Russian painter
Oleg Vassiliev (; November 4, 1931; Moscow – January 25, 2013) was a Russian painter associated with the Soviet Nonconformist Art style. Vassiliev emigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City in 1990 and later lived and worked in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Education.
Vassiliev graduated from V.I. Surikov State Art Institute, Moscow, in 1958. In the late 1950s he became influenced by the Russian avant-garde formalists, Vladimir Favorsky (1886–1964), Robert Falk (1886–1958), and Artur Fonvizin (1883–1973).
Biography.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, Vassiliev worked with friend and collaborator Erik Bulatov as a children's book illustrator. They developed a unique style of illustration that combined realist painting with graphic elements, such as text. This "official" source of income provided the means and materials for Vassiliev to take part in the Soviet Nonconformist Art movement, also known as "unofficial" or "dissident" art. Along with friends, Ilya Kabakov, Erik Bulatov and Viktor Pivovarov, Vassiliev belonged to a large group of Soviet artists that took advantage of the Nikita Khrushchev "thaw" in official policy that opened up the Soviet Union to Western culture in the years following Joseph Stalin's death in 1953.
Style.
During this period of time Vassiliev developed his mature style. In his art Vassiliev combines the traditions of Russian Realism (art movement) of the 19th century with the Russian avant-garde of the beginning of the 20th century. "Vassiliev's principal themes, which were born while he was in Russia and continue to the present day, are his memories of home and houses, roads, forests, fields, friends and family. Vassiliev always starts his creative process from a very personal memory, from his sacred space, the safeguarded inner center, and connects it with the visual image. Vassiliev masterfully incorporates elements from different times and spaces and arranges them throughout his paintings according to the logic and 'energetic' space of the painting."
"Leading Soviet graphic artist Vladimir Favorsky was a major influence on Vassiliev's work. Favorsky emphasised the constructive qualities of image-making, understanding painting as a rhythmic organisation of space swirling about time. Such abstract aesthetic thought was alien to mainstream Soviet Realism and demonstrates the liberties afforded graphic designers during this period. With a preoccupation for the structural qualities of a composition, these aesthetics also find their origin in Russian Constructivism of the 1920s.
"...Vassiliev's recurring preoccupation with light and shade in his oeuvre also points to a psychological dimension, with light symbolising consciousness and dark, the subconscious. Elements of German Romanticism influence his thought. He searches for answers in an unfathomable world, posing questions without obvious answers and leaving the viewer feeling nonplussed, a hallmark of Postmodernist art..."
Bibliography.
- 2017: Cann, Tyler and Drew Sawyer, Red Horizon: Contemporary Art and Photography in the USSR and Russia, 1960–2010, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, USA.
- 2017: Tupitsyn, Margarita, Moscow Vanguard Art, 1922–1992, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, USA.
- 2016: Fowle, Kate and Ruth Addison, Exhibit Russia: The New International Decade, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.
- 2016: Glasser, David, Yalta 1945: Komar and Melamid, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London, UK.
- 2015: Po dorogam skazki : knizhnai︠a︡ grafika Ėrika Bulatova, Olega Vasilʹeva, Ilʹi Kabakova, Viktora Pivovarova iz chastnykh kollekt︠s︡iĭ i sobranii︠a︡ GMII im. A.S. Pushkina, Moscow, Russia.
- 2014: Tulovsky, Julia et al., Oleg Vassiliev: Space and Light, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
- 2014: The Blinding Light of History: Genia Chef, Illya Kabakov, and Oleg Vassiliev: Russian paintings and drawings from the collection of Wayne F. Yakes, MD., University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
- 2013: Johansen, Oivind, The Chekhov Project, 1988–2013, Oivind Johansen, Oslo, Norway.
- 2013: Rosenfeld, Alla, Vorletzte Wahrheiten: Russische Kunst Zwischen Metaphysik und Konzept, (The Penultimate Truth), Stiftung Ahlers Pro Arte, Kestner Pro Arte, Hannover, Germany.
- 2012: Erofeev, Andrei, Breaking the Ice: Moscow Art 1960-80s, MAIER, Moscow, Russia.
- 2012: Lopatkina, E.V. 848: The Collection of Georges Matcheret and Nadia Wolkonsky. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
- 2012: Tsukanov, Igor, The Tsukanov Art Collection, London, UK.
- 2011: Yau, John et al., The Art of Oleg Vassiliev, The Museum of Russian Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- 2011: Amirsadeghi, Hossein, ed. Frozen Dreams: Contemporary Art from Russia, Thames &amp; Hudson, New York, NY, USA.
- 2011: Rosenfeld, Alla, Moscow Conceptualism: In Context, Prestel, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New York, NY, USA.
- 2010: Shattered Utopia: Russian Art of the Soviet and Post-Soviet periods from the Wayne F. Yakes, M.D. Collection, Nov 19-Dec 30, 2010. Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
- 2010: Backstein, Joseph, Ekaterina Degot, Boris Groys and Olga Sviblova. Glasnost: Soviet Non-Conformist Art from the 1980s, Haunch of Venison, Galerie Volker Deihl, London, UK.
- 2010: Jackson, Matthew Jesse. The Experimantal Group: Ilya Kabakov, Moscow Conceptualism, Soviet Avant-Gardes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA.
- 2009: Tupitsyn, Victor. The Museological Unconscious: Communal (Post) Modernism in Russia. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- 2008: Gisbourne, Mark, Oleg Vassiliev: Recent Work, Faggionato Fine Arts, London, UK.
- 2008: Tulovsky, Julia, ed. The Claude and Nina Gruen Collection of Contemporary Russian Art, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
- 2007: Prose, Francine, Oleg Vassiliev: Drawings, Forum Gallery, New York, NY, USA.
- 2007: Thiemann, Barbara M., ed., (Non)conform Russian and Soviet Art: The Ludwig Collection 1958–1995, Prestel, Munich, Genrmany.
- 2006: Tsantsanoglou, Maria. Soviet Alternative Art (1956-1988), From the Costakis Collections, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece.
- 2005: Vassiliev, Oleg intro by Erik Bulatov, et al., Oleg Vassiliev: Windows of Memory, Liberty Prize, (Олег Васильев: окна памяти) New Literature Survey, Moscow, Russia.
- 2005: Bernstein, David, et al. Collage in Russia, XX Century, The State Russian Museum, Palace Editions, St. Petersburg, Russia.
- 2005: Franzen, Elizabeth, et al., eds., Russia! Nine Hundred Year of Masterpieces and Master Collections: Catalogue of the Exhibition, Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, NY, USA.
- 2005: Shwydkoi, Mikhail, et al. Russia! Nine Hundred Years of Masterpieces and Master Collections, Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, NY, USA.
- 2004: Ye. Petrova, N. Kolodzei et al., Oleg Vassiliev: Memory Speaks: Themes and Variations, St Petersburg: Palace Editions, Moscow, Russia.
- 2004: Neumaier, Diane, ed., Beyond Memory: Soviet Nonconformist Photography and Photo-Related Works of Art, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
- 2003: Aquin, Stephane, ed., Global Village: The 1960s, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada.
- 2003: Choroschilow, Jurgen Harten, Joachim Sartorius, Peter-Klaus Schuster, ed., Berlin-Moscow, Moscow-Berlin Chronik 1950–2000, volume 1, Nicolai, Berlin, Germany.
- 2003: Choroschilow, et al., eds., Berlin-Moscow, Moscow-Berlin Kunst 1950–2000, volume 2, Nicolai, Berlin, Germany.
- 2003: Gertsman, Alexandre. Remembrance: Russian Post-Modern Nostalgia. International Foundation of Russian and Eastern European Art, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
- 2002: Moskauer Avantgarde: Grisha Bruskin, Erik Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov, Dmitri Prigov, Oleg Vassiliev, Galerie Andy Jllien, Zurich, Switzerland.
- 2002: Tupitsyn, Margarita. Malevich and Film, Yale University Press, New Haven CT, USA.
- 2000: The Lamont Art Gallery. Seeing Isn't Believing. Russian Art Since Glasnost. Exter, NH, USA.
- 2000: Sharp, Jane, Realities and Utopias : Abstract Painting in the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union; November 12, 2000 – January 14, 2001, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
- 2000: Wallach, Amei, Oleg Vassiliev: Recent Works, Galerie Andy Jllien, Zurich, Switzerland.
- 2000: Antonsen, Lasse, Oleg Vassiliev: The Past Isn't Dead, It Isn't Even Past, University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA, USA.
- 1999: Bulatov, Eric, Oleg Vassiliev: Works 1987–1999. Blomqvist Kunsthandel, Oslo, Norway.
- 1999: Bulatov, Eric and Holo, Selma Reuben, Oleg Vassiliev: On Black Paper, 1994–1997, Neil K Rector, Columbus, OH, USA.
- 1999: Kabakov, Ilya. 60th-70th...Notes on Unofficial Life in Moscow. Wiener Sloawistischer Almanach, Soncdlerband 47, Wien, Austria.
- 1998: Barbabanov, Yevgeni, Forbidden Art. The Postwar Russian Avant-Garde, Distributed Art Publishers, New York, NY, USA.
- 1998: Khidekel, Regina. It's Real Thing. Soviet and Postsoviet Sots Art and American Pop Art. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- 1998: Tupitsyn, Victor. Communal (Post) Modernism. (Kommunalnyi (post)modernizm: Russkoe iskusstvo vtoroi poloviny XX veka) (Passe-partout) Ad Marginem, Moscow, Russia.
- 1998: Bown, Matthew C. Socialist Realist Painting. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, USA.
- 1998: Kulakov,Vladimir. The Poetry as a Fact. (Поэзия как факт: статьи о стихах /Poezia kak fakt: statʹi o stihah) Novoye Literaturnoye Obozrenie, Moscow, Russia.
- 1997: Jolles, Paul R. Memento aus Moskau. Begegnungen mit inoffiziellen Kunstlern, 1978–1997. Wienand, Koln, Germany.
- 1997: Tupitsyn, Victor. The Other of the Art. / "Drugoe" iskusstva: Besedy s khudozhnikami, kritikami, filosofami, 1980-1995 gg (Passe-partout). Ad Marginem, Moscow, Russia.
- 1997: Tupitsyn, Margarita. The Critical, The Optical. (Kriticheskoe opticheskoe: Statʹi o sovremennom russkom iskusstve) (Passe-partout). Ad Marginem, Moscow, Russia.
- 1996: Art Russia, Radar, Rome, Italy.
- 1996: Oleg Vassiliev: Litografier til Anton Tsjekhovs novelle ‘Huset med Arken’, Oljemalerier, Galleri Cassandra, Drobak, Norway.
- 1996: Zhuravljeva, Anna, and Nekrassov, Vsevolod. "Chekhov - non-Chekhov" in Packet, Meridian, Moscow, Russia.
- 1995: Erofeev, Andrei, and Martin, Jean-Hubert. Kunst un Verborgenen. (Nonkonformisten Russland 1957–1995. Prestel, New York, NY, USA.
- 1995: Tupitsyn, Margarita, The Damaged Utopia or Kräftemessen eine Ausstellung ost-östlicher Positionen innerhalb der westlichen Welt, Cantz, Ostfildern, Germany.
- 1995: Rosenfeld, Alla and Norton T. Dodge, eds., From Gulag to Glasnost: Nonconformist Art: The Soviet Experience 1956–1986, Thames and Hudson, New York, NY USA.
- 1995: Bulatov, Eric, Oleg Vassiliev: Windows of Memory, The Sloane Gallery of Art, Denver, CO, USA.
- 1995: Baigall, Renee and Matthew Baigall. Soviet Dissident Artists: Interviews after Perestroika. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
- 1995: Andreeva, Ekaterina. Sots Art: Soviet Artists of the 1970s-1980s. Craftsman House, G+B Arts International, Roseville East, NSW Australia.
- 1995: Rosenfeld, Alla and Norton T. Dodge, eds., Nonconformist Art: The Soviet Experience 1956–1986, Thames and Hudson, New York, NY, USA.
- 1994: No! and the Conformists : Faces of Soviet Art of 50s to 80s = Net! - i konformisty: obrazy sovetskogo iskusstva 50-x do 80-x godov = Nie! - i konformisci: oblicza sztuki radzieckiej lat 50. do 80. Polish Modern Art Foundation. Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, Warsaw, Poland.
- 1993: Tupitsyn, Margarita, After Perestroika: Kitchenmaids or Stateswomen. Independent Curators, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
- 1993: Ashton, Dore. Monumental Propaganda / instigated by Komar and Melamid. Independent Curators Inc., New York, USA.
- 1993: Tupitsyn, Victor, Oleg Vassiliev: Recent Works, Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY, USA.
- 1993: Who is Who in Contemporary Art in Moscow. (Kto estʹ kto v sovremennom iskusstve Moskvy). Album, Moscow, Russia
- 1992: Bonito Oliva, Achille and Leonid Bazanov, A Mosca...a mosca... Olograf Edizioni, Verona, Italy.
- 1992: Three Points of View, Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.
- 1991: Levkova-Lamm, Innesa, Back to Square One, Berman Gallery, New York, NY, USA.
- 1991: Tupitsyn, Margarita and Victor, Erik Bulatov Oleg Vassilyev, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY, USA.
- 1991: The Other Art. 2 Volumes. Vol 1 Moscow 1956–1976, Materials for Chronique Art Life. Vol 2 Catalogue, "Drugoe iskusstvo": Moskva, 1956–76 ; k khronike khudozhestvennoĭ zhizni, Interbook, Moscow, Russia.
- 1991: Solomon, Andrew, The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a time of Glasnost, Alfred A. Knope, New York, NY, USA.
- 1991: Bulatov, Eric, Oleg Vassiliev. Galeria Fernando Duran, Madrid, Spain.
- 1990: Adaptation and Negation of Socialist Realism. Alderich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, USA.
- 1989: Lisenkova, E.A., Zhivopisʹ, grafika: Ėrik Bulatov, Oleg Vasilʹev, Ėduard Gorokhovskiĭ, Ilʹi︠a︡ Kabakov, Ivan Chuĭkov: catalog, Moskovskaia organizatsiia Soiuza khudozhnikov, Moscow, Russia.
- 1989: Erik Bulatow, Wladimir Jankilewski, Ilja Kabakow, Oleg Wassiljew. Kupferstich-Kabinett der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen. Dresden, Germany.
- 1989: Brown, Matthew Cullerne, Contemporary Russian Art, Oxford: Phaidon Press Limited, New York, NY, USA.
- 1989: Tupitsyn, Margarita, Margins of Soviet Art: Socialist Realism to the Present, Giancarlo Politi Editore, Milan, Italy.
- 1988: Marconi, Giorgio, Artisti Sovietici Contemporanei, Studio Marconi, Electa, Milan, Italy.
- 1988: Tavel, Hans Christoph van and Markus Landert, Ich Lebe. Ich Sehe. Kunstler der Achtziger Jahre in Moskau, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- 1977: Crispolti, Enrico and Moncada, Gabrielle, La Nuova Arte Sovietica: Una Prospettiva Non Ufficiale, La Biennale di Venezia, Marsilio, Venezia, Italy.
Videos / Documentaries.
- 2013: The House with the Mezzanine Part 2 Lecture by Dr. Alla Rosenfeld at Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA, USA. (Click link to watch: )
- 2013: The House with the Mezzanine Part 1, Lecture by Dr. Maria Zavialova at Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA, USA. (Click link to watch: )
- 2012: Oleg Vassiliev, Exhibition Video, by The Museum of Russian Art, Twin Cities Public Television, Inc, Minneapolis, MN, USA. (Click link to watch: )
- 2009: The Russian Concept, Documentary Video, by Igor Sopronenko, Signature Media Production LLC, Lexington, KY, USA. (Click link to watch: )
- 2006: Oleg