Lot 360: Solomon Borisovich Nikritin , The Roofer, circa 1920s

signed in Cyrillic (lower left); inscribed in Cyrillic and dated 1920-e ( on the reverse) oil on panel

measurements 13 7/8 by 17 3/8 in. alternate measurements 35.2 by 44.1 cm

Private Collection, Moscow

Solomon Nikritin was a major avant-garde artist of the 1920s who, like many of his contemporaries, was persecuted and ultimately marginalized amid the tightening of Soviet cultural policy strictures in the late 1920s/early 1930s. Nikritin, who studied with Leonid Pasternak and Alexander Yakovlev in Petrograd, and subsequently in Alexandra Exter's teaching workshop in Kiev, completed his artistic training at the Moscow VKhUTEMAS (Higher Artistic-Technical Workshops, 1920-22). In 1922, Nikritin founded and became the chief theorist and organizer of the Projectionist group. Composed of VKhUTEMAS students and anticipating conceptual art of the 1970s, Projectionism proposed that the artist produce not things but "projections" of works of art or theatrical performances that could serve as the basis for the creation of objects or performances by others. In May 1924 the group presented the First Discussional Exhibition of Associations of Active Revolutionary Art in Moscow. Nikritin's work in the exhibition occupied a whole wall of the show. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Nikritin created work that diverged strongly from the idealizing state-approved style of Heroic Realism and its successor, Socialist Realism. The artist's independent creative stance--brave and bold given the tenor of the times--resulted in virtually destroying his career.