Centaur

Albert Leong has written an outstanding book on the life and oeuvre of Ernst Neizvestny. Centaur is both thrilling in its narrative and fundamental in its analyses. Ernst Neizvestny is a gigantic personality of our time. I am proud to have been close to him for decades witnessing his quest for independence and outbursts of his genius. -- Vassily Aksyonov, author of Generations of Winter
Centaur: The Life and Art of Ernst Neizvestny is the first full biography of the most prominent and artistically accomplished sculptor and memorial-builder of the Soviet era. [Leong] excels at placing Neizvestny in the context of Soviet political and cultural history, and examining how he was misunderstood initially in the United States because of cold war stereotypes. Centaur is a serious and worthy consideration of the vexing moral and philosophical issues underlying the career of a courageous artist who (like Andrei Sakharov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Mstislav Rostropovich) confronted the evil of the Soviet system mano a mano. -- Harlow Robinson * The New York Times *
Centaur describes an artist whose life, work, and reputation are almost mythic in nature. Ernst Neizvestny is a visionary and pragmatist—the ultimate survivor. Author Albert Leong distills encyclopedic research to provide a synthesis of a complex era and a compelling individual. -- Alison Hilton, Georgetown University
This is a book for those interested in the details of 20th-century Russian art with its social and political ramifications. * CHOICE *
Albert Leong's detailed, and highly documented account of the numerous twists and turns in Neizvestnii's long, complex, and highly diverse artistic career to date offers some fascinating insights into the problems faced by the monumental sculptor in the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond. Sadly, Albert Leong died shortly after the publication of Centaur. May the book long serve as a suitable epitaph for a man whose passion, dedication, and enthusiasm for Neizvestnii's work is inscribed within each and every word of this text. * Seer *
Ernst Neizvestny answered the official demands for optimistic 'depiction of life in the life's forms' with his tragic and highly symbolic grotesques. Albert Leong's sensitive study shows Neizvestny as a child of his time as well as a true heir to the Russian early 20th century avant-garde, with its peculiar quest for the synthesis of art, philosophy, and religion. -- Lev Loseff * Dartmouth College *
Centaur is a truthful and beautiful work of art in its concept, subject, and design. * Slavic and East European Journal *