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ON THE ESTATE (V USADBE)

ON THE ESTATE (V USADBE)

80.5 by 102.5cm., 34¾ by 40in.

Signed in Cyrillic l.l. and dated 1915; further dedicated to the artist's wife: To my dear friend Irina Kazimirovna Voitskhovskaya

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

The Collection of the Artist, 1915-1924;
Private Collection, USA;
Gordon V. Kofski Gallery, New York;
The collection of the Rt. Rev. R. C. Hunsicker, Minister of Trinity Church, New York City, from 1968

EXHIBITED

New York, Grand Central Palace, Exhibition of Russian Art, March-April 1924, No. 5;
Parke Bernet - Tiffany's, 24-28 September 1946, possibly No. 844 titled The Interior

LITERATURE

Perezvoni, Riga, 1925, No.1, illustrated p.7

NOTE

On the Estate was last seen in public at the Russian Art Exhibition in New York in 1924, and was only known to scholars from a black and white reproduction in the Latvian art journal Perezvoni of the following year. The reappearance here of one of Vinogradov's masterpieces is a significant addition to our knowledge of the history of Russian Impressionism.

Sergei Vinogradov belonged to a generation of artists who upheld the best traditions of the Wanderers' movement, carrying them through into the revival of a national Russian art which took place at the turn of the twentieth century. His friendship and advice to the great Moscow collectors, particularly the Morozov brothers, played an important role not only in the formation of their collections but also clearly had an effect on his own work.

The theme of the quintessential Russian country estate occupies a significant place in Vinogradov's oeuvre. Following the dissolution of the World of Art group in the 1910s, it became the symbol of a national but particularly Muscovite culture for many artists. On the Estate is one of the finest amongst twenty interior and exterior views of 'Golovinka' in the Tula region, the estate of Vinogradov's friend Vsevolod Mamontov, son of the famous merchant and great art patron Savva Mamontov. Vinogradov spent many summers there during the early 1900s when he painted these works, the majority of which entered important museum collections during the artist's lifetime.

"How inspiring sweet Golovinka was! How I wanted to convey in my paintings her poetry and joy. [...] I painted many, many things there. The joy of working was close to happiness. And it was impossible for me not to love her, this native beauty. [...] Now this is all in the past." S.Vinogradov, Moscow of the Past: Memoirs

Vinogradov's works from this period depict a peaceful and nostalgic world. They convey the joys and pleasures of man's interaction with his surrounding environment. His quick, painterly strokes create a light and airy atmosphere typical of the plein air sketching technique he employed to capture the changeable qualities of natural light. Above all, On the Estate confirms Vinogradov's distinction as a supreme colourist, through the skilful use of complementary opposites to convey the contrast between the intense yellows of the oppressive heat outdoors and the cool blues of the interior. A contemporary critic commented of his works,

"So blue is the summer sky and so intense the golden sun, glittering on the painted floor and through the window pane with such bright, joyful highlights that the impression of summer created is deceptively real".

The feeling of spaciousness is enhanced through the inclusion of windows and mirrors, suggesting a vista stretching far beyond the edges of the canvas. The cropped view makes for a very intimate composition highly reminiscent of seventeenth century Dutch interiors, not only in the feeling that the onlooker is intruding into this private world, but also in the great sensitivity to the effects of light and colour (fig 4).

This masterful painting combines elements recognisable from his best known works (figs. 1,2), including perhaps Vinogradov's most famous model, Mamontov's granddaughter, Galina who appears in most of his interior views from this time (fig. 3).

Despite these recognisable features, Vinogradov chose to title the majority of his interior scenes simply 'In the House' or 'v dome', a conscious move away from the specific context to a more general impression of the domestic interior as witness to family life both past and present.

The offered lot is a more complete version of Na balkone from 1901 exhibited at the 29^th Wanderers' Exhibition. The fact that Vinogradov chose to take this particular work from 1915 to New York for exhibition is an indication of the importance he accorded the painting and how he felt it to represent his oeuvre as a whole (Fig.5).

For a description of the 1924 Russian Art Exhibition in New York, see Sergei Vinogradov: Memoirs, compiled by Nina Lapidus, Riga, 2001, pp189-194.