RUSSIAN A R T + CULTURE
PRESENTS RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPER
1 RUSSIAN A R T + CULTURE
PRESENTS
RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPER
For further information please contact Natasha Butterwick Email: [email protected] Telephone: 020 8748 7320
www.russianartandculture.com
Cover image: Georgy Rublev, Train and new construction, 1932. Tempera on paper, 31 x 45 cm RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPER
The 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 From propaganda work of 1933, his scenes of unrest in Weimar Germany are unique historical documents, to gentle portraits and landscapes these works show a lost world and provide the perfect example of the genre of 1920’s-1930’s Russian works on paper, evoking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
2 3 TATYANA KUPERVASSER 1866-1939
Harvest, 1928 Coloured pencils on paper Harvest, 1928 18 x 18 cm Coloured pencils on paper, 18 x 18 cm
Provenance Provenance The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography Bibliography ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006 ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
Illustrated Illustrated ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, page 17 ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, page 17
4 5 SERGEI LUCHISHKIN 1902-1989 VERA PESTEL 1886-1952
Girl with a ball, 1924 Black crayon on paper, 22 x 9 cm
Provenance The Jump, 1931 The Artist’s Daughter, Sofia Yevgenievna Pestel Lithograph on paper, 30 x 23 cm Zavolokina Collection, Moscow
Provenance Illustrated The Zavolokina Collection, Moscow ‘Monuments of Culture’, Moscow 2004, page 362
6 7 GEORGY RUBLEV 1902-1975
Demonstration, 1932 Anti-capitalist picture Eastern Figure, 1932 Tempera on paper, 30 x 38 cm Tempera on paper, 45 x 37 cm
Provenance Provenance The Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin The Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin
8 9 GEORGY RUBLEV 1902-1975
Unemployment, 1932 Train and new construction, 1932 Anti-capitalist picture Tempera on paper, 31 x 45 cm Tempera on paper, 31 x 38 cm
Provenance Provenance The Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin The Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin
10 11 ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952
Electrician, 1927 Study for the painting, (State Russian Museum), Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 cm Lady with a pushchair, 1927 Study for the painting, (State Russian Museum) Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 cm Provenance The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg Provenance The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg Exhibited Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow, Exhibited ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 183 Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 182 Illustrated Illustrated Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow, ‘Time to Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 183, page 247 Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 182, page 247 ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no. 56 ‘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 ‘Russian works on paper 1890-1930’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2011
12 13 ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952
Chocolate, 1927 Study for a poster for the State Food Trust Study for a children’s game with a windmill and a factory, 1930 Watercolour on paper, 21 x 30 cm Watercolour on paper, 22 x 35 cm
Provenance Provenance The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg
Bibliography Bibliography ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006 ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006
14 15 ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952 ALEXANDER SEMYONOV
Study for a bookshop window, 1930 Watercolour on paper, 22 x 28 cm
Provenance Couple on a bench, 1920’s The Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg Pencil on paper, 18 x 15 cm.
Bibliography Provenance ‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006 The Zavolokina Collection, Moscow
16 17 ALEXANDER SHUROV MIKHAIL SOKOLOV 1885-1947
Portrait of a Lady in a black dress, 1930’s Watercolour and mixed media on paper, 41 x 30 cm By the Kremlin Wall. Alexander Gardens, Moscow, 1922 Watercolour on paper, 26 x 35 cm Provenance The Zavolokina Collection, Moscow Provenance Illustrated The Zavolokina Collection, Moscow ‘Russian Line’, Sotheby’s, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow March 2012
18 19 EKATERINA ZERNOVA 1900-1992
ROSKA, 1929 Roska’s dogs, 1929 Swallow and Swifts, 1929
Katya and Vari’s bathtime, 1929 Nastiya’s Doll, 1929 Katya and Masha, 1929 ROSKA, 1929 Cover illustration for L.N. Tolstoy’s Watercolour, gouache, whitening, pencil and collage on paper, 24 x 20 cm
Provenance The Artist, Moscow Thence by descent
Illustrated A. Alenova, ‘Ekaterina Zernova.’, Konstanta Publishers, Moscow 2000, page 43 N. Shantyko, ‘E.S. Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1962, page 10 R. Zherdeva, ‘Ekaterina Sergeevna Zernova 85 years’, page 30
Bibliography I. N. Voekova, ‘Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federation. Ekaterina Sergeevna Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1989 N. Shantyko, ‘E.S. Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1962 Roska’s puppies, 1929
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