Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin

The collection of Pavel Pavlovich Muratov (1881-1950) since the 1910s 

Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. There are some stamps and an inscription on the reverse of the canvas in the lower left, and four minor localised repairs on the right side of the reverse. Paint Surface The paint surface has a relatively even varnish layer. There is a pattern of raised craquelure particularly visible within the blue pigments in the upper left of the composition. There is a small paint loss to the rim of the bowl on the left side, and a horizontal line of paint loss within the blue pigments on the upper left of the bowl. There is also one further small paint loss within the blue/brown pigments in the lower part of the flowers. These areas require localised consolidation, infilling and retouching. Inspection under ultra-violet light does not appear to show evidence of any retouching. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good condition and in order to successfully treat the craquelure and ensure long-term structural stability the painting should ideally be lined, and any minor paint losses can then be infilled and retouched.
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In 1914 Korovin had retreated to his dacha in Gurzuf, ‘where one sees roses on the balcony and the blue sea on waking’, as he wrote in his memoirs. It is in Crimea, where he spends the first years of the War that in order to console himself from family misfortunes and world events he wants to affirm, all notwithstanding, his conception of painting as an expression of the joy of life and creates one of his most famous and delightful subjects – a sketchy still life of roses and fruit.

The presented still life is distinguished by a particular freshness in the rendering of the momentary, immediate perception of nature and pleasures of the Crimean life and has a vibrancy of a plein air oil. The bold brushwork in the lower half and the combination of the lilac paint, pertinent green and bare canvas is particularly characteristic of his work of this period.     

The exceptional provenance of this still life can be traced back to the critic and writer Pavel Pavlovich Muratov (fig.1), one of the pre-eminent Russian art-historians of the Russian ‘Silver age’, who, in his reviews of various Moscow exhibitions in such magazines as Vesy, Zolotoe runo and Apollon, always expressed a high opinion of Korovin’s talent and potential. An acquaintance of almost all leading artists and writers of his day, he was, according to Nina Berberova, 'one of the most remarkable men I have ever met'. It is thought that the present work was a gift of the artist while Muratov was in Crimea during the war and served as an officer in Sevastopol.