Copts and robbers

In a startling piece of serendipity, The Art of Eternity began last week on that most wonderful of channels, BBC4 - this meant that I have seen on full colour many of the treasures of Eastern Christianity mentioned in Dalrymple’s book (you must all read this immediately if you have not yet done so). This is not one of the pieces of art that has been shown, but it is part of the Egyptian-Netherlands Cooperation for Coptic Art Preservation (ENCCAP)- dedicated to saving the masses of old Christian artefacts in some of the oldest monasteries in the world - under threat from declining numbers of monks, the environment, Islamic fundamentalism and simple theft - as with all works of art, these change hands for a great deal of money, and most of the older monasteries in Dalrymple’s journey have suffered repeated thefts, both in the distant past, and in the last couple of decades - the monks he visits on Mount Athos, for example, have had to deal with armed raiders attacking them by boat to seize manuscripts, icons and relics.

Wow, all of that work just to use a dreadful pun as a title.

Евгений Рухин

Без названия
Рухин, Евгений
1975
Коллаж

Thanks to Moskovskii Muzei Sovremennogo Iskusstva for the image.

I’ve started reading John McPhee’s ‘The Ransom Of Russian Art‘ - I had come across parts of the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Soviet Nonconformist Art in the past, but this book details how Norton Dodge, an American professor of economics built this collection by meeting with these artists, buying their works and smuggling them out of the Soviet Union.

The figure of Rukhin looms large in the early parts of the book as he was a Petersburg-based geologist, polyglot and anti-establishment figure at the centre of much of the non-conformist art world during the 1970’s. He was, of course, killed by a fire in his studio started in mysterious circumstances in 1975. There is a much more complete biography in Russian here, as well as an electronic gallery of his work.

The book also seeks to engage with the material conditions of these non-conformist artists, most of whom had little access to the basic materials required by artists, and so would paint using towels in place of canvas, and using paint designed for cars rather than the more traditional oils. They were also frequently compelled to work as labourers to avoid charges of parasitism. In the meantime, their wives, often artists themselves, would be working two or more jobs, as well as painting ‘officially’ to support their husbands.