Lot 9: Jaroslav Friedrich Julius Vesin , Bulgarian 1859-1915 Rest from the Harvest oil on canvas

Signed Vesin and indistinctly dated (lower right) oil on canvas

measurements 50 1/2 by 95 1/4 in. alternate measurements 128.2 by 241.9 cm

When thinking of Vesin's output throughout his career, small, wintry scenes of Eastern Europeans reveling or hunting in the snow usually come to mind. Therefore the present work, with its expansive brushwork of verdant green fields and late summer-blue sky, seems unusual for the artist in both subject and size. Yet upon closer examination Rest from the Harvest follows in the same naturalistic traditions informed by Vesin's training at the academies of Prague and Munich. The clear, cold light of his winter scenes here transforms to a softer, warmer glow over the green fields, hay recently harvested, still green and drying in newly formed stacks as a harvester and his wife break for lunch. Vesin's work carefully describes Bulgarian daily life, and the monumental size of the couple elevates them to universal icons. The artist pays particular attention to the couple's regional dress, its decoration which reflected the people's living and working conditions, their natural environment and family and calendar rituals (Marina Cherkezova, "Bulgarian National Costume," in Bulgaria: Tradition & Beauty, Elizabeth I. Kwasnik, ed., Liverpool, 1989 p. 53). Folk embroideries are a particularly important part of Bulgarian clothing embellishment. As painted by Vesin, the wide, horizontal band of embroidery decorating the woman's apron and the vertical, trellis-like black design on the man's britches reveal intricate detail, rich patterns, red-heavy color combinations and geometric floral motifs. Combined, these elements suggest the importance of nature and the harvest and link this pair, together with their baby, surrounded by fields, to the fertility and prosperity of rural Bulgarians. Such patriotism was important: throughout the later nineteenth century Bulgaria's borders were revised and fought over by the fading Ottoman Empire, aristocrats and rebels, with a series of treaties dividing and re-dividing the landscape and undermining the country's autonomy. In part due to this unrest, Bulgaria and surrounding regions were not particularly well traveled or written about in popular media. Therefore, in linking Bulgaria-specific folk traditions with a more universal theme of the peasant's harvest, Vesin's work appealed to a wide group of connoisseurs yet remained faithful to his countrymen. Indeed the large canvas size, grand compositional scale and unique semi-circular shape of Rest from the Harvest is comparable to the great mural art and painting installations of the various Universal Exhibitions and other world's fairs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. At these events, grand pavilions were constructed, filled with exhibitions of art, artifacts and demonstrations to promote and celebrate relatively unknown people and their traditions.