Collages by Mikhail Petrenko

Chagall and Russian Revolutionary Art

In the 1920s avant-garde Russian art included two distinct movements: a severe geometric style known as Suprematism, epitomized by the work of Kasimir Malevich, and the poetic vision of artists such as Marc Chagall. Some artists, notably El Lissitsky, began in this lyrical style and later embraced Suprematism.

Noted local artist and art critic Mikhail Petrenko explores these two contrasting movements in a series of collages incorporating both constructivist and figurative elements. Illustrated books in Hebrew and Yiddish from the private collection of Henry Hollander enlarge our understanding of this historic period.

Mikhail Petrenko, artist and art historian, was born in the Ukraine and holds degrees in art and in graphic and industrial design from leading Russian academies in Leningrad and Moscow. He has illustrated books for major publishing houses and had numerous solo exhibitions and his pictures and engravings are in museums and private collections worldwide. A current member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), he  has written extensively on the theory and history of art, and  since 2001 has been the editor and publisher of the Russian-American  magazine S-Culture (Saigonskya kultura).

Henry Hollander is a veteran San Francisco bookseller who has specialized in Judaica for the past twenty years. His wide-ranging interest in Jewish book has resulted in a diverse and multi-lingual stock; his cataloged selection of Yiddish books for sale is among the largest in the world. His premises in San Francisco are open to the public by appointment. He serves collectors, libraries, museums, archives, scholars and casual readers while always struggling to resist the urge to become a collector himself.

The exhibition is open during library hours and runs through November 23, 2014.