Genre
Russian Paintings and oil sketches
Paintings bought directly from the artists by London dealer, John Barkes.
The artists are professional painters and members of a Union of Artists. Many are represented in Russian museums and, since the Gorbachev reforms of the 1980s, their paintings are increasingly seen in galleries in the U.K., Europe, America and, most recently, China. Among them are many artists who trained and taught at St Petersburg's prestigious Repin Academy, a school which produces graduates renowned for the depth of their draftsmanship and brilliant attention to detail and colour. Russian art has well and truly jumped the Iron Curtain and provides a vigorous secondary market for collectors.
Some highlights below include works by Vladimir Yarkin, who visited Australia in the 70s while travelling with an Antarctic expedition. Many of his paintings are in the Naval Museum in St. Petersburg. Petr Smukrovich, Victor Otiev and Vera Nazina all celebrate the variety of Russian life from their bright beach scenes to the beauty of the spring thaw.
Oil sketches are often more attractive than other, more formal pieces. The artist can show a freedom of expression and creativity that is sometimes lacking in a final work.
Vladimir Yarkin
Nude in a Red Bedroom 1990
Oil on canvas
80 x 98.5 cm
$8,500
Valentina Kharaborina
By the Seaside – the fisheries in Kertch, on the eastern tip of Crimea
Oil on board
46.5 x 68.2 cm
$2,800
Valentina Kharaborina
Women Sorting Tobacco
Bakhchiserai, the old capital of the Crimean Tartars
Oil on board
45.2 x 34.5 cm
$1,850
Aba Masovich Kor
Park 1975
Oil on canvas
41.5 x 55 cm
Yuri Karpov
Yacht off the Jetty 1965
Oil on card
33 x 45.5 cm
$2,400
Rotislav Vorkushevski
Yachts 1989
Oil on canvas
50 x 90 cm
$2,800
Antonia Dolinina
Going to Work 1963
Oil on board
21.5 x 46 cm
$1,850
