David Davidovich Burliuk

The artist
Collection of Katherine S. Dreier, New York
Bequeathed to The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1953
Sotheby Parke-Bernet Sale, New York, Important Post War and Contemporary Art, 23 October 1975, lot 287
Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York
Karl & Faber, Munich, Kunst Alter Und Neuer Meister, 5 June 1984, lot 619

New York, Leonard Hutton Galleries, Der Blaue Reiter und sein Kreis, 18 March - 31 May 1977, no.8, incorrectly attributed to Vladimir Burliuk 

Exhibition catalogue Der Blaue Reiter und sein Kreis, New York: Leonard Hutton Galleries, 1977, p.39, no.8 illustrated; p.72 listed incorrectly as a work by Vladimir Burliuk
V.Poliakoff, Khudozhnik David Burliuk, Moscow: Skanrus, 2016, p.133 illustrated

Structural Condition The canvas is unlined on a conventional wooden keyed stretcher which does not have the stretcher keys. These should be replaced. The canvas is stained on the reverse where varnish has permeated through the canvas weave. There are also some traces of blue pigments on the reverse of the canvas. The turnover and tracking edges have been painted white and this white paint covers the tacks on the turnover edges. Paint Surface The paint surface has a fine pattern of drying craquelure which us visible under magnification. The craquelure is entirely stable and not visually distracting. There are also very fine lines of craquelure, which are mostly vertical and are predominately in the darker pigments, most noticeably in the upper left hand corner of the composition. These are again stable and not visually distracting. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows the varnish layers to have discoloured. No retouchings are visible under ultraviolet light. There are two very heavily impastoed areas in the upper left and lower right of the composition both of which are secure and stable. The artist's technique suggests very thin layers of glazing with small amounts of pigments mixed into the varnish layers. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition.
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The present work is illustrated on a postcard published by Marussy Burliuk Gallery in the mid-1960s in which David Burliuk’s signature and the date 1919 are visible in the lower left corner.