under the sun of asia paintings of Orientalist artists of Russian and Soviet school Exhibition Catalogue Skiff Press DESCRIPTION of the COLLECTION The present collection encompasses paintings by Orientalist artists of the Russian and Soviet school of the 20th Century (31 works in different media by famous artists in Russia). The collection was assembled from a variety of artists, collectors and auctioneers around the world including Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London. Some works were obtained in the field, in Central Asia. Quite a few items of the collection were displayed at the Travel to Central Asia Exhibition, which was organized by the Leonid Shishkin Gallery in Moscow in 2005 and published. This landmark exhibition became a turning point in rediscovering Central Asia for the Post-Soviet art market in Moscow and beyond. In this book SkiffGallery is proud to introduce the famous Russian and Soviet Orientalist artists: Mikhail Kurzin, Viktor Ufimtsev, Boris Brynskikh, Tatiana and Natalia Gippius, photographer Dmitry Baltermants and very many others. A discovery was made here too. We rediscovered Major-General Boris Nilovich Litvinov (1872-1948). He was a distinctive Russian Imperial solder, an Orientalist and a painter, born in Kostroma, the cradle of the Romanovs family, died in Gulag, in Pot’ma, Mordovia, the capital of anti-Soviet Russia. Previously he was attributed in the world art market only by the artist’s signature: B.Litvinov. All works of the collection are distinctive, original, an Oriental, not stylized copies of European art. That was the main merit of the collection. This is not a colonial art, a la j l Gerome, either. This collection includes art with a strong topographic and ethnographic focus. Architectural landscape and physical appearance of the region before the changes play a central role. A good half of the present collection is published in the book by Michael Nelson, The Nazim Collection. The Architectural Tiles of the Timurids of Central Asia, Skiff Press, London, 2007 and in a few other books and catalogues. We have named this collection Under the Sun of Asia. ------------------------------------------------------------------- front and back cover of the catalogue: Boris Nilovich Litvinov (1872-1948), Russia Washing Gold at Samarkand, circa 1930 signed in French Samarkande. r. Zerafchane (aurifere). Laveurs d'or (lower left), b. Litvinov (lower right), and numbered 247 (lower right). gouache on cardboard, 73x27 cm purchased at Christie's, sale 4036, lot 257