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Kolodzei Collection
A contract certifies that Dodge Norton sold his soul.
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Family Heirlooms
The owners of a vast collection of Russian contemporary art, Tatiana and Natalia Kolodzei, display some of their prized possessions in Moscow.
By Marina Kamenev
Published: October 19, 2007
With the help of her mother, Russian emigre Natalia Kolodzei started collecting art very early in life. "The first work in my collection I received when I was 1 year old, it was from [artist] Pyotr Belenok on my first birthday," she said at the opening on Monday. "He didn't bring me a toy but he bought me a small drawing. Maybe I would have enjoyed a doll more, but I am very grateful for it now."
Kolodzei, an art historian, is displaying just a small part of the collection of Russian art amassed by her and her mother, Tatiana Kolodzei, at an exhibition that opened this week at the State Center of Contemporary Art. Featuring artists such as Erik Bulatov and Ilya Kabakov, the exhibition will open in February at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York.
Tatiana Kolodzei started her collection of contemporary art in the 1960s, while living in the Soviet Union. She was inspired by her teacher and friend George Costakis, a renowned collector of Russian avant-garde art. Later, in the 1980s, her daughter began assisting her. In 1991, they established a foundation in the United States that organizes exhibitions and supports artists with study grants. Their collection now spans 7,000 works by more than 300 artists from the former Soviet Union.
Kolodzei Collection This pencil drawing by Erik Bulatov, "Entrance," dates from 1973. | | |
The Moscow exhibition's curator, Vitaly Patsyukov, who is also a close friend of the collectors, praised their contribution as he gave a tour of the exhibition this week. "Tatiana Kolodzei was one of the first collectors of contemporary Russian art; the art that she owns is a sample of Russia's cultural history," he said. "She is much more than a collector -- she has been a friend to all the artists. And the collection is a unique dialogue between her private life and what now constitutes cultural property."
Nodding toward a neutral-colored still life, depicting a brown jug and feather, Patsyukov said, "This artist, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, was the first Russian artist to sell a work for more than $1 million at Sotheby's."
The 1972 work, "Still Life With a Feather," was created as part of the Russian metaphysical painting movement. "They represent a time when the world doesn't age, a state of preservation," Patsyukov said of the works. "This jug is outside of history, it will not deteriorate."
Picking her favorites, Natalia Kolodzei was more inclined toward the works with which she has a personal connection. She pointed out a portrait of her mother from 1969 by Anatoly Zverev. Crudely inked on beige paper, Tatiana Kolodzei is depicted pouting with eyes dramatically cast downwards. Ink splotches, have dripped on the page and at the top is a dedication saying "as a gift in return for good advice."
"We have a very special feature in our collection: We ask the artist to sign a dedication for almost every single work," Natalia Kolodzei said. "So with our collection we will never have a problem of authenticity."
Her favorite work, though, is by Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid. It is a small wooden cage with an orange contract in it, indicating the sale of the soul of Sovietologist and art collector Norton Dodge. "These artists were in New York in the 1970s, trying to get artists to sign away their souls," she said. "Andy Warhol's was free but Norton Dodge sold his for 98 cents."
Komar and Melamid then came back to Moscow and sold the contracts at an auction. "My mother spent two months' salary on that particular soul. It was the most expensive one in the auction but she was so happy to have it. She had no holidays but she had Norton Dodge's soul," Kolodzei said, laughing. "Of course, now in America, things are very different for us."
"Moscow -- New York = Parallel Play" (Moskva -- New York: Seans Odnovremennoi Igry) runs to Nov. 11 at the State Center of Contemporary Art, located at 13 Zoologicheskaya Ulitsa. Metro Barrikadnaya. Gallery talks on the exhibition will be held Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. and Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. Tel. 252-1882.
Copyright © 2007 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved.
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May 8 - 15, 2008 
