Russian Pictures

Russian Pictures

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Mikhail Nikolaevich Yakovlev

Moscow in December

Auction Closed

December 1, 03:47 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Mikhail Nikolaevich Yakovlev

1880 - 1942

Moscow in December


incised with the artist's signature in Cyrillic and the date Moskva-dekabr' 6.1913 l.r.; further signed and inscribed in Latin and Cyrillic and dated on the reverse

oil on canvas

Canvas: 69 by 77cm, 27¼ by 30¼in.

Framed: 80 by 88.5cm, 31½ by 34¾in.

Private Collection, The Netherlands
Sotheby's London, Russian Pictures, Icons and Russian Works of Art, 15th February 1984, lot 71
Private collection, United States

Katalog XI vystavki kartin Soyuza russkikh khudozhnikov, Moscow, 1913, no.448 or 449 listed

Katalog XI vystavki kartin Soyuza russkikh khudozhnikov, St Petersburg, 1914, p.25, no.397 or 398 listed

Katalog XI vystavki kartin Soyuza russkikh khudozhnikov, Kazan, 1914, p.12, no.126 listed

Exhibition catalogue Exposition d'art russe ancien et moderne, Brussels, 1928, p.74, no.734 listed as Moscou sous la neige

Exhibition catalogue Velika izlozba ruske umetnosti, Belgrade, 1930, p.14, no.15

Exhibition catalogue M.N. Yakovlev, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1941, p.11 illustrated b/w; p.24 listed

Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazan, XI Vystavka kartin Soyuza russkikh khudozhnikov, 1913-1914, no.448 or 449, no.397 or 398, no.126 respectively

The Hague, Tentoonstelling van Russische Kunstschilders, January-February 1924, no.238

Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Exposition d'art russe ancien et moderne, May-June 1928

Belgrade, Velika izlozba ruske umetnosti, 1930, no.194

Moscow, Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists of the USSR, Mikhail Nikolaevich Yakovlev, 1941, no.17

Best remembered as a landscape artist (and as the grandfather of nonconformist Vladimir Yakovlev), Mikhail Yakovlev also worked as an illustrator and theatre artist. In 1911 he was invited to work at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre by the other great Russian Impressionist Konstantin Korovin. His understanding of theatre and theatricality is evident in the composition of the present lot, with the Kremlin and Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge forming the backdrop against which the activity of the bustling embankments play out and there is a related succinctness of style.


Yakovlev’s Impressionist roots are evident in the emphasis he places on colour, not line, to build the composition and convey atmosphere. His economy of palette and brushwork is masterful. The colour scheme of red, blue, gold, black and white is both strictly limited but also serves as short-hand for Moscow. With the most cursory brushwork he succeeds in portraying the majesty and permanence of the city’s architecture as well as the changing light effects from the bright December sun struggling through the heavy clouds as it plays on the Moskva River and dirty snow of the streets. It is this lightness of touch and deceptive simplicity that make Moscow in December so successful.