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Dimensions: 38 1/4 by 51in.
97.1 by 129.5cm
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Provenance: Mr. Alexander Blinkin
Sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 6, 1979, lot 11, illustrated
Mr. Paul Cantor
Sale, Sotheby's London, May 23, 1990, lot 206, illustrated
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Exhibited: Possibly, Leningrad, Scientific Research Museum of the Academy of the Arts U.S.S.R., 1964-1965
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Literature: Apollon, no. 3, March, 1915, p. 2, under List of works by K.S. Petrov-Vodkin as Chaos
V.I. Kostin, K.S. Petrov-Vodkin, Moscow, 1966
N. L. Adaskina, "The First Parisian Picture by K.S. Petrov-Vodkin: The Definition of the Picture Chaos," in Expertise and Attribution for Fine Art, Magnum Ars Corporation, Moscow, 1998, pp. 102-105
L.I. Gladkova, "Several Periods in Painting Chaos by K.S. Petrov-Vodkin: By the Results of Technical and Technological Research," in Expertise and Attribution for Fine Art, Magnum Ars Corporation, Moscow, 1998, pp. 106-108, illustrated
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Notes: Petrov-Vodkin arrived in Paris in May of 1906, and this composition counts among his first works of that year. Preparatory sketches for this composition may be found in RGALY, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, as well as in the Russian Museum. Chaos illustrates Petrov-Vodkin's interest in the Symbolist aesthetic. The emphasis on simplified forms and complicated foreshortening creates a wholly evocative and psychological impact, and the muted palette reveals Petrov-Vodkin's innovative and untraditional approach to color, greatly inspired by the art of French artist Puvis de Chavannes. Between 1906-1908, the two years Petrov-Vodkin spent in Paris, he produced over 900 paintings and drawings. He studied in the Academy Colarossi, where he tirelessly sketched and perfected the human body, "there was no pose of the human body," claimed Petrov-Vodkin, "that I did not draw in my albums." (as quoted in Tamara Machmut-Jhasi, The Art of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, 1878-1939, Ph.D. diss, Indiana University, 1995).
Drawings for Chaos (see figs. 2 & 3) reveal Petrov-Vodkin's methodical approach to the composition and suggest the complexity of the work. Aquarelle no. 10, (fig. 2) dated 1906 and numbered N 40 clearly maps out the spatial motif for the final composition. N. L. Adaskuna points out in her article devoted to this painting's rediscovery within Petrov-Vodkin's oeuvre, that the palette of the watercolor is muted, a proclivity that can be associated with the Symbolist work of Puvis de Chavannes . The delicate twirling figure is portrayed in pale blue; the ball above his head, green and the coiling snake demarcated in charcoal. Although these soft tones turn metallic in the large-scale oil, Petrov-Vodkin nevertheless remains true to a pared down palette of green-grey and silver tonality. In 1936, Petrov-Vodkin wrote about Puvis de Chavannes' influence as well as his own preference for "dull color," "evading both the Louvre and the latest trends," Petrov-Vodkin claimed, "I stealthily admired Puvis de Chavannes. The grey mother-of-pearl color scheme of his Poor Fishermen reminded me of Serov, whose influence I was under."
The second drawing related to Chaos from the collection of the Russian Museum, was produced while Petrov-Vodkin studied in the Academy Colarossi. The charcoal drawing is inscribed album 1906, no. 28, drawing for the first painting in Paris Chaos 1906 (see fig. 3). The model's volumetric, compact, strained pose takes on monumental proportions in the final composition where the elastic figure contorts weightlessly in space.
The sparse palette, the daring spatial configuration and perspective in Chaos already indicates at this early date, Petrov-Vodkin's unique poetic vision. Above all, the emotional poignancy of the work, the vertiginous coiling of the snake and the intensity of the hovering figure sustains a frenetic energy and movement which challenges the viewer. Petrov-Vodkin strongly believed that "the viewer must be given the possibility of participating with you in the work...If you lead the viewer into the work, then he must complete, think, create; he must be a participant in the work."
This original canvas bore the signature of the artist and the stamp of the Russian Museum, Leningrad on the reverse (please see fig. 1 for the signature and inscription before re-lining). According to the Sotheby's New York 1979 sale entry, a receipt from the Scientific Research Museum of the Academy of the Arts, Leningrad, dated November, 1964 in connection with the loan of the painting for an exhibition was given to the purchaser.
