Alina
Gavrilov, Vladimir Nikolaevich
Moscow 1923 - Kalinin 1970
Alina
Oil on canvas
102 x 177 cm
1965
PROVENANCE:
Collection of the artist
By descent
LITERATURE:
V. N. Gavrilov, Hudozhnik RSFSR, 1989, Leningrad, illustrated p. 133 colour.
Vladimir Gavrilov c 1950
Vladimir Gavrilov is one of the finest masters of the Moscow School, a group of artists who graduated from the Moscow Art Institute and launched their career in the second half of the 1950s. Among them are such well-known figures as G. Korzhev, A. Tkachev, V. Ivanov, V. Stozharov, and I. Popov. This was a tight circle of friends not officially united or under any common agenda, who were taught by the same teachers and were driven by the same desire to capture the beauty of everyday life and discover new artistic methods. ‘Alina’ (1965) is a bright example of the Moscow School of painting and of Gavrilov’s unique genius.
Vladimir Gavrilov graduated from the Moscow State School of Arts in 1956, just over a decade after the end of World War II, which had devastated the country and its people. After years of hardship young artists wanted to celebrate each day of peace and were full of creative energy. This time also coincided with the beginning of Khrushchev’s Thaw, a period of reversal of repression and censorship in the Soviet Union. In many respects there was a renaissance of Russian art, which had from the 1920s been suppressed and reduced to a limited number of themes and artistic methods of the so-called ‘official Soviet art’.
In 1954 the seven-year moratorium on Impressionist and Post-impressionist art in the USSR was lifted not only signaling changes in politics but giving an important opportunity for artists to study the achievements of these important movements first-hand. Museums like the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the State Fine Art Pushkin Museum in Moscow started to exhibit works from the Shchukin and Morozov collections, unavailable for viewing during the Stalin regime. Masterpieces of modern art from these collections certainly were an important source of inspiration for the artists; however Gavrilov also cited Old Masters such as El Greco, Velasquez, Rembrandt as well as several major Russian artists like Surikov, Levitan and Vrubel as his great influences at the time.
As for all Moscow School artists Gavrilov's ambitions were to find his own way in art and from the start of his career he carved out a distinctive style. His works are characterized by thick shimmering layers of paint and wide, seemingly careless brushstrokes. Gavrilov’s preoccupation with color and its effects is evident in all of his works. He once admitted he could spend weeks searching for the perfect combination shades of two neighboring colors, “I am excited by the color, coloring, harmony of colors. There are artists that are interested in line, rhythm, shape. I am enjoying the most the combination of colors and their unique harmony found in nature.” (From the conversation between V. Gavrilov and E. Mozhuhovskaya, p. 96 V. N, Gavrilov, Hudozhnik RSFSR, 1989, Leningrad.)
A good example of his complex colouring, and a much loved painting in Russia, is ‘A Fresh Day’ of 1957 in the Tretyakov Gallery.
In the present work, ‘Alina’, the dark-blue bed cover and the drape on the wall with its contrasting patterns serve as a striking backdrop for the golden shimmer of the model’s body and her rich auburn hair. However the contrast between dark and light tones is never harsh; each small area of the painting is constructed as multiple semi translucent layers of different colors, creating a coherent impression. While at first glance Gavrilov sculpts the model’s body effortlessly with broad, confident strokes one can notice how carefully the artist builds the transition between cold and warm shades of the model’s skin tone.
In ‘Alina’ the artist is trying to get away from traditional nude compositions and to create a relaxed, seemingly spontaneous one. Gavrilov gives viewer a glimpse of his studio with the model on a bed surrounded by two electrical heaters on one side and a canvas on an easel on the other. The model casually sits supporting herself with one hand outstretched and the other resting in her lap. There is nothing artistic in the way she holds herself and Gavrilov even keeps the watch on her wrist as if to highlight that the composition wasn’t staged. Criss-cross and striped patterns of the bed cover and a drape used by Gavrilov convey a musical rhythm to the otherwise calm and balanced composition.
We are grateful for Geli Korzhev for explaining that the woman posing for Gavrilov, ‘Alina’, was a popular model of the time and also posed for Korzhev and Y. Kugach. She is sitting second from the left awaiting the start of the evening in the famous Kugach painting “Village Dance” from the State Tretyakov Gallery.
Nudes are an important theme in Gavrilov’s oeuvre and for most such works the artist worked out individual artistic approaches. It is generally believed that "Alina" was inspired by Matisse's series of nudes from the State Hermitage Museum. Although executed in a different manner, “Alina” mirrors Matisse's the composition of “Femme Nue Assise", similarly seated in a casual cross-legged pose with a detached and neutral expression.
Henri Matisse, ‘Femme nue assise’, oil on canvas, 80 x 52 cm, 1908, Tretyakov Gallery.
‘Alina’ is a rare example of one of Gavrilov’s works of such scale in private hands. Most of the paintings created by the artist within the short span of his career are on permanent exhibition in major Russian museums including the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum. Coming directly from the family of the artist this work is a true masterpiece and a glorious example of the Moscow School.
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We are grateful to Natalia A. Aleksandrova, head of the Russian painting of the 2nd half of the 20th century at the Tretyakov Gallery, for her assistance with this description.
