30 November 2016 Russian Art Auctions
30 November 2016
* 20. VOLKOV, ALEKSANDR (1886-1957)
Uzbek Children in a Yurt, signed, further with a study of a classical bust on the reverse.
Oil on canvas, 33.5 by 52.5 cm (image size).
150,000–200,000 GBP
Executed c. 1928–1929.
Provenance: Collection of Iosif Ezrakh, Leningrad.
With James Butterwick gallery, London.
Private collection, UK.
Exhibited: A Time to Gather... Russian Art from Foreign Private Collections, The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, 14 February–12 May 2008.
Literature: Paintings from Private Collections, 18th to 20th Century, Leningrad/St Petersburg, St Petersburg, Aurora Art Publishers, 1993, p. 203,
No. 262, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, A Time to Gather... Russian Art from Foreign Private Collections,St Petersburg, Palace Editions, 2007, p. 243, pl. 177, illustrated.
Aleksandr Volkov is one of the brilliant representatives of the Eastern avant-garde. His Uzbek images became part of art history for their bold application of the principles of Cubism, Futurism and Suprematism to traditional ethnic genre scenes.
Uzbek Children in a Yurt represents a new phase in the artist’s career, namely, his experiments in figurative art. Volkov’s works from this period are celebrated for their saturated colour and their idiosyncratic stylistic interpretation, which combines the principles of folk primitivism with eastern religious motifs, such as Sufism.
Notes on symbols:
* Indicates 5% Import Duty Charge applies.
Ω Indicates 20% Import Duty Charge applies.
§ Indicates Artist's Resale Right applies.
† Indicates Standard VAT scheme applies, and the rate of 20% VAT will be charged on both hammer price and premium.