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: Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky, (1868-1945), Country Boys, signed in Cyrillic and dated 1916 l.l., oil on canvas, 153 by 124cm, 60 1/4 by 48 3/4 in., Source: Sotheby’s.

Bogdanov-Belsky’s Best: Pre-revolution

Bogdanov-Belsky’s pre-revolutionary works include some of his most striking canvases, the scale alone often an indication of his artistic confidence. The present lot is an exceptional example of the qualities that mark out these rare, early paintings – tight brushwork, vivid blues and greens, and an impact that would grow gradually more diffuse with the looser strokes and muted palette that appear at times in his later works. Source: Sotheby’s.

Faces Reflect Coming Chaos

In the present lot there is an unmistakable sense of resolve in the boys’ expressions. Their tightly-pursed lips and concentration ground the pair to a pre-Revolutionary epoch: alert in the face of uncertainty rather than the glazed look of Soviet youth.

Source: Sotheby’s.

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Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky, (1868-1945),

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Maurice Denis: September Evening (1891)

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At Sunnyside - Where Truth and Beauty Meet

Screenshot_2018-11-08 Soir de septembre-Maurice Denis-IMG 8192 - Maurice Denis - Wikipedia Maurice Denis, September Evening, (1891), Musée d’Orsay, Maurice Denis CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Who Is Maurice Denis?

Maurice Denis (November 1870 – 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist and writer who was an important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art. He was associated with Les Nabis then the Symbolist movement, and then with a return to neo-classicism. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art. Following the First World War, he founded the Ateliers d’Art Sacré (Workshops of Sacred Art), decorated the interiors of churches, and worked for a revival of religious art. Maurice Denis died November 13, 1943.

10Screenshot_2018-11-08 Soir_de_septembre-Maurice_Denis-IMG_8192 JPG (JPEG Image, 4253 × 2554 pixels) - Scaled (38%) Maurice Denis, September Evening, (1891), Musée d’Orsay, Maurice Denis CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

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Details:

Name: Maurice Denis
Title: September Evening…

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Die Kerzen brennen fröhlich weiter…

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Richly romantic!

Das poetische Zimmer

Giovanni Migliara: Scene veneziana (ca. 1830)

Perücke, Spiegel und Masken

Die Angst geht um in Schön-Venedig,
Denn hübsche Frauen, jung und ledig,
Verschwinden spurlos in der Nacht;
Es trifft nur bessrer Häuser Töchter,
Ein Mörder geht, nur diese möcht er,
Ist bald schon schrecklicher Verdacht.

Man findet lange keine Leichen,
Wie sich die Taten aber gleichen:
Ist immer stiller Mondenschein,
Kein Wind weht her aus der Lagune,
Das Wasser ruht an Pfahl und Buhne,
Die Gondeln schimmern schwarz und fein.

Vergeblich ihre Eltern warnen,
Dass sich die schlimmsten Teufel tarnen,
Auf Bälle gehn die Töchter doch;
Dort steht er, der die Angst verbreitet,
Maskiert und tadellos gekleidet,
Das Haar gepudert noch und noch.

Er schaut sie an und spricht sehr vage
Und tanzen kann er ohne Frage,
Er scheint aus einem noblen Haus,
Ist höflich und auch gut erzogen –
Wie sehr der Anschein doch gelogen,
Er sucht ja schon…

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‘Tales of Old Vienna and Other Prose’ by Adalbert Stifter (GLM VIII)

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Very interesting!

Intermittencies of the Mind

At one point I was seriously considering reading Witiko, Stifter’s six hundred page book set in medieval Bohemia, for this year’s German Literature Month but in the end I plumped for this shorter book, a collection of stories and prose which was published in 2016 by Ariadne Press in California. The contents of Tales of Old Vienna and Other Prose were translated by Alexander Stillmark who also provides an introduction. This collection contains five short stories and four short prose works including a personal account of an eclipse of the sun in 1842. The first story in the collection is The Condor (1839), Stifter’s first published story, which is quite interesting initially but one which soon becomes a pretty standard nineteenth century story of doomed love. The shortest story, at only five pages, is Confidence an entertaining tale of unwitting parricide followed by suicide. But the bulk of the…

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The Oriole-a nature poem by Emily Dickinson

Classics, Literature, Poetry

One of the ones that Midas touched,
Who failed to touch us all,
Was that confiding prodigal,
The blissful oriole.

So drunk, he disavows it
With badinage divine;
So dazzling, we mistake him
For an alighting mine.

A pleader, a dissembler,
An epicure, a thief, —
Betimes an oratorio,
An ecstasy in chief;

The Jesuit of orchards,
He cheats as he enchants
Of an entire attar
For his decamping wants.

The splendor of a Burmah,
The meteor of birds,
Departing like a pageant
Of ballads and of bards.

I never thought that Jason sought
For any golden fleece;
But then I am a rural man,
With thoughts that make for peace.

But if there were a Jason,
Tradition suffer me
Behold his lost emolument
Upon the apple-tree.

Some beautiful lines in this poem and I find myself wondering about what sort of mine might be “lighted”. Also, verse 4 which puzzles me but I find entirely beautiful too.

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky: The Schoolgirl

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Charming portrait!

At Sunnyside - Where Truth and Beauty Meet

bogdanov-belsky, nikolai petrov children sotheby's l18112lot9rzccen Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky (1868-1945), The Schoolgirl, , signed in in Cyrillic l.l., oil on canvas, 158 by 119cm, 62 1/2 by 46 3/4 in., Image source: Sotheby’s.

Successful Exhibition 1917-1918

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky showed his paintings, including The Schoolgirl, at the 46^th Itinerant Exhibition in 1917-1918, which was a time of great social and political upheaval. According to Sotheby’s catalogue, the success was surprising:

Against all odds the show was a great success:

‘We assumed that during the revolutionary events people would be indifferent to art and that we would struggle to sell anything. Fortunately, we were wrong… our exhibition was well-attended and many of the works sold. […] Connoisseurs flocked to the venue, so much so that the exhibition administrator could hardly keep up with the purchases, and all this despite the high prices.’ (quoted in V.Vegenov, ‘N.P. Bogdanov-Belsky u «peredvizhnikov»’, Russkii vestnik, no.13 (79), 1943, p.4).

13bogdanov-belsky, nikolai petrov children sotheby's l18112lot9rzccen Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky, The Schoolgirl, (1868-1945), signed in in Cyrillic l.l., oil on canvas, 158…

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