Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev

Collection of S.A.Beilitz, Paris
Bonhams London, Russian Sale, 28 November 2012, lot 56 

Leningrad, Posmertnaya vystavka proizvedenii B.M. Kustodieva, 1928, no.745

Krasnaya panorama, 24 June 1927, no.26 illustrated
Exhibition catalogue Posmertnaya vystavka proizvedenii B.M.Kustodieva, 1928, no.745 listed
E.F.Gollerbakh, Grafika B.M.Kustodieva, Moscow and Leningrad, 1929, p.58
M.G.Etkind, Boris Kustodiev, St Petersburg and Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1960, p.209
M.G.Etkind, Boris Kustodiev, Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1982, p.387, no.2781

The sheet has discoloured, in particular along the edges. There is some wear to the corners and edges. There are two minor scratches to the right edge which have discoloured. There is a tiny hole to the lower one of these scratches. There are remains of hinging tape at the top and bottom edges on the reverse. The sheet is attached to the mount at the top edge. Held in a silver painted wooden frame behind glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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Illustrated in Krasnaya panorama on 24 June 1927, the present view of Moscow was the last work Kustodiev painted before his death on 26 May that year. No doubt it was in tribute to the passing of one of Russia’s greatest graphic artists that the editor chose to illustrate this image for the June edition of the magazine. Kustodiev’s unfailingly bright view of Russian life remained undimmed despite the illness that left him severely disabled from 1916 onwards. Optimistic, romantic and highly decorative, this sunny landscape is a superb example of what might be termed the ‘Soviet lubok’, a new concept of folk painting with which Kustodiev experimented towards the end of his life.

The present lot was formerly in the collection of Simon Alekseevich Beilitz, one of the most prominent post-war collectors of Russian art in Paris. Beilitz enjoyed privileged contact with art historians, critics and Russian museums and is one of the few figures living outside the Soviet Union to be mentioned by both Fedorov-Davydov and Grabar in their monographs on 19^th century artists. On the Riverbank (Spring) is recorded as being part of Beilitz’s collection in Etkind’s comprehensive 1982 catalogue of Kustodiev’s work.