Boris Israilovich Anisfeld, 1879-1973

The Brooklyn Museum. New York et al., The Boris Anisfeld Exhibition (touring), 1918-1920, Cat. No.14
Reinhardt Gallery, The Boris Anisfeld Exhibition, 25 March to 12 April 1924, Cat.No.2
Boston Art Club and Twentieth Century Club, Boston, Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Boris Anisfeld, 10 December 1924 to 3 January 1925, Cat.No.30
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Boris Anisfeld - Fantast-Mystic: Twelve Russia Paintings from the Collection of Joey and Toby Tanenbaum, Cat. No. 7

C.Brinton, The Boris Anisfeld Exhibition, New York, 1918, Cat. No.14 (illustrated)

Boris Anisfeld’s early work coveys the ideology of the Mir iskusstva or World of Art group, a cultural climate prevailing in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, which aimed to endorse art for art’s sake. Artists drew their inspiration from the exotic or fantastic, often conveying a nostalgia for the past.

"Art was seen as a form of mystical experience, a means through which eternal beauty could be expressed and communicated – almost a new kind of religion" (Camilla Gray, The Russian Experiment in Art, 1863-1922, New York, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1970, p.48).

In 1906 Anisfeld exhibited in both the World of Art and Russian art sections of the Salon d’automne in Paris and had the distinction of being elected a Sociétaire of this progressive society. The exhibition provided a crucial venue for artists such as Henri Matisse, Paul Gaugin and André Derain, whose inventive canvases introduced linear composition with rich texture and bold colours. The Fauves, or “wild beasts”, as they were called by art critics, recognised the emotive quality of primary and contrasting colour, which could heighten the expressive content in a picture.

In The Garden of Eden Boris Anisfeld illustrates the temptation of Eve as told in the Old Testament. The serpent, coiled around the tree of knowledge of good and evil on the left, offers Eve a deep red fruit. At her feet, Adam looks up in alarm and seems about to rise and stop her. The real subject of the canvas, however, is the garden itself.

Anisfeld creates a phantasmagorical garden in which animals shift in and out of focus. By giving more emphasis to the garden and its animals than to the humans, Anisfeld echoes sixteenth- century Flemish painters. For example, Adam and Eve in Paradise (fig.1) Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens create a luminous landscape with exotic animals such as parrots and giraffes. Anisfeld’s decorative patterning, however, suggests more modern influences as well. He admired Henri Rousseau’s jungles, and The Garden of Eden can be compared to Rousseau’s The Snake Charmer, 1907, (fig.2).

Anisfeld paints an imagined paradise in which exaggerated lushness, colour and scale, indicate that no ordinary garden is being depicted. The figures and animals are almost indistinguishable from the background, serving as a framework for Anisfeld to explore the power and intensity of the colours he has used. Whilst the subject matter was important to the World of Art project, artists attempted to create an expressive and emotional whole through the combination of eclectic parts. For Anisfeld, it was one of these ‘secondary’ components which was the trigger for his artistic vision.

"I always see a thing first in colour, put down these visions and amplify and intensify the scheme at a later date". (R.J.Mesley, Boris Anisfeld: Fantast-Mystic, 12 Russian Paintings from the Collection of Joey and Toby Tanenbaum, Art Gallery of Ontario, January 1989, p.60)