Leningrad collection

Entrance from 45 Galernaia Street

The exhibition presents Leningrad underground art of the second half of the 20th century. The exhibition shows more than 300 works by artists of the Leningrad underground - participants of the first exhibitions of the underground art, as well as works by masters of the so-called Moscow school of that period. Paintings are hanged densely on the walls like tapestry, reminding of apartment exhibitions of the 1960-1980's, which became a symbol of the non-conformism period.

The exhibition includes 20 works from the collections of the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg and about 270 works from the collection of the gallery «KGallery», formed on the basis of the famous private collection of Sidorov and Volkova.

Years of the “Thaw” of the late 1950s - early 1960s were marked by unprecedented creative enthusiasm in different spheres of life, including fine arts. It is no coincidence that this period in the artistic life of the country is often called the “second Russian avant-garde”.

Many artistic schools and unions were organized in Leningrad of the 1960-1970s, such as Alexander Arefiev’s circle, school of Vladimir Sterligov, school of Osip Sidilin, Mikhail Shemiakin’s group “Leningrad”, Pavel Kondratiev’s circle and others. Exhibitions of underground art opened one after another.

Exhibitions at the Palace of Culture named after Ivan Gaza (22-24 December 1974) and Palace of Culture “Nevsky” (10-20 September 1975) gave the name to a new style of the Leningrad Fine Arts of the 1970s – “Gazanevsky culture”.

The exhibition at the Rumyantsev Mansion presents works by Leningrad nonconformist artists of the 1960-1990s. These are Alexander Arefiev, Anatoly Basin, Anatoly Belkin, Gleb Bogomolov, Richard Vasmi, Mikhail Shemyakin and others.

The exhibition is complemented with photographs by Gennady Prihodko, showing the events of the artistic life of the city of the 1970s.