Dimensions: 200 x 170 cm
Signed p.d.: 'O.Tselkov'
Signed, dated and described on the reverse [in Cyrillic]: 'Oleg Tselkov. 2005. portrait - 200 x 170'
Origins
private collection, Poland
Desa Unicum, 2016
institutional collection, Poland
Biography
In 1958, Tselkov graduated from the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts in St. Petersburg; his teacher was Nikolay Akimov, a stage designer and director of the theater there. In 1960-70, Tselkov's atelier in Moscow was visited by many celebrities, including Arthur Miller, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Pablo Neruda, among others. The artist's first exhibition at a state facility took place in 1966 at the Kurchatov Institute, but after the KGB intervened, the display was dismantled after two days due to the fact that the show was considered "ideologically unacceptable." In 1977 Tselkov moved to Paris, some time later he bought a farm 300 kilometers from the capital, in the Champagne region, and still lives there and works in his atelier. He is an artist highly regarded for his nonconformism and his distinctive style, which has been developed over the years.
