Boris Zaborov is a Belarusian and French painter, graphic artist, sculptor, theater artist.
Background
Boris Zaborov was born on October 16, 1935 in Minsk, Belarus, into an artist's family. His parents Abram Zaborov and Esfir Rappoport experienced the German invasion and occupation of Minsk in World War II. When his family returned to Minsk after the war, they found the city in ruins.
Education
He graduated from the Minsk School of Arts (1954), studied at the Ilya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in 1955-1957, graduated from the Vassily Surikov Institute in Moscow (1961).
Career
From 1962 to 1980, Zaborov lived in Minsk and worked in easel painting, graphics, sculpture, production of theatre scenery and costumes. In the same year, he joined the Union of Artists of the BSSR He began to illustrate books to earn money. He found it increasingly difficult to paint according to a personal vision that fell outside of the Soviet government's approved style. In this period, Zaborov worked mainly in the field of book graphics, illustrated and designed dozens of books of Russian, Belarusian and foreign classical and contemporary literature, including works by Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Yanka Kupala, Ryhor Borodulin, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde. The artist's talent was repeatedly awarded with prestigious awards of republican, all-Union and international book exhibitions, fairs, book art contests. He was awarded one gold (1971) and two bronze (1965,1977) medals at the International Book Fair in Leipzig, four first prizes at “The Most Beautiful Book of the Year” competition in Moscow (1971).
In 1960-1970s, For example, Boris Zaborov was awarded two bronze medals (in 1965 and 1977) and a gold medal (in 1971) at the International Book Fair in Leipzig, Germany. During 1971-1974, the books designed by the artist won the first prize of the contest "The Most Beautiful Book of the Year" in Moscow.
Since 1980, he has lived in Paris. As before he works in easel painting, sculpture, book graphics, designs costumes for the Comédie-Française, scenery for Moscow theatres, writes film scripts. While free to paint what he wanted, he also found himself alone. He used this loneliness, combined with a folder of family photos brought from the Soviet Union, to create a unified artistic vision that continues to inform his work. In Paris he had his first solo art show. The art style of Boris Zaborov is characterized by the interpretation of old photos, imaging of the past, by a complex system of visions, the inclination to nostalgia.
In 1992, Boris Zaborov created 4 original etchings for the publication of the poems by Tonino Guerra "Nos empreintes" (Verona). In 2001, he worked on artistic design and illustrations for the publication "The Attraction of the Mean Knight" with a facsimile reproduction of Alexander Pushkin's manuscript and its translation into English (St. Petersburg). In 2009, reproductions of Boris Zaborov's paintings were used as illustrations to Eduard Kochergin's prose book "Angel's Doll", with an original etching of the artist (St. Petersburg).
In the 1990 - 2000's, Boris Zaborov collaborated with the famous Parisian theater "Comedie Francaise". He created costumes for plays by Mikhail Lermontov's plays “Masquerade” (1992), Victor Hugo's “Lucretia Borgia” (1994), Ivan Turgenev's “Month in the Countryside” (1996); scenery and costumes for the play based on the play by Moliere "Amphitryon" (2001-2002).
In 2007, the artist made scenography and costumes for the play "451 degrees Fahrenheit" based on the novel by Ray Bradbury in the production of Adolf Shapiro for the Moscow drama theater "Et Cetera".
His solo exhibitions were held at the Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris (1983), Gallery Art Point, Tokyo (1986,1989,1997), O’Hara Gallery, New York (1997), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (1989), the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (1995), the State Tretyakov Gallery, in Moscow (2001), the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg (2001), the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, 2008, the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk (2010).
Views
A painting, sculpture, drawing or stage set by Boris Zaborov is not simply looked at but imposes itself on the viewer. If we are to understand and indeed love these works, we must enter into conflict with ourselves, recognize the indifference with which we often regard the past because of its oftentimes disturbing nature, summon up memories we do not want to relive, and confront unseemliness when everything seems to drive us toward propriety.
Quotations:
"In emigration, I did something I could never do in Belarus: I became an artist with whom you are talking. But this does not mean that I forgot my adolescence, and youth, maturity.
In that life there were unforgettable happy days, there were dramatic and tragic periods. And all together, even if it seems strange to many, give me new ideas.
The person who has lost memory is died.
The worst thing is when a person who has left his country has nothing to remember about it. Fortunately, this is not about me."