Konstantin Ivanovich GORBATOV (Russian, 1876-1945)... Lot 43

Konstantin Ivanovich GORBATOV (Russian, 1876-1945) "Italienische Landschaft", 1927. Canvas signed and dated 1927. View of Capri through vine trellises. H. 57, W. 66,5 cm. (small jump of painting). Provenance : collection Pierre and Jocelyne Noury, Rennes,. Born in 1876 in the Volga region, Gorbatov studied painting in Saint Petersburg and then in Riga. In 1904 he was admitted to the department of architecture at the Academy of Arts, a further recognition for the man who became a licensed painter, a scholarship holder and finally a gold medalist at the Munich International Exhibition. His success enabled him to move to Rome as a boarder at the academy. There he met the writer Gorky, founder of socialist realism and thinker of Bolshevism. Gorky invited him to Capri, where they formed a circle of intellectuals with Brodsky. Gorbatov's works are among his most appreciated, multiplying points of view. The red villa in the Capri marina can be seen in several lightly dipped paintings. Our painting can be compared to a painting sold at Sotheby's (26/11/2013 London, n°429) with the difference that ours has a tighter plan of the marina. Moreover, the interest in vine arbors, typical of Capriote patios, can be found in other paintings (Sotheby's, 05/11/2008, NY, n°258; Sotheby's, 10/06/2009, London, n°373). The great success of his painting among German collectors may explain the title in Germanic language, and the signature where the double "f" replaces the "v" of his surname, a witness to a period transcription of Cyrillic. Our Italian landscape through the vine arbors is emblematic of its most prized period. An idyllic view in the Russian post-impressionist style, his painting emancipated itself from the social realism of his friends, a Bolshevism that would lead Gorbatov to ruin a few years later.