Shvartsman Mikhail Matveevich

Russian artist, one of the masters of Russian “unofficial” art. Born in Moscow on June 4, 1926 in the family of a Nepman entrepreneur, who was repeatedly subjected to repression and died in a concentration camp. After his mother was deported to Siberia, Shvartsman was taken to a boarding school and then served in the army (1944–1950). In 1950–1956 he studied at the Higher Art and Industrial School (formerly Stroganov School). Lived in Moscow. After graduation, he earned his living as a book and poster artist, as well as a master of industrial graphics (brand name design). However, all these types of art, especially industrial graphics, were by no means just some kind of side “hackwork” for him. Having been the chief artist of the SKHKB Legprom (Special Art and Design Bureau of Light Industry) since 1966, he even brought to life the entire “Shvartsman school,” which played an important role in introducing the principles of graphic styling (i.e., iconic-stylistic unification of industrial products). During the same “thaw-stagnation” period, in the late 1950s – 1960s, his easel style also took shape, which did not adhere to any of the typical lines of the then “other art”. The artist created huge – covering his entire mature creative life – painting and graphic cycles of the so-called “hieratures” (his own term, derived from the ancient Greek hieros, “sacred”). Hermetically closed in composition, reminiscent of ancient totems or magical altars, sometimes equipped with some mysterious writing, these canvases and sheets combined the techniques of the avant-garde - cubism and surrealism - with archaic-cult semantics. The ritual of magic here seems to have turned into a ritual of art, enclosed in a decorative spectacle within the frames of a picture. The master’s works were included in the most significant collections of Russian avant-garde and “unofficial” art, including the collection of G. D. Kostaki and the collection of N. Dodge, now included in the Zimmerli Museum (Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA). The milestone exhibition that crowned his creative path was a large personal exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery (1994). Shvartsman died in Moscow on November 17, 1997.