Exhibition of Eleven (Leningrad, 1972)
The Exhibition of eleven artists () was opened at the end of 1972 in Leningrad on the Okhta district in the new Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation. It became a significant important event in the Soviet fine art of the 1970s-1980s. History. The idea of the exhibition came from three artists - Valery Vatenin, German Yegoshin, and Zaven Arshakuny. These artists were friendly since 1950, when they studied in the painting department of Repin Institute. They invited other Leningrad painters to take part in this exhibition, including Yaroslav Krestovsky, Boris Shamanov , Leonid Tkachenko, husband and wife Victor Teterin and Evgenia Antipova from the elder generation, Valentina Rakhina, a wife of German Yegoshin, a young talented artist Vitaly Tulenev and sculptor Konstantin Simun. Contributing artists. Ten known artists and a sculptor were participants of this exhibition: Exhibition. The Exhibition of eleven Leningrad artists (called later as the exhibition of "Eleven") was opened October 24, 1972. It showed the creation of the "left wing" of the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists in concentration. That is why it was of such interest of spectators, critics and artists of Leningrad. Opinions and reviews were very  polarized, from the admiration of the critic to a full rejection. Apologetes of the exhibition and creation of these artists contrasted with painting of socialistic realism and academy tradition. On the contrary critics were pointed to the entrainment of the studies and the formal tasks in the process of creation. They declared that couldn`t find the picture of traditional Russian art. Group of "Eleven". The name "Eleven" was fixed after this exhibition. Even though this group existed only for two exhibitions, it went down in history. The second exhibition was in 1976 at the same place and just 9 artists  of the original 11 took part in it. In the future they demonstrated their art works in solo or in the big common exhibitions with two or three participants in Moscow and Leningrad. In 1990 the members of "Eleven" engaged in the common exhibition of 26 Leningrad and Moscow artists in Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh" in Saint-Petersburg. In 1998 the exhibition of art works of group "Eleven" was in the Nekrasov's Memorial Museum in Saint-Petersburg. There were represented art-pieces from the private collections. In 2012 the exhibition of 200 art works of the group "Eleven" and  their surroundings from the private collections was opened in K-Gallery (Saint-Petersburg). It was devoted to the 40th anniversary of the Exhibition of "Eleven" in Okhta in 1972.