Lamm Leonid
This work is the central and most important picture of the series “Seventh Heaven”. Its first version was made in the technique of oil pastel in 1973, at a time when L. Lamm was preparing to finally leave the Soviet Union and emigrate to the United States.
He was inspired by thoughts and dreams, then he transferred them to the canvas, depicting allegorical flights in the air, thus exposing his hopes for a prosperous life in the West.
“Seventh Heaven” is a metaphorical height that L. Lamm tries to reach and maintain. It is with this height that he conducts a metaphor with dreams and a utopia of a better life.
Leonid Lamm (1928-1917) was born in Moscow. In 1944-47 the artist studied at Moscow Construction Institute at the Faculty of Architecture from Ya.G. Chernikhov, the famous avant-garde architect of the 1920s. Living in Moscow, L. Lamm visited the workshop of V.E. Tatlin, communicated with K.C. Melnikov, which greatly influenced the formation of his work. In 1947 L.
Lama was expelled from Moscow Construction Institute for the support of the so-called “smogists”. It was a group of Soviet mathematics students. In 1944, they wrote a petition against the punitive policies of Soviet government, which was sent to the League of Nations. They were imprisoned for 5-6 years for anti-Soviet actions.
From 1949-54 L. Lamm studied at Moscow Polygraphic Institute with A. Goncharov, I. Chekmazov, P. Zakharov, A. Sidorov. After graduating from the institute he worked as an editor-in-chief of Saratov publishing house, worked there a lot in the field of illustration, then returned to Moscow again, where he resumed his architectural activity. In 1957, L. Lamm participated in the VI World Festival of Youth and Students which was held in Moscow.
Leonid’s artistic style cannot be placed in a clear frame or limited by any particular style. His work spans both abstract compositions and realistic and surrealistic paintings. As the master himself admits: “In my credo there are four points that define my art: 1) reality; 2) doubt; 3) irony; 4) hope. There is also geometry – a reaction to the avant-garde (the suprematists were all terrestrial, and I have everything soaring, everything flies in the air, all these flying planida).
In 1973, the artist was arrested three weeks after applying for emigration from the USSR. He spent 3 years in Soviet prisons and labor camps, where he continued to work, creating watercolor and graphic outlines on a prison topic. The artist was released in 1976 and emigrated to the United States, where he settled in New York, after 6 years.
This work is central and most important picture of Seventh Sky series. Its first version was made in oil pastel technology in 1973, when L. Lamm was preparing to leave Soviet Union and emigrate to the United States. Inspired by thoughts and dreams, he then transferred them onto the canvas, depicting allegorical flights in the air, thereby revealing his hopes for a prosperous life in the West. Seventh Sky is a metaphorical height that L. Lamm seeks to attain and maintain. It is through this height that he paints a metaphor with dreams and an utopia about a better life.
“I Fly” together with other works of the series “Seventh Sky” was first exhibited by the wife of the artist Inessa Levkova-Lamm on September 29, 1974 at the exhibition in Izmailovo Park in Moscow (Second Open-Air Exhibition). And only in 1982 L. Lamm was able to transport the series “Seventh Sky” in New York. Instantly captivating critics and connoisseurs, renowned collector Norton Dodge bought the entire series for his collection of non-conformist Soviet art.
The second version of the Seventh Sky series was written by the artist specifically for his solo exhibition at the Richard Bennet Gallery in Los Angeles in October 1986. This later version also includes a new oil-painted version of “I Fly.” The utopian flying figure, the basis of which is a self-portrait of L. Eloi, without obeying the laws of gravity, metaphorically reflects the social frames unacceptable to the artist.
His works paradoxically combine the symbols, signs and stamps of Soviet and American mass culture. However, with the obvious irony, Eloi’s works sometimes feel a certain amount of tension caused by the artist’s concentration on playing the canonical clichés of Soviet mythology.