Grandmaster of Avant-Garde: The Chess Art of Galina Satonina
Available in paperback, hardback and Amazon Kindle – all in full-color
Galina Satonina (1905–2000) was the leading chess painter of the Soviet era. A multiple-time Kazan and Tatarstan ladies chess champion, she saw life as a game of chess, and her paintings speak the language of Caissa. She painted world champions and other famous players, ranging from early stars Philidor, Morphy and Anderssen, all the way through to Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov. Several of her paintings depict the chess pieces themselves and emotions felt during play, as well as different aspects of the game such as time-trouble and checkmate.
Satonina’s works were exhibited at Soviet-era world championship matches. They were widely written about in the Soviet and international chess press, including Shakhmaty v SSSR, 64 and Ceskoslovensky Sach.
This full-color coffee-table book, based on original paintings from museum and private collections, was compiled by Dr. Vladimir Kudryavtsev, who has published many tomes on national and regional visual art of the Soviet and pre-Soviet periods. It additionally contains other works from Satonina’s career as well as her unique life story.
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"While the first half of Satonina's life certainly produced a splendid range of chess-related design and illustration, the full focus on the game only became apparent from the late 1960s onwards. It was then that a series of massive portraits, often dedicated to individual players but also firmly illustrating the demonic ideas brought by the game, flowed onto the scene. The colours and style unequivocally convey the sharpest messages... The book gives us a wonderful look into the work of an artist who had a truly holistic sense of the world. That she chose chess as a vehicle for exhibiting some of her beliefs and ideas is something of which the game can be proud." - Peter O'Brien, British Chess Magazine, November 2023
The book is not cheap, but it is in hardcover with all the paintings reproduced in color, which makes it almost a bargain price. As a coffee table book, it more than serves its purpose, as it is immensely fascinating to leaf through. But the text inside the book adds another aspect and depth to the production, which also makes it an enjoyable read." - FIDE Master Carsten Hansen, American Chess Magazine, July 2023
Review by Grandmaster Matthew Sadler
About the author(s)
Galina Satonina
Galina Satonina (1905–2000) was the leading chess painter of the Soviet era. A multiple-time Kazan and Tatarstan ladies chess champion, she saw life as a game of chess, and her paintings speak the language of Caissa. She painted world champions...
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