David Petrovich Shterenberg

Acquired directly from the artist in 1978

Moscow, Union of Artists Exhibition Hall, David Shterenberg. Zhivopis', grafika, 1978, titled Yuzhny gorod (from the Gagry. Sukhumi series)
Moscow, David Shterenberg. Zhivopis', grafika, 1991, titled Yuzhny gorod (from the Gagry. Sukhumi series)

Exhibition catalogue David Shterenberg. Zhivopis', grafika, Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1978, p.41 listed under works from 1930 as Yuzhny gorod (from the Gagry. Sukhumi series)
Exhibition catalogue David Shterenberg: Zhivopis', grafika, Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1991, p.136 listed under works from 1930 as Yuzhny gorod (from the Gagry. Sukhumi series)

The sheet has slightly discoloured. There is a very minor crease in the top right corner. There are a few very light flecks of surface dirt in places. Held in a simple black wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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David Shterenberg had a tremendous influence on the artistic development of the young Soviet State on his return to Russia in 1917. He was appointed head of the Fine Art Department (IZO) by the People’s Commissar for Education, Anatoly Lunacharsky, whom he had met in Paris in 1914. Shterenberg reorganised the system for art education and organised exhibitions both within Russia and abroad.

During the 1920s, the function and form of art in Socialist society was a matter of intense debate. Avant-garde artists proclaimed the end of easel painting, while the Artists' Association of Revolutionary Russia saw the future of Socialist art in the tradition of the realism of the Wanderers. Shterenberg, who collaborated with many avant-garde artists, remained firmly committed to artistic experimentation while opposing extremism on both the left and the right. In 1925 he became the head of the newly founded Society of Easel Painters, who embraced the latest trends in art while eschewing abstraction and acknowledging the need to address Socialist themes.

After a crackdown on independent art movements in 1932, graphic art become the main mode of expression for many artists, including Shterenberg. While he was working in a more naturalistic style, he did not abandon all of the techniques characteristic of his earlier work. The perspective chosen for Red Roofs with its high vantage point is reminiscent of his best works, such as the 1917 still life Herrings in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery.