"Letters" of the artists of the Soviet underground to the present

The exhibition, which opened on June 29 at the Hermitage, is not only a vivid testimony of a whole era of contemporary art from 1980-2000, but also a kind of reminder of how nice it is sometimes to receive letters in ordinary envelopes.

The composition of the exhibition was made up of envelopes collected by collectors Georges Machere and Nadia Volkonskaya. Enthusiastic collectors did not look for ordinary mail documents in their collection, but suggested that all artists make their own envelope design. For 30 years, it was possible to collect 848 works by various authors. Therefore, the exhibition included the works of all outstanding figures of the art scene of the Soviet and Russian period. Ernst Neizvestny, Ilya Kabakov, Oleg Tselkov, Dmitry Prigov, Ivan Chuikov and other authors using drawings on envelopes created a huge illustration of the historical vicissitudes of this time.

These works cannot be attributed to traditional mail art, since not a single envelope was used for its intended purpose and has never been at the bottom of the mailbox. Also, they can not be classified as forms of traditional art. However, the strength of the work and the impression left from watching the meeting are colossal!

The small envelope format forced artists to portray vivid, capacious images. Therefore, a high concentration of talent on such an insignificant segment of paper is amazing. It is not surprising that the museum had an interest in this collection for a long time! And this year, thanks to the AVC Charity Fondation charity foundation, the Hermitage managed to get a collection of these peculiar “letters” from the artists of the Soviet underground to future generations.

Eve Istr