Deserter
Korzhev, Geli
1925 -
Deserter
Oil on canvas
200 x 120cm
Signed
PROVENANCE:
Acquired by a German private collector from Korzhev in 1995
Kept by the above in Lugano, Switzerland and Tuscany.
EXHIBITED:
Exhibited at the Central House of Artists, Moscow, 1995, for an exhibition organised for the State visit of the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl.
LITERATURE:
Listed on the online databases of the artists works and authenticated by the artist in 2010.
Gely Mikhailovich Korzhev-Chuvelev (born 7 July 1925) is a leading Russian painter of the Soviet period. The artist studied at the Moscow Sate Art School from 1939 to 1944 under V. V. Pochitalov, M.V. Dobroserdov and A.O. Barshch. From 1944 to 1950 he studied at the Moscow State Art Institute under S.V. Gerasimov and V.V. Pochitalov. A painter in Soviet approved style Socialist Realism he continues to be active today, and remains a supporter of Communism. His work is well represented in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum and he remains one of the most of the most influential Russian painters of the second half of the 20th century.
This pair of paintings, ‘Deserter’ and ‘Wife’ explore themes the artist was particularly interested in such as compassion and forgiveness. Korzhev first came to prominence in the generation of Russian artists whose lives had been devastated by WWII. The paintings show a deserter from the Russian army on his knees and asking for forgiveness from his wife on his return from the front. These two powerful paintings show a monumentality of scale and resonate with an impact for which Korzhev has become famous.
The ‘Deserter’ and his ‘Wife’ were painted by Korzhev in several different formats and are considered one of his most important series of this date. Most of the other treatments of the subject are now in Russian museums.
This remarkable pair of paintings have only changed hands once when the artist sold them to a German private collector in 1995. The collector was an early investor into the new Russia and was invited to accompany the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, to a specially arranged exhibition at the Central House of Artists, the exhibition hall of the new Tretyakov Gallery. The two paintings were hung side by side at the top of the staircase in the prime position of the exhibition. The following week the businessman sought out an introduction to Korzhev and acquired the 2 paintings from the artist and they remained with him up until the present day.
