Lot Essay
Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky (1882-1969) was the pen name of Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov, one of the most brilliant literary critics and journalists of Russia, and subsequently the Soviet Union. From a peasant background and largely self-tought, Chukovsky became also a celebrated writer, a scholarly editor, a leading translator and theoretician of translation and a much-loved children's poet, also writing on children's speech and psychology.
A neighbour of Repin's at Kuokkala on the Gulf of Finland, Chukovsky became a close friend of the elderly artist, leaving a graphic account of Repin's later years. It was at Chukovsky's prompting that Repin began around 1911 to collect his various writings and reminiscences in memoir form with Chukovsky as editor, though these were not published until after Repin's death.
In Finnish territory of the Empire, Kuokkala enjoyed a more liberal atmosphere than St. Petersburg and became the centre for a lively intellectual community. Chukovsky was a frequent visitor and speaker at Repin's salons, which included such luminaries as Maxim Gorky, Fyodor Shalyapin, Vladimir Stasov and Leonid Andreev, Chukovsky's own artistic and literary soirées were characterised by an atmosphere of convivial and lively intellectual exchange across a wider than usual spectrum of the arts, guests including established figures like Repin and Gorky, younger talents like Andreev, Alexander Blok, Ivan Bunin and Nikolai Tolstoy, as well as members of Russia's emerging avant-garde. Chukovsky subsequently introduced the grand old man of Russian art to such avant-garde figures as David Burlyuk, Ivan Puni, Yuri Annenkov and Velimir Khlebnikov. In the Spring of 1915, Repin attended a recital of some verses given at Chukovsky's by the enfant terrible of modernism Vladimir Mayakovsky, after which the two artists sketched each other's portraits as their contribution to Chukovsky's manuscript almanach "Chukokkala" (a compound of Chukovsky and Kuokkala), which included verses, sketches, cartoons and various bon mots by visitors. A facsimile of this intriguing album was published in 1979.
Though Repin's late thematic works are generally considered to evince a decline in his artistic ability, his portraits retained their power. Now retired from his position at the Imperial Academy Repin's style became broader and more expressive, without sacrificing the quality of likeness and depth of personality which characterises his best works in the genre. The portrait of Chukovsky is a fine example of Repin's mature style and a relaxed and intimate record of a close friend and artistic collaborator, an important cultural figure of both pre- and post-revolutionary Russia.
We are most grateful to Dr. David Jackson of the Department of Fine Art, University of Leeds, for the above entry.
A neighbour of Repin's at Kuokkala on the Gulf of Finland, Chukovsky became a close friend of the elderly artist, leaving a graphic account of Repin's later years. It was at Chukovsky's prompting that Repin began around 1911 to collect his various writings and reminiscences in memoir form with Chukovsky as editor, though these were not published until after Repin's death.
In Finnish territory of the Empire, Kuokkala enjoyed a more liberal atmosphere than St. Petersburg and became the centre for a lively intellectual community. Chukovsky was a frequent visitor and speaker at Repin's salons, which included such luminaries as Maxim Gorky, Fyodor Shalyapin, Vladimir Stasov and Leonid Andreev, Chukovsky's own artistic and literary soirées were characterised by an atmosphere of convivial and lively intellectual exchange across a wider than usual spectrum of the arts, guests including established figures like Repin and Gorky, younger talents like Andreev, Alexander Blok, Ivan Bunin and Nikolai Tolstoy, as well as members of Russia's emerging avant-garde. Chukovsky subsequently introduced the grand old man of Russian art to such avant-garde figures as David Burlyuk, Ivan Puni, Yuri Annenkov and Velimir Khlebnikov. In the Spring of 1915, Repin attended a recital of some verses given at Chukovsky's by the enfant terrible of modernism Vladimir Mayakovsky, after which the two artists sketched each other's portraits as their contribution to Chukovsky's manuscript almanach "Chukokkala" (a compound of Chukovsky and Kuokkala), which included verses, sketches, cartoons and various bon mots by visitors. A facsimile of this intriguing album was published in 1979.
Though Repin's late thematic works are generally considered to evince a decline in his artistic ability, his portraits retained their power. Now retired from his position at the Imperial Academy Repin's style became broader and more expressive, without sacrificing the quality of likeness and depth of personality which characterises his best works in the genre. The portrait of Chukovsky is a fine example of Repin's mature style and a relaxed and intimate record of a close friend and artistic collaborator, an important cultural figure of both pre- and post-revolutionary Russia.
We are most grateful to Dr. David Jackson of the Department of Fine Art, University of Leeds, for the above entry.