Mikhail Nikolayevich Odnoralov / Levidov ( / ''Michael Odnoralov'', 10 November 1944 – 22 January 2016) was a Russian nonconformist artist who was well known in Moscow in the 1970s. He spent the second half of his life in New York City.
Biography
In 1957, Odnoralov received early art lessons at Robert Falk's private studio, and from 1958 to 1960, he attended art school in Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow.
Odnoralov took part in the second Russian avant-garde movement. However, he was also a member of the USSR Union of Artists and showed his paintings at official exhibitions. From 1966 to 1979, his paintings were frequently exhibited at the Union of Moscow Artists.
His art studio was sometimes a gathering site for
underground art
Underground art is any form of art that operates outside of conventional norms in the art world, part of underground culture. This can include essentially any genre of art that is not popular in the art world, including visionary art and stre ...
ists to plan their next collective show or to discuss one another's work, and he was briefly detained for his role in the Bulldozer Exhibition in 1974. A couple weeks after his release, his paintings were displayed before crowds in Izmaylovsky Park.
The Soviet regime was suspicious of Odnoralov not mainly for the content of his paintings (although the
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
authorities did not like the icons depicted in his works, which clearly reflected Russian religious philosophy), but for his uncensored social activity. The
KGB
The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
urged his neighbors to file complaints claiming that the guests at his studio disturbed them.
In 1980, Odnoralov emigrated from the USSR. He lived and worked on the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. He died on 22 January 2016 in New York City.
Selected exhibitions
* May 1961: Summer Theatre,
Tarusa
Tarusa () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Tarussky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, northeast of Kaluga, the administrative center of the oblast. ...
Eduard Steinberg
Eduard Arkadevich Steinberg (, also named "Edik Steinberg"; 3 March 1937 – 28 March 2012) was a Russian painter, philosopher and activist.
Personal life
Steinberg was born in Moscow, the son of poet, translator and artist . He had reside ...
and Boris Sveshnikov.
* 29 September 1974: II Autumn Open-Air Art Exhibition, Izmaylovsky Park.
* 20–30 September 1975: VDNKh, Culture Pavilion.
* 1983: "Unofficial Art from the Soviet Union",
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...
,
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
* 1987: "Retrospection 1957–1987", State Exhibition Hall Gallery Belyaevo, Moscow.
* 1988: "Russian Still Life", Museum of Russian Art,
Jersey City
Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous
.
* 1997: "Alice from the Lower East Side", Lehman College Art Gallery, New York City. Solo exhibition.
* 2003: "Memories: Russian Postmodern Nostalgia",
Yeshiva University Museum
The Yeshiva University Museum is a teaching museum and the cultural arm of Yeshiva University. Along with the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, New York, and the YIVO Institute for Jew ...
, New York City.
* 5–28 February 2010: "Retrospection",
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. Solo exhibition.
* 6 June–12 July 2010:
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...
, Saint Petersburg. Solo exhibition.Interview apropos Mikhail Odnoralov «Retrospection»: Author the same and (Head of the «Newest movements» department of the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg) VIDEO in russian.
Further reading
*
*
Museum collections
*
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, Russia)
*
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
(
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
)
*
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University
The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (known popularly as the Zimmerli Art Museum) is located on the Voorhees Mall of the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The museum houses more than 60,000 works, including Russian and ...
(
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Hofstra University Museum (
Hempstead, New York
The Town of Hempstead is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) on Long Island, in New York, United States. The town's combined population was 793,409 at the 2020 census.
It occupies the s ...
)
* Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in Exile ( Montgeron, France)