(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov's Participation in the Second TEII Exhibition (1983). Chapter 4: The Peterhof Book of Hours (1982)

Chapter 4: Works on paper: The Peterhof Book of Hours (1982)

The lists from the previous page show that regarding the selection of works on paper, the artist didn’t change his concept: he decided to display works he created in 1982 on sheets taken from a book of hours from the nineteenth century; today, he calls this series The Peterhof Book of Hours. He nevertheless adapted the number of works (folios) to be displayed, reducing them from ten (third list) to six (in his last note from 2 April, eighth list). The photographic documentation shows only three folios, and it is not clear whether more than three were actually displayed.

In his diary, the first mention of this cycle is on p.3-41 (October 1982): ‘Живопись на листе Евангелия «Таинственный свет Америки»’ / Painting on a page from a Gospel Book ‘The Mystic Light of America’. The words Евангелия (Evangeliia) and Таинственный свет Америки (Tainstvennyi svet Ameriki) are in uppercase letters. ‘The Mystic Light of America’ is included in the third list (p. 4-14) as no.10 , but crossed out.

A total of twenty-four folios are documented for this cycle of bright painterly works displaying sumptuous surface textures. Kozlov used gouache, tempera, and watercolour, and aluminium powder, often combining light colours with fully saturated colours, for instance pink and red or light blue and dark blue. Watercolour paints include silver and gold; silver appears in contours and larger areas and is sometimes used for monochromatic compositions. Aluminium powder can be mixed with any colour and adds a metallic shine to the paint. It is significant that the size of the sheets (34 x 22.5 cm) notwithstanding, Kozlov, in his diary, speaks of them as ‘paintings’ twice – the first time in the above-mentioned entry on p. 3-41 and the second time in a paragraph on pp. 3-78-79.

In the second entry, dated 24 January 1983, the artist emphasises the achievement of ‘Tuaregs’, calling it ‘a masterpiece’ and likening it to ‘Tender Light of Christmas’: (‘For the second time I have achieved, on a large canvas, an effect similar to that of “Tender Light of Christmas” I painted a year ago.’ See also previous page, second and third lists). Following that, Kozlov puts the folios on the same level as ‘Tender Light of Christmas’:

The twenty-four compositions of The Peterhof Book of Hours present exceptionally intense narrations, both poetic and mysterious, and although created in a small format, unfold a high level of energy.

The original book still exists in Kozlov's archive, and I had a closer look at the pages in 2015, when I was writing a text for Kozlov's solo exhibition at Hannah Barry Gallery, London, which included a series the artist created in 2005 with sheets from the same book.

Analysing the printed text, I realised that the folios are not from an Evangelion or Gospel Book, but from a Horologion or book of hours containing canonical hours – in Russian часослов, ‘chasoslov’, a book with Church Slavonic prayers to be said at fixed intervals – and continued:

…As in 1982, the artist carefully selected the sheet that inspired the composition from looking at the isolated word that appears on the bottom right of the page: “Песнь“ (Song), „Солнце“ (Sun), „Избавление“ (Salvation) “И ныне“ (And these days), Благостию (With kindness), among others. In most cases the words have also become the title of the respective work. more >>

The technical term for an ‘isolated word’, right-aligned on a line by itself, is ‘catchword’:

Wikipedia external link >>

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, E-E-182008, recto with illustration Detail of bottom right with the catchword Тропарь, ‘Troparion’, which became the title of this work.

E-E-182008, recto with illustration
Detail of bottom right with the catchword Тропарь, ‘Troparion’, which became the title of this work.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, E-E-182008, verso with text Detail of top left repeating the word Тропарь, Troparium, from the recto of the same sheet. Accordingly, the catchword of the verso, Оче, is repeated on the recto of the next sheet. A troparium in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas.

E-E-182008, verso with text
Detail of top left repeating the word Тропарь, Troparium, from the recto of the same sheet. Accordingly, the catchword of the verso, Оче, is repeated on the recto of the next sheet.
A troparium in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas. Wikipedia external link >>

Regarding religious manuscripts, the function of catchwords seems to be have been primarily that of helping to continue reading when turning a page external link >>. The Russian term for catchword is кустода, kustoda, from Latin ‘custos’, and it appears that printing kustody is today still common practice in Church Slavonic texts, especially in those read aloud during the divine service. (В наше время кустоды используются в церковнославянских текстах, особенно в читаемых вслух за богослужением. Их наличие помогает не прерываться при переворачивании страницы. Wikipedia external link >>).

In this way, for E-E Kozlov, the catchword was a catchword not only in technical terms, but factually – a cliffhanger of sorts that inspired him to a composition. By contrast, he perceived the text page as such not as textual, but as visual information – as a specifc ornamental pattern allowing his inspiration to take shape. It is, however, important to note that a) only some of these words caught the artist's attention as he was turning the pages of the book, such as ‘Милости’ (Grace) and ‘И ныне’ (And these days), and b) he didn’t necessarily interpret them as they were intended. For instance, he interpreted Тропарь, Troparium, a short hymn of one stanza, as тропа, tropa, path or track.

Another example of his free, associative approach to such words is E-E-182013. The catchword is ГДИ (GDI with an abbreviation sign ⷭ҇ on top of the Д). Kozlov turned the letter Г into a Б with an additional pencil line. The word is now БДИ, BDI, the imperative of бдеть, bdet’, watch, which became the title of the work.

Contemporary works stimulated by an Orthodox liturgical book would hardly have been admitted by Leningrad's municipal exhibition committee – or to any other Soviet exhibition in 1983. But in those three works documented at the exhibition, the printed text is entirely covered by the compositions. In fact, the painted surface extents to the very borders of a sheet, thus covering the catchword, too. Yet it would be wrong to consider these full-page compositions to be a case of self-censorship. While Kozlov often left a catchword visible, especially when it gave a work its title, there are also quite a few ‘full page’ compositions. It is plausible that he selected from those if he wished to avoid a conflict with the exhibition committee. What is more, he presented the three folios mounted on paper and put inside a frame, which means that the printed text on the reverse was also covered. Besides, biblical connotations are not obvious in most compositions either, since Kozlov created non-canonical narrations.

The three works documented with exhibition views are Folio VI and Folio V and a third folio, the title of which is unknown.


E-E-182010 Лист VI. Человек равен самому себе Folio IV. People Are Equal to Themselves		E-E-182016 Лист V. Свет (?) Folio V. Light (?)

E-E-182042 Title not identified, perhaps Folio VII, VIII, or IX		Galaxy Gallery, E-E Kozlov's Peterhof studio and flat. Top left: E-E-182042, title not identified (see picture to the left) Bottom left: E-E-182034, ‘Polygon’ Right: ‘Tuaregs’ (Noli Me Tangere), early version. Picture taken in 1982 or 1983.

The eighth and last list, written after Kozlov removed two of his paintings from the display, inlcudes six (not three) folios ’remaining at the exhibition’ (pp. 4-46-47). It includes Folio IV, People Are Equal to Themselves, but for some reason, Folio V is not among those six; it actually had been crossed out already in the third list.

The six folios are:

1. Милости / Grace (Folio I)

2. Дом / House (Folio III)

3. Время достигнутой мечты / Time of Dreams Come True (Folio VII)

4. Человек равен самому себе / People Are Equal to Themselves (Folio VI)

5. Тайнa для себя / One's Own Secret (Folio IX)

6. Зов золота / The Call of Gold (Folio VIII)

Nos 3, 5, and 6 have not been indentified, since their titles cannnot be congruent with their repective catchwords. But both No.1 (Folio I, Grace) and No. 2 (Folio III, House) have areas where the original text is visible, and the same goes for the catchwords.

Suppose these two works were indeed displayed: it would contradict the assumption that works with religious connotations were not tolerated at the exhibition. On the other hand, it cannot be completely ruled out that the municipal exhibition committee required to have them removed, should it have inspected the exhibtion after Kozlov wrote the list on 2 April.