Petr Petrovich Konchalovsky

Moscow, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Vystavka proizvedennii P.P. Konchalovskovo, April 1922, no.162
Paris, Chambre Syndicale de la Curiosité et des Beaux-Arts, Exposition Pierre Kontchalovsky, March 1925, no.21

Exhibition catalogue, Vystavka proizvedennii P.P. Konchalovskov, Moscow: The State Tretyakov Gallery, 1922, no.162 listed as Dubi osenyu
P.Muratova, Zhivopis Konchalovskogo, Moscow: Tvorchestvo, 1923, p.62 illustrated
Exhibition catalogue Exposition Pierre Kontchalovsky, Paris: Chambre Syndicale de la curiosité et des Beaux-Arts, 1925, no.21 listed as Chênes en automne
Konchalovsky. Khudozhestvennoe nasledie, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1964, p.105 listed as zhi 321

The canvas has been striplined and extended on the right hand side. There are areas of paint shrinkage and craquelure in places, notably to the upper left and right areas. There are some minor areas of abrasion on the left edge. UV light reveals some minor retouching to the sky and in a few places Held in a simple gold painted wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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Between 1920 and 1923, the oak trees of Abramtsevo feature heavily in Konchalovsky’s work with at least eight canvases on this theme recorded. Still Life with Oak Branch (1921) shows his interest in studying the texture and colour of the leaves even more closely in his studio. The strength of what could be loosely termed a series lies in his Cézannesque, wonderfully expressive brushwork. The canopies are loosely defined with great blocks of colour with a muscular approach that suits the subject. In his introductory text for the 1925 exhibition catalogue, Anatole de Monzie describes the beauty of these landscapes: ‘Oh! Konchalovsky's trees, so green, so coarse, so magnificently rooted, they appear as symbols of this virile Russia, of its perennial people’.