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Premium MILLON
97
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Nikolai Petrovich BOGDANOV-BELSKY (Shitiki, 1868 - Berlin, 1…
See original version (French)
97
-
Nikolai Petrovich BOGDANOV-BELSKY (Shitiki, 1868 - Berlin, 1…
See original version (French)
Estimate €15,000 - €20,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Nikolai Petrovich BOGDANOV-BELSKY (Shitiki, 1868 - Berlin, 1945)
The Two Brothers (1934)
Oil on canvas, signed and dated in Latin lower left "Bogdanoff-Belsky 1934". Framed.
H. 66.5 x W. 78.5 cm.
Provenance
French private collection.
History
Nikolaï Petrovitch Bogdanov-Belsky places childhood at the heart of his work, particularly that of the Russian countryside from which he himself came. Trained by Sergei Ratchinski and then in the tradition of the Ambulants, he developed an attentive and direct view of this rural world, favouring scenes of everyday life in which children appear most often in moments of learning, play or sociability. This childhood is generally marked by a certain vitality, sometimes even a form of simple happiness, set in a collective setting.
In this painting from 1934, the approach is more restrained. Two young boys are shown sitting side by side on a plank on a low stone wall. Their bare feet, simple clothes and caps clearly identify them as peasants. The figures are motionless, turned towards an indeterminate horizon, as if absorbed in a form of silent meditation. The landscape, with its cultivated hills, tall grass and heavy sky, extends this impression. Treated in a range of muted tones, dominated by ochres, greens and greys, it envelops the figures without isolating them, contributing to this suspended atmosphere.
This painting belongs to the artist's late period, during which his work tended towards a form of simplification and concentration of the motif. Childhood, a constant subject for Bogdanov-Belsky, loses in animation what it gains in depth: less descriptive, more interiorised, it becomes here a space for silent reflection.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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