Norton and Nancy Dodge, Kenda and Jacob Bar-Gera, Peter and Irene Ludwig, Eric and Małgorzata Peschler. What did these well-known collectors from America, Germany, and Switzerland have in common?

A profound interest in Soviet nonconformist art — and a willingness to take risks in order to bring works by underground artists out of the Soviet Union despite strict censorship. They later organized exhibitions and published catalogues and books.

To a great extent, it was thanks to the efforts of these collectors that the names of Soviet nonconformist artists entered the history of twentieth-century global art.

Private collections, however, have different destinies. Some eventually enter museums; others remain in families or pass to new owners. Today, 65 works from Eric Peschler’s collection are being offered at a European auction. His widow, Małgorzata Peschler, believes that “viewers now have an opportunity to rediscover this generation of artists in all its breadth… The significance of their art extends far beyond the historical context of the Soviet Union.”

Ülo Sooster was one of the underground artists whose works were represented in Peschler’s collection.

In the photo: a work by Ülo Sooster from the Eric Peschler Collection: Untitled, 1961. Indian ink, collage.