Bela Levikova (Russian, b.1939) Untitled

signed with initials and dated 'B.L. 3-91' (lower right); inscribed in Cyrillic (recto) oil on canvas Unframed: 59.7 x 69.8 cm. (23 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.) Framed: 70.8 x 80.7 cm. (27 7/8 x 31 3/4 in.)Provenance: With XL Gallery, Moscow, 28 January 2000, where purchased by the present ownerNotes: Bela (or Bella) Levikova is a Russian post-war and contemporary painter closely associated with the Moscow conceptual and Soviet non-conformist art movements. Beginning her artistic career around 1965, she developed a distinct abstract style that stood in direct opposition to the state-mandated aesthetic of Socialist Realism. Levikova is best known for her Abstract Expressionist approach. She works primarily with oil on canvas, as well as ink and gouache on paper, creating dynamic, expressive, and often geometric abstractions. Well-known works include her multi-panel series like Interaction (1980) and later conceptual series like Comics. During the Soviet era, avant-garde and abstract artists were actively suppressed by the government. As an "unofficial" artist, Levikova was part of an underground community that created art purely for creative freedom rather than state approval, often exhibiting in private apartments rather than official galleries. Today, Levikova's work is preserved as an important piece of Russian art history. She is notably featured in the Kolodzei Art Foundation, which holds one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections of Russian and Eastern European non-conformist art spanning from the Khrushchev Thaw to the modern day. During the 1970s, Levikova was highly visible within the non-conformist art scene. When the Iron Curtain began to lift, she was included in the legendary 1988 Sotheby’s auction in Moscow, a watershed event that introduced Soviet underground art to Western collectors. Her historical importance is cemented by her presence in premier collections dedicated to underground Soviet art, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, and the renowned Dodge Collection at the Zimmerli Museum in New Jersey. Today, Levikova is experiencing a critical rediscovery (including major recent solo exhibitions like the one at Moscow's Sistema Gallery). Critics now recognise her as an artist who refused to conform not only to the Soviet state's rules, but also to the rigid intellectual rules imposed by the non-conformist underground itself.