Post war Abstract expressionist

During the Post War period, at a time when the progenitors of the Russian avant-garde were demonised in the Soviet Union as formalist and bourgeois, Chetkov resurrected many of their techniques. His works share the deliberate ‘unsophistication’ of Primitivist or folk art, the abstraction and spirituality of Kandinsky and the romantic whimsical view of peasant life as pioneered by Chagall.

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SELECTIONS by Genre

Landscapes

Staraya Ladoga

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Landscapes

Two Spiritual Paths

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Landscapes

The Church of St. Basil

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Figurative Expressionism

Roosters Fight

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Figurative Expressionism

Penguin Marathon

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Figurative Expressionism

Black Moon Above the City

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Abstract Expressionism

Green Meadow with Flowers

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Abstract Expressionism

Gold of the Sea

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Abstract Expressionism

Theatre

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Portraits

African

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Portraits

Portrait of an Old Man

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Portraits

Self Portrait in a Top Hat

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Still Lifes

Sharing Immense Joy

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Still Lifes

Explosions of Color

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Still Lifes

The Richness of Life

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Horses

At The Horse Races

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Horses

Before The Race

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Horses

Mirage of Riders

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Works on Paper

Works on Paper

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Essays

An Exchange with
the Titans
Dr. Alexander Borovsky
Head of Contemporary Art
State Russian Museum

Everything, it seemed, was against him: Born deep in rural Russia, part of a social group doomed to destruction, sent to the Gulag as a teenager, then off to war — which he survived. He managed to get himself an artistic education only with considerable difficulty…

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Re-imagining
Russia
Theodora Clarke
Russian Art Scholar
The Courtauld Institute of Art

Western histories of Russian art have traditionally had a tendency to dismiss works after 1932 and the advent of Socialist Realism. The artists of the early twentieth century, in particular the Russian avant-garde, have been the focus of much scholarship. However, recent attitudes have changed…

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Furious
Chetkov
Dr. Albert Kostenevich
Chief Curator
State Hermitage Museum

The discovery of Boris Chetkov is a gratifying moment in the modern artistic life. It seems that the creativity and the very biography of the artist are the purely Russian phenomenon: it is hard for a Western spectator to understand their severe “soviet” context: ordeals of life experienced by the artist…

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Across All
Barriers
Dr. Alexander Borovsky
Head of Contemporary Art
State Russian Museum

The Pushkin Group began its ambitious project to promote outstanding Russian artists of the second half of the 20th century on the American art scene several years ago. Artists of note who have not achieved recognition in their own land but all of whom merit an honored place in the history of art…

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Sharing Chetkov
Kenneth Pushkin
Russian Art Researcher & Collector
Pushkin Group, Ltd.

It was in late 2001 when I was first presented with photos of Chetkov’s paintings. Having spent years studying and appreciating Russian art, I immediately recognized something unique, an unabashed sense of freedom in the artist’s expression — something not often seen from painters of the Soviet Era. This was something different.

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AGELESS MODERNIST FROM THE URALS
Dr. Albert Kostenevich
Chief Curator
State Hermitage Museum

Few can be indifferent to the work of Boris Chetkov, a powerful artist whose life has been far from ordinary. The Pushkin Group’s monograph on his life and art continues their exciting project to acquaint the non-Russian world with Russian artists whose work has been unjustly undervalued…

Read more
An Exchange with
the Titans
Dr. Alexander Borovsky
Head of Contemporary Art
State Russian Museum

Everything, it seemed, was against him: Born deep in rural Russia, part of a social group doomed to destruction, sent to the Gulag as a teenager, then off to war — which he survived. He managed to get himself an artistic education only with considerable difficulty…

Read more
Re-imagining
Russia
Theodora Clarke
Russian Art Scholar
The Courtauld Institute of Art

Western histories of Russian art have traditionally had a tendency to dismiss works after 1932 and the advent of Socialist Realism. The artists of the early twentieth century, in particular the Russian avant-garde, have been the focus of much scholarship. However, recent attitudes have changed…

Open PDF
Furious
Chetkov
Dr. Albert Kostenevich
Chief Curator
State Hermitage Museum

The discovery of Boris Chetkov is a gratifying moment in the modern artistic life. It seems that the creativity and the very biography of the artist are the purely Russian phenomenon: it is hard for a Western spectator to understand their severe “soviet” context: ordeals of life experienced by the artist…

Read more
Across All
Barriers
Dr. Alexander Borovsky
Head of Contemporary Art
State Russian Museum

The Pushkin Group began its ambitious project to promote outstanding Russian artists of the second half of the 20th century on the American art scene several years ago. Artists of note who have not achieved recognition in their own land but all of whom merit an honored place in the history of art…

Read more
Sharing Chetkov
Kenneth Pushkin
Russian Art Researcher & Collector
Pushkin Group, Ltd.

It was in late 2001 when I was first presented with photos of Chetkov’s paintings. Having spent years studying and appreciating Russian art, I immediately recognized something unique, an unabashed sense of freedom in the artist’s expression — something not often seen from painters of the Soviet Era. This was something different.

Read more
AGELESS MODERNIST FROM THE URALS
Dr. Albert Kostenevich
Chief Curator
State Hermitage Museum

Few can be indifferent to the work of Boris Chetkov, a powerful artist whose life has been far from ordinary. The Pushkin Group’s monograph on his life and art continues their exciting project to acquaint the non-Russian world with Russian artists whose work has been unjustly undervalued…

Read more

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

Burst of Energy

1996 interview

The Chetkov Papers

1996 interview
The Chetkov
Papers
Recorded and translated by Varvara Bashkirova
July 20, 2004

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PAINTINGS AND MONEY ARE
INCOMPATIBLE

1996 interview

The Inner Voice

2009 interview
CHETKOV AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Recorded and translated by Varvara Bashkirova
July 20, 2004

I, Boris Aleksandrovich Chetkov, was born in 1926, October 26, in Sverdlovskaya district, Novaya Lyalya town. My father was born in a village Soltanovo nearby the town. He graduated from a technical college, worked as a HR manager and director of the Metal factory in Krasnouralsk.

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Exhibition history

1970 - Exhibition “Avant-garde Paintings” at the Kirov’s Palace, Leningrad
1971 - Exhibition “Art of Avant-garde” at the Palace of the Youth, Leningrad
1973 - Personal Exhibition, Coffeehouse - Summer Garden the Hermitage, Leningrad
1974 - World Exhibition, Center of Modern Art, Osaka, Japan
1975 - World Exhibition, Sapporo, Japan
1978 - 5th International Exhibition in Austria, Germany and France
1979 - Personal Exhibition, “Paintings, Graphics, Glass” House of Scientists the Hermitage, Leningrad
1980 - Personal Exhibition at Blue Reception Room of the Artists’ Union, Leningrad

See the full Exhibition History

1983 - Exhibition “Avant-garde Paintings” at Kirov’s Palace, Leningrad
1985 - Annual Exhibition in the Manege, Leningrad
1989 - Exhibition, “Two Generations,” Museum of Modern Art, Australia
1989 - Personal Exhibition, “Paintings, Graphics, Glass” Five Angles, Leningrad
1991 - Personal Exhibition at the Museum of Glass, Finland
1991 - Personal Exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Turkey and Finland
1991 - Annual Exhibition in the Manege, Leningrad
1991 - Personal Exhibition, “Kustarny” at the “Borey” Gallery, Leningrad1992 - Exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Pennsylvania, USA