Abstract
The author of this article was responsible for organising the now famous unofficial art exhibitions in Moscow last year (see Index 4/1974 p.78, 1/1975 p.91, 2/1975 p.92 and 3/1975 p.89). The first exhibition, on 15 September, was ‘bulldozed’ by police and KGB agents, and a number of artists who tried to exhibit their work were arrested. Two weeks later, however, an open-air exhibition did take place, permission having been given by the authorities, and some 10,000 people turned up to see paintings and sculptures by modern Soviet artists who do not enjoy official favour.
Alexander Glezer, a 41-year-old poet and art collector, was questioned several times by the KGB, then arrested on 22 December and sentenced to 10 days in prison for ‘hooliganism’, and finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union in February this year. He now lives in Vienna.