Взгляд на Сретенский бульвар из Восточной Европы и децентрализация нарратива о международном модернизме¹

This article is on the distinctive qualities of the unofficial art of Moscow, upon which light was shed in an article the “Moscow Diary” by the Czech art critic Jindřich Chalupecký. This article was written for English-speaking readers and published in 1973 in Studio International. Chalupecký’s observations and conclusions about art in Moscow do not match the narratives of the artists themselves, upon which art critics and historians of Russian art still use to base their idea of unofficial art. Chalupecký turns his attention to the paradox of political involvement of seemingly autonomous art and sees in the works of Moscow artists an affirmation of his theory about how art can carry avant-garde political charge while remaining in the “sacral” sphere. His anti-Marxist ideas were based on the theories of the avant-garde, as well as existentialism. In subsequent articles, he compares two types of external pressure on the artist, in socialist and capitalist countries, discussing the advantages and shortcomings of both of these systems.