VLADIMIR FEDOROVICH STOZHAROV | Bolshaya Pyssa

Acquired by the present owner in 1994

Minneapolis, The Museum of Russian Art, The Road North, 20 February - 28 August 2010
Minneapolis, The Museum of Russian Art, The Art of Collecting, 29 March - 7 September 2014

The board has been attached to a wooden stretcher to provide additional stability. The original support was extended and the joint runs vertically approximately 16cm from the left edge. There are pinholes immediately to the right of this joint. There are minor abrasions and losses along the edges. There are two pinholes in the sky, to the centre and near the left edge. UV light reveals some minor retouching, principally to the edges and uneven varnish patterns in the area of the joint. Held in a painted wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The landscapes, vernacular architecture and the people of rural Russia were major themes in Stozharov’s work. The Russian north in particular was very close to him, and he spent many summers in the Arkhangelsk Region as well as the Komi Republic. Stozharov was particularly drawn to the large village of Bolshaya Pyssa, located on the banks of the Mezen river to the east of Arkhangelsk.

Its tightly-packed wooden houses appear in many of his canvases, and in many ways the juxtaposition of these unforgiving landscapes with meagre signs of human habitation such as smoking chimneys or washing lines came to embody Stozharov’s vision of the north, as seen for example in another large-scale oil painting The Village of Serdla, Komi (1969, The State Tretyakov Gallery).

He typically made numerous plein air studies of the same subject, from different viewpoints and at different times of the day, exploring the effects of the weather in this harsh climate. In this sweeping view of Bolshaya Pyssa, heavy clouds are gathering and choppy waves in the foreground suggest that the wind is picking up. A highly respected and successful artist during his lifetime, many of Stozharov’s best works are in public collections. The appearance of a finished, large-scale work at auction is therefore an exciting opportunity for collectors of Soviet art.