Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné, 1888-1944

St. Petersburg: Stroganov School, Venok-stefanos, 1908, No. 171

Paris: Galérie Art Vivant, Rétrospective Baranoff-Rossiné, 1954, No. 6

London: Rutland Gallery, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, November 1970, Cat. No. 12, (illustrated)

Paris: Musée National d’Art Moderne, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, 12^th December 1972– 29^th January 1973, No. 4

Berlin: Galerie Brusberg, Baranoff-Rossiné, August 1983, No. 1036

Venice: Palazzo Grassi, Futurismo & Futuristi, 4^th May 1983-12^th October 1986, Cat. p. 28 (illustrated)

Saint-Paul-de-Vence: Fondation Maeght, L’Art en Mouvement, 4^th July-15^th October 1992, Cat. No. 68 (illustrated)

A.D.Sarabianov, Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, Moscow: Treffoil Press, 2002, p.25 (illustrated)

This work is number 49 in the family inventory.

Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné studied in the Odessa Art School, which was classed amongst the most progressive in Russia at the time. Magazines such as The World of Art and The Golden Fleece introduced students to the work of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne. The influence of Western Impressionism is clearly evident in the pointillist technique employed in this composition and the frenzied application of paint, reminiscent of works by Vincent Van Gogh (see Fig.1).

The great sense of movement created by the strong diagonals radiating from the setting sun infuses this iconic image of the artist’s homeland with a unique dynamism and vibrancy. In this remarkable painting from 1907, Baranov-Rossiné hints at Futurist tendencies in visual art long before the movement was formally introduced to Russia in 1912. No doubt, this resulted from Baranoff-Rossiné’s close friendship with Burliuk family, who founded the first Futurist union, Hylea, after a region in the Tauride Peninsula. Both Vladimir and David Burliuk submitted works to the Moscow Venok-Stefanos show with Baranov-Rossiné in 1907/8.

Above all, the striking palette of pinks, reds and lilacs display the passion for colour which underlies Baranov-Rossiné’s oeuvre as a whole.

The same combination of lines and colour can be seen in Sunrise, a work from 1908-9 and of the same dimensions as the offered lot (Fig 2). When these works were first exhibited, Baranov, as he was then known, immediately caught the attention of the critics, who heralded the birth of a new movement in art,

‘the main representatives seem bent on […] pursuing technical goals […] to stylise colours, to find a new, more expressive and nervous brush’ (A.Timofeev, Rull, 18^th January 1908, No. 8).

Sunrise was described as […] a wonderful example of a newer Impressionist Pointillism. [Baranov] achieves the reproduction of ether and of the eternal movement of air by means of a specific technique: painting with dots and strokes’ (North Western Voice, Vilno, 12^th January 1910, No. 1249)

Stifled by the persecution of minorities in Russia, he moved to the more culturally liberal Paris, and began to sign his works Baranov-Rossiné for the first time. A key member of La Ruche (The Beehive) along with other artists such as Chagall, Kandinsky and Jawlensky, his style developed along the Cubist line, but retained the elements of colour and movement which can be traced back to Sunset on the Dniepr.

His desire to stay at the forefront of theoretical developments in the arts motivated him to remain in Paris during the Nazi occupation. This proved to be a fatal decision. He was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz, where he perished in 1944.