Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné, 1888-1944

Eugene Baranoff (the artist's son)
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, Russian and European Avant-garde Art and Literature: 1905-1930, 6 November 1979, lot 103
Acquired from the above by the present owner

London, The Rutland Gallery, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné 1888-1942, 1970, no. 24

The Rutland Gallery, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné 1888-1942, London, 1970, illustrated

Watercolour and gouache on paper. The paper is damaged at the upper left corner where a loss has occurred. Held in a modern gold painted wood frame with cloth slip and under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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La maison au bord de la rivière belongs to the artist's first Parisian period, 1910-1914. At this time the French capital dominated as the worldwide centre for the arts and provided an extensive infrastructure for creative activity. In addition to the numerous burgeoning studios and art schools, exhibition spaces and artistic cafés, new magazines were being published on a wide range of themes. Regular meetings were held in private and public spaces, facilitating a vigorous exchange of ideas. Along with many other Russian artists such as Goncharova, Larionov, Archipenko, Soutine, Pougny, and Exter, Baranov-Rossiné ventured to Paris to become a part of this unique and intense creative atmosphere. During these years he was an active participant at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'automne, where a constant struggle between the traditional and avant-garde approaches was taking place.  It was at his very first Parisian exhibition that Vladimir Baranov took the pseudonym Baranov-Rossiné, possibly chosen to resemble Delaunay, the surname of his close friends Sonia and Robert, and thus marking a new period of his life.

During his first stay in Paris Baranov-Rossiné was evidently influenced by such artists as Léger, Delaunay and Picasso but the main source of his inspiration in this period is Paul Cézanne, whose stylistic accomplishments Baranov-Rossiné transformed in a cubist manner. However, tthroughout all his artistic experimentation, Baranov-Rossiné's works always maintain high degree of individuality and have certain recognisable features

 

The present lot features the artist's trademark fan-like treatment of the sky and the treetops. Chamfered shapes coloured with flowing gradients convey a futuristic tone to the otherwise Cézannesque landscape.

In La maison au bord de la rivère, the artist, like many of his contemporaries, turns to the motif of castles and houses which appear in the middle of a deep forest, on a hill or by a lake. The building, suddenly emerging in front of the observer, framed by trees and bounded by water conveys a mystical atmosphere. Arousing the viewer's curiosity in this way, the artist then proceeds to cut them off from the mansion entrance by the strong horizontal lines created by the road, heavy gates and thick shrubbery.