Lot 300: Rikhard Vasmi , Russian 1929-1998 City Landscape. Rooftops, 1986 oil on board

signed with artist's monogram in Cyrillic (upper right); signed, titled and inscribed in Cyrillic and dated 1986 (on the reverse) oil on board

measurements 13 1/2 by 19 1/2 in. alternate measurements 34 by 49 cm

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION
Rikhard Vasmi belonged to the Leningrad-based unofficial grouping known as the Arefiev Circle, whose artists were among the first to reject the false joyfulness of the art of the Stalin era. In flagrant disregard for the conventions of Socialist Realism, Vasmi depicted Leningrad cityscapes in a deliberately crude, primitivist style, as exemplified by the present lot. The simplified forms and shallow spaces of these landscapes were inspired by the works of the French Fauves and the German Expressionists.

In his early years, Vasmi was strongly influenced by the work of Nikolai Lapshin (1888-1942), who became Vasmi's first art teacher. In 1942, Vasmi became an orphan when his parents died of starvation during the war. From 1946 to 1950, he studied at the Leningrad School of Architecture. He continued his education at the Leningrad Institute of Civil Engineers, from which he subsequently dropped out, and then went on to perform a series of politically undemanding, low-paying jobs.