Lot 233: PAUL KOTLAREVSKY

PROPERTY FROM THE FAMILY OF THE ARTIST 1883-1950 VILLAGE IN BRITANNY oil on canvas 40.4 by 46cm, 15 3/4 by 18in.

A lawyer by profession, Kotlarevsky’s real interest lay in painting. After graduating from law school in Russia, Kotlarevsky’s parents sent him abroad to discover Europe’s artistic heritage. Together with his wife and son he visited Rome and Vienna before arriving in Paris in 1913. Here, Kotlarevsky decided to dedicate himself to his passion and enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He especially admired Chagall, Braque and Matisse. Confronted with a new manner of painting, he experimented with various styles during the 1910s, in particular Cubism, which is apparent in the present work. With geometric patches of colour overlaying the elements of the composition, the painting reveals a true chromatic unity, while playing with mass and volume. Depicting a traditional village in Britanny, at the edge of the sea, Kotlarevsky proves he has mastered the modern vocabulary of Cubism. Remaining in the Kotlarevsky family to this date, the present work is thought to have been painted in the mid-1910s.