"Two captains". George Nyssa and Ilya Katz. Painting and Graphics 1920s - 1960s

The Russian Academy of Arts and the Vellum Gallery present the exhibition “Two Captains”, the grand opening of which will take place on September 26, 2017 at 19:00 in the halls of the MVK PAX Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery (19 Prechistenka). The exhibition presents about 80 paintings and graphic works by G. Nyssky and I. Katz from the collection of the Vellum Gallery. Artists were connected by friendship, passion for travel and water, the dream of the sea. Both painted laconic landscapes, distinguished by a clear division of space, filled with air and the romantic mood of their creators. Ilya Katz returned from the front, having neither money nor a workshop, the more successful Georgy Nyssky was able to pay for a boat with a cabin, which both artists “improved” and on which, as on an ocean yacht, traveled along the Volga River to the Klyazma reservoir. The air of the rivers, the high sky and the freedom that they enjoyed - resulted in a cycle of works devoted to male "romance": on them are yachts, water, and coastal cities.

Georgy G. Nissky (1903-1987) - illustrious Soviet painter, graphic artist, Full member of the USSR Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of the RSFSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR. He graduated from VKHUTEMAS-VKHUTEIN, studied under R. Falk and A. Drevin. Author of easel and graphic works of close OST, illustrator, artist in “TASS Windows”. But fame was brought to him by easel landscapes and monumental works, where against the backdrop of open spaces, he depicted the achievements of industrialization and post-war socialist construction, fanned by the romance of "distant wanderings". “Moscow Region Rokada”, “Autumn. Semaphores ”and many other works that make up the golden fund of Russian art culture of the mid-twentieth century. One of the researchers of the artist’s work wrote about him like this: “… Nyssa, as a rule, composes his paintings. In reality, there may not be such a suburb as in its landscape… Possessing a subtle sense of the characteristic, being able to find it characteristic in various parts of the country, and then synthesize it in a separate picture, give broad generalized images, the artist uses his brilliant visual memory, natural compositional gift and developed imagination. The impression of the individual places he saw, deeply felt and vividly experienced, lies at the heart of his work. " And George Nissky himself said about himself: “Not to copy soulless nature, but to be able to talk to her in private - this is the meaning of penetrating into its visible real beauty, which never leads me to search for abstract fictitious forms.”

G. Nyssia. Cypresses 19.5x30

G. Nyssia. Descent to the sea 19,5х30

Ilya Lvovich Katz (1908-1992) - representative of the South Russian art school. Born in Odessa in 1908, graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Arts. I.E. Repin. The first mentor of Katz was a classic of Ukrainian and Russian Art Nouveau A. Gaush, later he studied with the famous "Odessa Parisian" T. Fraerman.

The work of I. Katz is a kind of synthesis of classical Russian painting and the experience of French cezannists. In Soviet Russia, Cezannism was a favorite style, a departure from socialist realism. Artists who painted landscapes, still lifes, portraits, did not fall into the number of prohibited, but at the same time rarely achieved career heights and state awards. Ilya Katz chose this path for himself, he wrote what he liked.

Ilya Katz is a man of his time. A front-line soldier, a participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, was appointed chief artist of the Mikhailovsky Museum in the late 1930s. Then the painter took part in the design of the pavilions of VDNH "Turkmen SSR", "Fisheries of the Volga Region" and many others, but the main theme of his work remained unchanged.

Katz not only dreamed about sea voyages, but embodied as much as he could in practice - every summer, along with his friend, artist George Nissky, sailed on rivers and the Klyazma reservoir on a sailboat. He did not have the opportunity to travel further, but there were enough impressions and plots for future work: Klyazma in his works cannot be distinguished from the Mediterranean Sea, and the port of Sevastopol remotely resembles the Venetian pier.

Odessa and Leningrad, where Katz was formed as an artist, conquered the painter with water expanses for life. He painted industrial landscapes of Soviet ports (“Foggy Morning. Leningrad Port”, 1958), the Stalinist Empire style of the embankment of the Moscow River Station (“Moscow. River Station in Khimki”, 1954–55), the steep bank of the river (“On Klyazma”, 1950) and many other canvases. Capturing a non-ideologized portrait of the most ideologized Russian era.

I. Katz. Neva at Smolny. 1957 K / m 35x50cm

I. Katz. Yachts at a distance of 1955. K / m 35x50cm.