Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin

Exhibition Catalogue Exhibition of Russian Art, Stockholm: Swedish Art Association, 1919, No.26, listed p.12

Ornate, refined and full of restrained sensuality, Korovin's female portraits of the 1910s are among his most appealing paintings, in particular those from his rare group of works executed in his exuberant Crimean period. Generally depicted in deliberately aestheticised, vivid interiors, with deft impressionistic brushwork he creates a mood of excitement and heightened romance, particularly in those set in the evening.  In Korovin's 'nocturnes' the female figures are often depicted by open windows or doors, the deep blue sky just visible beyond. The darkness of the night is an important element in the colour-schemes of these works, providing a contrast to the warm glow of the artificial light; in the present work, the panes of glass in the doorway provide an important compositional balance to the left-hand mirror.

A lady strumming a guitar is a recurrent theme in his work, the theatrical use of colour acts as a visual embodiment of music. Korovin valued the authenticity of the viewer's immediate impression, and emphasised the accidental quality of this moment in the model's gestures. Although Korovin tried to avoid flamboyance of this kind in his early work, he surrenders to it completely in his more mature works. His art grew more spontaneous, the paint spills out beyond the outlines to create its own harmonies, memorably described by Konstantin Yuon as 'a figurative embodiment of the artist's happiness and his joie de vivre. All the colours in the world beckoned him forward and smiled on him.'