373 - Anatoly Putilin (Анатолий Путилин), “Memories of Japan” (Воспоминания о Японии) & Untitled (Без названия), two oil paintings from 1978

Anatoly Putilin (Анатолий Путилин), “Memories of Japan” (Воспоминания о Японии) & Untitled (Без названия), two oil paintings from 1978 Anatoly Putilin, *1946 - lives and works in France, renowned Russian painter and a key figure in the non-conformist Soviet art scene, particularly the so-called Gazanevshchina movement, here: Untitled, oil on canvas, 55 x 48 cm, signed and dated 1978 on the reverse & “Memories of Japan”, oil on canvas, 72 x 52 cm, signed, inscribed and dated on the reverse 1978About the artist: Anatoly Putilin gained prominence as a participant in the first legendary underground exhibitions in Leningrad in the 1970s, at which artists presented banned abstract art. In his early exhibitions at the Nevsky Palace of Culture in Leningrad, Putilin first displayed his famous ‘ovoids’ - spatial and spiritual variations on the oval form, which remained his central motif for decades. Together with artists such as Leonid Borisov and Yevgeny Mikhnov-Voitenko, he broke down the boundaries of traditional Soviet art categories through radically abstract works. These artists became famous abroad for their refusal to paint in the style of state-mandated Socialist Realism. In the early 1980s, Putilin was forced to emigrate to France, where he continued his artistic work. The term ‘Gaza-Nevsky culture’ refers to a significant cultural and artistic movement of non-conformists in the Soviet Union of the 1970s. The movement emerged from two groundbreaking exhibitions, painstakingly wrested from the Soviet authorities: in 1974 at the ‘Ivan Gasa’ Palace of Culture (Dom Kultury Imena Gasa, named after the Soviet revolutionary Ivan Gasa) and in 1975 at the Nevsky Palace of Culture (DK Nevsky).