2026 № 1 (56)

UDC 75

LBC 85.103(2)

DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-106-133

For cit.: Karpova T.L. ‘Blossoming Complexity’. Following the Exhibition by Viktor Rusanov. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2026, no. 1, pp. 106–133. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-106-133. (In Russian)

Karpova Tatyana L. 

D.Sc. (in Art History), Leading Researcher, State Institute for Art Studies, 5 Kozitsky Lane, Moscow, 125375, Russia 

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0532-1862

tlkarp@mail.ru 

‘Blossoming Complexity’. Following the Exhibition by Viktor Rusanov

Abstract. The article is devoted to an expanded review of the work of Viktor Nikolaevich Rusanov (1950–2024) in connection with the memorial exhibition dedicated to his 75th birthday (Exhibition Hall of the Moscow Union of Artists, Moscow, October 14–25, 2025). Moscow artist Viktor Rusanov has long held a prominent place in the hierarchy of Russian painting in the second half of the 1970s — 2000s. After graduating from the Ryazan Art School in 1969, he studied at the V.I. Surikov Moscow Art Institute under the guidance of A.M. Gritsay and D.D. Zhilinsky up to 1975. Rusanov was the Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts (2012), People’s Artist of the Russian Federation (2022), and Professor at the V.I. Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute. His works are displayed in the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), more than 20 museums in Russia and neighboring countries, as well as in Russian and European private collections. After paying tribute to Zhilinsky’s retrospective art in the 1970s, Rusanov developed a new, complex language in the 1980s and 1990s, synthesizing the innovative discoveries of the European and Russian art from the late 19th century to the early decades of the 20th century. 

Keywords: Viktor Rusanov, painting and graphics of the 1970s — 2020s, landscapes of Crimea, compositions with figures, artistic method, retrospectivism

Source:

Yakimovich A.K. Mif i real’nost’ Viktora Rusanova: Annotatsiya k personal’noi vystavke v zalakh Rossiiskoi akademii khudozhestv, Prechistenka, 21, 15 maya — 3 iyunya 2012 goda. [The Myth and Reality of Viktor Rusanov: Abstract for a Personal Exhibition in the Halls of the Russian Academy of Arts, Prechistenka, 21, May 15 — June 3, 2012]. Arkhiv sem’i V.N. Rusanova [V.N. Rusanov’s Family Archive], 2012, pp. 1–2. (In Russian)

References

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Obitaemye ostrova: Zhivopis’, skul’ptura kontsa ХХ — nachala ХХI veka: K 150-letiyu Gosudarstvennoi Tret’yakovskoi galerei: Al’bom-katalog [Inhabited Islands: Painting and Sculpture of the Late 20th and Early 21st Century: Dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of the State Tretyakov Gallery: Album-Catalogue], ed. L. Marts. Мoscow, Gosudarstvennaya Tretyakovskaya galereya Publ., 2006. 120 p. (In Russian)

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Yakimovich A.K. Iskusstvo novoi Rossii [The Art of New Russia]. Obitaemye ostrova: Zhivopis’, skul’ptura kontsa ХХ — nachala ХХI veka: K 150-letiyu Gosudarstvennoi Tret’yakovskoi galerei: Al’bom-katalog [Inhabited Islands: Painting and Sculpture of the Late 20th and Early 21st Century: Dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of the State Tretyakov Gallery: Album-Catalogue], ed. L. Marts. Мoscow, Gosudarstvennaya Tretyakovskaya galereya Publ., 2006, pp. 18–21. (In Russian)

Received 18.11.2025 

Revised 23.12.2025 

Accepted 24.12.2025