Mikhail Fedorovich Larionov

Rosa Ginzburg-Ginossar, Paris, circa 1934
Thence by descent

W. George, Larionov, Lausanne, 1966, p. 115, illustrated

This picture is painted on a rough piece of linen which in turn has been mounted onto board. The linen appears to have been folded horizontally prior to the painting being painted, or at least very shortly after. With this horizontal crease although it is slightly visible, the paint seems to conform to the ridge which suggests that the ridge existed when the picture was painted. On the extreme right and left sides very small additions have been added and similarly glued to the board on which the painting is mounted. It seems that these additions may well be original although they have received some retouches over the years. The same paint which is found in the picture proper can also be found in places on these extensions, therefore giving us confidence to say that these additions are original. 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."

In 1928 the Russian art scholar and writer Nikolai Punin commented that for Larionov, "Impressionism was not so much a method or a style, but a real-life form of perception: he did not paint like an Impressionist; that was how he saw." Larionov's hometown, Tiraspol, was a constant source of inspiration throughout the artist's career. During the 1900s he regularly summered there, working directly from nature and painting a number of his best Impressionist canvases.

This beautiful still life is characterized by its elevated perspective, contemplative mood and delicate palette, imparting Larionov's ability to create color harmonies in a free and loose manner and evoke a sense of rich luminosity. The sunlight pours through the flower blossoms, dappling the cloth drapery around the jugs to create an Impressionistic shimmer that causes the individual objects to disappear, their forms fragmented into a multitude of brushstrokes. Larionov's ability to find the unusual in mundane objects is epitomized in this painting; two simple jugs of flowers are transformed into vibrant fountains of color and light.

Waldemar George, who published this work in 1966, believed it to have been painted in 1898, though it also bears similarities with Larionov's easel painting from Paris in the 1920s, when he predated several works to his Russian period.