Mikhail Nikolayevich Odnoralov / Levidov (russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Однора́лов / Леви́дов / ''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
The Artists' Union of the USSR (russian: Союз художников СССР, translit=Soyuz khudozhnikov SSSR) was a creative union of the Soviet artists and art critics embracing the Republics of the Soviet Union.
The Union was founded sta ...
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 artists 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
The Bulldozer Exhibition (russian: link=no, Бульдозерная выставка) was an unofficial art exhibition on a vacant lot in the Belyayevo urban forest ( Bitsa Park) by Moscow and Leningrad avant-garde artists on 15 September 1974 ...
in 1974. A couple weeks after his release, his paintings were displayed before crowds in
Izmaylovsky Park
Izmaylovsky Park or Izmaylovo Park is one of the largest parks in Moscow, Russia. The park consists of two areas: Izmaylovsky forest and Izmaylovsky Park for recreation. It is situated in the Izmaylovo District in the northeast of the city. The n ...
.
The Soviet regime was suspicious of Odnoralov not mainly for the content of his paintings (although the
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
authorities did not like the icons depicted in his works, which clearly reflected Russian religious philosophy), but for his uncensored social activity. The KGB 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.
Traditionally an im ...
of Manhattan. He died on 22 January 2016 in New York City.
Eduard Steinberg
Eduard Arkadevich Steinberg (russian: Эдуа́рд Арка́дьевич Ште́йнберг; 3 March 1937 – 28 March 2012) was a Russian painter, philosopher and activist.
Personal life
Steinberg was born in Moscow, the son of poet, ...
and
Boris Sveshnikov
Boris Petrovich Sveshnikov (1927–1998) was a Russian nonconformist painter. On February 9, 1946, Sveshnikov, then a nineteen-year-old art school student at the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, went to buy kerosene in a nearby s ...
.
* 29 September 1974: II Autumn Open-Air Art Exhibition,
Izmaylovsky Park
Izmaylovsky Park or Izmaylovo Park is one of the largest parks in Moscow, Russia. The park consists of two areas: Izmaylovsky forest and Izmaylovsky Park for recreation. It is situated in the Izmaylovo District in the northeast of the city. The n ...
.
* 20–30 September 1975:
VDNKh VDNKh may refer to:
* The name of the exhibition centers in former Soviet Republics
** VDNKh (Russia), known as All-Russia Exhibition Center in 1992–2014
** National Complex Expocenter of Ukraine (formerly "VDNH of the Ukrainian SSR")
** Exhibi ...
, Culture Pavilion.
* 1983: "Unofficial Art from the Soviet Union",
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
,
Washington, D.C
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
.
* 1987: "Retrospection 1957–1987", State Exhibition Hall Gallery Belyaevo, Moscow.
* 1988: "Russian Still Life", Museum of Russian Art,
Jersey City
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.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 Jewish ...
, New York City.
* 5–28 February 2010: "Retrospection", Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Solo exhibition.
* 6 June–12 July 2010: Russian Museum, 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.
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
(
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 ...
Bulldozer Exhibition
The Bulldozer Exhibition (russian: link=no, Бульдозерная выставка) was an unofficial art exhibition on a vacant lot in the Belyayevo urban forest ( Bitsa Park) by Moscow and Leningrad avant-garde artists on 15 September 1974 ...