Dialogues

Ilya Kabakov and Vikor Pivovarov, Stories about Ourselves

Ksenia Nouril

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781978814929
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978814936
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Artists in the Soviet Union faced a difficult choice: either join the official academies and make art that conformed to the state's aesthetic and ideological dictates, or attempt to develop alternative artistic practices and spheres for exhibiting their work. In the early 1970s, conceptual artists Ilya Kabakov and Viktor Pivovarov chose the latter option, turning their limited resources into an asset by pioneering an entirely new artistic genre: the album. Somewhere between drawings and novels, Kabakov and Pivovarov's albums were also the basis for unique performance pieces, as the artists invited select audiences to their Moscow apartments for private readings and viewings of the albums, helping to cultivate an alternative artistic community in the process.This exhibition catalog brings together Kabakov and Pivovarov's key works for the first time, putting the two artists in dialogue and recreating their artistic community. It not only includes nearly hundred pages of full-color illustrations, but also provides complete English translations of the Russian texts that appear in the volume, plus new interviews with each artist. Taken together, they give viewers a new appreciation of the different aesthetic strategies each artist used to depict the absurdities of everyday life in the Soviet era. Published in partnership with the Zimmerli Museum.

Catalogue of the Exhibition

Unless otherwise noted, all works are from the Zimmerli’s Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union. Not all works are illustrated.

Lev Melikhov (b. 1951 in Volokolamsk)

Ilya Kabakov, 1987

Gelatin silver print

21-15/16 × 21-7/8 in. (55.8 × 55.6 cm)

D20347

p. 12

Mikhail Belomlinsky (b. 1934 in Leningrad [now

Saint Petersburg])

Portrait of Ilya Kabakov, 1980

Charcoal, pastel

24-7/16 × 16-15/16 in. (62 × 43 cm)

D11619

Ilya Kabakov (b. 1933 in Dnipropetrovsk [now Dnipro, Ukraine])

Peter Pan and Wendy, 1968

Photomechanical print on paper

Overall (closed): 81/8 × 5–13/16 × 3/8 in. (20.7 × 14.7 × 1 cm)

Overall (open): 8-1/8 × 11–9/16 in. (20.7 × 29.3 cm)

D25388

Ilya Kabakov

The Flying Komarov, 1970–74, 1994*

Offset prints mounted on cardboard, in a c. 1970s box, edition 47/200

Each of 32 pages: 20 × 13 in. (50.8 × 33 cm)

2019.006.006.001–033

Ilya Kabakov

Adventures of Gugudze, 1972

Photomechanical print on paper

Overall (closed): 8–9/16 × 6–11/16 × 1/2 in. (21.7 × 17 × 1.2 cm)

Overall (open): 8–9/16 × 12–15/16 in. (21.7 × 32.8 cm)

D25387

Ilya Kabakov

Anna Petrovna Has a Dream, 1970–74, 1996*

Offset prints mounted on cardboard, in a c. 1970s box, edition 94/199

Each of 32 pages: 20 × 13-3/4 in. (50.8 × 34.9 cm)

2019.005.005.001–033

Ilya Kabakov

Mathematical Gorsky, 1970–74*

Colored pencil and ink on paper

Each of 37 pages: 12 × 8-1/4 in. (30.5 × 21 cm)

1997.0579.001–037

pp. 32–61

Ilya Kabakov

Shower—A Comedy, 1970s–1985

Linoleum cut on paper, watercolor, and colored pencil on paper

6 from a 39-part series

Each image: approx. 8-3/4 × 6-1/4 in. (22.2 × 15.8 cm)

Overall: 20-1/4 × 13-13/16 in. (51.5 × 35.1 cm)

1991.0884.001, 002, 004, 006, 010, 012

pp. 26–31

Ilya Kabakov

Between Summer and Winter, 1976

Photomechanical print on paper

Overall (closed): 8-1/8 × 5–7/8 × 3/8 in. (20.7 × 14.9 × 1 cm)

Overall (open): 8-1/8 × 11-3/16 in. (20.7 × 28.4 cm)

D25389

Ilya Kabakov

Fruits and Vegetables, 1979

Ink and colored pencil on paper

Each of 16 pages: 11-7/16 × 14-1/8 in. (29 × 35.8 cm)

Mounted in pairs on cardboard: 22 × 28 in. (55.8 × 71 cm)

1999.0707.001–016

pp. 62–69

Ilya Kabakov

The Ship Sails for a Visit, 1979

Photomechanical print on paper

Overall (closed): 10-1/4 × 7-7/8 in. (26 × 20 cm)

Overall (open): 10-1/4 × 15-5/8 in. (26 × 39.7 cm)

D25396

Ilya Kabakov

Where Did the Street Come From?, 1980

Photomechanical print on paper

Overall (closed): 10-3/8 × 8-1/8 × 3/8 in. (26.4 × 20.6 × 1 cm)

Overall (open): 10-3/8 × 15-13/16 in. (26.4 × 40.2 cm)

D25397

Ilya Kabakov

Inna Gavrilovna Korobeva: I tell him . . . , 1981

Oil on fiberboard

44-1/2 × 80-3/16 in. (113 × 203.6 cm)

1997.0596

pp. 70–71

Ilya Kabakov

. . . There Is Another Woman Behind Me, 1982

Oil and enamel on Masonite

45-3/8 × 86-5/8 in. (110 × 220 cm)

Collection of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov

Ilya Kabakov

Where Are You Throwing the Peels?, 1982

Oil and enamel on Masonite

45-3/8 × 86-5/8 in. (110 × 220 cm)

Collection of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov

Ilya Kabakov

The Shovel, 1984

Enamel, shovel, metal brackets, typed text on paper, and Plexiglas on fiberboard

51–9/16 × 75-3/16 × 3–15/16 in. (131 × 191 × 10 cm)

1999....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Between the Lines: The Intermediality of Ilya Kabakov’s Albums
• Ilya Kabakov in Conversation with Ksenia Nouril
• Works by Kabakov
• The Beloved Agent in Love
• Viktor Pivovarov in Conversation with Tomáš Glanc
• Works by Pivovarov
• Catalogue of the Exhibition
• Selected Bibliography
• Translations
• About the Authors