Konchalovskiy Pyotr

Peonies and fir branches 71,2x87 cm, oil on canvas, 1943

The name of Peter Konchalovskiy (1876-1956) is one of the central in the art of the XX century.

Konchalovskiy was born in Slovyansk, Kharkiv province. When the artist was still a child, the Konchalovsky family settled in Moscow. P. Konchalovskiy’s father was engaged in literary and publishing activities and was acquainted with many famous masters of Russian culture. V. Serov and M. Vrubel often visited the Konchalovskiys’ house.

The center of artists became close and desirable for the inquisitive boy. Already in high school Peter Konchalovsky attended evening drawing classes of the Stroganov school. In 1896-1898 P. Konchalovsky studied in Paris at the Academy of R. Julien. His mentors were Academician J. Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurent. Returning to his homeland in 1899, he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts with V. Savinsky, G. Zaleman and P. Kovalevsky.

In 1903 he created the painting “In the North. Fishermen by the Sea”, for which the Academy Council later awarded Konchalovsky the title of artist. Konchalovsky was one of the founders of the Society “Jack of Diamonds”, the first exhibition of which opened in Moscow in December 1910. The association lasted until 1917. Its purpose was to “disseminate modern concepts in the fine arts.” The founding members of this society were: P.P. Konchalovsky, OV Kuprin, II Mashkov and VV Christmas.

According to the artist himself: “All of us were united then by the need to attack the old painting. I wanted to paint, approaching the style of medieval frescoes, mentioned Giotto, Castagno, Orcan and other masters. It was a kind of storm for us” and pressure, “as in the speech of the Romantics. We believed that a sharply made topic would still be sharp, no matter how it was in reality.”

PP was elected Chairman of the Board. Konchalovsky (later replaced by A. Kuprin). However, in the end P. Konchalovsky departed from the ideas of the Russian avant-garde and began to criticize the sharp manner of painting inherent in Fauvist artists.

After the October Revolution, the artist’s desire to see and recreate new places on the canvas became even more palpable. Picturesque series appear after Konchalovsky’s new trips to the West and in his native country.

The painter admired the work of P. Cézanne, felt a strong attraction to European art. He was also strongly influenced by his father-in-law, the artist VI Surikov, with whom he went to study in Spain, they later worked throughout Europe. His still lifes, often made in a style close to analytical cubism and Fauvism, were very successful.

In 1931 Konchalovsky went to Leningrad, where he created a series of landscapes. Then he visited Ryazan, soon began to paint landscapes of Moscow and Moscow region.

The heyday of still life in Soviet painting is directly related to the name of Konchalovskiy. There is a very obvious turning point in the artist’s work: the desire for a more realistic image of nature. At this time, still lifes began to occupy a special place in Konchalovskiy’s work.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the artist and his family remained in Moscow. Since November 1941, he has created a large number of still lifes. With paintings of this period, the artist seems to summarize his creative experience.

Still lifes by P. Konchalovsky in the 1930s are marked by new features. In them, the artist strives for a more realistic image of nature. The presented still life, of course, continues a series of works “after the tambourine period” PP Konchalovsky.

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