Lot 126: ALEXANDER VOLKOV

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, WISCONSIN

UZBEK, 1886 - 1957
BOYS WITH QUAIL

measurements
36 1/2 by 36 1/2 in.

alternate measurements
92.7 by 92.7 cm

signed in Cyrillic and dated 1927 (lower left); also signed and inscribed in Cyrillic, numbered N32 and dated 1927 (on the reverse)

oil on canvas mounted on board

PROVENANCE

Henry L. Carlsruh & Co., Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Contemporary Russian Art, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Private collection (acquired directly from the above)

EXHIBITED

Milwaukee, Contemporary Russian Art, no. 145, p. 14, illustrated (titled Boys from River Crossing)

NOTE

By the 1920's Alexander Volkov had integrated what he learned from Matisse and Cézanne with his own style and had returned to more figurative work. Volkov harmonized the influences of Cézanne and the Cubists, combining flat patterns and color with elements of Central Asian painting. Combining the short, visible brushstrokes and geometric patterns of the Cubists with these 'foreign' scenes, Volkov found new subjects, much as Matisse had done in Morocco.

The present work dates to 1927, it mirrors an earlier series of paintings completed by the artist in 1918--20, entitled Eastern Primitive. Volkov's subject matter in this series was the rich culture and daily lives of the Uzbek people. The Uzbek tea ritual, cotton harvesters, even workers in a field became subjects for Volkov's work in which he celebrated the Uzbeki identity. Volkov taught at the Tashkent Art School for thirty years, where he continued to paint scenes of Central Asia.