The Museum of 20th-21st Century Art of St Petersburg  presents the exhibition In Earthly Words of the outstanding Petersburg artist Vladimir Dologopolov (1938 – 1999). The retrospective exhibition presents paintings, drawings and sculptures from the 1960s – 1990s, reflecting the  artist’s multifaceted talent.

Vladimir Dolgopolov was a painter, graphic artist, author of monumental works and ceramic plates, member of the Group of Eight — Stairs association. Having graduated from the Department of monumental and decorative painting at Leningrad Higher College of Art and Design, Dolgopolov worked for many years with monumental forms, mosaics, stained glass and wall paintings, which was reflected in his easel works shown at the exhibition In Earthly Words.

The works exhibited are characterized by an expressive artistic idiom, and intricacy and richness of color gamut. An outstanding colorist, Vladimir Dolgopolov was able to convey, through subtle coloristic constructions the main emotional component of the image, as well as the inner state of the characters (Turk Woman, Mourning). Even in Dolgopolov’s sculptural compositions color remains an important element, emphasizing the volume and movement of plastic forms in space (Female Torso, A Figure with Raised Hands).

Important for the formation of Dolgopolov’s style was the East, in particular Central Asia, where the painter had spent many years. This contact with an unexplored nature proved to be a strongest stimulus for him: under the influence of Oriental aesthetics, the artist has created his major works relating to two key themes in his art, the Oriental and the Biblical (Girls from the Kishlak, Oriental Motif, The Flight into Egypt).

The exhibition includes over forty works from the collection of the artist’s family and that of the Museum of 20th-21st Century Art of St Petersburg .