Home

Jul
23
Sat
Lords of Strut: Chaos @ Jacksons Lane
Jul 23 @ 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Closing the festival in screwball style, join Ireland’s most emotional dancers as they share their bullet proof secret to life and happiness! A motivational, semi-nude, breathtakingly funny show, Sean and Seamus dance and bicker their way through an hour of physical and meta-physical comedy.

“if Michael Flatley and Jim Carey had a sadomasochistic love child they would be it” Elle Magazine

“THIS SHOW WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE; OR AT LEAST MAKE YOU LAUGH. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?”
THE IRISH TIMES

We have introduced a Pay What You Decide policy for Postcards Festival 2016 shows.

You can attend the shows without paying for a ticket beforehand, but tickets can be reserved in advance (max 4 per booking). When the show finishes, you will have the opportunity to make a donation – either by cash on the door or card at the Box Office.

Feb
3
Fri
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 3 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
4
Sat
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 4 @ 11:00 am – 4:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk: On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.

Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
5
Sun
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 5 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed. All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.

Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved
Feb
7
Tue
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 7 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
8
Wed
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 8 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
9
Thu
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 9 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
10
Fri
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 10 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
11
Sat
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 11 @ 11:00 am – 4:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk: On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.

Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
12
Sun
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 12 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed. All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.

Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved
Feb
14
Tue
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 14 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
15
Wed
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 15 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Feb
16
Thu
PAINTINGS FROM SOVIET RUSSIA 1950-1980 @ Highgate Gallery
Feb 16 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In the year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Highgate Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of works by members of the Artists’ Union of St Petersburg 1950-1980.

Curator John Barkes has been working with artists in St Petersburg for more than twenty years. A chance meeting in 1993 with a painter with close links to the Repin Academy of Fine Arts resulted in nearly a hundred trips to the city, with visits to more than three hundred studios. The collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 left many elite professions without salaries or resources. Members of Artists’ Unions were no exception, but crucially they retained their studios and the paintings that represented their lives’ work.

To the artists’ surprise, and often severe irritation, John Barkes nearly always ignored their finished exhibited paintings, which tended to be rigid and formal, selecting in preference the vibrantly observant oil sketches and drawings that had no monetary value under the old system. It has thus been possible, by chance and the accidents of history, to exhibit and sell a great number of works by eminent artists and teachers at very accessible prices.

One wall will feature designs for major mosaic and mural projects from the 1960s and 1970s by Evgeni Kazmin. He is most proud of his scheme for the Sochi State Circus building, and is delighted that it survived the depredations associated with the recent Winter Olympics. The main theme of any Socialist Realist exhibition is life under the Soviet system – work, leisure and the family – paintings of a time that has passed into history, brilliantly observed.

Detail from design for the circus pavilion at Sochi 1969, Evgeni Kazmin. ©John Barkes, 2016. All Rights Reserved

All works are for sale, mostly priced from £400 to £4,000.

Gallery Talk:
On Sunday 5th February at 5.30pm. Dr Elizaveta Butakova, visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, will lecture on Socialist Realism. John Barkes will share the platform giving his insights into the Soviet art education system.
Admission £10 (HLSI members £5) on the door.
To reserve your place please eMail admin@hlsi.net or telephone 020 8340 3343.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.
Exhibition continues until 16 February and is free.

Sep
15
Sat
Children’s Theatre – Tales from the Shed @ Lauderdale House
Sep 15 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Chickenshed comes to Lauderdale House with their hugely popular show Tales from the Shed.

This interactive performance is full of colourful puppets, live songs and enchanting stories. Every show is fun, extremely engaging an includes plenty of music and magic. Children are encouraged to use their imaginations, make lots of noise and be part of the story. Performers and audience share the same space with some of Chickenshed’s much loved characters – from Can-Can the beautiful bird to laid back Lion Down and The Thing That Goes Blurgh! Tales from the Shed is perfect for young children and fun for the whole family.

Tales from the Shed takes place at Lauderdale House on 15 September 2018, starting at 10:30am. Suitable for children up to age 6.