In Anna Akhmatova museum in the Fountain House the exhibition of photos of Slava Mikhailov « PORTRAIT. 1970-ies » takes place, Valery Valran supervises the exhibition.

Slava Mikhailov was born on March, 4, 1940 in Velikie Luki. He has got interested in photo in his school days. In 1960 became a member of a photoclub of the Vyborg recreation center. He was the admirer of a jazz, attended jazz club, took photos of jazz musicians.

In 1966 he have got a radioassembler job on a film studio "Lenfilm" , and in 1968 he became the master - photographer in the photoshop of the studio. He worked as the assistant to the operator in the pictures « Day of the sun and a rain », « the Knight of dream ». In the picture "Good" worked as the photographer. In A.Herman’s film « Check on roads »he participated in a role of a German soldier. His friends were directors (D.Asanov, Reso Esradze, V.Aristov, etc.), operators (J.Vorontsovym, V.Fedosov, etc.), actors.

In 1971 - 1975 Slava Mikhailov often got in psychiatric hospitals. He was dismissed from a film studio "Lenfilm" on February, 12, 1975 on a state of health (physical inability of II group).

Slava Mikhailov wrote verses and made of them books in one copy. Verses are illustrated with his own drawings in a primitive and children’s manner. Boris Smelov considered him to be the best portraitist in Leningrad and propagandized his works among photographers. But Slava Mikhailov had complex character and has not been declined to any forms of social self-realization. In the environment of photographers he has not got accustomed.

Slava in his last years had no own apartment or room. Veins at the friends, girlfriends, wives. Wandered from a place to a place. Incidentally got in psychiatric clinics. He has died in country hospital where he has spend some years, in 2002.

Slava Mikhailov avoided exhibitions. He have participated only once- at Konstantin Kuzminsky exhibition «Under a parachute» in 1974.

Later photo portraits by him were exposed on the First Petersburg photomarathon in gallery " Art - Kollegia " (1998), at the exhibition «Leningrad photounderground » in Anna Ahmatova Museum in the Gushing house (2001), at the exhibition «Leningrad photounderground ». At the fifth international month of a photography in Moscow. « Photobiennial 2004 ».

Portraits of Slava Mikhailov are made in the genre of an art portrait. His models were musicians, directors, actors, photographers, girlfriends, wives and simply anonymous people. In portraits of Slava Mikhailov we see variety of psychological nuances and character types. He as anybody else has embodied the originality of persons of 1970th years, and through them a spiritual atmosphere of that time.

Event source: art-gid.com

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