Dimitry Kouznetsoff - 200 X 106 Hst 1893

Naked back woman (1893).

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left “Dimitry Kouznetsoff. 93”.

L. 200 cm x H 106 cm. Very good condition (cleaned, restored by one of our workshops) -

On the back of the Hardy Alan buffer frame (Famous canvas restorer, supplier of fine canvases and colors, at 56 rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris).

Provenance: Collection of the Russian singer and dancer Maria Nikolaevna Kouznetsova (1880-1966), niece of the artist.

Kept since in his descendants. -

His apartment-studio, located at 6 rue Aumont-Thiéville has remained in the family since the death of the artist in 1924 -

Certificate of authenticity established by these descendants

The museum of Stepanovka their family property houses works by the Kouznetsoff brothers -

Property that has become an intellectual circle frequented and quoted by Tchaikovsky, Repin, Parsnip....

http://odessaart.org.ua/Stepanovka/

What do we see? the incredible audacity of the landscape format chosen; a radical nature of the subject - A whole muted and tenuous palette of taupe, ochre, pearly shades to evoke the body, the soft and supple skin tones -

Splendid body, relaxed, extended full size, to caress the eyes - There is no need to emphasize the incredible pleasure what must Dimitry Kouznetsoff have felt, painting the harmonious curves of this woman - On the right a curious bird with a long neck observes the languid body -

The viewer watched?

I sincerely believe that the painting is as much made by the viewer as by the artist... Duchamps

Nikolai Dmitrievich Kouznetsov and Dimitry Dimitrievich Kouznetsoff were born in the village of Stepanovka into a family of large landowners and soldiers, in the region of 'Odessa - From 1871 to 1876 he studied at the natural department of the faculty of mathematics of the Novorossiysk University of Odessa then he became a member of TYURH (The Association of Russian Artists of the South) and participated in numerous exhibitions from 1891 to 1903. In the 1890s, he moved to Paris where he exhibited at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts in 1891 and 1893 at the Palais des Champs Élysées.

The production of Dimitry is less known than that of his brother Nikolai - Wrongly because the evocative force of these paintings remains much higher - Nicolaï is a force of nature inclined to extremes while Dimitry remains a cerebral endowed with a palette of nuances deaf in these works - There are artists more inclined to work than to make themselves known -

For our painting he uses contrasts in a subtle way, the background treated energetically with great brush strokes brings out this languid body which is his endowed with fine nuances and incredible glazes -

Dimitry lived in Paris where he had a workshop and must have been under the influence of some European masters during these trips - The two brothers were part of the famous movement of itinerant people who advocated a move away from academicism, a sharing of knowledge as well as a return to a form of naturalism -
Nikolai, back in Russia, opened a museum in his property with his collection where he d was thinking of painting lessons - Some of Dimitry's paintings are Salon paintings, exhibited at "La Nationale" (Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts), perfectly finished and of breathtaking size. His apartment-workshop, located at 6 rue Aumont-Thiéville has remained in the family since the artist's death in 1924 and has undergone almost no structural transformation. Most of these paintings were hitherto still hung on the walls of the studio. Their last exhibition was at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1895 and 1898.