GINO SINIGAGLIA
Italian by blood. Russian by spirit. Soviet nonconformist whose archive was hidden for decades. A research and legacy project.
- About ArtistGino Sinigaglia (1937−1997) was an Italo-Russian artist whose work bridged two cultures and two eras.
Born in Moscow to an Italian anti-fascist hero, Alessandro Sinigaglia, and a Russian mother, Polina Polyakova, Gino never met his father — but inherited his rebellious spirit.
Trained at the Stroganov Academy, Sinigaglia quickly rejected the constraints of Socialist Realism. His creative search led him to the roots of Russian Modernism — the coloristic power of Konstantin Korovin and the lightness of Arthur Fonvizin. From them he learned a single lesson: art is freedom.
This inner freedom placed him at the centre of the Moscow underground. He was a close friend of the legendary Anatoly Zverev, united by a love of expressive painting and a refusal to compromise. His spirit of protest brought him into the circle of the infamous "Bulldozer Exhibition" (1974) — a watershed event where authorities destroyed avant-garde works with bulldozers.
His credo: "My law is unchanging — do not repeat yourself, seek a new perspective, make a note sound." Over his lifetime he participated in more than 35 exhibitions. He died in 1997, leaving behind an archive that remained with his family for decades.
Today, the legacy of Gino Sinigaglia is not merely a collection of works. It is a living record of an era, a bridge between two cultures, and a challenge to reclaim the name of an artist who refused to work as the system demanded.
He was a hooligan, an adventurer, an Italian.
Assemblages
Sinigaglia was not simply a painter. He was an artist-archivist, preserving the material evidence of a vanishing era.
Gino Sinigaglia's most distinctive works are his assemblages — mixed-media compositions in which authentic historical artefacts are embedded directly into the canvas. Imperial and Soviet banknotes, mortgage bonds, newspaper clippings, playing cards, and Imperial-era restaurant menus. Not reproductions. Real objects, kept hidden during the Soviet period at considerable personal risk.
The archive holds 25 assemblages created between 1968 and 1991. A selection of key works is presented below.
Gino Sinigaglia's most distinctive works are his assemblages — mixed-media compositions in which authentic historical artefacts are embedded directly into the canvas. Imperial and Soviet banknotes, mortgage bonds, newspaper clippings, playing cards, and Imperial-era restaurant menus. Not reproductions. Real objects, kept hidden during the Soviet period at considerable personal risk.
The archive holds 25 assemblages created between 1968 and 1991. A selection of key works is presented below.
More assemblages
Paintings
While Sinigaglia's assemblages draw the most attention, his oil paintings reveal another side of the artist — lyrical, expressive, deeply personal.
His floral compositions never repeated in temperament. Each bouquet carried its own meaning: from quiet melancholy to explosive Italian joy. His portraits and city scenes carry the same layered, structural brushwork that defines his mixed-media works — but here, the evidence of the era gives way to pure emotion.
His floral compositions never repeated in temperament. Each bouquet carried its own meaning: from quiet melancholy to explosive Italian joy. His portraits and city scenes carry the same layered, structural brushwork that defines his mixed-media works — but here, the evidence of the era gives way to pure emotion.
Mission
Returning a name to history.
The Gino Sinigaglia Project is dedicated to:
— Publication of a catalogue raisonné
— Organisation of exhibitions internationally
— Creation of a documentary film
— Scholarly research into the artist's biography and circle
— Placement of works in museum collections and at auction
I am seeking cultural partners, institutions, auction houses, and researchers to join me in this mission.
Become a Cultural Partner The Gino Sinigaglia Project is dedicated to:
— Publication of a catalogue raisonné
— Organisation of exhibitions internationally
— Creation of a documentary film
— Scholarly research into the artist's biography and circle
— Placement of works in museum collections and at auction
I am seeking cultural partners, institutions, auction houses, and researchers to join me in this mission.
Mission
Returning a name to history.
The Gino Sinigaglia Project is dedicated to:
— Publication of a catalogue raisonné
— Organisation of exhibitions internationally
— Creation of a documentary film
— Scholarly research into the artist's biography and circle
— Placement of works in museum collections and at auction
I am seeking cultural partners, institutions, auction houses, and researchers to join me in this mission.
If you represent a gallery, museum, or auction house — I would be glad to start a conversation.
The Gino Sinigaglia Project is dedicated to:
— Publication of a catalogue raisonné
— Organisation of exhibitions internationally
— Creation of a documentary film
— Scholarly research into the artist's biography and circle
— Placement of works in museum collections and at auction
I am seeking cultural partners, institutions, auction houses, and researchers to join me in this mission.
If you represent a gallery, museum, or auction house — I would be glad to start a conversation.
Exhibitions
Gino Sinigaglia participated in over 35 group exhibitions during his lifetime. The archive holds 10 original exhibition posters from the 1980s, saved by the artist himself. Below is a selected chronology and the posters that survive.
1992 — Central Manege, Moscow
1982 — «21 Moscow Artists», Moscow
Sinigaglia was listed among the 21 names that defined the Moscow underground of the early 1980s.
1974 — Circle of the Bulldozer Exhibition, Moscow
Sinigaglia was among the artists who came to the infamous open-air exhibition that was crushed by Soviet authorities.
1970s–1980s — Multiple group exhibitions at Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28 — the legendary address of Moscow's underground art scene.
1992 — Central Manege, Moscow
1982 — «21 Moscow Artists», Moscow
Sinigaglia was listed among the 21 names that defined the Moscow underground of the early 1980s.
1974 — Circle of the Bulldozer Exhibition, Moscow
Sinigaglia was among the artists who came to the infamous open-air exhibition that was crushed by Soviet authorities.
1970s–1980s — Multiple group exhibitions at Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28 — the legendary address of Moscow's underground art scene.
Contacts
Yana Turetskaya,
Curator, Gino Sinigaglia Archive Project
Please use the contact form.
Curator, Gino Sinigaglia Archive Project
Please use the contact form.
