Quick Facts
Biography
Valentin Khrushch (January 24, 1943, Odessa - October 24, 2005, Kimry, Tver region) - Ukrainian artist, one of the creators of the Odessa school of unofficial art.
Biography
He was born on January 24, 1943 in occupied Odessa. He received his primary art education in the Odessa Art School.
In the 1950s he studied at the Odessa Art School (teachers Zaitsev, Yegorov, Pavlyuk, Fraerman).
Many critics believe that the "Fence Exhibition" organized by young artists Valentin Khrushch and Stanislav Sychev in 1967 "Sychik + Hrushchik" on the Odessa Opera Theater fence became the starting point for "Odessa nonconformism". This exhibition lasted only three hours.
He took part in the organization of the first "apartment exhibitions" in Odessa.
Since the late 1970s, name of Valentin Khrushch, as well as his colleagues of the "Odessa nonconformism" A. Anufriev, V. Strelnikov, L. Yastreb, V. Marinyuk, S. Sychov, V. Basanets began to appear in foreign catalogs and exhibitions.
In 1979 he participated in the unofficial exhibition "Contemporary Art from Ukraine" (Munich-London-Paris-New York).
In 1982, Valentin Khrushch moved from Odessa to Moscow.
Last years, Valentin Khrushch spent in Kimry, Tver region, where he died from cancer on January 24, 2005. He was buried there in the St. Nicholas Church fence.
Life and works
Valentin Khrusch was one of the central figures of non-conformist and underground art in Odessa, and later Moscow, emerging in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a major organizer of the so-called “open air” exhibitions that hung, sometimes only for hours, on fences along the street and later was the central catalyst in Odessa and Moscow behind the “apartment exhibitions”, shows of unofficial artists that took place in people’s homes. His works, which move seamlessly between figuration and abstraction, are enormously important to the history of Russian contemporary art, but due to their “unofficial” status, he remained better known in Ukraine and Russia than in the West, although there are major holdings of his works in a few American museums and private collections concerned with non-conformist art. He has been widely exhibited and collected in the countries where he worked, and has exhibited in Paris at UNESCO.
Museums and collections
Museums
- Zimmerli Art Museum (New Jersey, USA)
- UNESCO (Paris, France)
- National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine)
- The Museum of Odessa Modern Art (Odessa, Ukraine)
- Museum of Modern Art of Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine)
- Kimry Local History Museum (Kimry, Russia)
- Odessa Art Museum (Odessa, Ukraine)
- NT-Art Gallery (Odessa, Ukraine)
Private collections
- Germany
- Japan
- Russia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- USA
Selected exhibitions
Personal exhibitions
- 2015 – V. Khrushch. Painting, graphics. From the Sergei Kostin collection / Bleschunov Municipal Museum of Private Collections, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2009 – Valentin Khrushch / Odessa branch of the National Artists Union of Ukraine, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2009 – Valentin Khrushch: 1943 - 2005 / NT-Art Gallery, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2009 – Works of Valentine Khrushch from private collections / Museum of Modern Art of Odessa, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2004 – Odessa school today. Half century together / Odessa Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2003 – Valentin Khrushch anniversary exhibition / Exhibition hall, Kimry, Russia
- 2002 – Good Khrushch. Exhibition within the framework of the festival "Cultural Heroes" / Museum of western and eastern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2001 – 40 years of October (Exhibition to the City Day) / House of Scientists, Kimry, Russia
- 2001 – Salve. Valentin Khrushch. Painting, graphics / Museum of western and eastern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2001 – Valentin Khrushch. Painting, graphics. From A. Sazonov collection / Local History Museum, Kimry, Russia
- 2000 – Valentin Khrushch. Painting, graphics / Museum of Local History and Ethnography, Dubna, Russia
- 2000 – Valentin Khrushch photo exhibition / Museum of western and eastern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
- 1999 – Editorial staff of the newspaper "Provincial-express", Kimry, Russia
- 1998 – Reflection / City exhibition hall, Kimry, Russia
- 1997 – Exhibition dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the city / City exhibition hall, Kimry, Russia
- 1996 – Apartment exhibition at the sculptor Metlyansky / Moscow, Russia
- 1995 – Valentin Khrushch. Painting, graphics. From Bykova collection / Museum of Ethnography, Moscow, Russia
- 1995 – Valentin Khrushch. Painting, graphics / Kimry Regional Theater of Drama and Comedy, Kimry, Russia
- 1994 – Apartment exhibition at the chairman of the society "Yakimanka" A. Beloglazov / Moscow, Russia
- 1993 – Moscow Belyaev group exhibition / Panevezys, Lithuania
- 1993 – Valentin Khrushch anniversary exhibition (organized by Felix Kohricht) / Museum of western and eastern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
- 1988 – Old Testament. Seduction / Central Artists House, Moscow, USSR
- 1986 – Moscow Belyaev group exhibition / Linz, Austria
- 1981 – Editorial staff of the newspaper "Gudok", Moscow, USSR
- 1967 – Fence Exhibition "Sychik + Hrushchik" (together with S. Sychev) / Odessa Opera Theater fence, Odessa, USSR
Group exhibitions
- 2013 – Odessa school. Tradition and Currency / Art Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine
- 2013 – Odessa school. Tradition and Currency / Art Donbass, Donetsk, Ukraine (catalog)
- 2013 – Bebel, 19. Apartment exhibitions / NT-Art Gallery, Одесса, Украина (каталог)
- 2013 – Bebel, 19. Apartment exhibitions. In the framework of IV Fine Art Ukraine / Art Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine (catalog)
- 2012 – Middle leg / NT-Art Gallery, Odessa, Ukraine (catalog)
- 2012 – World’s music / NT-Art Gallery, Odessa, Ukraine (catalog)
- 2010 – II Fine Art Ukraine / Art Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine
- 2009 – Odessa branch of the National Artists Union of Ukraine, Odessa, Ukraine
- 2008 – How young you were... Odessa nonconformists. 60th - 80th years of the XX century in the collections of Felix Kohricht and Anatoly Dymchuk / NT-Art Gallery, Odessa, Ukraine (catalog)
- 2006 – Valentin Khrushch. Not found at home / Kimry Museum of Local History, Kimry,Russia
- 2005 – Odessa group. Exhibition of six leading artists of the Odessa school / Chambers Gallery, London, United Kingdom (catalog)
- 2004 – Odessa School Today / Odessa Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
- 1999 – Unofficial direction artists. Underground 60–80 years. From the T. Basanets collection / Most Gallery, Odessa, Ukraine
- 1980 – World Exhibition-Fair (slideshow of Odessa artists) / Washington, USA
- 1979 – Contemporary Art from Ukraine (unofficial exhibition) / Munich-London-Paris-New York (catalog)