Dmitri Plavinsky (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Дмитрий Петрович Плавинский) (28 April 1937 – 1 September 2012) was a

-American artist.

Life

In 1956, Plavinsky graduated from the theater department of the 1905 Institute of Art. In the 1960s, Plavinsky became one of the founders and leaders of the artistic

nonconformist movement The non-conformists of the 1930s were groups and individuals during the inter-war period in France that were seeking new solutions to face the political, economical and social crisis. The name was coined in 1969 by the historian Jean-Louis Loubet ...

in Russia. Because of his controversial and revolutionary creative output, he was not permitted to join the Moscow Union of Artists—a necessity in order to "officially" work as an artist, sell art, and have a studio under

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

mandate—until many years later in 1978. Avoiding the difficult post-

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

years, the artist moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1992. In 2004, he returned to reside and work in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. His art works are in the collections of several American museums, including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York, as well as major museums in Russia and Europe.

Style

An active member of the nonconformist art community in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Plavinsky mastered various mediums including painting, etchings, and mixed media. Plavinsky's artistic themes ranged from origins on earth of the prototypes of fish, reptiles, and other prehistoric animals; to the genesis of primeval cultures, ancient and early Christian states, and the computer era of the twenty-first century. Many of his later works utilized symbols of the City of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The artist defined his artistic style as one of "Structural Symbolism," in which the unified image of the world is broken down into sequences of symbols submerged in the layers of time: past, present, and future.

Selected Public collections

Plavinsky works are in the many museum and public collections, including:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

, New York;

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

, New York; New York Public Library, New York; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, The Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany; The

State Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

, Moscow; The State Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, Moscow; The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg; District Museum in Torun, Poland; Kolodzei Art Foundation, USA, Tsukanov Art Collection; the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow.

Major exhibitions

Since 1957, Plavinsky participated in over a hundred group exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world. Plavinsky had many solo exhibitions, including: * Dmitri Plavinsky: A Retrospective at the State Tretyakov Gallery in 2004 * Dmitri Plavinsky: Book of Grass at The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow in 2015

Bibliography

* Bowlt, John E.; Jakimovich, Alexander. ''Dmitri Plavinsky''. New York: Rizzoli Publishers, 2001.

External links

"Dmitri Plavinsky, 76, leading artist of Nonconformist Soviet and Contemporary Russian art, dies"
ArtDaily, September 7, 2012. *
Dmitri Plavinsky: Leaf in the Wall of a Church
'. ArtWay, October 13, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Plavinsky, Dmitri 1937 births 2012 deaths Modern painters Artists from Moscow