MacDougall's Russian Art Auctions 25-27 November 2019

25 November 2019

artist_index / full_catalogue


Point of View II, from “Point of View” Series

17. CHUIKOV, IVAN (B. 1935)

Point of View II, from “Point of View” Series, signed and dated 1990, also further signed, inscribed “horizontal/Should be hängt [sic] this way.”, bears two drawings and dated on the reverse.

Enamel on screenprint, laid on cardboard, 99.5 by 150 cm.
40,000–60,000 GBP


Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by Antonio Piccoli in 2000.
Collection of the above, Italy.
Important private collection, UK.

Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the artist.

Exhibited: Ivan Chuikov. Point of View, Regina Gallery, Moscow, 2010.

Literature: Exhibition catalogue, Ivan Chuikov, Moscow, Regina Gallery, 2010, p. 407, No. 224, listed.

The present lot is an important work from Chuikov’s “Point of View” series. It is one of the first in this celebrated cycle, in which the artist explores the tension between art as a path to the truth and art as merely a point of view. This concept encourages the onlooker to debate the very nature of reality itself, questioning the veracity of a particular viewpoint.

Each work within the series “Point of View” includes a similar black and white screenprint coastal view as a background and a painted composition, distinctive in form, in the centre. As the artist himself explains on the verso of the work presented for auction, the artwork might be hung at an angle, so that the line within the swathe of paint in the centre of the composition is horizontal. The artist further plays with the onlooker’s perception, allowing for multiple possible ways of viewing the composition.

Commenting on this cycle Evgeny Barabanov wrote the following: “A point of view suggests variants, variants suggest freedom, freedom suggests choice, including a choice of points of view” (Exhibition catalogue, Ivan Chuikov, Moscow, Regina Gallery, 2010, p. 221).


Notes on symbols:
* Indicates 5% Import Duty Charge applies.
Ω Indicates 20% Import Duty Charge applies.
§ Indicates Artist's Resale Right applies.
† Indicates Standard VAT scheme applies, and the rate of 20% VAT will be charged on both hammer price and premium.