The Howell Gallery and Susan & Peter Hoffman Present The life collection of the important Russian Modernist
BORIS CHETKOV 1926 - 2010
Pioneer Russian art scholar and collector Kenneth Pushkin has exported this rare collection of extraordinary paintings and now they are being made available for exhibition and sale at the newly expanded Howell Gallery.
Chetkov in his St. Petersburg Studio - 1978
Join us for the Private Opening on Thursday, March 22, 5-7:30 PM
“From the 1960’s onward Chetkov carved out a path of his own. He hypnotizes with color, drawing the viewer into the emotion of his paintings.” Dr. Alexander Borovsky Head of Contemporary Art State Russian Museum St. Petersburg, Russia
Precursion, Acrylic on Canvas, 1994, 32” X 36”
“Chetkov’s still-lives and landscapes amaze with a developed and independent understanding of color. It would seem that nature gave Chetkov an ‘educated’ sense of color, much as some singers whose natural voice requires little training.”
“The portraits can be grouped according to what might be defined as ‘temperature’. They deal, above all, with the human psyche as a dynamic process.”
Horses Turning , Acrylic on Canvas, 1994, 43” x 51”
“Paintings of his ‘Riders’, or ‘Horses’ series are essentially fluid with color actions played out in the consciousness, as if seen with the inner eye, the physical eyes closed.”
Winter in Gatchino, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006, 24” x 31”
Critics commented on Chetkov’s original view of color saying, “the color resonates not openly but seemed to come alive in some inner light, with shadows and reflections.”
Staraya Ladoga Fog, 2002, Acrylic on Canvas, 28” x 31”
“These amazing landscapes enchant and hypnotize us with close tonalities. The houses are indicated by lines, but is this an image of the real world? Perhaps a design for some unknown structures? Or the projection of dreams dreamed long ago?”
Spring Bouquet, Acrylic on Canvas, 2010, 32” x 28”
Chetkov revealed himself as a magnificent colorist, his form is not so much suffused with color as molded from color. At one point, he wrote about his artistic method: “I wallow in Nature’s color relationships.”
Horses at Play
Horses at Play, Acrylic on Canvas, 1994, 43” x 51”
“Chetkov puts forth one more form of communication between the outer and inner worlds in the cycle united around the subject running through it: Horses.”
Fortune Teller, Acrylic on Canvas, 1989, 35” x 27”
“A whole separate section of Chetkov’s oeuvre is made up of portraiture. His portraits could be called ‘psychograms’, the visualizations of states of human consciousness.”
Staraya Ladoga Church, 1995, Acrylic on Canvas, 22” x 26”
“We find another consistent trend in his landscapes with the aim of penetrating, of entering into nature. Here he seeks to approach Nature’s own state, to capture its ‘temperature,’ its sense of itself. This approach should be described as delicate, even humble.”
Morning at Ladoga, Acrylic on Canvas, 1980, 28” x 32”
“Here we see the potent drive, that of the competition between the creative act and the act of creating the world; the rivalry of the real and created landscape.”
Black and No Breakthrough, Acrylic on Canvas, 1990, 32” x 40”
“Chetkov was forced to ‘live painting.’ It seems that the introduction of dark colors was clearly determined by the artist’s own psychological state.”
Emerald Still Life, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007, 26” x 22”
“What is striking is the accelerated sense of color, clearly tangible tempo of painting, and the readiness to sacrifice what is depicted for the sake of conveying this purely coloristic dynamism. At the same time there is a clear focus on painterly qualities.”
Complete database with prices available upon request. For more information or to schedule an appointment contact
Howell Gallery 6432 North Western Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73116 405.840.4437 laura@howellgallery.com
Quotes courtesy of Dr. Alexander Borovsky, Head of Contemporary Art,– State Russian Museum, from his critical essays on Boris Chetkov.