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      (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov: exhibitions >> • Leningrad 80s >>

Kulturhuset's New Artists project 1987-1988

De Nya från Leningrad / The New from Leningrad,
Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 27 August – 25 September 1988

Synopsis and Introduction

Part One: Outlining the festival project

Chapter 1. The four phases of the Kulturhuset festival project

Chapter 2. Stockholm’s invitation of Leningrad artists and musicians

Chapter 3. The correspondence between Kulturhuset and the Swedish Consulate, Leningrad, April-September 1987

Part Two: Photo documentation and selection of artworks

Chapter 4. Photo copies with selected works (1987)

Chapter 5. Colour pictures in Sara Åkerrén’s photo album

Chapter 6. Kulturhuset archive colour pictures

Chapter 7. Catalogue reproductions

Chapter 8. Table of works per artist, 1987 and 1988

Chapter 9. Concluding remarks

Exhibtion views, Kulturhuset, 1988


Text and research: Hannelore Fobo, January / February 2022



Chapter 5. Colour pictures in Sara Åkerrén’s photo album

Two collections of colour pictures help to understand the selection of works documented in the Xerox copies: Sara Åkerrén’s photo album with colour prints of works by Leningrad artists, and slides and colour prints in the Kulturhuset archive. Surprisingly, Sara Åkerrén’s pictures are even closer to the Xerox copy selection than those from the Kulturhuset archive, and it makes sense to start with these.

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists Nos 74 and 75, paintings by Vadim Ovchinnikov Both works are in the Xerox copy selection Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists
Nos 74 and 75, paintings by Vadim Ovchinnikov
Both works are in the Xerox copy selection
Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive


Sara Åkerrén’s photo album is a unique document presenting about two hundred paper prints with works by Leningrad artists, in the main members of the New Artists group. The last pictures are from around 1990. Most pictures are numbered and provided with the name of the artist, and some are also supplied with the title of the respective work. About half of the pictures are related to the Xerox copy selection.

They are, in the main, in the first half of the album, more precisely, in the section up to number ninety-four. I will call this section “preselection album pictures”, because it is very likely that these roughly one hundred pictures constitute a large part of the material used for the Kulturhuset photocopy selection. Since in Sara Åkerrén’s archive there are no negatives or slides of these pictures, it seems plausible that Sara received the paper prints from the person who shot the pictures.

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists Top left, No 84: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov. "Timur on Horseback", 1985 To the left is a drawing by Inal Savchnkov Top right, No 85: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov. "Portrait of Guryanov", 1985, with Björn Lyrvall Attached to the painting is work on paper by Sergei Bugaev Both of Kozlov's works are in the Xerox copy selection, but were not shown at the Kulturhuset. Bottom left, No. 86: According to the Xerox copy reproduction, which has a difffernt view of the painting, the painting is "Matreskka 6" by Sergei Bugaev. In S. Åkerrén's photo album, Bugaev's name is crossed out and subsituted by Andrei Krisanov's. The painting was exhibited at the Kulturhuset Bottom right: No 87: Oleg Maslov Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists
Top left, No 84: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov. "Timur on Horseback", 1985
To the left is a drawing by Inal Savchnkov
Top right, No 85: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov. "Portrait of Guryanov", 1985, with Björn Lyrvall
Attached to the painting is work on paper by Sergei Bugaev
Both of Kozlov's works are in the Xerox copy selection, but were not shown at the Kulturhuset.
Bottom left, No. 86: According to the Xerox copy reproduction, which has a different view of the painting, the painting is "Matreshka 6" by Sergei Bugaev. In S. Åkerrén's photo album, Bugaev's name is crossed out and subsituted by Andrei Krisanov's.
The painting was exhibited at the Kulturhuset
Bottom right: No 87: Oleg Maslov
Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive


Of these “preselection album pictures”, about forty can be directly recognised in the black and white copies. This actually helps to distinguish certain features in the paintings that cannot be recognised in the photocopies. Of the remaining sixty or so “preselection album pictures”, most document works by the same nine artists taken at the same artists’ studios, as well as at the TEII May 1987 exhibition (including the one by Evgeny Yufit). There are some exceptions of artists who didn’t make it into the selection, in the first place concerning works by New Artist Mikhail Tarutata, who withdrew from the Kulturhuset project when he left to Israel in the summer of 1987. Bob Koshelokhov is another artist in Åkerrén’s album who didn't make it to the selection. One of his paintings was shot at Novikov’s place (another paper print of the same picture is in the Kulturhuset archive). Koshelokhov was not a member of the New Artists group, but Novikov considered him to be the spiritual father of the group. Pictures with works by Taratuta are also in the Kulturhuset archive. It therefore makes sense to believe that all of these pictures were taken for the same purpose and were part of what constituted the basis for Sissi Nilsson’s selection.

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album Top No 85: Oleg Kotelnikov's names is crossed out and subsituted by Mikhail (Misha) Taratuta's Bottom No 86: Misha Taratuta  A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album Top, No 78: The names of Kozin & Maslov are substuted by Bob Koshelokhov's Bottom, No. 79: Timur Novikov “Leningrad Airport”

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album
Top, No 85: Oleg Kotelnikov's names is crossed out and subsituted by Mikhail (Misha) Taratuta's
Bottom No 86: Misha Taratuta
Neither work is in the Xerox copy selection

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album
Top, No 78: The names of Kozin & Maslov are substituted by Bob Koshelokhov's.
Bottom, No. 79: Timur Novikov “Leningrad Airport”
Neither work is in the Xerox copy selection

Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive


In some cases, the attribution of an artist to a work differs from that in the Xerox copies. I already mentioned that in Åkerren’s album, a collage is attributed to Kotelnikov, not to Ovchinnikov. Likewise, “Telemost / Satellite TV transmission” is attributed to Andrei Krisanov, not to Bugaev. An analysis of the figures’ stylistic features shows that the attribution to Krisanov is indeed correct.

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists No 52: Telemost ("Satellite TV transmission”)  with Sergey Kuryokhin and Horowitz. Misha Taratuta's name is crossed out and substituted by that of Andrei Krisanov. In the Xerox copy selection, the work is attributed to Sergei Bugaev (see below). Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists
No 52: Telemost ("Satellite TV transmission”) with Sergey Kuryokhin and Horowitz.
Misha Taratuta's name is crossed out and substituted by that of Andrei Krisanov.
In the Xerox copy selection, the work is attributed to Sergei Bugaev (see below).
Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive


Telemost ("Satellite TV transmission”) In the Xerox copy document, the textile work is attributed to Sergei Bugaev (or Bugaev attributed it to himself), but stylistic features of the figures speak in favour of Andrei Krisanov.  The dimensions are not correct; the work is much larger. Courtesy Kulturhuset archive

Telemost ("Satellite TV transmission”)
In the Xerox copy document, the textile work is attributed to Sergei Bugaev (or Bugaev attributed it to himself), but stylistic features of the figures speak in favour of Andrei Krisanov.
The dimensions are not correct; the work is much larger.
Courtesy Kulturhuset archive


On the other hand, a work attributed to Taratuta in Åkerrén’s album and to Novikov in the Xerox copies is actually by Novikov, according to Mikhail Taratuta, who, during our Facebook conversation in 2022 confirmed the authorship of his other works from Åkerrén’s album. Taratuta said that “extended” attribution was common among the New Artists, but the opposite may also be true. Two paintings co-authored by Bugaev, Kotelnikov, and Krisanov in Åkerrén’s album are attributed to Bugaev alone in the Xerox copies. In the collection of the Russian Museum is a portrait of Timur Novikov, attributed to Kozlov, Egelsky and Khazanovich. In Åkerrén’ album, the same painting (which is not in the Xerox copy selection) is attributed to Kirill Khazanovich.

The table below illustrates the problem of attribution of some of the works in Sara Åkerrén’s album when compared to the Xerox copy selection and with catalogue references of two New Artists retrospectives, “Brushstroke” at the Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, 2010, and “New Artists” at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 2012. It might seem that the correct attribution can be easily established when looking not at an archival photography of a work, but at the factual work, when pictures are taken for exhibition catalogues. However, this isn’t always so, because by far not all New Artists works from this period were signed. This applies especially to works by Bugaev and Krisanov, and to some degree, to Kotelnikov.[1]

Picture in Sara Åkerrén’s archive

Artist in Sara Åkerrén’s archive

Artist in Xerox copy selection 1987

Artist in catalogues; references:

Brushstroke, Russian Museum, 2010

New Artists, MMOMA, 2010

No8

Savchenkov

New Artists, p. 170

Bugaev and Koshelokhov

No 7

Savchenkov

Novikov

Savchenkov

No 23

Kotelnikov

Brushstroke, p. 110

Sotnikov

No 24

Kotelnikov

Brushstroke, p. 89

Sotnikov

No 25

Savchenkov

Brushstroke, p. 103

Krasev

No 27

Taratuta

Novikov

No 33

Khazanovich

Brushstroke, p. 116

Kozlov, Khazanovich, Egelsky

No 47

Bugaev, Kotelnikov, Krisanov

Bugaev

No 48

Bugaev, Kotelnikov and Krisanov

Bugaev

No 52

Krisanov

Bugaev

No 54

Bugaev

Kotelnikov,  Bugaev

No 67

Kotelnikov

Ovchinnikov




Concerning the unselected works in Åkerrén’s album, their number per artist varies. One would have expected to find more works by those three artists represented with few works in the Xerox selection: Gutsevich (3), Yufit (2) and Kozlov (2). But this is the case only for Gutsevich. Ten paintings by Gutsevich are in Åkerrén’s album, most probably taken at Gutsevich’s place. Two of them are in the selection. Gutsevich’s joint work with Kotelnikov was not selected, either.

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists Top left, No. 56: Vladislav Gutsevich Top right, No 57: Oleg Kotelnikov and Vladislav Gutsevich Bottom left, No. 58: Mikhail (Misha) Taratuta Bottom right, No 59: Vladislav Gutsevich Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists
Top left, No. 56: Vladislav Gutsevich
Top right, No 57: Oleg Kotelnikov and Vladislav Gutsevich
Bottom left, No. 58: Mikhail (Misha) Taratuta
Bottom right, No 59: Vladislav Gutsevich
None of these works is in the Xerox copies selection.
Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive


Eleven unselected works by Novikov constitute another large portion of the album pictures. Given the fact that with eight works, Novikov, the leader of the New Artists, is only fifth in the list of selected works, I find this quite remarkable. Even when leaving out those four urban landscape paintings from the early 1980s, painted in a rather traditional style, there were still another six that could have been added. The rest of the unselected works is divided on more or less equal terms between the other five artists, not counting those by Taratuta and Krisanov.

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists Timur Novikov with two of his paintings from the early 1980s Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive

A page from S. Åkerrén's photo album of Leningrad artists
Timur Novikov with two of his paintings from the early 1980s
Neither work is in the Xerox copy selection
Courtesy Sara Åkerrén archive



[1] In 1991, the Russian Museum received a large number of New Artists works from Sergei Bugaev and Timur Novikov, many created as collaborative works. I would assume that in case of missing signatures, the lists of items were compiled relying on information provided by Bugaev and Novikov.




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Uploaded 23 February 2022