The Best of ELLE DECORATION: the house of collector Viktor Bondarenko

No exhibition of contemporary art is complete without works from the collection of Viktor Bondarenko. In order to see the entire collection, Alexey Dorozhkin visited his country house, and we published this project in the magazine in April 2011

Konstantin Khudyakov, "Virgin Mary" from the project "Deisis/Anticipation", 2005. On consoles in the style of Louis XVI paired sculptures of Egyptian women, Charles Cordier, 1866.

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RICHARD POWERS

Viktor Bondarenko's house resembles a modern version of the Morozov mansion. Do you remember how the famous Moscow collectors of the beginning of the XX century collected art? There was no free space left on the walls, canvases covered the stucco, doors, crowded stairs and corridors. These houses have always made an ambiguous impression on visitors — both Shchukin and Morozov collected, as they would say now, "actual art". Actually, I experienced a similar feeling: the very classic interior of this respectable house is filled from floor to ceiling with modern Russian art. To be more precise, this is a full-fledged exhibition dedicated to the history of Russian art of the last fifty years.

The cabinet houses a collection of icons. Bookcases are made to order.

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RICHARD POWERS

Collector Viktor Bondarenko

"It all started in my youth, when I began to collect what was available and somehow satisfied my craving for art,— says Victor. — These were albums on art, mainly decorative and applied and icon painting. I live with it all the time. I started with applied things, in America, where my wife and I have lived for almost fifteen years. There every weekend we went around the galleries in search of pieces of furniture or American ceramics — my hobby of those times. But the main thing is "eye training" in museums (MoMA and Metropolitan Museum are among my favorites). Without trying to analyze the painting, I looked around the expositions and exhibitions, trying to understand the feelings that the works I saw caused me. It seems to me that everyone who collects art should start with this."

"I often acquire things that at first glance cause me rejection"

Office. Sculpture by Alexander Kosolapov "Mickey and Minnie — A Worker and a Collective Farmer".

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RICHARD POWERS

So Victor had two passions — iconography and Russian contemporary art. How such seemingly opposite hobbies can get along with each other, he explains best of all: "I love the Russian icon as my long—gone grandmother, who gave me all the best, and modern art as my ten-year-old daughter, who looks to the future. I don't want to dwell only on the old art — it's important for me to move forward."

A fragment of the living room. On the wall on the right is Aidan Salakhova's work "Love and Death", 2004, on the left is a fragment of Olga Bulgakova's work "The Magician", 1985. On the console is a stone vase, Yekaterinburg lapidary factory, 1840.

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RICHARD POWERS

"In my youth, I collected what was available: albums on applied art and icon painting"

Small dining room. Above the chest of drawers is a painting by Mikhail Shemyakin "Petersburg Gendarme", 1984-1985.

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RICHARD POWERS

The passion for contemporary art manifested itself in the United States back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Then Victor co-organized several exhibitions from the USSR, and also arranged a kind of commune of Russian artists, whom he invited to live and work in America. Since then, he has been connected with many of them not only by strong friendship, but even, one might say, creative cooperation. A few years ago, Viktor Bondarenko became the producer of one of the most discussed projects in Russian art — a series of works by Konstantin Khudyakov "Deisis/ The anticipation."

Above the stairs is the work of Alexey Belyaev-Gintovt "Soil" from the series "Red Square", 2006.

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RICHARD POWERS

Such an experiment to create a modern analogue of the canonical art of icon painting is a logical combination of two collector's predilections. The process of gathering sometimes resembles a struggle with oneself: "I often buy things that at first glance cause me rejection — at these moments I think about what emotions these works will cause tomorrow. Maybe this is exactly what the children will need. After all, the Impressionists were also not accepted once. So my strictest judge is my daughter."

A fragment of the master bedroom of the house. Works by Alexander Kosolapov Caviar, 2005, and Konstantin Khudyakov Eve, 2006-2008.

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RICHARD POWERS

We can say that the collection serves educational purposes — such a variety of styles and trends is difficult to find even in museums. In the daughter's room, next to modern works, there are also earlier things, of the late XIX — early XX century. The works for this room are selected only with the consent of the girl. So there are no disputes when hanging. Viktor's wife generally prefers only classical art: in her rooms there are works by Shishkin, Saryan, Grigoriev*. For Victor and his family, art is the absolute dominant, to which the entire interior is subordinated. However, is it different for real collectors?

Leonid Skokov, "The Meeting of two sculptures (Lenin and Giacometti)", 1997.

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RICHARD POWERS

"I love the icon as my departed grandmother, and modern art as my daughter"

There was a place in the house for a real repository of paintings. The work of Konstantin Khudyakov from the project "Deisis/The Anticipation", followed by a painting by Vlad Mamyshev-Monroe.

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RICHARD POWERS

Dorozhkin Alexey
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