Gallery SS

To begin to collect the Soviet painting…
Not so likely that a rich person is sitting on his verandah with a cup of coffee and thinking: has the time come to begin to collect something?
If yes, so what is it that I wish to collect?
As a matter of principle it is possible. I have had a similar situation. When I was 10, I suddenly decided to collect match labels. Having collected an impressive collection, boon there was an opportunity to press on the parents, I changed my mind and started to collect stamps. Having collected about 8000 perfect stamps, basically “colonial countries”, that was very much appreciated and is appreciated, I have calmed down.
A couple of years passed and I felt a propensity for painting. I drew from childhood and some of my drawings I kept until today.
Today I stand up for collecting the Soviet painting, which has appeared to be not only claimed and looked for, but also what is strangely enough - rare.
When several years ago, in the end of the ХХ century, the employees of the Tretyakov gallery have decided that the time has come to pay attention to the painting of socialist realism, the official stile of the Soviet Era period, they found out with horror, that its best samples are in USA and England. The enterprising, highly-educated gallery owners such as Miles, Johnson and others have cheaply bought up and have taken out of the USSR hundreds, if not thousand of perfect works.
Our culture authorities were shocked.
All that, which was recently rejected with laughter and contempt suddenly became a subject for collecting.
When I visit the new Tretyakov Gallery on the Crimean Bridge in Moscow, I always look at the grand scale picture by Gerasimov, nicknamed ” Two leaders after the rain “, depicting Stalin and Voroshilov. This, or anything similar, even theoretically could not be created in any other country. It is possible to abuse or to love the persons depicted on the picture, but we must recognize, that it is a subject of pride of Russians. I can not estimate precisely its money’s worth, it is a state property and is not for sale, but it is clear that this picture costs minimum several hundreds of thousands dollars.
I think it happens sometimes - a person being impressed by the chef-d’oeuvre seen in the museum, thinks suddenly: why not to admire each day? Why not to have it at home?
Collecting of antiques is a bad idea to surprise your friends: if you have spare money, you go to Arbat street, buy a picture by Aivazovsky (90% counterfeit), hang it up on a wall and feel yourself bursting of pride among the visitors overwhelming majority of which are not capable to distinguish a sheep from a ship.
The advanced solvent people find themselves a dealer, which solves all questions concerned with the collecting. By the way, there is a lot of such questions.
Here I would first of all mention the skill to find a required picture and help in the analysis of the market condition together with the examination and confirmation of authenticity and many other. By the way the services of a good dealer are to be well-paid. It is possible to save money, by not inviting the dealer, but it is pertinently to recollect a saying: greedy pays twice.
So it turns out, that at presence of the very large free means it is possible to afford to buy antiquarian works of art highly quoted not only in Russia, but also in the world market. But to buy a picture of the known artist of the ХIХ century cheap - is impossible. The prices for works of the artists of the ХХ century are not so big, but they grow daily.
Those, who have understood, that the works of the middle-second half of the ХХ century have their charm, try to buy them today, because tomorrow they will be washed away from the market, or their price will rise considerably.
Recently I read an article in an antiques-concerned magazine. The author advised to invest in the painting of 1930’s.
Wonderfully!
Only where is it possible to find, this kind of painting?
Today these works could be found only in the collections of professionals and when somebody tries to buy them, the price astonishes.
The pictures of the Soviet artists, painted in the period from 1950’s till 1980’s could be found at the art-market. Today they cost hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. But the rise of their prices CONSIDERABLY outstrips inflation. If some 2-3 years back collectors searched only for pictures of 1950-1960’s, so today the pictures, belonging to the period of 1970-1980 are selled very well under the condition of a qualitative level of painting.
Of course the pictures of 50’s are more interesting then the pictures of 80’s, but the most far-seeing investors buy them as they say ” in the chest “. It means that they do not sell them today, understanding, that their time has not come yet.
In this situation people begin to ponder: what to buy? Antiques, socrealism (socialist realism) or supermodern painting?
A lot has been written about it, but the main principle here is: the purchase of antiques is reliable, but requires huge means.
The purchase of the XXI century painting is the purchase of a black cat in a dark room: it is impossible to foresee which of the thousands of painters will become famous?
Therefore I strongly recommend to buy perspicuous and reliable painting of the middle of the ХХ century.
The only possibility to buy the time!
I always buy pictures, never printed production issued in million circulations: after a time each picture becomes more valuable, each print becomes cheaper.
It is not necessary to limit yourself in collecting only one kind of painting, for example to collect only landscapes or still-lifes. Painting is versatile.
But the most interesting in prospective is the genre.
In my modest collection the different kinds of painting are submitted, but the images of the people reflect the time most precisely..
Not for nothing one known writer collects portraits of the artists.
It is hardly possible to give any general recommendations what to buy. It is possible to be guided by a simple rule: to buy the pleasant.
My friends frequently ask me: do you really hang up in your house the pictures with dirty miners and beet-faced milkmaids?
I answer: with pleasure!

The last: there is a simple rule: to aspire to buy the best, and for this purpose to raise a level of own knowledge. Attending museums and exhibitions develops the taste and the understanding of the depth of the painting.
In particular, it is possible to address for an advice to the author of the article.