McCarthey Gallery - Monthly Auction
Thomas Kearns McCarthey Gallery

Monthly Auction

January 2013 Monthly Auction


Congratulations to A. Bassenain who, after several bids in the last minutes of the auction, ended up with the winning bid of $3,000 for December's auction painting "Ship in Repair, by Mikhail A. Kamanin, estimated at $4,000- $5,000.

As our silent auction selection for January we are pleased to present this wonderful plein air work "Frosty Evening" by Yuri Aleksandrovich Smirnov, estimated at $3,000- $3,500.

Yuri Alexandrovich Smirnov has captured the Russian countryside in its cold splendor. Painted in a few hours, with the artist bundled up against the cold, the painting grabs the boldness and vitality of Russian plein air painting at its best. The bold brushstrokes and the glint of the cold northern air are caught in a vital way that a studied studio painting cannot exhibit. This painting wonderfully presents a glimpse of the Russian countryside captured through the eye of a very much respected artist. The painting wonderful portrays an unimportant spontaneous moment yet at the same time forever reflecting back from the canvas that fleeting moment.

We invite you to participate in this month's auction and thank everyone who placed bids last month.

Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. The auction will end Thursday January 31st at 9:00 pm.

BID FORM

"Frosty Evening" Yuri Alexandrovich Smirnov  19¾'' x 27½'', (50 x 70 cm) 1968, Oil on Board Estimated Value $3,000 - $3,500, Current Bid $250

"Frosty Evening" ,Yuri Alexandrovich Smirnov
19¾'' x 27½'', (50 x 70 cm) 1968, Oil on Board
Estimated Value $3,000 - $3,500, Current Bid  $2,500, L. Hausbeck

 
Yuri Aleksandrovich Smirnov (Ukrainian), b. 1925

Yuri Aleksandrovich Smirnov was born in 1925 in Kharkov. Special education was received at the Kharkov Art School. After the war, he entered the historical battle facility of the Art Institute. M.G. Deregus and I.I. Kotov were his teachers.

One of his first works is First Steps of Electrification (1918). Thematically, it is connected with our Zaporozhye, with the first steps of the genius Lenin's plan GOERLO on the shores of the grey Dnepr.

Yuri Aleksandrovich created also the gallery of portraits of veterans of the Great Patriotic War in The Hero of the Soviet Union - G.A. Luschenko, The Lieutenant Colonel I.L. Dubovsky and The Hero of the Soviet Union - M.S. Scherbina.

The artist was a participant of creation of dioramas for museums of regional studies in Melitopol and Sumy.
On the diorama Break Through of the Defense Line Votan On the River Molochnaya (1973) in co-authorship with V.V. Porchevsky, L.F. Redin and P.N. Nikiforov, with documentary accuracy, one of the heroic pages of the Great Patriotic War, the break through of the fortified line of Hitlerites in 1943 near Melitopol by the Soviet troops was recreated.

Y.A. Smirnov is a participant of regional, republican art exhibitions and a member of the USSR Union of Artists since 1964.

 

March 2013 Monthly Auction

 

Congratulations to K Ha who placed the winning bid of $2,000 for February's silent auction painting "Portrait of Tanya and Vera", by Piotr Serapionovich Krokholev, estimated at $4,000- $5,000.

As our silent auction selection for March we are pleased to present this wonderful work, "Shadow on the Snow", by Vladimir Viktorovich Filippov, estimated at $3,500-$4,500.

Filippov captures the native Russian countryside with a vivid intimacy that can be captured only by people who love and live close to the land. The light dancing on the snow on "Shadow on the Snow" shows Filippov's high level of skill and his natural talent of capturing the Russian countryside. The shadows and mood in this work accentuate the wonder of this painting, This painting would make an excellent addition to a mature collection or as a great painting to start your collection.

We invite you to participate in this month's auction and thank everyone who placed bids last month.

Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. Theauction will end Sunday, March 31st at 5:00 pm.

BID FORM

1431Vladimir Viktorovich Filippov, "Shadow on the Snow" 
11¾'' x 16½'', 2011, Oil on Board 
Estimated Value, $3,500- $4,500, Winning Bid $2,500 L. Walund

Russia has a long tradition of the great master painters giving apprenticeship to the best of the next generation thereby keeping the venerated Russian tradition of realism alive. That is the case between the Russian master painter Yuri Petrovich Kugach and his student, Vladimir Viktorovich Filippov. They both live and work in the legendary artistic community of Academic Dacha.

About half way between Moscow and St. Petersburg close to Tver, is the small village of "Akademichka" (or in English, "Academic Dacha"). It is about 10 kilometers off the main road, nestled in the Russian forest and graced by the shimmering Lake Mistino. The village has been the spiritual heart of Russian art since the village was founded in 1884. It has been the seasonal home of many of the great Russian artists over the last century and a half. The Academic Dacha initially served as a country refuge for impoverished or ailing artists from the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Overtime, the area increasingly became a favorite with students and professors who came to paint landscapes in the open air. The setting so appealed to artists, that many spent the greater part of their lives there, purchasing small country homes (dachas) nearby. From Repin to Levitan to Kugach and countless other greats, this small village has been painted more and has inspired more great art than any other place in Russia.

Even today, in this idyllic setting, many great artists still call Academic Dacha home. The place has housed the legendary Yuri Petrovich Kugach (who still paints at age 91) since 1951. Over the years, Yuri Petrovich has been a generous mentor to several promising artists. Kugach, who was named one of 'Russia's top twenty artists of the twenty first century' recently introduced us to one of his students. Yuri Petrovich told us that VLADIMIR VIKTOROVICH FILIPPOV was his finest student ever. Kugach told us that Vladimir Viktorovich's soul was imbued with Russia's nature. He said that while you can teach technique, color and composition---an artist's ability to 'feel' the land is unteachable. Kugach said that the instinct of greatness is genetic and that VLADIMIR VIKTOROVICH FILIPPOV has that very rare natural talent.

The Master- Yuri Petrovich Kugach

Yuri Kugach is one of the premier 20th century Russian Realist painters. He is known in Russia and around the world for his paintings of the Russian countryside and his amazing skill of depicting space, form and feeling in his paintings. He received the USSR's highest honors for his work, taught at the renowned Surikov Institute of Art in Moscow, and founded the Moscow River School.

Yuri Kugachs' talents were considered so valuable that, during World War Two, the Soviet government evacuated him and ten other artists to Uzbekistan to escape the Nazi onslaught.

In 1951 Yuri moved to the Tver region-renowned for its scenic countryside-to instruct at the House of Artists of Russia. Themes of nature and village life are a powerful and unifying principle in much Russian art. As avant-garde art began to rise in the estimation of critics, to help preserve the realist tradition.

Vladimir V. Filippov

The Apprentice- Vladimir Viktorovich Filippov

Vladimir V. Filippov was born in 1956 in Vyshniy Volochek. He spent his childhood in Novoye Kotchische Village, where such famous artists as brothers Sergei & Aleksei Tkachev lived. It was also not far from the Academic Dacha named after the great painter Ilya E. Repin. The Academic Dacha is a well-known Art Academy and artist community in Russia, and that creative atmosphere had a great influence on young Vladimir's creative future. Filippov spent long hours visiting artist's in their studios, admiring great artists and their paintings. Since childhood Vladimir's dream was to become an artist.

But at the beginning, Vladimir's way of life was altered from art. Having graduated from the Railway Collage, he enrolled in the Soviet Army. After his demobilization, he entered the Agricultural Academy. However, he never abandoned his dream to become an artist. Vladimir painted his first water-colored still life from nature in the studio of Nikolai A. Sysoev, who was an honored artist of the Soviet Union. He painted with great vigor under Sysoev's direction. Later on in 1970, he became acquainted with Peter I. Strakhov and Peter's wife Lia A. Ostrovaya, who were famous artists in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Peter Straknov made great contributions and progress in Vladimir's creative development. Since 1970, Vladimir Filippov has devoted his life, full time to painting. He has been an enduring participant of all the local and regional exhibitions since 1980.

Since 1990 - Filippov has trained and worked under the Russian Realist masters Yuri P. Kugach (senior) and his son Mikhail Y. Kugach, who is now head of the Kugach Studio and a full member of the Russian Academy of Arts. Also, Vladimir has painted in the company of such wonderful artists as Grigory Chainikov and Andrei Zakharov. These artists' and close friends have played an important role in Vladimir's development as an artist. Filippov is one of the few artists continuing the great tradition of Russian Realistic Art.

Vladimir Filippov is a member of the Union of Russian Artists since 2003. His paintings are exhibited in the Museums of Mogilev and Bobruisk (Republic of Byelorussia), in the Museum of Harbin (China), in many private art collections in Russia, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Romania, Finland, Germany, China, and the USA.

 

 

February 2013 Monthly Auction

Congratulations to L. Hausbeck who placed the winning bid of $2,500 for January's silent auction painting "Frosty Evening" by Yuri A. Smirnov, estimated at $3,000- $3,500.

As our silent auction selection for February we are pleased to present this wonderful work, "Portrait of Tanya and Vera", by Piotr Serapionovich Krokholev, estimated at $4,000- $5,000.

Piotr Serapionovich Krokholev, like all the artists of his generation, was profoundly affected by the Great Patriotic War. The brutal attack on the Motherland that cost the country 20 million lives is the lens through which this generation of Russians sees life. For many artists, this leads to endless battle scenes and artistic documentation of the war. Krokholev takes another track. His response to the horror is just the opposite. Krokholev paints portraits and genre portraits that are full of energy, life and vigor. Krokholov writes in his journals that he paints to show the result of the sacrifice of the great war. He justifies the unimaginable pain. His paintings reflect the reason why everyone fought. The young beneficiaries of this unspeakable experience.

In this painting, "Portrait of Tanya and Vera", Piotr Serapionovich celebrates a simple moment of happiness between two school girls. He rejoices that they can share a giggle from a conversation about a boy or a new dress rather than face the issues he faced in his youth - survival and starvation. His is a message of hope and triumph. Krokholev announces this message with beauty, skill and victory.

We invite you to participate in this month's auction and thank everyone who placed bids last month.

Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. The auction will end Thursday, February 28th at 7:00 pm.

BID FORM

KKW

Piotr Serapionovich Krokholev, "Portrait of Tanya and Vera"
39'' x 31¼'', 1960, Oil on Canvas
Estimated Value, $4,000 - $5,000, Winning Bid, $2,000 K. Ha

Piotr Serapionovich Krokholev, (b. 1919)

Piotr Krokholev, a Minsk painter, Merited Art Worker of the Byelorussian Republic, was born on October 5, 1919 in the District of Shadrinsk of the Kurgan Region (Russia).

In 1933-1937 Krokholev studied at the Pedagogical College in the city of Sverdlovsk where the family moved to. In 1937 he entered the Sverdlovsk Art College and studied there only three years. In 1939 Krokholev was called to serve in the army. Krokholev was a participant of the Great Patriotic War.

On demobilizing, in 1945, Krokholev became a student of the Repin Institute (Leningrad). His teachers at the Institute were V. Oreshnikov, A. Mylnikov, I. Serebrjanny, Y. Neprintsev, B. Fogel. In 1952 he graduated from the Leningrad Repin Institute. "The Arrest of T.G. Shevchenko in 1859" was his graduation work.

Krokholev's creative activity is greatly influenced by the traditions of Russian art and such painters as V. Surkilov, Valendtin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Ilja Repin, Isaak Levitan, Ivan Shishkin, Titian, El Greco, Van Deik and others.

"To paint means for me to portray our Motherland," says Krokholev. Krokholev paints pictures, portraits and landscapes vividly depicting his native land in all its beauty, history and present-day life. Land and its people are the main theme of P. Krokholev's paintings. His Organization of a Collective Farm in 1929 (1957), Land Collectivization (1967, a triptych), First Commune in Byelorussia (1969), Towards New Life (1972) reproduce very well the sweeping changes in the life of the Byelorussian village under collectivization. Former Marches (1958), Having Seen Off Those Leavings for the Front (1968). Before An Operational Sortie (1974) portray the feats of the people in the Great Patriotic War.

A great deal of the artist's pieces are portraits of collective farmers (Portrait of a Collective Farmer [1961], Portrait of a Herdsman [1962], Portrait of a Fishman [1949] and landscapes depicting the beautiful nature of the artist's native land, Early in April [1962], Birch Trees [1963], and Spring Vyacha River [1965]).

Instructor of the Byelorussian Institute of Theatrical Art (Minsk), P. Krokholev devotes much time and energy to educating young artists.

In 1970 Krokholev was awarded the title of the Merited Art Worker of the Byelorussian SSR.

Krokholev is a constant participant of All-Union, Republic and Region exhibitions. He participates in several international art exhibitions as well (China, Romania, England, Poland and Japan).

 

 

May 2013 Monthly Auction

Congratulations to R. Wharton who placed the winning bid of just $500 for April's silent auction painting "Spring in the Mountains" by Vasili Fedorovich Kondratyuk, estimated at $3,000- $4,000.

For our May silent auction we present this wonderful Spring painting, "Lilacs", by one of the premier landscape artists of the second half of the twentieth century, Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin. Akinshin had a unique ability to capture people as well as the hauntingly beautiful landscape of village life. He painted the countryside with emotion and reverence, always full of truth and integrity. Akinshin captured the gentility, vastness and living breath of the countryside of his native Ukraine and Uzbekistan where he studied.

In this work Akinshin combines the spontaneity of a one time plein air outing together with the bright, particularly Ukrainian, colors that are noted in many artists of the period. Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin brings a vibrancy and spirit to this piece which marks it as a classic.

We invite you to participate in this month's auction and thank everyone who placed bids last month.

Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. The auction will end Friday, May 31st at 6:00 pm.

BID FORM

1650wAkinshin, Mikhail Vasilievich, "Lilacs"
23½'' x 26½'', Oil on Board
Estimated Value, $4,000 to $5,000, Current Bid $1,500, H. Milne

 Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin, (1927- 1980) Zaporozhye, Ukraine

Translated from the original Russian

Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin was born on February 18, 1927 in the village Lomovo, Kursk Region into a peasant's family. In 1951 M.V. Akinshin finished the Tashkent Art School. For a year he taught drawing at school. In 1953 he moved to the town of Zaporozhye and since this time has worked as a professional artist.

The artist travels often and has visited many places of our country. Everywhere, he tries to see and reproduce characteristic features of the terrain and its coloring. At the same time, M.V. Akinshin emphasizes skillfully his creative projects and in doing so retains peculiarities of his pictorial vision. The artist is especially carried away with diversity of our life, with fast rhythms and dynamics of contemporaneous. Probably, because of this, the local landscape became the main genre of his creative work.

Among landscapes created by M.V. Akinshin from 1968 to 1970, it is necessary to mention the picture titled "A Northern Little Town - Velikiy Ustyug". Here the artist's beloved composition device is used -- high horizon. It gave the artist the opportunity to show the place from the bird's eye view. The attention is attracted to the originality of the old town.

However, the artist does not consistently repeat this skillfully found method. For example, in the other landscape "Evening", the same place is represented in a different way. Here the view is from below with sharp color contrasts of bright red and orange buildings against the blue sky background. The artist shows a close-up of several buildings in major optimistic combinations with the Old Russian architecture.

He gives much attention to the work on studies during yearly trips over towns of our country. His paintings are not simply enlarged studies, not merely a mechanical transfer of a motif but laborious work on assertions of his views, image bearing executions of reality filled with personal feelings, emotional experiences and thoughts.

The landscape "Summer" which is in Zaporozhye Art Museum should also be attributed to the best of his works. Having reached the creative maturity, Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin peers into life fixedly and represents it more truthfully and deeply.

Akinshin, Mikhail Vasilievich (1927-1980)

- Born in Kursk, studied at Tashkent Art College. Active in Zhaporozhe, Ukraine from 1953. Specialized
in landscapes.

- Since 1968 he has been a member of the USSR Union of Artists and takes an active part in regional and
republican exhibitions.

- Mikhail Akinshin is listed in "A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian and Soviet Paintings, 1900 -1980", by Matthew Cullerne Brown.

 

June 2013 Monthly Auction

 

Congratulations to R. Wharton who placed the winning bid of just $500 for April's silent auction painting "Spring in the Mountains" by Vasili Fedorovich Kondratyuk, estimated at $3,000- $4,000.

For our June silent auction we present this wonderful Spring painting, "Lilacs", by one of the premier landscape artists of the second half of the twentieth century, Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin. Akinshin had a unique ability to capture people as well as the hauntingly beautiful landscape of village life. He painted the countryside with emotion and reverence, always full of truth and integrity. Akinshin captured the gentility, vastness and living breath of the countryside of his native Ukraine and Uzbekistan where he studied.

In this work Akinshin combines the spontaneity of a one time plein air outing together with the bright, particularly Ukrainian, colors that are noted in many artists of the period. Mikhail Vasilievich Akinshin brings a vibrancy and spirit to this piece which marks it as a classic.

We invite you to participate in this month's auction and thank everyone who placed bids last month.

Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. The auction will end Sunday, June 30th at 6:00 pm.

BID FORM

Vassily P. Borisenkov

"Fishermen's Nook" & "The Fishermen's Boats"

Each 13¾'' x 19¾'', 1970, Oil on Board
Estimated Value for Both: $3,500 - $4,500, Current Bid $2,000, B. Martin

 

1557

Vassily P. Borisenkov, "Fishermen's Nook" 
Each 13¾'' x 19¾'', 1970, Oil on Board 

 

1558

Vassily P. Borisenkov, "The Fishermen's Boats"

 13¾'' x 19¾'', 1970, Oil on Board
 
 

BORISENKOV, Vasily Pavlovich, (1924 - 2007)

 

V.P. Borisenkov was born on October 1, 1924, in a village in the Pskov oblast southwest of St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad). His father was a prosperous farmer and the family lived comfortably until 1928, when their farm was nationalized, their land and property seized and converted to the use of a collective farm. Dispossessed, the father moved his family to St. Petersburg to find work. Living in the city was a life-changing experience for young Vasily, and he credits his home town of St. Petersburg as one of his great inspirations in life and in art.
 
Borisenkov was fortunate enough to begin studying art at a very early age. In 1933, when he was only 9 years of age, he won first prize in the city drawing competition and was thus able to study at the Painting Shop of the Palace of Pioneers. His winning submission was a painting entitled "Chapayev on the Horse", which had been inspired by a recently finished film, "Chapayev".
 
At the Painting Shop of the Palace of Pioneers young Vasily studied under teachers who greatly influenced and inspired him. In addition to teaching him painting techniques, they also taught him about famous artists and took him to visit the Russian Museum and the Hermitage. At the age of fourteen he entered the Leningrad Intermediate Art School, where he was taught by many teachers who later became famous artists.
 
His studies were interrupted by World War II and the blockade of Leningrad. In 1942 he was evacuated with the Academy of Arts to the city of Samarkand; after a short stay there he was moved to Moscow, where he remained for several years.
 
In 1946 he returned to Leningrad. His formative years there as an art student had given him the foundation necessary to be accepted at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, otherwise known as the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture of the USSR Academy of Arts, which he attended from 1949 to 1954. It was there that he obtained the most rigorous classical art education, in addition to the practical application of his painting. During this same period, Borisenkov was influenced by the well-known Russian Realist, Sergei Ivanov, and the classical art of the late 1900's.
 
In 1954 he finished his Diploma painting, "After Hunting for Wolves". The painting received much acclaim, and was published in the All-Union Magazine "Ogonyek" as well as in a special printing of 25,000 postcards.
 
After graduating from the Institute, Borisenkov became a prolific artist, creating paintings ranging from large genre scenes to copies of Rembrandt portraits for publishing houses. The most famous of his works from this period are: "The Day Off", "The Offended Persons", "The Farewells", "The Trace", "January 22, 1924", "To The New Life", "Gathering Cabbages", and "The Curious Persons". In 1957, Borisenkov became a member of the Union of Artists.
 
Landscape painting soon began to dominate Borisenkov's work. Often visiting the countryside to paint en plein air, he was captured by the beauty of nature and marveled at the fact that it is both eternal and yet ever-changing. His goal was not to reproduce nature itself, but rather to recreate the feeling of nature and to enrich his landscapes with light, air, and emotion. He often travels to Siverskaya, a community in a forested area where artists gather. There you can, according to Borisenkov, "touch nature and recognize yourself in it".
In addition to nature scenes, however, Borisenkov also likes the industrial landscape of the city. From the Black Sea to the Caucasus Mountains, to the woodlands of Siverskaya, Borisenkov paints the world around him in his motherland, with great passion and satisfaction.
 
The artist lives in St. Petersburg, where from his studio he can see some of the city's most striking views, including the domes of Nikol'sky Cathedral. He continues to travel to the countryside during the summer to paint and sketch from nature.
 
His paintings are exhibited in museums and private art collections in Russia and abroad.
 

Past Auction Results

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