Anatoly Basin

about the artist

Anatoly Basin was born in a military family, in Leningrad in 1936.

He got solid technical education, graduated from Radio-Technical School and Architectural Department of Leningrad State Institute of Engineering and Architecture. He worked as an engineer and an architect for some time.

As an artist Basin experienced great influence of his teacher Osip Sidlin. He visited his studio in a Kapranov Palace of Culture from 1956 to 1972. Sidlin’s creative heritage is still being a subject of comprehension for Basin, as Anatoly Basin is not only an artist, but a keeper of certain tradition, memory keeper, myth-maker, and a narrator in some way.

For many years Basin stands by sombre colour treatment that calls light out of dark, creates special depth of colour space that turns to be not the imitation of the reality, but the reflection of painter’s consciousness. Line on Basin’s canvases snatches contours of female body or subjects of still-life out of darkness. Again and again Basin appeals to the same simple subject what happens not because the artist can’t manage with it. This is a solemn performance and at the same time deliberate human’s intrusion into the sacral spheres. The artist obsessively aspires to “see the voices” as Moses saw God on Mount Sinai.

Philosophical and even mystical quests are peculiar to Basin. “In another world I won’t be asked why I haven’t been Moses, I’ll be asked why I haven’t been Myself”. Basin quotes this citation without indicating the source in his small article in 1981. Intent look inside his own soul and searching for himself in his own works seem to interest the painter even more than painting. The artist willingly shares the results with the viewers, publishing from time to time texts full of quotations and linguistic studies.

Notwithstanding the inclination to theorize, Basin doesn’t make an impression of a severe wise man. He eagerly hands down his knowledge to his apprentices, while his private archive formed the basis for the well-known album called “Gazanevshchina”* published in Jerusalem and then in Saint Petersburg as well.

* A unifying name of two legally allowed nonconformist exhibitions that were held in Gaza Palace of Culture and “Nevsky” Palace of Culture.

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biography

Nowadays lives and works in Saint Petersburg and Jerusalem.

Education

1956 – Leningrad Radio-Technical School.
1963 - Architectural Department of Leningrad State Institute of Engineering and Architecture, Soviet Union;

Studied painting in O. Sidlin’s studio in Kapranov Palace of Culture (1956-1972). Specialty: an architect, an engineer.

Membership in creative unions, associations

Former member of ALEF (Union of Leningrad’s Jewish Artists);
Member of Saint Petersburg department of Union of Artists of Russia.
Member of Jerusalem department of Union of Artists of Jerusalem.

Awards and received grants

1986 – Ish Shalom Prize for Jerusalem Artists.
1986 – Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris – award.
1995 – Certificate of Merit, Petersburg-94.
1998 – Certificate of Merit, Petersburg-97.
2008 – Prize "Artist of the Year", by Artindex, Petersburg.

Publications

1981 – Published the book "My Genoscript".
1989 – Published the book "Gaza Phenomenon", about non-conformist art movement in post-Stalinist Russia.
1996 – Published the book "Veseliil".
1996 – Published the book "Chisla-20".
2004 – Published the book "Gaza Phenomenon", second edition.

Solo Exhibitions

1982 – Artists House, Jerusalem;
1983 – The Debel Gallery, Jerusalem;
1984 – The Allon Gallery, Jerusalem;
1986 – Lohamey Hagetaot Gallery, kibbutz Lohamey Hagetaot;
1987 – The Chelouche Gallery, Tel-Aviv;
1989 – The Ariadna Gallery, Leningrad;
1992, 94 – The State Museum of Urban Sculpture, St. Petersburg;
1998 – Judische Galerie, Berlin, Germany;
1999 – The BaProzdor, Tel-Aviv;
2004 – The Alternativ Gallery, Tel-Aviv;
2007 – Gallery "E", St. Petersburg;
2008 – ... "Ella" Gallery, Jerusalem;
2010 – .....State Museum "Tsarsk Collection", St. Petersburg.

Selected Group Exhibitions

1968-69 – Three Nonofficial Exhibitions at The Kozitsky Palace of Culture, Leningrad.
1974-77 – Three Non-Conformist Exhibitions, The Gaza, the Nevsky and the Kalinin Palaces of Culture, Leningrad.
1975-76 – Three Alef Group Exhibitions, Leningrad and Moscow.
1976-77 – Alef Group in The Judah L.Magnes Museum, Berkley, Ca. The Klutznic Museum, Washington D.C., The Scirball Museum, Los-Angeles, Ca.
1978 – 18 Artists from Leningrad, The Museum of Modern Art, Erevan, Armenia.
1980 – Nicht-Officielle Kunst aus Russland at the Zentrum, Wien.
1983 – The10-th Anniversary of the Debel Gallery, Jerusalem.
1985 – Salon de Beaux-Arts, Grand Palais, Paris.
1986 – Selection-3, Artist's House, Jerusalem.
1987 – The Ramat-Gan Museum, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
1987 – 8 peintres figuratifs, Peinture Fraiche Gallery, Paris.
1987 – Nature-Morte, Chelouche Gallery, Tel-Aviv & Center of Visual Art, Beer-Sheva.
1987 – Figure-Portrait, Chelouche Gallery, Tel-Aviv, & Mishkanot Sheananim, Jerusalem.
1988 – The Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Jerusalem.
1989 – Israel Art Week, The Israel Festival , Jerusalem.
1989 – From Non-Official Art to Perestroika, Manege, Leningrad.
1989 – Contemporary Art of Leningrad, The Gavan Gallery, Leningrad.
1989 – Two Generations, Museum of History of The City, Leningrad.
1989 – From Gulag to Glasnost, Art Festival, Lousville.
1990 – The Israel Art Month, The Israel Festival, Jerusalem.
1990 – Image, Artist's House, Jerusalem.
1991 – Exhibition at the City Hall of Paris within musical sound performance of cello and paintings by Basin
1991 – 940 return ticket, Artist's House, Haifa & Jerusalem.
1991 – "Moreno Gallery", European Parlament, Strasburg, France.
1991 – New Acquisitions, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
1992 – Anniversaire Cite des Arts, Artist's House, Jerusalem.
1992 – La Femme - vue par Anatoly Basin, Maison de France, Jerusalem.
1992 – Jerusalem in Art, The Negev Museum, Beer-Sheva.
1992 – Homage To Yossie Stern, Hutzot Hayotzer, Jerusalem.
1992 – The Museum of The History of The City, St. Petersburg.
1993 – Jerusalem in Art, Museum Bar-David, Baram, Israel.
1993 – Emigration. Destinies of St. Petersburg Artists
Museum of The History of The City, St. Petersburg.
1993 – Homage to the Teacher, works by pupils of the Artist Osip Sidlin
The State Museum of Urban Sculpture, St. Petersburg.
1993 – My Friends – The Heroes of a Myth,
The Marble Palace – The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
1994,95,96,97,98,99, 2000,01,03,04,05,06,07,08,09 – Petersburg, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1994 – New Acquisitions, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1994 – III Biennale of St. Petersburg, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1994 – Artreality, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1995, 97, 99, 2001, 03, 05, 07 – Dialogues, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1995 – The Artist's House, Jerusalem, Israel.
1995 – R. Arfsten Gallery, Milwaukee, Wi, USA.
1995 – Sixty years of the Sidlin`s School, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1994-95 – Self-Identification, Kiel, Berlin, Oslo, Sopot, St. Petersburg, Sophienholm.
1997 – Portraits of the XX Century Art Personalities, on the occasion of the 125-th Anniversary of Sergei Dyagilev – Dyagilev Art Center, Tavricheski Palace, St. Petersburg.
1997 – Ungleiche Zeiten, Zeitgenosische Malerei aus St.Petersburg.
Bad Homburg, Germany.
1997 – 20 Anniversary of Manege HALL, Manege, St. Petersburg.
1998 – Contemporary Art of St.-Petersburg, Art Collegium, St. Petersburg.
1998 – The Babyilon tower, Art Collegium, St. Petersburg.
2000 – Kosmopolit, Galerie Storkower Bogen, Berlin.
2001 – Jerusalemites, The Artists House, Jerusalem
2000 – Personal Preferences, Zetlin Museum of Russian Art, Israel.
2001 – New Manege, Moskva.
2002 – Manege, The Artists House, St. Petersburg.
2003 – l`avant-garde on the river Neva, 2-nd part of the 20th century, Tretiakov Gallery Moscow.
2004 – Gazanevschina, Manege, St. Petersburg.
2006 – Elit-Art, Barselona, Spain.
2006 – Time of Changes, Russiam Museum, St. Petersburg.
2006 – Soviet Venus, Russiam Museum, St. Petersburg.
2007 – Russian Dissidents, El Centro de Arte Museo de Almería;
2007 – The Divine Image, «The New Gallery». Jerusalem, Israel.
2008 – Zoom, Central Exhibition Hall «Maneg», St. Petersburg.
2009 – This Summer, International Federation of Artists (IFA), St. Petersburg.

Main collections

Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia;
State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg;
State Museum of City Sculpture, St. Petersburg, Russia;
The Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”, St. Petersburg, Russia;
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel;
Ein-Harod Museum, Ein Harod, Israel;
The Negev Museum, Beer-Sheva, Israel;
The Ruthger University, (The Norton Dodge Collection) Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey, USA;
Museum and Galleries of Contemporary Art Erarta, St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Museum of Modern Art, Maneg, St. Petersburg, Russia;
El Centro de Arte Museo de Almería;
State Museum "Tsarsk Collection", St. Petersburg.

artworks by this artist

Self-Portrait Basin
Anatoly Basin

2009
At the Table
Anatoly Basin

2007
Still Life
Anatoly Basin

2002
Two Ladies
Anatoly Basin

2007
Lying Woman
Anatoly Basin

2007
Staring Woman
Anatoly Basin

2008