Vladimir Weisberg

E. Murina, "Vladimir Veisberg," A-Ya (Unofficial Russian Art Review), Elancourt, 1982, no. 4, pp. 36-39
Weisberg, Paris, Galerie Gorky Basmadjian, 1984
The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad, 1965-1990, Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Museum of Art, 1990
Vladimir Grigorievich Veisberg, 1924-1985: Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, exhibition catalogue, Moscow: The State Tretyakov Gallery, 1994
Russian Jewish Artists in a Century of Change, 1890-1990, exhibition catalogue, New York: Prestel, 1996
Vladimir Weisberg: Collection particulière Elfrida Filippi, exhibition catalogue, Moscow, 1997
A. Yu. Chudetskaya, Vladimir Grigorievich Weisberg: Zhivopis i grafika iz myzeinykh i chastnykh sobranii, Moscow, Belyi Bereg, 2006

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in beautiful condition. It is stretched on its original stretcher, is unlined and un-reinforced. The paint layer is undamaged and should not be cleaned or varnished. Very slight cracking has developed across the top and in the lower center and there may be one tiny chip of paint missing in the upper center. Overall however the condition is excellent.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Vladimir Weisberg was one of the most influential nonconformist artists of the generation of the 1960s, a time when Soviet officials were still fighting against "formalist" tendencies in art. While never completely abstract, his paintings had no place within the dictates of Socialist Realism and were vulnerable to accusations of formalism, a derogatory term applied to those artists seen to place too great an emphasis on style at the expense of content. Weisberg painted meditative still lifes, portraits, and nudes that emphasized light and atmosphere over color and clarity of form.

Weisberg did not receive a formal art education, although in 1943-48 he took drawing classes in the art studio led by S. N. Ivashev-Musatov. In 1961, Weisberg joined the USSR Union of Artists and became a member of the Group of Eight, whose works at that time represented the most extreme departure from Socialist Realism. For Weisberg, Russian artists like Robert Falk (1886-1958) and Pavel Kuznetsov (1878-1968), as well as the modern Italian artist Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), were an important source of alternative ideas.

Weisberg participated in the infamous 1962 Manezh exhibition in Moscow, in which one of his works—a painting of a nude—was deemed pornographic. Following the Manezh exhibition, Weisberg's works were banned from official exhibitions, although he remained a member of the Artists' Union and later taught painting in the studio of the Union of Architects, popularly known as the Weisberg School.