November, 2014

Akim Levich  

Akim Levich (in some sources spelled as Levych), years of life 1933-2019, is a prominent representative of Ukrainian and Soviet unofficial avantgarde art movements of the late 1960's – early 1980's.

In times when socialist realism was the only institutionalized and allowed art form in Soviet Union any artistic “deviations" were prohibited and prosecuted. Consequently, many artists had to develop split artistic personalities, one to earn a living and another, to develop their own artistic style and preferences. After graduation from the painting department of the Kyiv State Institute of Arts in 1961, Mr. Levich decided to build a career of graphic artist and illustrator of books for children. Such choice allowed to keep some distance from the soviet propaganda and even offered certain level of flexibility in subjects and approaches. In 1960's Akim worked for the publishing house Veselka. In 1967 Mr. Levich became a member of the USSR Artists' Union. In 1974 he was appointed as a chief art editor of the Malyatko magazine (illustrated magazine for children). Alongside with the official career Mr. Levich created alternative artworks that initially were seen only by his close friends and family. His “nonconformist" artworks were not publicly exhibited until 1985.

Akim Levich has developed very original and unique artistic style. One that is difficult to categorise, describe, and also difficult to reproduce (including photography). Multiple layers of oil paint, where colours sometimes overlap and sometimes add to each other, often resulting in artworks that require some time for the viewer to fully see them and, what is most important, to feel them. The paintings do have subject, but their subject seem to be secondary to colour, composition and form. Sometimes the viewer notices what is actually depicted in the artwork only after the general impression from the artwork already occurred (in other words, first you feel the painting and only then you start to see it). Mr. Levich was developing and perfecting his artistic approaches up till his death in 2019. Actually, his paintings from 2000's are probably the best examples of the artist's inimitable way to express feelings and emotions on canvasses.

Artworks by Akim Levich are exhibited in Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, New Jersey, USA (which has probably the largest and probably most comprehensive collection of Soviet nonconformist art in US), the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv History Museum, regional art museums in Ukraine. His artworks are in private collections in USA, UK, Israel, Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, as well as some other countries. Mr. Levich and his artworks are often featured in various books and researches on Ukrainian and Soviet art of 1960's, 1970's, and 1990's.

KLOSSART.COM is proud to exclusively present 20 paintings by Akim Levich that are owned by his family. For now, artsper.com is the only on-line platform where you may purchase paintings of Akim Levich. For those collectors that will decide to buy artworks that were recently featured in the book “The Art Of Ukrainian Sixties" (https://osnovypublishing.com/product/the-art-of-ukrainian-sixties) we will send the English edition of the book free of charge, together with purchased artworks.