STANISLAV SYCHEV (1937-2003) Nude with fruits

signed in dated Cyrillic ‘Sychov S 95’ (lower right); inscribed (on the reverse) watercolour on board 40.5 х 29 cm Executed in 1995 Stanislav Sychov was a Ukrainian artist and a prominent representative of the Odesa nonconformist movement. Born in Odesa, he graduated from the Odesa Art School in 1960. In 1967, together with Valentyn Khrushch, he organised the celebrated unofficial ‘Fence Exhibition’ near the Odesa Opera House, considered an important event in the history of Odesa nonconformism. In the 1970s, within the context of the underground art scene in Odessa and during a period of increasing artistic emancipation from official Socialist Realism, artists such as Valentin Khrushch, Liudmyla Yastreb and Stanislav Sychev, who were not permitted to exhibit their works publicly, began organising the first ‘apartment exhibitions’ (kvartirnye vystavki). Sychov worked in painting, drawing and watercolour, and participated in numerous unofficial exhibitions in Odesa and Moscow. His works are held in museum and private collections internationally.