Nikolai Konstantinovich Kalmakov

Private Collection, France
Acquired from the above by the present owner

St Petersburg, State Russian Museum, A Time to Gather: Russian Art from Foreign Private Collections, 11 June - 9 September, 2008.

Exhibition catalogue A Time to Gather: Russian Art from Foreign Private Collections, St Petersburg: Palace Editions, 2008, p. 143, ill. 96

The sheet appears sound the work is in good overall condition. The colours appear fresh. Held in a painted wooden frame and under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Nikolai Kalmakov could be described as the Russian Vermeer, not in terms of his painting style—although like Vermeer, he has a distinctive and highly characteristic type of light in his works—but as an artist whose life is shrouded in mystery and whose oeuvre was rediscovered and recognised only after his death. After a promising start to his career in pre-Revolutionary Petersburg, and actively participating in several exhibitions shortly after his emigration to France, Kalmakov led an increasingly impoverished and isolated existence and eventually died in complete oblivion. Even today, many facets of his biography remain unclear, and numerous works are lost or unknown, which makes those that do survive particularly intriguing.

Intense eroticism and lush pattern, as well as themes of eternal love and self-love are invariably present in his paintings. The offered lot is an unusually serene piece among his works, a contrast made especially clear by an earlier version of the same subject, a tondo from 1917 (fig.1). Both depict Endymion, a beautiful shepherd of Greek legend, whom the moon goddess Selene (Artemis) loved and visited in the cave on Mount Latmos as he lay in eternal slumber. The tondo burns with overt sensuality conveyed by its fiery colours, bold animal patterns and Endymion's alluring pose, as he is swept up by a female goddess—either Selene or Hera, whom, according to some myths, Endymion was said to have seduced and for which Zeus punished him with eternal sleep. Although the dog and patterned cloak figure in both works, the 1928 version is much calmer, not simply compositionally but also in terms of its palette of cool silver-blues. Endymion's tranquil pose is finely detailed and reflects a pictorial surface that is harmonious and self-contained. The moon has just risen to visit her beloved and a mood of wistful, romantic love permeates the work, whereas the 1917 version, more archetypal for the artist, is suffused with lust and depicts the female figure as sorceress manipulating the defenceless sleeping youth. Although, in this choice of subject, Kalmakov was following in the footsteps of earlier symbolist painters such as George Frederic Watts, his particularly self-referential visual language makes both works highly unusual and seductive.

We are grateful to Anna Winestein, Director of the Ballets Russes Cultural Partnership, and Doctoral Candidate at Oxford University, for providing this note.