Loneliness of independent artist in Soviet Union. Leningrad–Petersburg. 1950–1990

Underground as ambiguous, but certainly a bright page in the artistic life of Leningrad 1950–1980-es is usually associated with a group of independent artists who were outside of official Union of Artists, who did not want to follow the rigid canons of socialist realism. Clear boundaries of the Leningrad underground unsteady and difficult to define, it is referred to very different artists often had opposite views on official Art and Ideology. Maybe the only thing that brings together all these totally different of education background, level of artistic skill and talent people was the desire for independence and freedom of creativity. During the so-called "Khrushchev thaw" in 1960-es the Union of Artists was the only official Art Community, which enabled artists to survive in the total absence of the art market.But even in this official and very rigid structure there were a small part of artists who were involved in a struggle against the system not through declarations and political actions but through their creative activity. They suffered from loneliness and lack of contact, hostility from colleagues in the Union of Artists. It was complicated to show their works in the frames of Union of Artists exhibitions, which were controlled by officially elected jury. The tragic fate of the group of independent artists is still not researched enough.