Alexandr Zhdanov

Who was Alexandr Zhdanov?

Alexandr Pavlovich Zhdanov was a Russian avant-garde painter.

He was born in Vyoshenskaya, Soviet Union. Zhdanov was expelled four times from the Grekov Art School in Rostov-on-the-Don but managed to graduate after six years.

In 1973, he moved to Moscow and within a year was part of a group of artists who used a wooden fence as an exhibition until authorities knocked it down. The incident, which became known as the "Bulldozer Exhibition," was among the first overt acts of defiance by Moscow's artistic underground.

During the 1980s, his vigorous artwork was featured on U.S. television news, yet he was not allowed to show his work in official galleries or museums. He and his wife, Galina Gerasimova, staged periodic hunger strikes, and on Oct. 22, 1987, they chained themselves to a tree outside the gate of the U.S. Embassy. In 1989, Mr. Zhdanov settled in Washington, where he made haunting, sometimes grotesque, paintings and built a reputation as a serious artist and an often-drunk bohemian. His favorite hangout was Madam's Organ Blues Bar in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC.

As an artist, Mr.