Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov (Ukrainian: Ілля Йосипович Кабаков; Russian: Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в; September 30, 1933 – May 27, 2023) was an American and Soviet conceptual artist, born in Dnipropetrovsk in what was then the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of 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 ...

, now Ukraine. He worked for thirty years 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 ...

, from the 1950s until the late 1980s. After emigrating to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

he lived and worked on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

Early life

Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov was born on September 30, 1933, in Dnipropetrovsk. His mother, accountant Bertha Judelevna Solodukhina, and his father, locksmith Iosif Bentcionovitch Kabakov, were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Ilya was evacuated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

with his parents. There he started attending the school of the Leningrad Academy of Art which was evacuated to Samarkand. His classmates included the painter Mikhail Turovsky. After the war the Kabakov family moved to

Education

From 1945 to 1951, he studied at the Moscow Art School; in 1957 he graduated from V.I. Surikov State Art Institute, Moscow, where he specialized in graphic design and book illustration.

Career

Unlike many underground Soviet artists, Kabakov joined the Union of Soviet Artists in 1959 and became a full member in 1962. This was a prestigious position in the USSR and it brought with it substantial material benefits. In general, Kabakov illustrated children's books for 3 to 6 months a year and then spent the remainder of his time on his own projects. In the vibrant art scene of 1970s Moscow, Ilya Kabakov's unconventional talent found an unexpected champion in Dina Vierny, a distinguished gallerist with a keen eye for groundbreaking art. Vierny, after a visit in Moscow in the early 1970’s, committed to supporting artists resisting the constraints of socialist realism, discovered Kabakov. The fateful meeting occurred on the evening of January 16, 1970, when Vierny recognized Kabakov as an artist of exceptional originality, despite being unknown and prohibited from exhibiting in Moscow. Vierny's genuine interest in Kabakov's work transcended time, enduring for over 27 years. Despite Kabakov's infrequent exhibitions in Moscow, his drawings managed to captivate international audiences. Vierny not only encouraged Kabakov to leave the Soviet Union for broader recognition but also actively supported him by acquiring a substantial number of his works. This support was not limited to Kabakov alone; Vierny, upon her return, brought back works by other non-conformist artists such as Erik Boulatov and Vladimir Yankilevsky, known as the Group of Boulevard Sretensky. Together, these artists, despite differing styles, shared a common struggle against state-imposed artistic limitations, particularly the constraints of socialist realism. Vierny's commitment culminated in the groundbreaking exhibition "Russian Avant-Garde - Moscow 1973" at her Saint-Germain-des-Prés gallery, showcasing the diverse yet united front of non-conformist artists challenging the artistic norms of their time.

The 1980s

Between 1983 and 2000, Kabakov created 155 installations. Of these, one of the best known installations is ''The Man Who Flew Into Space From His Apartment''. First created in 1985 in a secret attic studio in Moscow, Kabakov later recreated the piece in the United States at Ronald Feldman Gallery in 1988. The installation portrays a small, run-down bedroom with a large hole in the ceiling and propaganda photos covering the walls. The exhibition was widely reviewed, securing Kabakov's reputation in the New York art world.

Personal life and death

In 1989, Kabakov began working with his niece, curator and dealer Emilia Kanevsky, who would later become his wife and who emigrated from the USSR in 1973. Kabakov had met her when she lived in Dnipropetrovsk. For three decades, the couple collaborated on numerous exhibitions, including Documenta in 1992, the Venice Biennale in 1993, the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

in 1997, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 2004, and the Tate Modern and the Hirshhorn in 2017. Kabakov died on May 27, 2023, at the age of 89.

Exhibitions and collectors

Following Mikhail Chemiakin's 1995 show, Ilya Kabakov had one of the first major solo exhibitions of a living Russian artist at the new State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 2004. His works are included in the collections of the Zimmerli Art Museum, the Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg), Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, The Hermitage, Tretjakov Gallery (Moscow), Norway Museum Of Contemporary Art, the Kolodzei Art Foundation and museums in Columbus, Ohio, Frankfurt, and Köln, etc. In 2017 the Tate Modern in London exhibited ''Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Not Everyone Will Be Taken Into the Future'' and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. set up an exhibition ''Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Utopian Projects.'' National Museum of Norway (Norway) has "Søppelmannen" the garbage man'on permanent display.Karin Hellandsjø. "Bindeleddet mellom fortid og framtid". Klassekampen. 2023-06-12. P. 25

References

* Alexander Rappaport. ''The Ropes of Ilya Kabakov: An Experiment in Interpretation of a Conceptual Installation'' // Tekstura: Russian essays on visual culture / Ed. and translated by A. Efimova and L. Manovich. University of Chicago Press, 1993. — , * Stoos, Toni, ed. ''Ilya Kabakov Installations: 1983–2000 Catalogue Raisonne'' Düsseldorf: Richter Verlag, 2003, 2 volumes. * Kabakov, Ilya. ''5 Albums'', Helsinki: The Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo. Helsinki: ARTPRINT, 1994. * Martin, Jean-Hubert and Claudia Jolles. ''Ilya Kabakov: Okna, Das Fenster, The Window'', Bern: Benteli Verlag, 1985. * 1973 Avant-Garde russe exitibition catalogue * Wallach, Amei. ''Ilya Kabakov: The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away'', New York: Harry Abrams, 1996. * Meyer, Werner, ed. ''Ilya Kabakov: A Universal System for Depicting Everything'' Düsseldorf: Richter Verlag, 2002. * Groys, Boris, David A. Ross, Iwona Blaznick. ''Ilya Kabakov'', London: Phaidon, 1998. * Rattemeyer, Volker, ed. ''Ilya Kabakov: Der rote Waggon'', Nurnberg: verlag fur modern kunst, 1999. * Kabakov, Ilya. ''The Communal Kitchen'', Paris: Musee Maillol, 1994. * Kabakov, Ilya. ''10 Characters'', New York: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, 1988. * Osaka, Eriko ed., Ilya Kabakov. ''Life and Creativity of Charles Rosenthal (1898–1933)'', Contemporary Art Center: Art Tower Mito, Japan, 1999, 2 volumes. * Kabakov, Ilya. ''Ilya Kabakov on Ulo Sooster's Paintings: Subjective Notes'', Tallinn: "Kunst" publishing house, 1996. * Kabakov, Ilya and Vladimir Tarasov. ''Red Pavilion, Venice Biennale'' Venice: Venice Biennale, 1993. * Kabakov, Ilya. ''Life of Flies'', Koln: Edition Cantz, 1992. * Kabakov et al. ''Ilya Kabakov: Public Projects or the Spirit of a Place'', Milan: Charta, 2001, . * * Jackson, Matthew Jesse. ''The Experimental Group: Ilya Kabakov, Moscow Conceptualism, Soviet Avant-Gardes'', Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Ilya Kabakov; Kabakov's Installations

External links

* *https://galeriedinavierny.fr/artistes/ilya-kabakov/ *https://www.connaissancedesarts.com/depeches-art/deces/mort-de-lartiste-conceptuel-ilya-kabakov-deboulonneur-dutopies-11182703/
Emilia and Ilya Kabakov at ARNDT BerlinThaddaeus RopacEdelman Arts
*
"Kabakov o el amor por el gran teatro del individuo", Revista Distopía
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kabakov, Ilya 1933 births 2023 deaths Soviet nonconformist art Soviet painters American installation artists Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Arts Soviet people of Jewish descent Artists from Dnipro Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale Russian contemporary artists