Alki1
Saving Unofficial Art, George Costakis
"Russo-Greek diplomat and collector. He was born in Moscow, the son of a Greek merchant who had emigrated to Russia in 1907, and he had Greek nationality throughout his life. From 1931to1976 he worked in various diplomatic legations in Moscow.
He started collecting in the 1930s, at a time when the Soviet government was selling huge amounts of art to gain foreign currency. Originally he bought antiques and Old Master paintings, then moved on to icons, and from the late 1940s began building up a superb collection of modern Russian works, beginning with the established masters such as Chagall and Kandinsky and moving on to his own younger contemporaries. He researched his collection carefully, so it formed a highly important historical resource.
The type of art he owned was considered dangerously subversive at a time when only Socialist Realism was officially sanctioned, and Costakis once said that he felt as if he were ‘sitting on a barrel of dynamite’. In 1978, when he retired to Greece, he was allowed to take part of his collection with him in return for presenting the bulk of it to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The works he brought out of Russia were exhibited at various venues in Europe and the USA. In Greece, Costakis continued collecting up to his death and presented numerous works to museums."
Saving Unofficial Art, George Costakis
"Russo-Greek diplomat and collector. He was born in Moscow, the son of a Greek merchant who had emigrated to Russia in 1907, and he had Greek nationality throughout his life. From 1931to1976 he worked in various diplomatic legations in Moscow.
He started collecting in the 1930s, at a time when the Soviet government was selling huge amounts of art to gain foreign currency. Originally he bought antiques and Old Master paintings, then moved on to icons, and from the late 1940s began building up a superb collection of modern Russian works, beginning with the established masters such as Chagall and Kandinsky and moving on to his own younger contemporaries. He researched his collection carefully, so it formed a highly important historical resource.
The type of art he owned was considered dangerously subversive at a time when only Socialist Realism was officially sanctioned, and Costakis once said that he felt as if he were ‘sitting on a barrel of dynamite’. In 1978, when he retired to Greece, he was allowed to take part of his collection with him in return for presenting the bulk of it to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The works he brought out of Russia were exhibited at various venues in Europe and the USA. In Greece, Costakis continued collecting up to his death and presented numerous works to museums."