Lot 20: ALEKSEY KRAVCHENKO

ALEKSEY KRAVCHENKO 1889 - 1940 INDIAN FAIRYTALE, CIRCA 1920S bears inscription A. Kravchenko (on the reverse) oil on canvas 48 1/2 by 62 1/4 in., 123 by 158 cm

Moscow, USSR Academy of Arts, Aleksey Kravchenko: zhivopis. grafika, January 1973
Moscow, Gallery Nashi Khudozhniki, Aleksey Kravchenko: grani romantizma, April-June 2008
Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery, Aleksey Kravchenko: zhivopis. grafika, September-October 2009

L. Petrova et al., Aleksey Kravchenko: zhivopis. grafika, Moscow, 1973
V.S. Kemenov, Aleksey Kravchenko, Leningrad, 1986, p. 59, illustrated
I. Sapego and N. Kravchenko et al., Aleksey Kravchenko: grani romantizma, Moscow, 2008, cover and p. 41, illustrated
State Tretyakov Gallery, Aleksey Kravchenko: zhivopis. grafika, Moscow, 2009

The artist
Thence by descent

Aleksey Kravchenko's Indian Fairytale is the most important work by the artist ever to appear at auction. This iconic masterpiece definitively speaks to Kravchenko's place in history as one of the most dramatic romantic painters and colorists of his time. Born in 1889 in Saratov, Kravchenko showed incredible artistic talent at a young age and left Russia to study at Simon Hollósy's art school in Munich. He then returned to his homeland to study at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Russian masters such as Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin and Apollinari Vasnetsov, graduating with distinction in 1910. Keen on travelling in order to improve and expand his artistic aesthetic, he left for Italy the same year, intent on investigating the possibilities of large-scale painting and fresco design. It was there that he met the great Ilya Repin. The Russian master was so impressed with the young artist's work that he publicly praised and promoted Kravchenko. Upon the rising artist's return to Russia his works were actively sought after for exhibitions by the Union of Russian Artists, the World of Art movement and the Moscow Artists' Fellowship. A large number of works from this period were purchased by private collectors and now, unfortunately, their whereabouts are unknown.

The St. Petersburg Academy, acknowledging the artist's great talent, invited Kravchenko to travel to India and Sri Lanka with the sculptor Vasily Vatagin in 1913. Both artists were given free transport on a steamship traveling from Odessa to Vladivostok with permission to stop over at any port. This exotic one-year journey marked an important turning point in the artist's career, exposing him to new and wondrous sights, providing a wealth of material for the fantastical images he depicted along the way. Kravchenko found pleasure in all the beauty of the East, writing enthusiastically to his mother about his observations: "All is well in Colombo, though I am only interested in the indigenous part of the city, which is teeming with Hindus in bright, very wild costumes. We have painted there daily, taking in the city, even riding in rickshaws...The heat in Colombo is excruciating, but it is cooler in Paraden, in the mountains. Here, in Paraden...it is difficult to convey all of the amazing natural beauty that surrounds us; there are no words to describe it, no paints to depict it, no mastery of skill that would allow you to perceive it. Huge stars shine so brightly in the night sky, while lightning bugs fly [around us], giving off the same sort of light—wondrous!" (as quoted in Natalia Kravchenko, "Otets" in Aleksey Kravchenko: Grani romantizma, p. 14).

At the outbreak of World War I, Kravchenko returned to Moscow where he sketched war images for newspapers and magazines. Although much of his output was published and his reputation continued to flourish, he found this period creatively stifling, writing to his wife, "I used to think and speak with my paintbrush. Now my wings have been clipped, my arms and legs bound. There is turmoil in my soul, and yet there is no outcry, only terrifying anguish. What abominable oppression over our young and wonderful lives"(ibid., 15).

After the revolution Kravchenko devoted more time to his oils, as well as to sketches, engravings, etchings and aquatints. His unique style was shaped not only by his formal education and travel abroad, but also by the progressive Modernist styles that had emerged in Western Europe. He was particularly drawn to the work of such masters as Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne and Vincent Van Gogh, whose influences are evident in many of his greatest works. At the time, Gauguin's Nave Nave Moe. Sacred Spring; Sweet Dreams(along with many other Post-Impressionist paintings) belonged to Russian collector Ivan Morozov, and Kravchenko surely visited this collection, as well as Sergei Shchukin's collection, in Moscow. Elements from Gaugin's canvases, including his choice of exotic subject—in Gauguin's case, Panamanian and Tahitian natives—and use of pure, bold colors, are reflected and masterfully reinterpreted in Kravchenko's oeuvre. Indian Fairytale, executed after Kravchenko's return from India from sketches he made during the journey, showcases his penchant for depicting the extraordinary. Vivid colors and confident brushstrokes create an exotic mirage, magical and otherwordly in its beauty.