Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossine

The family of the artist 
Sotheby's New York, Impressionist and Modern Art, Part II, 13 November 1996, lot 286

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Baranoff-Rossiné, 12 December 1972 - 29 January 1973, no.9
Paris, Galerie Verneuil Saints-Pères, Baranoff-Rossiné, 1984, no.19
Saint Petersburg, State Russian Museum, Baranov-Rossine, 4 April - 3 June 2002
Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery, Baranoff-Rossine, 21 June - 20 July 2002
Moscow, Department of Private Collections of the State Museum Pushkin, Baranov-Rossine, 2 October - 25 November 2007
Saint Petersburg, State Russian Museum, Baranov-Rossine, 19 December 2007 - 30 March 2008

Exhibition catalogue, Baranov-Rossine, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Trilistnik, 2002, illustrated p.54, no 36
A.Sarabianov, Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, Moscow, Trilistnik, 2002, illustrated p.45
Exhibition catalogue, Vladimir Baranov-Rossine, Khudozhnik russkogo avangarda, The State Russian Museum, Palace Editions, Saint Petersburg, 2007, illustrated p.73

Structural Condition The canvas has been lined onto a new keyed wooden stretcher and has what would appear to be a canvas join which is approximately 60 cm up from the lower horizontal turnover edge. The canvas join is slightly raised but stable and secure. Paint Surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light is rather inconclusive due to the nature of the varnish layers but would suggest that retouchings have been applied around the outer edges of the composition particularly on the two vertical and the lower horizontal edges. If these are retouchings, rather than artist's changes, they would appear to be excessive having been applied with a free hand stretching for as much as 10 cm into the composition. There are traces of an earlier smaller turnover edge, approximately 3.5 cm in width, suggesting that perhaps the canvas was unstretched and extended at some stage to incorporate the turnover edges into the main body of the painting. There would also appear to be retouchings along the horizontal canvas join. There may be other retouchings which are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. There is one very small crack in the lower left corner. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good condition although it should be noted that the turnover edges may have been repainted by another hand at a later date.
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A masterpiece from a key period of Baranov-Rossiné's career, Girl with a Doll was painted soon after the young artist's arrival in France in the autumn of 1910 and is a stunning example of the small group of works which brought him immediately to the forefront of the Russian émigré artistic community. The positive response to his painting was such that Baranov-Rossiné was very soon exhibiting alongside fellow Russian artists such as Natan Altman and Channa Orlova at the Salon d'automne to tremendous critical acclaim.

The energy of contemporary Paris art seemed to transfer directly onto Baranov-Rossiné's canvases: Matisse, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Picasso all inform his distinctive approach to Modernism, with the influence of Cézanne felt most strongly of all. Indeed, the style developed by Baranov-Rossiné during this all-important first French period from 1910 to 1914, is often described as 'Cézanne-influenced Cubism'. The direct parallels in terms of composition between the present painting and Cézanne's Fillette à la poupée (fig.1, 1902-1904) provides a fascinating example of the several levels of dialogue between the two artists. It also underscores Baranov-Rossine's brilliant assimilation of Cézannesque use of reflected light, dynamic brushwork and chiaroscuro.

Baranov-Rossiné's intellectual approach to painting was in no small degree influenced by his formative relationship with Robert and Sonia Delaunay. Girl with a Doll is closely related to their conception of Orphism, an extension of an earlier theory of Simultaneism which united colour, movement, and light. 'Movement is determined by asymmetrical correlations and contrasts of colours' wrote Delaunay. Baranov-Rossiné claimed that he was working in this style before it even had a name.

The large dimensions of Girl with a Doll are typical of his work from this period. Another major feature of his style was an ability to find the middle ground between a flat decorative background and a more three-dimensional rendering of forms. His fan-like treatment of ornament, and the inner movement of objects from dark to light is highly distinctive and reappears in other Cubist works, together with a generous roundness and fleshy substance to forms.

At the same time, Girl with a Doll is a deeply psychological portrait and a beautiful study of reverie: the young subject's introspective gaze barely takes in the doll on her lap. The motif of the doll is an important and recurrent one in the iconography of the Russian avant-garde for whom it came to become much more than a toy, symbolising rather a memory of the old rites, perpetuation of family happiness and maternal instincts. It is a subject in its own right in another superb 1911 canvas by Baranov-Rossiné (fig.2), and it would later be used by his compatriot in Paris, Marie Vassilieff, another key proponent of Orphism whose simplified designs, flat perspective and oversized figures find parallels in Baranov-Rossiné's oeuvre  (fig.4, circa 1920).

This contemplative female sitter is the subject of an earlier portrait by Baranov-Rossiné, La Cousine (fig.3, 1910). In both works, the sitter's self-absorbed, enigmatic expression draws in the spectator. In Girl with a Doll her settled features form the still focus of a dynamic, almost turbulent composition, while the greens and blues remind us of the equally important influence of Van Gogh and Gauguin on these extraordinary and impressive portraits of his early career.