Village Home 1957
Oil on card 11.5 x 17 cm Signed Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio.....
At the end of the Soviet system the professional artists were left high and dry. They were given ownership of their apartments, and were left with the contents of their studios, a lifetime of paintings.
Apart from the unsold finished paintings, the studios were full of preparatory sketches. These immediate impressions of life by these highly trained artists were a revelation.
The finished, exhibited works had to be idealized to conform to Stalin's definition of Socialist Realism and, or all except a very few artists, this process took away all the spontaneity so apparent in the preparatory works.
www.leningradschool.com has a chronology of the Artists' Union of St Petersburg, with many of our aritsts prominent in the annual listing of exhibitions.
extract "Art in Russia" Letter from John Barkes, 2011
illustrated
Valeri Roslyakov Loading Nickel Ore, Yenisei River 1973
Oil on card 11.5 x 17 cm Signed Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio.....
Oil on panel25.5 x 36.5 cmSigned; also signed, titled and dated on reverseProvenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist.....
Oil on card15 x 13 cmSigned on reverseProvenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist’s studio, St. Petersburg
Provenance: John Barkes, bought from the artist Oil on card, 15 x 36 cm, Signed and dated on reverse
Oil on board 38 x 36 cm The Red Skirt 1960 Oil on board 38 x 36 cm Signed; also.....
Oil on card 35 x 25 cm Signed; also signed, titled and dated on reverse John Barkes, London, bought from.....
Oil on canvas 45 x 34 cm Signed and dated on reverse
Oil on card 24.5 x 35.5 cm Signed on reverse; also signed by the artist’s nephew, Yevgeny Bortnichuk, on reverse Provenance: Estate of.....
Oil on board 39 x 20 cm Signed; also signed and dated on reverse Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist.....
Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio, St. Petersburg; Private collection, Canberra; Bridget McDonnell Gallery.....
Oil on board 50 x 35 cm Signed
Oil on card 29.5 x 24 cm Signed, dated and titled on reverse
Gouache and pastel on paper 21 x 36 cm Signed and dated Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's.....
Oil on board32.5 x 47.5 cmSigned; also signed and titled on reverseProvenance: John Barkes, London$1,850
Oil on paper 18 x 24.2 cm Signed and dated on reverse Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's.....
Provenance: Bought from the artist’s studio St Petersburg 1998; John Barkes, London Pastel 28 x 36 cm Signed and dated.....
Oil on canvas 17 x 31 cm Signed on reverse Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist's family in the artist's.....
Oil on board50 x 70 cm Signed and titled on reverse Provenance: The artist’s studio until September 2006$1,500
Oil on board 34 x 49 cm Signed and dated on reverse Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the.....
Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio, St. Petersburg Oil on card22 x 35.5 cmSigned; Signed.....
Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio, St.Petersburg Oil on card 24.5 x 33.5 cm Signed and.....
Oil on card 30.2 x 22.5 cm Signed Provenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio, St.Petersburg
Oil on board25 x 24 cmProvenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist in the artist's studio, St. PetersburgExhibited: Four.....
Oil on board 48 x 34 cmSigned; also signed and dated on reverseProvenance: John Barkes, London, bought from the artist.....