Petr Petrovich Konchalovsky, 1876-1956

Property from the family of  the artist

Third Solo Exhibition, Moscow, 1926, No.15

K.V. Frolova (Ed.), Konchalovsky: The Artistic Legacy, Iskusstvo, Moscow, 1964, p.109, No. 530 (illustrated)
V.A.Nikol'sky, Petr Petrovich Konchalovsky, Vsekokhudozhnik: Moscow, 1936, p.12 included in the list of works from 1924 titled Mys, San Angelo 

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Italy has always been a source of artistic inspiration for Petr Konchalovsky, testimony to which lies in his numerous canvases depicting views of Italian cities and countryside. In 1924, the year San Angelo was created, Konchalovsky travelled to Italy with his family, and participated in the XIV International Art Exhibition in Venice. He visited, among other places, the small fishing village of San Angelo in the south of the country. Konchalovsky later wrote that after the tumult of war and revolution, the Italian landscape was akin to a spiritual awakening. In contrast to his earlier landscapes, which were characterised by bold brushstrokes, used to emphasise the denseness of forms and rich colours, the works from his Italian period demonstrate the virtuosity of a master. In San Angelo  "the painterly surface is ordered and orchestrated by the artful sure hand of a seasoned master" (Ya. Tugenhold, Exhibit of Paintings. Notes on Modern Painting, Moscow 1987, p.190). The composition, colour palette and steady manner of the brushwork, combine to create a harmonious and coherent whole, so different from the raw and unfinished canvases of his earlier oeuvre, but nevertheless preserving that unique sense of internal motion, energy and life so integral to Konchalovsky's painting.