Category Archives: Savitsky

At the Crossroads: Contemporary Art from the Caucasus and Central Asia

'Untitled (from Dreams Series)' by Jamol Usmanov (born 1961), oil on canvas, 2010, 110 x 145cm
‘Untitled (from Dreams Series)’ by Jamol Usmanov (born 1961), oil on canvas, 2010, 110 x 145cm

If you’re up on your Uzbek Usmanov’s, you may well have heard of Alisher Usmanov – the billionaire steel magnate who has successfully diversified into telecommunications and new media, including a clever purchase of facebook shares that, it seems, netted him £1.4bn at their IPO last May. But you may well not have heard of Jamol Usmanov, an  Uzbek painter influenced by Sufi philosophy and the Eastern Sufi poetry of Rumi, Navoi, Nizami et al, although we like to hope he too will become a household name.

Continue reading At the Crossroads: Contemporary Art from the Caucasus and Central Asia

Alexander Volkov: Of Sand and Silk

Alexander Volkov, Coquette, 1920

Alexander Volkov, Coquette, 1920

In September 2012 Christie’s will present ‘Of Sand and Silk’, the first European solo-exhibition of the prominent Russian artist Alexander Volkov (1886-1957). Volkov was born in the Fergana valley into the family of a Russian military doctor. He achieved significant lifetime recognition for his depictions of Central Asia, his paintings uniquely combining cutting-edge Western painterly styles with the inspiration he drew from traditional Central Asian craftsmanship. Volkov loved his homeland passionately and often repeated: “One does not need the whole world. A small part will suffice”. Continue reading Alexander Volkov: Of Sand and Silk