Gleb Bogomolov (1933-2016, Saint-Petersburg, Russia) - one of the significant artists of the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) underground during the Soviet era, an influential participant of the Leningrad unofficial culture of the 1970s and ‘80s and a prominent figure in the city’s art scene during those years.
Bogomolov was an active member of the unofficial art movement, one of the organizers and participants of the first nonconformist art shows at Gaza and Nevsky Houses of Culture in the 1974 and 1975. By the ‘80s he had become a prominent and popular painter of Leningrad unofficial art. His artistic legacy has increasingly attracted the attention of art critics, historians and collectors over the last 30 years.
His art has survived changes in tastes and fashions due to its inimitable philosophical lyricism and proprietary color wizardry behind which one discerns professional culture of the gentlest texture.
His paintings combine passion and the ability to conjure up a personal painterly world of striking relevance. Everything that has ever existed, concerns us. These words of the master aptly define both his world outlook and his creative practice. His paintings are rarely representational, but fine associative links with the material world do percolate, albeit that world is rather taken from memory than from the immediate reality.
At the core of Bogomolov's art lie reminiscences of Ravenna's mosaics, medieval Russian frescoes, and Tuscany's Renaissance, but they are no more than distant echoes. The anguish of being, and the imperishable value of art live in his twilit inflorescences permeated with a sense of tragedy overpowered by the magic spell of his art.
Michael German
(Professor, doctor of art criticism, Academician of the Academy of Humanities, Member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Chief Researcher of the State Russian Museum)
More detailsAwards
2002
- "Petropol" Prize (by the National Pushkin Museum)
1997
- Tsarskoselskaya Art Award (by the National Pushkin Museum)
Primary solo exhibitions
2019
- "Hero", Marina Gisich Gallery, St.Petersburg
2017
- "The Byzantine visa", Erarta Museum of contemporary art, St.Petersburg, Russia
2006
- Group action by Gleb Bogomolov and avant-garde composer S.A. Belimov. Composers’ Union, St.Petersburg, Russia
2005
- Gleb Bogomolov, St.Michael's Castle, the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Marina Gisich Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2004
- Alla Bulyanskaya Gallery, London, UK
2002
- Workshop, State Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Anonymous Portrait. The abstract heroes", Marina Gisich Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2001
- In Memory of Sybil Aamot, Cassandra Gallery, Drobak, Norway
1999
- "Gravitation". (The State Academy of Art and Industry Museum of applied art, St. Petersburg, Russia
1998
- Gamle Ormelet, Tjome Cultural Centre, Norway
- Faculty of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
1997
- State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Bloomqvist Gallery, Oslo, Norway
1996
- George Soros Centre of Contemporary Art, St Petersburg, Russia
- Cassandra Gallery, Drobak, Norway
- Palitra Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
1995
- World Ocean Museum, Kaliningrad, Russia
- Museum of Theatrical and Musical Art, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Werderman Art, Hamburg, Germany
- Novosibirsk Museum of Art, Novosibirsk, Russia
1994
- Christof Weber Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Werderman Art, Hamburg, Germany
- Steinway-Haus, Berlin, Germany
1993
- "Our Heritage" Jornal Editorial Office, Moscow, Russia
1992
- Haus Bau Broun, Bayreuth, Germany
- Christof Weber Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Werderman Art, Hamburg, Germany
1991
- Brodsky Gallery, Стокгольм, Швеция
- Kleine Typografische Galerie, Hamburg, Germany
- Christof Weber Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1990
- George Mayors Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
1989
- Cassandra Gallery, Drobak, Norway
- Narva Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1988
- Narva Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1986
- Maltese Embassy, Moscow, Russia
1985
- Italian Embassy, Moscow, Russia
- Cassandra Gаllегу, Drobak, Norway
1984
- United States Congress, Washington, USA
Public exhibitions
2019
- "Life after life". Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia
- "Radical Fluidity: Grotesque in Art". MISP Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2017
- "THE 70’S. IN_CLUSIVITY". Visual art in Leningrad in 1970’s. Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia
2015
- “Provenance”. Exhibition for 15th anniversary of Marina Gisich Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2014
- "Leningrad underground". Novy Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2012
- "Those who hear not the music think the dancers are mad". Ural Vision Gallery, Yekaterinburg, Russia
- Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair. Marina Gisich Gallery booth, Istanbul, Turkey
- "No barriers. Russian art. 1985 - 2000". The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2008
- "From avant-garde to our days". Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Industry Museum of applied art, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2005
- Collage in Russia XX, The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2004
- Northern Palmyra, travelling exhibition, St.Petersburg/Surgut/Novosibirsk/ Novokuznetsk
- Artists of St. Petersburg, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”, St. Petersburg, Russia
2003
- Artists for the City, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Avant-Garde on the Neva, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2002
- Russian Symbolism, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
- White Christmas, St. Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Dialogues of Artists, Kaliningrad, Russia
2001
- Abstraction in Russia: XX Century, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Art London 2000, London, UK
2000
- Jesus Christ in Christian Art and Culture, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Art London 2000, London, UK
- Art Manezh Fair 2000, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”, Moscow, Russia
1999
- All Petersburg, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
1998
- Acquisitions and gifts. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
1997
- Moscow Art Salon, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”, Moscow, Russia
- Art Manezh Fair ‘97, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”, Moscow, Russia
1996
- Three Artists from St. Petersburg, Espace Kiron, Paris, France
1995
- Five European Artists, Konschthaus beim Engel, Luxembourg
- Self-Identification, travelling exhibition, Kiel/Berlin/Oslo/St. Petersburg
1994
- Five Artists from St. Petersburg, Mussbach, Baden-Baden, Germany
1993
- Europa-Grenzenlos, travelling exhibition, Paris/Copenhagen/Berlin/Berne
1992
- Farbe Gold, Ober Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Artists for Europe, Rathaus, Aachen, Germany
1991
- Gegen Welten, Kunstamt Berlin-Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany
1990
- - Columbus Museum of Modern Art, ( Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Castle Gallery, College of New Roshelle, New York, USA
- Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
1988
- Kunsthalle Emden ( Eske Nannen and Otto Van De Loo Foundation), Emden, Germany
- California State University, Santa Barbara, USA
1986
- Kadriorg Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
1975
- Nevsky Palace of Culture, Leningrad, USSR
1974
- Gaza Palace of Culture, Leningrad, USSR
Collections
- National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
- Columbus Museum of Modern Art, (Govard Sirak Collection), Columbus, Ohio, USA
- The Museum of Russian Art (MORA), Jersey City, USA
- The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, (Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection), New Jersey, USA
- Grim Danesy Collection, Oslo, Norway
- Deutsche Bank Collection, Germany
- Pendorff Collection, Hamburg, Germany
- Kunsthalle Emden (Henry, Eske Nannen and Otto Van De Loo Foundation), Emden, Germany
- Narva Museum of Art, Narva, Estonia
- Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
- Alexander Glezer Collection, Moscow, Russia
- Sheremetev Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Diaghilev Centre, St. Petersburg, Russia
- State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, St Petersburg, Russia
- State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
- State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia