Collection: Ernst Neizvestny

Ernst Iosifovich Neizvestny (1925  –  2016) was a Russian sculptor, painter, graphic artist, and art philosopher. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and lived and worked in New York City. Ernst Neizvestny, an artist and sculptor who famously stood up against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s denunciation of his art as “degenerate” — and was later commissioned by the deposed Soviet leader’s family to design his tombstone.

American playwright Arthur Miller once described Neizvestny as an "artist of the East" who is regarded by Russians as an "expression of the country, of its soul, language, and spirit" and as a "prophet of the future" who represents the "philosophical conscience of his country." 

Alexander Calder, the American artist, once said to Neizvestny, "All my life I create the world of children, and you create the world of man."