Boris Grigoriev: Painter of the Russian Soul

Boris Grigoriev was one of the most prominent artists of the early XX century.

A Muscovite by birth, Boris Grigoriev spent most of his life abroad. Having conceived one of his major cycles, Rasseia, as revolution surged through the country, Grigoriev went on to develop and explore its theme of the Russian peasantry in many other series throughout his artistic career. The artist's distance from his motherland resulted in a preoccupation with this theme. While he enjoyed significant recognition abroad, his paintings were seen by his contemporaries in the Soviet Union as a grotesque parody of Russian village life. As such, from the 1930s to the 1960s Grigoriev's works were removed from display in Soviet museums and reproduction of his works banned. It was only in 1989 that Grigoriev's first solo show took place in Russia and the significance of this artist's contribution to the development of Russian art was acknowledged.

The artworks presented here vividly illustrate the primary importance Boris Grigoriev has been to the furthering of ubiquitous and all-embracing artistic aims.