Warsaw, Poland 1904-1973 Petrodvorets, Leningrad

(1904, Warsaw – 1973, Petergof) Vladimir Sterligov was a seminal Russian avant-garde artist and the last direct disciple of Kazimir Malevich. After studying at the Leningrad’s State Institute of Artistic Culture, Sterligov explored Suprematist and Cubist visual languages. His career was interrupted by imprisonment for ‘anti-Soviet propaganda’ in a Karaganda labour camp (1934–1938). He returned to St. Petersburg, but later was evacuated to Almaty during World War II, and became an influential figure there, teaching and establishing a studio. Sterligov returned to St. Petersburg from Almaty in November 1945 but a pivotal shift occurred in 1960, prompting his ‘cup-cupola’ system he developed together with his wife, artist Tatiana Glebova, whom he had met in Almaty. This spatial theory combined curved form, poetic logic and cosmic unity, using shapes like cups and domes as fundamental, universal building blocks. Unlike Malevich’s linearity, it emphasised harmonious natural structures. His late legacy is defined by esoteric geometry and a devoted student circle. One of his students, Rustam Khalfin, who later became a foundational figure of Kazakhstan’s emerging contemporary art scene, is also part of the exhibition. Qonaqtar features Sterligov’s Kazakhstan drawing series, mostly landscapes, as well as the later cup-cupola drawings, alongside a similar body of work by his wife. His story is one of migration and the creative ties it nourished, another red-thread in the exhibition.