Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné

The Rutland Gallery, London

London, The Rutland Gallery, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné 1888-1942, 1970, no. 49
New Rochelle, Castle Gallery, College of New Rochelle, Russian Avant-garde Art from the Schreiber Collection, September-October 1984, no. 5
Storrs, The William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Russian Avant-garde Art from the Schreiber Collection, January-March 1986

The Rutland Gallery, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné 1888-1942, 1970, illustrated
Jennifer Roth, Russian Avant-garde Art from the Schreiber Collection, New York, 1984, illustrated

This painting is unlined. It may have been re-stretched onto a more contemporary stretcher, but the paint layer is healthy. There is one crease running vertically through the center which suggests that at some point the piece was folded. This could be corrected if the painting were to be carefully lined, but one should be wary of any structural work since the canvas and the paint layer are porous and delicate. The only area where paint loss and retouching have occurred is in the lower portion, particularly in the pink and orange colors in the lower center. There are a few un-restored losses in the green sections which surround the pink and orange colors at lower center. The remainder of the painting is very healthy and surprisingly well preserved. The existing restoration could be re-examined and improved, but the picture is also quite presentable as is. The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
"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."

Baranov-Rossiné's willingness to fill large canvases with color was a constant throughout his famously varying career and is evident in this early piece. The division of color and the synecdoche whereby sections of leaves come to represent the trees intimate his earlier experimentation with pointillism. The amalgam of mandorla-shaped and fan-like forms allows for vibrant interplay between light and shade and the extension of these curves to the sky evokes a landscape wholly composed of foliage. Bold verticals, the sharply defined horizontal of the mid-horizon, and lush blocks of color prevent the composition from becoming indistinct or monotonous.

Given the artistic ferment in Paris in the 1910s and the excitement generated by the new directions being explored by contemporaries such as Chagall, Kandinsky and Delaunay, it is unsurprising that Baranov-Rossiné's Neo-Impressionist phase was only temporary. The charm of this early work, however, is that while the artist openly acknowledges his debt to an established school, this is mediated by an instinctive delight in rhythm and curves that became a hallmark of his later experiments with Delaunay's orphisme and other styles.