Khidekel Society Mission

The Lazar Khidekel Society is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization established by the family of Lazar Khidekel and a group of distinguished art historians, museum specialists, and art supporters under the auspices of the Russian American Cultural Center (RACC) in New York, New York.

The goal of the Lazar Khidekel Society is to sustain and preserve Lazar Khidekel's legacy in art, architecture, and design, and to advance the recognition of Lazar Khidekel (1904, Vitebsk – 1986, Leningrad), as one of the titans of the Russian Avant-garde - particularly the Suprematist movement - that laid the foundation for art and architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Lazar Khidekel's Art Collection and Archives, accumulated over the course of his lifetime, is unique and survived in its entirety as a capstone of the Russian Avant-garde. Being attentively preserved, his work survived some of the worst tribulations of the 20th century: from Stalin's purges, to the Nazi siege of Leningrad, to the crushing dominance of Socialist realism and many decades of stifling Soviet social reality. Lazar Khidekel never left the Soviet Union, but he also never conformed to the regime by giving up his art. He developed his Suprematist ideas through art and architecture in the privacy of his home. Lazar Khidekel lived until the beginning of perestroika as a distinguished professor of Architecture in the Leningrad Architectural University, and he inspired thousands of student-architects from all over the former Soviet Union to keep the flame of the avant-garde alive.

To sufficiently promote the work of the Lazar Khidekel Society, the following committees have been established:

The Exhibition Committee implementing the Society's mission to further the awareness and understanding of Lazar Khidekel's legacy by producing exhibitions, publications, and conferences.

The Education Committee creating educational activities and welcoming graduate and Ph.D. students and independent researchers to explore Lazar Khidekel's archive with the goal of increasing understanding of his artistic legacy and its influence on contemporary art development.

The Preservation Committee paying special attention to the conservation and preservation of Lazar Khidekel's works and his unique archive. This will intensify the efforts of an ongoing archival project under the auspices of RACC, which started a decade ago by inventorying, identifying, describing, and publicizing the archival documents.

The integrity and consistency of the artist's heritage is a primary concern and composes the duties of the Authenticity Committee. The Society welcomes the submission of works attributed to or believed to be originated by Lazar Khidekel. The Authenticity Committee, consisting of leading scholars and experts on Lazar Khidekel's style, will decide if the item should be included into the body of his works.

In order to create a living monument to Lazar Khidekel and his pioneering ideals, the Development Committee has been established. This committee's efforts focus on the Society’s strategic planning, policy, and funding. Along with exhibition activities and publications, the focus will be on the implementation of some of Lazar Khidekel's unrealized projects and the development of Post-Suprematist concepts in various media techniques. These include urban visionary projects and a broad realm of everyday objects in porcelain, furniture, jewelry, and fashion. The establishment of the Khidekel Brand will allow even more explicitly to prove the actuality and importance of enduring legacy of Lazar Khidekel’s art and Suprematism in the contemporary context.

The ultimate goal of the Lazar Khidekel Society and its Development Committee is to establish both a museum and a research/educational facility to house the Art Collection and Archives and explore Lazar Khidekel's heritage as well to place some of Lazar Khidekel's works into important museum collections.