Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossine

The family of the artist

A. Sarabianov, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Moscow: Trefoil Press, 2002, p.49, ill.

Original canvas. The colours are fresh and the work is ready to hang. UV light reveals no apparent retouching. Held in a gold painted wooden frame, unexamined out of frame.
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Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, a leading figure of the Russian Avant-Garde and eminent occupant of the Parisian artistic residence La Ruche, arrived in the French capital in 1910. His works from this period reflect diverse artistic influences, from the School of Paris to Russian decorative art. Gleb Pospelov emphasized this inherent fluidity present in his oeuvre: 'Baranov-Rossiné was not only familiar with the emerging styles but also with the individual approaches of artists such as Picasso, Leger, Delaunay and Cézanne.' (Exhibition catalogue, Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, Trefoil, Moscow, 2002, p.8)

Painted in 1910, Lady in a Blue Hat shares similarities with his other early works, and is comparable to celebrated compositions such as Cézanne's 1900 work Woman in Blue (fig.1) or Altman's 1915 Portrait of Anna Akhmatova (fig.2). Baranov-Rossiné compels the viewer to meet the subject's intense gaze. The graduated colour palette within each arc gives depth and volume to the composition and contrasts with traditional linear representations. As Baranov-Rossiné remarked in 1916: '... All colours, whether white, black or red can be transformed by their relationship with the neighbouring colour. When looking at a painting one must be aware of the alterations that can be thus produced. As you can see, I have divided my palette into different sections - green, lilac, blue, red, orange, black, brown and white. This way I am able to obtain the desired effect.' (J.C.Marcadé, Baranov-Rossiné, Tretyakov Gallery, 2002, p.6) The result is a dynamic composition that anticipates the search for a synthesis of colour with movement and music.