Description: 1986 Victor Koulbak Paintings Drawings Leslie Cecil Gallery NYC Exhibition Invitation 8” x 3 7/8” Victor Koulbak, born in Moscow in 1946, left the U.S.S.R. in 1975 and now lives in Paris and in New York. After the sad experience of five exhibitions in Moscow closed a few hours after the opening, he has exposed in Sweden, Norway, France, Belgium, Japan, Canada, England, Austria, Switzerland, West Germany, Italy and U.S.A. This is his first one-man show in the United States. Koulbak revives the dialogue interrupted for so long between the great artists of Italian Renaissance and of the German tradition. Catalogue available in the gallery Preface to the art of Victor Koulbak by René Hughe of the Académie française and Leonide Korabelnikov. Victor Koulbak Victor Koulbak (born 12 March 1946, in Moscow, Russia) is a French painter of Russian origin. His work is heavily influenced by Renaissance masters to contemporary art. Victor Koulbak Born March 12, 1946 (age 77) Occupation Painter Biography As a child he was interested in art and drew frequently. His father was an air force pilot and his mother was a housewife. His mother eventually showed his work to the director of the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Moscow and he was admitted. The best drawings were shown in a window that gave onto the street. The first time one of his drawings was shown, he proudly asked his mother to come with him to see. Someone had broken the window and stolen his drawing. “This was my first artistic success” said Victor Koulbak. At school with the Masters At the end of his secondary school studies and his apprenticeship with the Beaux-arts, Koulbak realized there was a gap in his schooling. He decided to find a “Master” and stopped looking once he found a well-known artist. From the first day, however, the student argued with his teacher and left the workshop immediately: the master in question imposed his own style, his own aesthetic principles and personal vision, and brought nothing new from the technical point of view. The young artist then made the most important decision of his life: to discover by himself the principles and techniques of the old "Masters". At first he was impressed by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh, but then he soon turned to Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer, Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling, and others of great skill. Soviet censorship Refusing the dictates of official art: “Social Realism”, Koulbak put himself on the side of non-conformist painters, thus depriving him of lucrative orders. So, in order to survive, he was forced to work on illustrations for books and magazines. However, he continued to paint clandestinely, for himself and for a small group of friends, but everything became more and more difficult: art supplies were reserved for members of the Soviet Artists Union, and others had difficulty in procuring these necessities for their work. For example, in summer there would be no green available, and in winter there would be no white. To become a member of the Union, you had first had to have participated in two official exhibitions. The selection committees, who protected soviet realism, were exclusively made up of Party members totally faithful to the regime. This regime became slightly more flexible during the 1970s. Exhibitions were organized with debates and held in non-public spaces, such as the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences, but were only accessible to those holding a laissez-passer issued by the Party and the KGB. Koulbak was able under these conditions to hold two exhibitions, which were, however, closed after only two hours. Stendhal's Syndrome In 1975 Koulbak left the USSR. He then went to Vienna and stayed for six months, visiting all the wonderful museums of that city. The contemplation of Brueghel’s paintings put him into a trance, so much so that he was awoken by one of the guards at the closing of the museum. He had been in front of Brueghel’s work from 11.00 in the morning until the closing of the museum in the evening, victim of Stendhal syndrome, described by Stendhal in 1878 in his book Rome, Naples and Florence. Sweden, France and Malta Before leaving the USSR, Koulbak had sent several of his works to Sweden. He was invited by a gallery in Stockholm, and within one year had four exhibitions of his own in Helsingborg, Stockholm, Malmö, and Oslo. In 1976 he moved to Paris. Since then 25 personal exhibitions and numerous collective exhibitions have been dedicated to his art in France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Belgium, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Malta. Koulbak has been a resident of Malta since the year 2000
Price: 40 USD
Location: New York, New York
End Time: 2025-01-16T23:28:00.000Z
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Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money back or replacement (buyer's choice)
Origin: New York, USA
MPN: n/a
Publisher: Leslie Cecil Gallery New York
California Prop 65 Warning: n/a
Brand: Victor Koulbak
Publication Year: 1986
Type: Catalog
Format: Exhibition Invitation
Unit Type: Unit
Language: English
Model: n/a
Personalized: No
Features: 1st Edition
Topic: Art & Exhibitions
Season: Spring, Autumn
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Unit Quantity: 1