Lot 147: Mikhail Shvartsman (1926-1997)

Mikhail Shvartsman (1926-1997)
White herald
signed in Cyrillic and dated 'Shvartsman/1963 Mikhail' (lower centre); inscribed in Russian and dated 'HERALD/(WHITE)/1963/WHITE HERALD FRESCO' (on the reverse)
tempera on gesso-prepared canvas laid down on board, unframed
19¾ x 19¾ in. (50 x 50 cm.)
Sold with a copy of the 1994 Tretyakov gallery catalogue 'Mikhail Shvartsman Zhivopis Risunok', the 1997 Gallery Dom Nashchokina catalogue Mikhail Shvartsman, an invitation to the opening of Shvartsman's 75th Anniversary exhibition at the Russian Museum and copies of the 2001, 2005 and 2009 Palace Editions books on Shvartsman.

Y. Petrova, O. Jushkova et al., Mikhail Shvartsman, Moscow and St Petersburg, 2009, p.17, illustrated.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1999.

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR

White herald (1963) is the earliest work by Shvartsman to appear at auction and a rare opportunity to purchase a work by this most enigmatic of artists. Coming from the celebrated Countenance series (1961-1970), it is a masterpiece of his figurative period.

For Shvartsman, spirituality was inherent to his art and dealt with 'the experience of man in life and his experience in death'. The group of Herald pictures are a significant part of the Countenance series and represent this artist's dialogue with icon painting. In Shvartsman's own words, they are the Sign of the Spirit and of 'spiritual birth in death which creates a countenance of oneself, an icon of oneself'. Their essence is mystical and, through this, Shvartsman occupies his unique place in the history of Russian art as the link between the historic traditions of icon painting and the avant-gardes of the twentieth century.

In 1987, Shvartsman himself recognised this when saying: 'my study of twentieth-century art led me to the thought that, with his Suprematism and innovative ideas, Malevich was nonetheless not quite on his own. Take, for example, Malevich's Square (1915) and icons of the Saviour in Majesty (12th to 16th centuries). These works clearly have something in common. To a certain extent, they emanate from each other. Speaking in the language of today, the icon is Suprematist. I believe that Malevich was moving along these lines'.

Shvartsman developed this connection in his own highly individualistic and detached manner. He simply ignored the dictates of Soviet Realism and never joined the Union of Artists. Working as a graphic designer, he followed his own path and preferred to forge friendships with writers, such as Kruchenykh, Dombrovsky and Steinberg, rather than with artists. He seldom exhibited his works, except at home, and his first solo exhibition was not until 1994. Ilya Kabakov wrote of his apartment: 'the impact of these 'canvasses' was completely captivating, hypnotising. The small room where he lived turned into a temple, the paintings turned into a new iconostasis'. There could be no finer epitaph for an artist for whom the spiritual in art was its very being.

Sold with a copy of the 1994 Tretyakov gallery catalogue 'Mikhail Shvartsman Zhivopis Risunok', the 1997 Gallery Dom Nashchokina catalogue Mikhail Shvartsman, an invitation to the opening of Shvartsman's 75th Anniversary exhibition at the Russian Museum and copies of the 2001, 2005 and 2009 Palace Editions books on Shvartsman.