Constantine Cherkas Flowers in Blue

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Constantine Cherkas Modernist with Cubism influence in the Parisian Light Style. Excellent in Gold Frame and linen liner. A wonderful example of his Floral series done in the Modernist Style and using Parisian lighting techniques.
Biography from FeriArte/Claiborne Gallery Santa Fe, New Mexico: Constantine Cherkasheninoff was born in Sumi, Russia in 1919. He was the youngest artist ever to be accepted into the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts, and later went on to study in the Munich Academy of Fine Arts as well as the Academy of Fine arts in Vienna. In 1950, with the help of the Tolstoy Foundation, Constantine emigrated to the United States and shortened his last name to Cherkas. In 1951, Constantine began painting Southwestern landscapes in Taos with his two Russian countrymen, Nicolai Fechin and Leon Gaspard. "I consider myself an American artist with a predisposition to the Southwest landscape, advancing the American School along the lines of my close friends and compatriots, Nicolai Fechin and Leon Gaspard, with whom I painted for many years. In 1951, when they first showed me their paintings of the Southwest, I decided then and there that I would dedicate my life to painting the Southwest with the eyes of a painter, and not those of an illustrator. In my paintings, I treat the problem of form fragmentation similar to the Cubist's manner, but with the addition of a fragmentation of light. By introducing into my canvasses an element of alternating light moments, I free them from the naturalism of momentary lighting. This results in canvasses containing the element of the passage of time and achieves an added dynamism without any detriment to the colorful perception of the moment. By integrating different moments of light in a single composition, my paintings present several moments at once. There comes a point in one's development when Nature stops being a "motif" for placid observation and one senses that it conceals something else. This "else" injects an intensity into a seemingly serene landscape. Volumes acquire sharpness of facets, colors become intense and contrasting, spatial planes alternately close in on forms among them or begin to melt and empty. These panoramic landscapes consist of numerous elements, which are brought into a harmonious coexistence on a higher plane, and the viewer experiences satisfaction not so much from the individual's ability to commune with nature, but from the fact that he can contemplate creation." Constantine Cherkas, Santa Monica, 1968

Item Details

Reference #:
00199
Quantity
1
Category
Fine Art
SubCategory
Paintings
Department
Antiques (approx100yrs)
Year
1970
Dimensions
(Width x Height X Depth)
30.00 x 24.00 x
Weight
Unknown
Condition
Excellent
Material
Oil on Canvas