Lot 92
- 92
Konstantin Andreevich Somov
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Konstantin Andreevich Somov
- Paysannes russes
- signed in Cyrillic and dated 1928 l.r.; further signed, inscribed and bearing various exhibition labels on the backing board
- watercolour heightened with white over pencil on paper
- 28 by 22cm, 11 by 8 3/4 in.
Provenance
Collection of A.A.Popoff, Paris
Sotheby's London, The Russian Sale, 14-15 December 1995, lot 274
Sotheby's London, The Russian Sale, 14-15 December 1995, lot 274
Exhibited
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Exposition d'Art Russe Ancien et Moderne, April-June 1928
Copenhagen, Russisk Maleriudstilling, 7-20 February 1929, no.106
Belgrade, Velika izlozba ruske umetnosti, 1930, no.194
Copenhagen, Russisk Maleriudstilling, 7-20 February 1929, no.106
Belgrade, Velika izlozba ruske umetnosti, 1930, no.194
Literature
Exhibition catalogue Exposition d'Art Russe Ancien et Moderne, Brussels, 1928, p.80, no.871 listed as Paysanne russe dans un paysage
Exhibition catalogue Velika izlozba ruske umetnosti, Belgrade, 1930, p.24, no.194 listed as Dve selyanke
L.Korotkina, Konstantin Andreevich Somov, St Petersburg: Zolotoi vek, 2004, p.94 illustrated; p.256 listed
Exhibition catalogue Velika izlozba ruske umetnosti, Belgrade, 1930, p.24, no.194 listed as Dve selyanke
L.Korotkina, Konstantin Andreevich Somov, St Petersburg: Zolotoi vek, 2004, p.94 illustrated; p.256 listed
Catalogue Note
Somov visited France in the summer of 1924 following the closure of the Russian Art exhibition in New York and the relief he felt to be back in Europe is palpable in his letters. He lasted another year in America before returning to settle in Paris in May 1925 where once again he found himself appreciated and able to work.
In early 1928 Somov was busy preparing for the big exhibition of Russian art in Brussels, one of three exhibitions where Paysannes russes was exhibited in the artist's lifetime. Inspired by his evening walks in the Bois de Boulogne, he painted several watercolours depicting scenes in woodland settings at this time. In the present lot however, instead of the fashionably dressed beau-monde of Paris, he depicts two young Russian maidens, their plaited flaxen hair covered by simple headscarves, resting in the sunlight dappled woods by a basket of just-picked fruit.
In early 1928 Somov was busy preparing for the big exhibition of Russian art in Brussels, one of three exhibitions where Paysannes russes was exhibited in the artist's lifetime. Inspired by his evening walks in the Bois de Boulogne, he painted several watercolours depicting scenes in woodland settings at this time. In the present lot however, instead of the fashionably dressed beau-monde of Paris, he depicts two young Russian maidens, their plaited flaxen hair covered by simple headscarves, resting in the sunlight dappled woods by a basket of just-picked fruit.