Lot 31: Alexandr Victorovich Moravov (Russian, 1878-1951) 'At the watering place'

'At the watering place'
signed in Cyrillic (lower left)
oil on canvas
97 x 87cm (38 3/16 x 34 1/4in).

PROVENANCE:
Formerly in the collection of Antonin Hrabe, Prague
Private collection, Prague

EXHIBITED:
XXXIX Peredvizhnaia vystavka, Moscow 26.XII.1910 – 6.II.1911, St. Petersburg 16.II.1911 – 17.VI.1911. no. 75

LITERATURE:
Iskry, the illustrated art and literary weekly supplement to Russkoie Slovo, Moscow, No. 1, 2 January 1911, p 4-5, illustrated
Grosberg Oskar, Die Ausstellung der Wanderer. St. Petersburger Zeitung, 1911, 26 Feb., no. 57
G. Burova, O. Gaponova, V. Rumiantseva, Tovarishchestvo peredvizhnyh hudozhestvennyh vystavok, chast' 2, Obzory vystavok v periodicheskoi pechati, Iskusstvo, Moscow, 1959, pp. 308, 309
G. B. Romanov, Tovarishchestvo peredvizhnyh hudozhestvennyh vystavok 1871-1923, Encyclopaedia. St. Petersburg, 2003, p. 367

Sold with a certificate of authenticity from V. A. Petrov, dated 14 March, 2009.

Aleksandr Moravov was a painter of genre scenes and life in the Russian countryside. His favourite subjects were old people and children, and he always depicted the latter as radiating with special warmth and tenderness. In this respect, his works can be compared to the paintings of another famous Russian artist Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky, a friend and a colleague of Moravov. At the watering place, which can be dated to 1910, belongs to one of the most mature and prolific periods of the artist's career. Influenced by his trip to Europe, the artist was interested in working en plein air, painting figures within a landscape, with air and light. He lived and worked with other artists, graduates of the Moscow School of Fine and Plastic Arts, in an art colony in the Udomelsky district of Tver region. Here the artists spent most of their time painting in the open air and they were very interested in the life of local people. 'Moravov and Bogdanov-Belsky loved to talk to people. Wherever they appeared with their boxes of paints, they were immediately surrounded by people, old and young alike. A heartfelt conversation would start' (from the memoirs of Elena Alekseevna Belianitsky-Birulia).

This sincerity and kindness spilled over into Moravov's works. At the watering place was painted with great feeling and mastery and it radiates with serenity and a quiet happiness. The focus is on the grandfather and his grandson seated on a horse. Calm confidence and wisdom emanates from the old man who holds his grandson with great care. One can feel the child's joyful curiosity, mixed with a hint of fear from sitting so high upon the horse, maybe even for the first time. The boy is excited but relaxed, feeling safe and supported by the large and strong hands of his grandfather. The same tranquillity is present in the horses, quietly drinking the water. The background of the painting does not detract from the main scene because houses nestle in the upper right corner, brightly lit by the red and golden glow of the last rays of the waning sun.

At the watering place was exhibited in 1910-1911 at the annual exhibition of the Peredvizhniki Society and was highly praised by contemporary critics. The work was originally in the collection of Antonin Hrabe, the owner of a framing and gilding business in Moscow at the turn of the XIX century. This collection, assembled during 40 years spent in Moscow, was taken to Prague in 1918.