Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky

Sale: Sotheby's, London, May 1st, 1987, lot 26, illustrated

Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky, born in 1846 in Petrograd, was a member of a group of artists known as Peredvizhniki [Wanderers]. Dissatisfied with the rigid artistic restrictions imposed by the governing Imperial Academy of the Arts, Makovsky was one of a number of artists who broke away from the Academy and focused on creating art fueled by social and political themes, exposing the weaknesses of the government and the unfortunate conditions of the poor.  The Wanderers used art as a form of social commentary and dialogue. In their art they hoped to somehow bridge the gap between Western Russian culture, as brought about by Peter the Great's reforms, and a traditional Russia that, to them, was left behind. Successful mercantile collectors, such as Pavel Tretyakov preferred to collect this type of painting, rather then those more established and more sophisticated European Schools of the time.

The Sermon is a reflection of this focus on traditional Russia and her people, by one of the foremost genre painters of the day. Vladimir Makovsky studied at the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, arriving as an undergraduate in 1861, the year of Vasili Perov’s departure. Like Perov, the father of Russian genre painting, Makovsky was deeply cynical about many aspects of Russian society, but the pessimistic melodrama, which underpinned most of Perov’s works, is generally missing in Makovsky’s art. More of an observer of human life, he recorded contemporary Russian society in a climate of rapid social change, with the early paintings of his career consisting mainly of small works depicting the lives of ordinary people.

The offered lot depicts villagers wearing traditional costumes--the women and girls don colorful cloth dresses and bright red and white head wraps, while the men sport long traditional beards.  The church setting underscores Makovsky's belief that the ``true’’ Russia is found in her traditions, faith and her people.  Like many compositions by Makovsky, a veteran explorer of the social contrasts of Russian art, the figures in The Sermon are carefully defined and individualized.  Makovsky artfully depicts a wide range of reactions: dedicated concentration on the part of the older men, mothers focused on their children, while their children in turn, unfazed by the sermon, look elsewhere, including two impish children in the foreground who directly meet the viewer's gaze.

The Sermon was likely executed during one of Makovsky’s multiple trips to the Ukraine in the 1880s. Enamored by the vivid colors, local costumes and landscape, Makovsky found ample inspiration in Ukrainian daily life. On the eighth exhibition of the Wanderer’s group in 1885, Makovsky presented forty-five works, among which was a painting entitled Sermon in a Village Church. Although the present lot is dated 1888, Makovsky's dedication to this theme is clear. While in the Ukraine the artist stayed with close friend Fiodor Maslov, in the village of Karachenski Uezd of Orlov gubern. Precisely here did Makvosky paint the Moleben during Holy Week, 1887-1888 (fig. 1). The Sermon is an exceptional work from Makovsky’s Ukrainian sojourn, which has proven to be one of the most important series in the development of the artist’s oeuvre.