George Costakis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Costakis ( Greek Γεώργιος Κωστάκης Geórgios Kostákis ; born July 5, 1913 in Moscow , † March 9, 1990 in Athens ) was a Greek art collector.

Life

His parents came from the island of Zakynthos and had settled in Moscow as merchants. George Costakis grew up in an upper class environment. After the revolution, the family lost much of their property, but continued to enjoy great prestige as George's brother was a famous motorcycle racer. After his accidental death, the family's economic situation deteriorated rapidly, and the father died a year later. Even though there were only a few works of art in his parents' household, George Costakis developed an interest in art, especially historicism . In Soviet Russia, too, it was possible to own and collect art, so that Costakis on the one hand collected himself and on the other hand was regarded as an expert of numerous masters.

Costakis accepted a permanent position at the Greek embassy and worked there as a chauffeur until 1939 . When relations broke off as a result of the German-Soviet pact , Count von Schulenburg offered him a position in the German embassy, ​​which Costakis refused because he considered German-Soviet relations to be unstable. He worked for the British and then the Swedish embassy, ​​but they only offered him a free apartment in the embassy and a diplomatic passport as compensation. So he was again dependent on the art trade, but developed a personal rejection of the art of historicism. His acquisitions included Dutch masters and works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse .

A carelessly discarded constructivist picture of Olga Rozanova aroused his interest in avant-garde art in 1946 , which he only knew from books and stories. In the west, interest was primarily limited to Kandinsky and Chagall . Costakis began looking for and buying works from families and descendants of avant-garde artists, and exploring their context. He discovered a Chagall nailed on as a replacement for a broken window pane, the only surviving installation by Rodschenko already chopped into firewood. He was only allowed to take away a work that he had bought from Lyubov Popova's family after he had brought along a sheet of plywood of the same size.

Occasionally artists distanced themselves from their earlier work and were amazed at his interest; for some artists it was the only source of income. He made great sacrifices of the family in order to save as many works of art as possible. The car was sold along with the family jewelry and fur coat. His most expensive acquisition was one of the 35 Kandinsky works that he owned; he bought it for $ 600.

George Costakis moved from the unpaid job to a permanent position at the Canadian embassy, ​​where he was valued as an honest and spontaneous person. In the 1960s he also opened his apartment to visitors. It became a meeting place for Moscow intellectuals. His collection had achieved world fame in the 1970s. Many diplomats who came to Moscow also visited his collection, such as Edward Kennedy , David Rockefeller and Friedrich Wilhelm Christians from Deutsche Bank. Christian's encounter with Costakis later played an important role in the bank's cultural activities.

Costakis described Russia as "his mother" and repeatedly refused to leave the country. That changed when his home was burgled and he worried about his collection. He decided to leave the Soviet Union after his retirement. The condition of his departure was that he should leave 80% of his collection behind. The State Gallery of Modern Art in Gorky Park was built for them. Today the works are in the State Tretyakov Gallery .

When he left in 1977, he owned the largest collection of Russian avant-garde art outside of Russia, and no museum had anywhere near a significant collection. He died in 1990 in his Athens rented apartment, but it was not until 1996 that the Greek state bought the collection from the heirs for exhibition. Today Costakis is considered one of the most important collectors of the 20th century.

Extent of the collection

"The Green Stripe" by Olga Rozanowa

The collection includes almost all leading artists of the Russian avant-garde, including:

Later he also collected contemporary works, such as the pictures by Anatoly Swerew , Dmitrij Plawinsky and Dmitrij Krasnopewzsew . When he left the Soviet Union, he had to leave half of his collection there. Today these works form the basis of the constructivist department of the State Tretyakov Gallery .

The collection today

In addition to the works that Costakis left in Russia, a significant part of the collection has been in Thessaloniki since 1997 . The Greek state bought these on the occasion of the establishment of the Museum of Contemporary Art . It is exhibited today in the former Catholic Lazarist monastery .

Exhibitions from the collection

bibliography

  • Angelica Zander Rudenstine with a foreword by S. Frederick Starr : Russian avant-garde art from the George Costakis collection . DuMont, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-7701-1390-X .
  • Light and color in the Russian avant-garde. Light and Color in the Russian Avant-Garde. DuMont, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8321-7404-4 . (Exhibition catalog, German and English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ art-magazin.de ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.art-magazin.de
  2. ↑ db-artmag.de
  3. ↑ zeit.de

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Costakis, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kostákis, Geórgios; Κωστάκης, Γεώργιος
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek art collector
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1990
Place of death Athens , Greece