Lot 33: EVGRAFOV, NIKOLAI 1904-1941 Old Courtyard

EVGRAFOV, NIKOLAI 1904-1941 Old Courtyard dated "18/X-30" and titled in Cyrillic on the reverse Ink and watercolour on paper, 27.5 by 33.5 cm.
This unique watercolour by Nikolai Evgrafov dates from his time as a member of the Collective of Masters of Analytic Art. Soon afterwards, in 1932, this interesting group, led by Pavel Filonov, was formally dissolved, thus closing down an important branch of the Russian 20th-century avant-garde.

The unified organic structuring of this work fulfils all Filonov's precepts - the necessarily highly-finished technique, the precise calibration of the composition and that same literary-aesthetic narrative which was adopted by almost all students and followers of Filonov. As well as this, Evgrafov was notable for his unswerving professional honesty, his social audacity and a particular dramatic realism. This view of the poverty and squalor of the urban underclass was at odds with the mendacious, optimistic slogans and directives of the propagandistic Socialist Realism formula of 1930. Yet this was the very year when Evgrafov painted the watercolour now on offer. His Filonov-inspired work is extremely rare outside museums and the appearance of a collectable work of this quality makes us especially proud.