Post on 30-Oct-2019
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Cover image: Georgy Rublev, Train and new construction, 1932. Tempera on paper, 31 x 45 cm
RUSSIAN ART+CULTURE
RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPER
PRESENTS
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RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPERThe 1920’s saw a period of unprecedented artistic freedom in Soviet Russia. Whilst the forces of repression gathered, finding their apogee in 1934, the years proceeding saw a vast array of new talent, artistic experimentation and optimism. The groups that grew out of the schools of learning, Vitebsk, UNOVIS, VKhUTEMAS or who studied at the feet of the masters, Malevich, Filonov, were numerous and wide-ranging. The Leningrad ‘Circle of Artists’ featured the work of Alexander Rusakov, who is represented here by five pictures, including two studies for seminal works, ‘Electrician’ and ‘Woman with a pram’ in the State Russian Museum is but one. His wife, Tatyana Kupervasser is another. Vera Pestel belonged to the ‘Makovets’ and ‘Path of Painting’ groups, whilst Katerina Zernova was a member of OST, the Stakhanovite Group whose mentor was Alexander Deineka. Indeed, works on paper and book illustrations, Zernova’s nine works for ‘ROSKA’ shown here being a fine example, frequently provided artists with an outlet for their more creative instincts. The work of Georgy Rublev, known as the ‘Soviet Matisse’ and famous for his portrait of Stalin reading Pravda, is instructive. From propaganda work of 1933, his scenes of unrest in Weimar Germany are unique historical documents, to gentle portraits and landscapes these works show a lost world and provide the perfect example of the genre of 1920’s-1930’s Russian works on paper, evoking a period of optimism in Soviet art, as in Soviet society before the formal introduction of the strictures of Soviet Socialist Realism and a rigid framework from which art never escaped until the death of Stalin.
Left: Ekaterina Zernova, Katya and Masha, 1929, Illustration for L.N.Tolstoy’s ‘ROSKA’. Watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper, 24 x 20 cm
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TATYANA KUPERVASSER 1866-1939
Harvest, 1928Coloured pencils on paper 18 x 18 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
Illustrated‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, page 17
Harvest, 1928Coloured pencils on paper, 18 x 18 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
Illustrated‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, page 17
76
SERGEI LUCHISHKIN 1902-1989
The Jump, 1931Lithograph on paper, 30 x 23 cm
ProvenanceThe Zavolokina Collection, Moscow
VERA PESTEL 1886-1952
Girl with a ball, 1924Black crayon on paper, 22 x 9 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s Daughter, Sofia Yevgenievna Pestel Zavolokina Collection, Moscow
Illustrated‘Monuments of Culture’, Moscow 2004, page 362
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GEORGY RUBLEV 1902-1975
Eastern Figure, 1932Tempera on paper, 45 x 37 cm
ProvenanceThe Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin
Demonstration, 1932Anti-capitalist pictureTempera on paper, 30 x 38 cm
ProvenanceThe Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin
1110
Unemployment, 1932Anti-capitalist pictureTempera on paper, 31 x 38 cm
ProvenanceThe Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin
Train and new construction, 1932Tempera on paper, 31 x 45 cm
ProvenanceThe Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin
GEORGY RUBLEV 1902-1975
1312
Electrician, 1927Study for the painting, (State Russian Museum),Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
ExhibitedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow, ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 183
IllustratedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow, ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 183, page 247‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no. 56 ‘Russian Works on paper 1890 -1930’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2011
ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952
Lady with a pushchair, 1927Study for the painting, (State Russian Museum)Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
ExhibitedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 182
IllustratedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 182, page 247‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no. 67 ‘Russian works on paper 1890-1930’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2011
1514
Study for a children’s game with a windmill and a factory, 1930Watercolour on paper, 22 x 35 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
Chocolate, 1927Study for a poster for the State Food TrustWatercolour on paper, 21 x 30 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952
1716
Study for a bookshop window, 1930Watercolour on paper, 22 x 28 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
ALEXANDER SEMYONOV
Couple on a bench, 1920’sPencil on paper, 18 x 15 cm.
ProvenanceThe Zavolokina Collection, Moscow
ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952
1918
Portrait of a Lady in a black dress, 1930’sWatercolour and mixed media on paper, 41 x 30 cm
ProvenanceThe Zavolokina Collection, MoscowIllustrated‘Russian Line’, Sotheby’s, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow March 2012
By the Kremlin Wall. Alexander Gardens, Moscow, 1922Watercolour on paper, 26 x 35 cm
ProvenanceThe Zavolokina Collection, Moscow
ALEXANDER SHUROV MIKHAIL SOKOLOV 1885-1947
2120
EKATERINA ZERNOVA 1900-1992
ROSKA, 1929 Roska’s dogs, 1929 Swallow and Swifts, 1929
Roska’s puppies, 1929
Katya and Vari’s bathtime, 1929 Nastiya’s Doll, 1929 Katya and Masha, 1929
ROSKA, 1929Cover illustration for L.N. Tolstoy’sWatercolour, gouache, whitening, pencil and collage on paper, 24 x 20 cm
ProvenanceThe Artist, Moscow Thence by descent
IllustratedA. Alenova, ‘Ekaterina Zernova.’, Konstanta Publishers, Moscow 2000, page 43N. Shantyko, ‘E.S. Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1962, page 10R. Zherdeva, ‘Ekaterina Sergeevna Zernova 85 years’, page 30
BibliographyI. N. Voekova, ‘Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federation. Ekaterina Sergeevna Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1989N. Shantyko, ‘E.S. Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1962