Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné

Tatyana Baranov-Rossiné, the artist's daughter
Private Collection, Moscow

London, Rutland Gallery, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné Retrospective exhibition, 1970, no.51
Paris, Museé National d'Art Moderne, Baranoff-Rossiné, 1972-1973, p.10, no.20, ill.
Paris, Galerie Verneuil Saints Pères, Baranoff-Rossiné, 1984, p.24, no.20, ill.

Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné. The Artist of the Russian Avant-Garde, St Petersburg, Palace editions, 2007, ill. p.70

Structural Condition The canvas has been lined onto a new stretcher and this is ensuring an even and secure structural support. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and only very small retouchings are visible under ultra-violet light. The most significant of these are: 1) very small scattered retouchings in the upper left and lower left of the background, and 2) a very small spot on the table and another amongst the still life. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Begun the year Baranov-Rossiné arrived Paris, Still Life with Shell isolates perhaps the most enduring strand in the complex artistic amalgam of his oeuvre, that of Fauvism and Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). The post-impressionist's work was introduced to Baranov-Rossiné through Ivan Morozov's collection and reproductions in The World of Art and Golden Fleece magazines encountered whilst studying at the Odessa School of Art. Preferring the Nabis and Fauves to the Cubists, Morozov had bought Cézanne's work extensively so the range of his work that could be seen in Russia during Baranov-Rossiné's student years was extraordinary, from the shimmering blue landscapes to the dancing patterns of his still lifes.

In Cézanne's famous Still Life with Black Clock (c.1870), a conch provides a natural foil to the synthetic components. Conversely, in the offered lot each element is integrated: the shell's organic irregularity mimicked in the table cloth and the surrounding elements balanced, the plants interwoven, fruit balanced, tables coupled - harmonies which extend to the palette. The suffusion of pinks and the arc of warm yellow in the present composition is are very unlike the dark, strident colours he recently employed in Norway, and resonate more closely with those praised by Gorelin, 'His works are real, light-blue, pearly dreams. Like music they cannot be described' (Gorelin quoted in Baranov-Rossiné, The Artist of Russian Avant-Garde, St Petersburg, Palace Editions, 2007, p.157).  According to Kandinsky's theories on colour and music expressed in Über das Geistige in der Kunst, a work which fascinated Baranov-Rossiné throughout the 1910s and stimulated his own ideas about polychromatic painting, the palette of Still Life with a Shell corresponds to the tune of flute and 'deep woodwind'. 'Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul' (the artist quoted in Baranov-Rossiné, The Artist of Russian Avant-Garde, St Petersburg, Palace Editions, 2007, p.38).

Immersed in the world of La Ruche and Académie Russe and omnivorous in his tastes, Baranov-Rossiné's early French period (1910-1914) encompasses an extraordinary array of artistic movements. Still Life with Shell is a stunning piece from this important formative period.