Lot 207: KARL SHOLOMOVICH FRIDMAN, B.1926

ON THE BALCONY

132 by 94cm., 52 by 37in.

signed in Cyrillic l.l. (possibly later) and dated 56

oil on canvas

LITERATURE

Literature: M.Lazarov and M.Ivanov, Karl Fridman: zhivopis' -- grafika, Galart: Moscow, 1992 (illustrated)

NOTE

The image of two young girls gazing out onto the lights of Moscow on a warm, summer's evening has been likened to 'the light of a star which has long gone out' (Lazarov, 1992). It portrays a moment suspended in time, which has been captured with great tenderness and nostalgia. Like the work of his friend and fellow Moscow artist, Viktor Popkov, Fridman's compositions are strongly figurative; his landscapes and cityscapes are very much subjective representations, onto which he has superimposed the emotions of those people who inhabit them.

Unusually for an artist who liked to sketch quickly from nature en plein air, this work from 1956 was painted over a long period and stylistically stands in contrast to the freer brushwork of his later compositions. The fact that it hung, undiscovered, in his studio for thirty-five years suggests that Fridman felt particularly attached to it.

Olga Nikolaevna, Queen of Würtemburg (1822-92)