Portrait of Catherine Balebina
Portrait of Catherine Balebina | |
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Artist | Lev A. Russov |
Year | 1956 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 60 cm × 50 cm (24 in × 20 in) |
Location | private collection, Moscow |
Portrait of Catherine Balebina is a 1956 painting by Russian portrait artist Lev Russov (1926–1987), which depicts his wife Catherine Balebina (Russian: Екатери′на Васи′льевна Бале′бина; 1933–2002).[1]
History
The portrait was painted in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in 1956 and is one of the most famous portraits by the artist. Catherine Balebina was born December 29, 1933, the daughter of Vasily Balebin, a famed military pilot and torpedo-bomber, Hero of the Soviet Union and Great Patriotic War. Russov met Catherine Balebina in 1955 and they were married on 31 January 1959. His son Andrew Russov was born April 27, 1960, and was his primary muse. Charming and lively, he posed for his father for many paintings and portraits.
In this portrait of his wife, Russov puts on a pedestal a gamine image of feminine beauty and charm. It seems Rusov meant only to canonize and sing of this perfection, and he does it according to the laws of the genre. The painting's neutral background makes Catherine the focal point of the piece. Catherine's closed, dark blue dress focuses attention on her face, shaded by her chestnut hair, and her expressive eyes. Her gaze directed to the side, she hides a smile at the corner of her sensuous lips. In contrast to the stillness of her pose, her eyes speak of a passionate and independent nature, also seem in her expression.
No details of the portrait belong to a specific time or place. Yet we do not hesitate to recognize the young woman as a contemporary of the middle - second half of the 1950s.
Until the early 1990s, Portrait of Catherine Balebina was kept in the artist's family. Subsequently, it was acquired as part of a private collection. In 2007 Portrait of Catherine Balebina has been described and reproduced in the book Unknown Socialist Realism: The Leningrad School, among 350 selected works by artists of the Leningrad School.[2]
See also
- Portrait of Yevgeny Mravinsky
- Artist Lev A. Russov (1926—1987)
- Leningrad School of Painting
References
Sources
- Directory of Members of the Union of Artists of USSR. Volume 2.Moscow, Soviet artist, 1979. P.290.
- Directory of members of the Leningrad branch of Union of Artists of Russian Federation. Leningrad, Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1980. P.103.
- Иванов С. О ранних портретах Льва Русова // Петербургские искусствоведческие тетради. Выпуск 23. СПб., 2012. С.7-15.
External links
- «Portrait of Catherine Balebina» on VIDEO "Artist Lev Alexandrovich Russov. Masterpieces of Painting of 1950-1970s"
- Portrait of Catherine Balebina (1956). Lev Russov Solo Exhibition in The Museum of Art
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- Painters of the Leningrad Union of Artists of 1932-1991
- Leningrad Union of Artists
- Mitki
- Nevsky-25
- Circle of Artists of the House of creativity «Staraya Ladoga»
- Exhibitions of Leningrad Artists
- Exhibition of 1950
- Exhibition of 1951
- Spring Exhibition (1954)
- Spring Exhibition (1955)
- Autumn Exhibition (1956)
- Anniversary Exhibition (1957)
- All-Union Art Exhibition (1957)
- Autumn Exhibition (1958)
- Exhibition of 1960
- Exhibition in Russian Museum (1960)
- Soviet Russia (1960)
- Exhibition of 1961
- Autumn Exhibition (1962)
- "Leningrad" Exhibition (1964)
- Spring Exhibition (1965)
- Soviet Russia (1965)
- Soviet Russia (1967)
- Autumn Exhibition (1968)
- Spring Exhibition (1969)
- Exhibition of 1970
- Our Contemporary (1971)
- Our Contemporary (1972)
- Exhibition of Eleven (1972)
- By native country (1972)
- Our Contemporary (1975)
- Portrait of Contemporary (1976)
- Fine Arts of Leningrad (1976)
- Art belongs People (1977)
- Autumn Exhibition (1978)
- Regional Exhibition (1980)
- Leningrad painting of 1950-1980s
- Etude in Painting of 1940-1980s
- Lyrical Themes in Postwar Painting
- Painting of the Leningrad School
- Still life of 1950-1990s
- In Memory of Teacher
- Lenin in Kremlin (by Nikolai Baskakov)
- Cafe Gurzuf (by Alexander Samokhvalov)
- Quince and Teapot (by Victor Teterin)
- House with Arch (by Sergei Osipov)
- Portrait of Catherine Balebina (by Lev Russov)
- Horsewoman (by Rudolf Frentz)
- Spring is on the way (by Vladimir Ovchinnikov)
- Spring Day (by Nikolai Pozdneev)
- Mothers, Sisters (by Yevsey Moiseyenko)
- In the Sun (by Alexander Samokhvalov)
- Portrait of Yevgeny Mravinsky (by Lev Russov)
- Russian Winter. Hoarfrost (by Nikolai Timkov)
- Malaya Sadovaya street (by Alexander Semionov)
- Cornflowers (by Sergei Osipov)
- Still life with Pussy-Willows (by Taisia Afonina)
- Nevsky Prospekt (by Gleb Savinov)
- A Midday (by Evgenia Antipova)
- Cherry (by Yevsey Moiseyenko)