Alexander Alexandrovich Deineka

A gift from the artist to Iosif Serebryannyi, Leningrad, 1957
A gift from the above to Evgenia Blagoveshchenskaya, Leningrad, 1969
Collection of A.Tolokonnikov, Leningrad, 1973-1994
Private collection, Moscow
Acquired from the above by the present owner

The work is reproduced in colour on a postcard as part of a set published by Aurora in Leningrad, 1984

Original canvas. The surface of the canvas is unvarnished but clean, with only a few minor flecks of surface dirt in places. There are pinholes in a few places including the top right corner above the rooftops; to the lower right corner above the signature and in the central right area on the spit of sand. Three larger, overpainted pinholes are visible at even intervals along the top edge. There are some minor frame abrasions to the left edge. There is another very minor fleck of paint loss to the cream dash of paint in the lower left. Inspection under UV light reveals no apparent signs of retouching. Held in a simple gold-painted frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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Deineka’s reverence for the concept of ‘a sound mind in a sound body’ was a constant in both his life and work. In his paintings, sculptures and mosaics he revelled in depicting young Soviet citizens at work or engaged in sports. In his autobiographical essay, Deineka stated: ‘My happiness is not complete unless I see, on the wide expanses of the earth’s fields, in the underground and in the sky, the sunburnt youth with their tenacity, youthful enthusiasm and dynamic movement’ (cited in V.Sysoev, Alexander Deyneka, Leninigrad: Aurora, 1971, p.21).

Painted in 1954, In the Donbass is without doubt the most quintessential work by the artist ever to appear at auction. Deineka first turned to the subject of life in the Crimea and the Donbass, a centre of mining and heavy industry, in the 1930s, often depicting young workers at leisure. Showing two teenage boys playing in the water, the present painting is closely related to Deineka’s Lunch Break in the Donbass from 1935 (fig.2), one of the artist’s best-known works which was widely exhibited in both the Soviet Union and abroad. The composition, with its high horizon line and sunburnt bathers in the foreground, references the earlier work, while the motif of the coal train crossing a dam can also be found in Midday dating from 1932 (State Russian Museum).

In the Donbass was given by Deineka to Iosif Serebryannyi (1907-1979), an artist from Leningrad, in 1957. Serebryannyi subsequently gave the painting to Evgenia Blagoveshchenskaya (1899–1973), another Leningrad artist who had studied under Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin in the 1920s. According to a letter written shortly before her death in 1973, she received the work on the occasion of her 70th birthday in 1969. In the letter she recalls that this painting was exhibited alongside her own work at one of the spring exhibitions at the museum of the Academy of the Arts in Leningrad. The present lot was published as a postcard by Aurora in 1984 alongside other well-known works by the artist (fig.3).