Product Description

In this prescient and beautifully written book, John Berger examines the life and work of Ernst Neizvestny, a Russian sculptor whose exclusion from the ranks of officially approved Soviet artists left him laboring in enforced obscurity to realize his monumental and very public vision of art. But Berger's impassioned account goes well beyond the specific dilemma of the pre-glasnot Russian artist to illuminate the very meaning of revolutionary art. In his struggle against official orthodoxy--which involved a face-to-face confrontation with Khruschev himself--Neizvestny was fighting not for a merely personal or aesthetic vision, but for a recognition of the true social role of art. His sculptures earn a place in the world by reflecting the courage of a whole people, by commemorating, in an age of mass suffering, the resistance and endurance of millions.



"Berger is probably our most perceptive commentator on art...A civilized and stimulating companion no matter what subject happens to cross his mind."--Philadelphia Inquirer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1777952 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-17
• Released on: 1998-03-17
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From Library Journal
This 1969 volume profiles Soviet sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, who, not being one of that government's officially endorsed artists, struggled in relative obscurity. Berger's analysis also chronicles how physical, emotional, and spiritual hardship can be transformed and expressed in art. The text is buttressed with numerous drawings and photos of Neizvestny's works.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Berger's Insights on Russia via Neizvestny
This extended essay brings to light the otherwise obscure artist Ernst Neizvestny. Berger's gaze intensifies on the particular circumstances of Neizvestny to draw out broader tendencies also being traced in the book, such as Russian iconic art, Soviet revolutionary art and politics, and aspirations of art more generally:

"[Neizvestny] is concerned with neither viscera no complexes. He is concerned with creating an image of man that celebrates his total nature."

Berger's prose flashes with insight into both Russian art and Neizvestny's sculpture. He lays out his critique sensibly and presents the subject with enough balance between the social, biographical, and critical that the reader is consistently drawn forward along each of those perspectives. The prints - like Berger's words - are also well-chosen and provide a solid visual basis for the discussion at hand.

Concerning the rant that closes the book: it is an anachronism largely because of its hopes for the Soviet Union. However, our discomfort at reading it may also betray our own cynicism about the truth that we face an "intolerable condition of inequality in the world".

Criticism or Political Tract?
Well, the book's fairly interesting when it talks about the history of Russian Academic art, and also when it explores the work of Neizvestny. But the third section degenerates into a Marxist scrred against "imperialism". The book was written in the late 60's, so I suppose I can understand the author's optimism (naivite?) about the prospects of Communism, but all the same, I finished the book feeling that Neizvestny had been used by the author to further his own viewpoint. The description of the book, read in retrospect, is more interesting than the contents.