PETR PETROVICH KONCHALOVSKY | The Church of Saints Boris and Gleb in Novgorod

A gift from the artist to Vasily Dmitrievich Tikhomirov (1876-1956), Moscow
Lydia Vladimirovna Tikhomirova, the widow of the above
Thence by descent to her granddaughter, Lydia Olegovna Abrikosova, Moscow
A gift to the present owner

Moscow, Tsvetkov Gallery, Tretya vystavka kartin i risunkov P.P. Konchalovskogo, 1926, no.27
Harbin, Tokyo and Aomori, Peredvizhnaya vystavka sovetskogo iskusstva v Yaponii, June 1926 - November 1927 

Exhibition catalogue Tretya vystavka kartin i risunkov P.P. Konchalovskogo, Moscow: Khudozhestvennyi otdel Glavnauki, 1926, no.27 listed as Boris i Gleb
Konchalovsky. Khudozhestvennoe nasledie, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1964, p.111 listed as zhi 453

The canvas has been strip-lined and the tacking edges have been covered with wooden strips. There are two very minor dents to the sky below the tree in the lower left quadrant. There are areas of craquelure in places, notably to the white impasto in the centre right and along the edges. Inspection under UV light reveals retouching to all four edges, to the sky in the top right as well as further scattered retouching elsewhere. The painting has been cleaned recently and is ready to hang. Held in a gold painted wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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The Church of Saints Boris and Gleb in Novgorod was painted during Konchalovsky's first visit to Veliky Novgorod in 1925, as part of a series of views of Novgorod's medieval monasteries. Over the previous year or so Konchalovsky had participated in the Venice Biennale and held a solo exhibition in Paris, and had taken the opportunity to travel in Italy, France and England with his family. 'It became clear that we knew Europe inside out but we did not know our own frescoes', his wife recalled. 'As soon as Petr Petrovich came back we set out to Veliky Novgorod. We spent three consecutive summers near Novgorod, on Lake Ilmen and the Antoniev Monastery. It was an important period for Petr Petrovich, as far as his art was concerned. He gave so much of his creative powers to Novgorod's wonderful architecture and the surrounding nature...' (quoted in Unknown Konchalovsky, Moscow, p.113).

The original owner of The Church of Saints Boris and Gleb in Novgorod, Vasily Dmitrievich Tikhomirov, was an old friend of Konchalovsky's and an influential ballet dancer and choreographer. The head of the Bolshoi from 1924 to 1937, he is widely credited with preserving its vigorous classical technique after the Revolution. His most distinguished production is The Red Poppy (1927), the first Soviet ballet with a modern revolutionary theme. According to Tikhomirov's granddaughter, Lydia Abrikosova, from 1936 onward the picture hung in Tikhomirov's study alongside other works from his collection including paintings by Vasily Polenov.