Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov

Acquired from the artist's studio in 1968

D.Sarabyanov, Pavel Kuznetsov, Leningrad: Iskusstvo, 1975, p.364, no.581 listed; p.365 illustrated b/w

Original canvas which is buckling slightly in the upper left corner. The canvas is covered in a layer of surface dirt. There are frame abrasions with associated paint loss and stretcher bar marks along all edges. There is an area of paint loss to the center of the bottom edge. There is a small area of paint loss underneath the vase on the left hand side. There is craquelure throughout which is slightly raised in places. Inspection under UV light does not reveal any obvious signs of restoration. Held in a modern gold-painted frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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Pavel Kuznetsov painted Still Life with Flowers and Fruit in 1936 most likely at his dacha in Kratovo, near Moscow, which he and his wife acquired the previous year. There, the artist worked mostly in his vegetable garden and the light in the present still life suggest that it was one of these works painted en plein air.

Still Life with Flowers and Fruit belongs to the group of the so-called 'domestic paintings' executed at Kratovo and largely kept in Kuznetsov's studio until his death in 1968 (P.Stupples, Pavel Kuznetsov: His Life and Art, Cambridge, 1989, p.298).  It was acquired from widow soon after. According to Sarabyanov, the initials in the lower left were added by Bebutova (D.Sarabyanov, Pavel Kuznetsov, Leningrad, 1975, p.364).