Description:

MIKHAIL BRUSILOVSKY (RUSSIAN 1931-2016)
Flight into Egypt, 2002
acrylic on canvas
76.3 x 91.5 cm (30 x 36 in.)

signed lower left, signed titled and dated on verso

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner in 2002
Private Collection, U.S.A.

LOT NOTES
Mikhail (Misha) Shaevich Brusilovsky stands as one of the most distinctive voices of the late-Soviet and post-Soviet Russian avant-garde. Born in Kiev on May 7, 1931, he survived wartime evacuation and an early life marked by upheaval, experiences that shaped his enduring interest in history, myth, and human resilience. After formative training at the Kiev Shevchenko State Art School, he continued his studies at the prestigious Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad, where he absorbed both rigorous academic methods and the experimental impulses that would later define his work.

In 1959 Brusilovsky was assigned to Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), a city he made his lifelong base and where he became a leading figure of the “Ural school” of painting. He first gained national attention with the monumental canvas 1918 (1963–64, in collaboration with Gennady Mosin), a strikingly modern treatment of revolutionary history that challenged the strictures of Socialist Realism and brought him both acclaim and official censure. Throughout the 1960s-80s he pursued a bold synthesis of history, biblical allegory, and mythological narrative, producing cycles on themes ranging from the Crucifixion and the Holocaust to fantastical metamorphoses such as Leda and the Swan and Europa and the Bull. His painterly language - fluid, theatrical, and rich in color - remained unmistakably his own.

Although frequently at odds with Soviet cultural authorities, Brusilovsky’s stature grew steadily. By the mid-1980s, as restrictions eased, he was exhibiting widely at home and abroad, including a celebrated solo show in Paris (1989-90) and a productive residency in the United States (1992). Honors followed: Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2011) and Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts (2013) among them. His works now reside in major Russian museums - including the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, the State Tretyakov Gallery - and in private and institutional collections across Europe, the United States, and Israel.

CONDITION
The painting is in good condition, no visible issues to report.

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Keywords: Russian Contemporary Art, Nonconformist Art, Russian Painting, Ekaterinburg, Ural School

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October 25, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
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