Boris Nikolayevich Gribanov (1918-2005) - Soviet and American collector , gallery owner ; a dealer in fake paintings by Russian and European artists. In 1969 he was arrested by the KGB of the USSR and sentenced to 10 years. After serving his sentence he emigrated to the United States .
| Boris Gribanov | |
|---|---|
 Boris Gribanov with his wife Clara and daughters Tatyana and Olga. Leningrad , 1955 | |
| Birth name | Boris Nikolaevich Gribanov |
| Date of Birth | 1918 |
| Date of death | 2005 |
| Citizenship |  USSR →  USA |
| Occupation | military , collector , gallery owner |
| Spouse | Clara |
| Children | Tatyana, Olga |
| Awards and prizes |
|
Content
- 1 Biography
- 2 Bibliography
- 3 Comments
- 4 notes
- 5 Literature
- 6 References
Biography
Boris Gribanov was born in 1918 [1] . Submarine officer [1] , candidate of technical sciences , colonel [2] . In the Red Army since 1936.
By order of the Pacific Fleet No. 485 dated August 31, 1945, the commander of the BC-5 submarine "Shch-133" of the UPL of the Vladimir-Olginsky naval base of the Pacific Fleet engineer captain-lieutenant Gribanov was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the excellent preparation of the material part requiring overhaul and ensuring trouble-free state of the mechanisms [ 3] . Until that moment, he did not participate in battles, was not awarded and was not wounded.
During the Second World War, he began to collect Russian and foreign paintings, buying up paintings for next to nothing in besieged Leningrad [1] [2] . Part of the collection was the work of Russian avant-garde artists [1] . After the war ended, Gribanov engaged in the sale of fake paintings with fake signatures of famous painters, selling them mainly in Moscow through a thrift store on Arbat [2] .
"Gribanovo affair" was the first big affair of an expert on painting at the State Tretyakov Gallery and, at the same time, an expert at the USSR State Security Committee (KGB), Milda Vikturina [2] . In 1969, Gribanov, taken in the act, was arrested by KGB officers and sentenced to 10 years [1] [2] . The basis of the evidence base for the prosecution was the expert opinions of Vikturina [2] . During the investigation, Gribanov issued all accomplices, including Valentin Treskin [K 1] , nicknamed Ten , the secretary of playwright Nikolai Pogodin [2] . Gribanov’s collection, which included more than two hundred paintings by Russian and European artists, was confiscated; he himself served his sentence in Chita and Kostroma [1] .
The “Gribanovo affair” could be one of the KGB’s fabricated cases against Soviet collectors for forcibly seizing private collections in favor of the state, and Milda Victurina could be used by the KGB in vain. (So, the world's largest private collection of Vasily Tropinin ’s paintings, owned by Felix Vishnevsky , was “voluntarily” presented by the collector to the state in exchange for not instituting criminal proceedings against him) [4] .
After serving his sentence, Boris Gribanov emigrated to the United States and later moved to Europe [1] . According to Vikturina, Gribanov, having been released, promised to kill her [2] . In the United States, Gribanov brought with him the remains of the collection and organized a gallery there, the exhibits of which were constantly criticized from the point of view of their authenticity [2] . In the 1990s, Boris Gribanov made an attempt to sell the “repetition” of the “ Black Square ” by Kazimir Malevich [K 2] to the Minsk Museum, but the museum, which had consulted Milda Vikturina, refused to buy it [2] .
In 1999, in Moscow, the memoirs of Boris Gribanov “Pictures and Life” were published. In them, Gribanov, among other things, singled out his role in collecting the Russian avant-garde - not just comparing himself with the largest collector of the Russian avant-garde Georgy Kostaki , but putting himself ahead of him ( “I and Kostaki” ):
| A special place in my collection has always been occupied by the Russian avant-garde. Probably, I and G. Kostaki were one of the first domestic collectors of works of little-known then even among us Malevich, Kandinsky , Klyun and others. Some of the unique works of these artists were donated by me to museums, many were confiscated, the rest, that is, their main part, still remain with me [5] . |
Bibliography
- Gribanov B. N. Pictures and life: Notes of a collector. - M .: Human Rights, 1999 .-- 272 p. - ISBN 5-7712-0103-0 .
Comments
- ↑ According to the testimony of Treskin’s lawyer, Semyon Ariya , who conducted his earlier case in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Treskin was then convicted in a trumped-up case in connection with the forcible removal of private collections of Soviet collectors by the KGB (see: Asriyants Sergey. Semyon Aria (inaccessible link) . New newspaper (May 7, 2007). Date of circulation July 10, 2016. Archived August 17, 2016. ).
- ↑ In addition to the 1915 Black Square painting itself, which is located in the State Tretyakov Gallery , there are three attributed , with provenance , author's repetitions of the canvas located in the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum and the State Hermitage Museum . Gribanov’s activity, apparently, did not coincide in coincidence with the appearance on the market and attribution of a third copyright copy, which was then bought by the Hermitage.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Boris Gribanov . Publishing House "Human Rights". Date of treatment July 7, 2016.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mastykina Irina. Falshak // Top Secret . - 2000. - July 1 ( No. 7 (134) ).
- ↑ Award document: Boris Gribanov, Order of the Red Star . The memory of the people. Date of appeal September 27, 2016.
- ↑ Asriyants Sergey. Semyon Aria (inaccessible link) . New newspaper (May 7, 2007). Date of treatment July 10, 2016. Archived August 17, 2016.
- ↑ Gribanov B.N. Pictures and life: Notes of a collector. - M .: Human Rights, 1999 .-- 272 p. - ISBN 5-7712-0103-0 .
Literature
- Mastykina Irina. Falshak // Top Secret . - 2000. - July 1 ( No. 7 (134) ).
Links
- Boris Gribanov . Publishing House "Human Rights". Date of treatment July 7, 2016.