshchev” – V. Zhdan
#5 – Pen & Ink original drawings, based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrei Platonov.Dated 197720″ x 34″ Zhdan did not belong to the Union of Artists so he had none of the perks that membership afforded “official” artists like an apartment and salary. He lived off the proceeds of hushed private sales. Entering […]
#4) “Voshchev” – V. Zhdan
Pen & Ink original drawing, based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrei Platonov.Not Dated20″ x 34″ On a visit to Zhdan’s tiny Moscow studio which also served as his apartment with his mother, I asked him how he felt about having to so surreptitiously show his art. His answer was that if a hundred […]
#3) “Zhachev” – V. Zhdan
Pen & Ink original drawing, based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrei Platonov.Not Dated20″ x 34″ Zhdan never finished art school before he started working as a graphic artist in 1968. He participated in the daring 1974 “nonconformist” art show in Moscow’s Izmailovsky Park. The legendary NY Times journalist Hedrick Smith wrote of the […]
#2) “Zhachev and Nastya” – V. Zhdan
V.Zhdan 77 September Kotlovan Platonov Pen & Ink original drawing, based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrei Platonov.Dated 197720″ x 34” Although Platonov was a Communist, his novel “Kotlovan” was critical of Stalin’s policies and the great cruelty that Soviet collectivization inflicted on working people. The book was not published in the USSR until […]