George Costakis

George Costakis (Greek Georgios Γεώργιος Κωστάκης KOSTAKIS; born July 5, 1913 in Moscow, † 1990 in Athens ) was a Greek art collector.

Life

His parents came from the island of Zakynthos and had established themselves as merchants in Moscow. George Costakis grew up in an upper middle class environment. After the Revolution, the family lost most of their possessions, but continued to enjoy great prestige, as the brother of George was a famous motorcycle racer. After his accidental death, the economic situation of the family deteriorated rapidly, his father died a year later. Although in his parents' household hung only a few works of art, George Costakis developed an interest in art, above all on historicism. In Soviet Russia, it was possible to own art and to collect, so Costakis one hand even collected, on the other hand was regarded as an expert in numerous master.

Costakis took a permanent position at the Greek Embassy, where he worked as a chauffeur to 1939. As broke off the relationship because of the German - Soviet pact, Count von Schulenburg offered him a setting in the German Embassy, which refused Costakis, as he held the German -Soviet relations for unstable. He worked for the British and then for the Swedish Embassy, but only offered him a free apartment in the embassy and a diplomatic passport as compensation. So he was again dependent on the art trade, but developed a personal rejection of the art of historicism. His acquisitions included Dutch masters and works of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

A carelessly discarded constructivist picture of Olga Rozanova awakened in 1946 his interest in avant-garde art, which he largely knew only from books and stories. In the West, the interest was limited primarily to Kandinsky and Chagall. Costakis started to look at families and descendants of the avant-garde artists works, to buy and to explore its context. A Chagall he discovered nailed to replace a broken window, the only remaining installation of Rodchenko already chopped into firewood. A work which he acquired from the family of Liubov Popova, he was only allowed to take after he had also brought an equally large sheet of plywood.

Sometimes distanced themselves also artists of her earlier work and wondered about his interest; for some artists, he was the only source of income. From the family he demanded great sacrifices in order to save as many works of art. The car was also sold as the family jewels and fur coat. His most expensive purchase was one of 35 works by Kandinsky, he possessed; he bought it for $ 600

George Costakis moved from the unpaid points to a permanent position at the Canadian Embassy, where he was highly esteemed as an honest and spontaneous person. In the 1960s he opened his apartment for visitors. It was a meeting of the Moscow intellectuals. In the 1970s, his collection had attained world fame. Many diplomats who came to Moscow, also visited his collection, as Edward Kennedy, David Rockefeller and Friedrich Wilhelm Christians by Deutsche Bank. The Christian's encounter with Costakis played a significant role in the cultural activities of the bank later.

Costakis described Russia as "his mother " and refused to leave repeatedly. This changed when burglaries accumulated in his apartment and he feared for his collection. He decided to leave the Soviet Union after his retirement. The condition of his departure was made that he should leave half of his collection. For these, the National Gallery of Modern Art was built in Gorky Park. Today, the works can be found in the State Tretyakov Gallery.

When he emigrating in 1977, he had the largest collection of Russian avant-garde art outside Russia, not a museum possessed an almost significant collection. He died in 1990 in his Athens apartment, but only in 1996 the Greek government bought the collection for the exhibition of the heirs. Costakis is now considered one of the most important collectors of the 20th century.

Scope of the collection

The collection includes almost all the leading artists of the Russian avant-garde, including:

• Marc Chagall
• El Lissitzky
• Wassily Kandinsky
• Gustav Klucis
• Ivan Kliun
• Kasimir Malevich
• Liubov Popova
• Alexander Rodchenko
• Nikolai Suetin
• Vladimir Tatlin
• Nadezhda Udal'tsova
• Alexander Nikolayevich Volkov

Later, he also collected contemporary works, like the pictures of Anatoly Zverev, Dmitry Plawinskij and Dmitry Krasnopewzsew. When he left the Soviet Union, he had to leave half of his collection there. Today, these works form the basis of constructivist Department of State Tretyakov Gallery.

The collection today

In addition to the works that made Costakis in Russia, located since 1997 in Thessaloniki an important part of the collection. The Greek government bought these at the founding of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Issued today it is in the former Catholic Lazaristenkloster.

Exhibitions from the Collection

Bibliography

• Angelica Zander Rudenstine with a foreword by S. Frederick Starr: Russian avant-garde art from the George Costakis collection. DuMont, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-7701-1390- X.
• Light and Color in the Russian avant-garde. Light and Colour in the Russian Avant -Garde. DuMont, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8321-7404-4. ( Exhibition catalog, German and English).