Tom and Jeri Ferris Russian Collection

This collection of original artworks from the perestroika-era was assembled in the early 1990s by the late Tom Ferris, a Russian studies teacher in Beverly Hills, and Iurii Komov, a Moscow-based writer.

The collection includes 234 works produced by Russian artists from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s preceding the collapse of the USSR in 1991, as well as some works from the early 1990s. Chronicling some of the key changes that the Soviet Union experienced under Mikhail Gorbachev and his policies of glasnost and perestroika, the themes span the full spectrum of the country’s social and political concerns including the failed coup of August 1991, Stalin’s terrors, environmental concerns, and the AIDS epidemic. The artworks speak vividly of a nation going through unprecedented economic and political turmoil, yet they project high hopes for a future that does not repeat mistakes of the past. Their acerbic satire is the very embodiment of the glasnost’s insistence on transparency and freedom of speech. In addition to the artworks, this collection includes original notes, memoirs, and video interviews with key artists represented.

Further, the Tom and Jeri Ferris Russian Collection includes hundreds of posters, ceramics, and other artifacts from the Soviet Union.