Konstantin Korovin
(Moscow, 1861 – Paris, 1939)
AU BALCON – CHALIAPIN WITH HIS DAUGTHER
oil on canvas, 54.5x44.5 cm
traces of sign lower right
on the reverse: inscribed with his name in ciryllic
AU BALCON – CHALIAPIN CON LE FIGLIE
olio su tela, cm 54,5x44,5
tracce di firma in basso a destra
al retro: iscrizione del nome in cirillico
Provenance
Collection Elena Kislovskaja
Private collection
Painter and set designer, author of decorative panels and monumental frescoes, he is one of the main interpreters of impressionism in Russian art. He had a very prolific artistic activity, creating a large quantity of studies and sketches. His sketches, which represent Parisian squares and streets, are particularly widespread. From 1875 to 1886 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with V. Perov, A. Savrasov and V. Polenov. In 1882 he attended the Academy. In 1905 he obtained the Academic title. Since 1898 he has been a member of the Abramtsevo circle, of the World of Art group and since 1903 of the Union of Russian Artists. From 1878 he exhibited in various exhibitions, including those of the Society of Amateurs of the Arts, of the Company of Traveling Art Exhibitions (from 1889 to 1899), of the World of Art (1899-1903, 1906, 1921-1922) and others in Russia and abroad (Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, in Munich in 1898, in Vienna in 1902, in Venice in 1907, in Rome in 1911 etc.). Personal exhibitions of the artist were held in Moscow (1922) and Paris (1929). He works in the Caucasus, in the northern part of Russia, in Crimea and in Paris (1899-1900). Since 1885 he has collaborated as a set designer with the theaters of Moscow and St. Petersburg; in 1910 he was chief set designer and consultant painter of the Imperial Theaters in Moscow. Since 1923 he has lived and worked in Paris. The painting presented is a work by Konstantin Korovin (1861–1939), entitled Au Balcon and datable to the 1920s. Although the title is deliberately generic, the work fits within a coherent nucleus of portraits and scenes of private life that the artist created during the period of his intense friendship with the famous singer Feodor Chaliapin. Korovin dedicated numerous paintings to Chaliapin and members of his family, restoring not only their physiognomy, but above all their emotional and daily dimension. Au Balcon belongs precisely to this typology: the singer is depicted next to his daughters, caught in a moment of domestic intimacy that reveals the profound familiarity between painter and subject.