Lot 322: Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky , Girl in a National Costume

signed C. Makowsky and dated 1879 . (lower left) oil on canvas

measurements 34 7/8 by 27 7/8 in. alternate measurements 88.6 by 70.8 cm

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

Vladimir Makovsky studied at the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, arriving as an undergraduate in 1861, the year of Vasili Perov's departure. Like Perov, the father of Russian genre painting, Makovsky was deeply critical of Russian society, but the pessimistic melodrama which underpinned most of Perov's oeuvre is generally missing in Makovsky's art. More of an observer of human life, he recorded contemporary Russian society in a climate of rapid social change.

As a member of the Peredvizhniki, Makovsky was much concerned with the issue of national identity, and he hoped his art might somehow bridge the gap between Western Russian culture, as brought about by Peter the Great's reforms, and a traditional Russian culture that many felt had been abandoned. The Peredvizhniki were not alone in their desire to preserve a sense of "Russian-ness" in Russian art--many successful collectors including Pavel Tretyakov preferred works that they considered truly Russian to those of more established and "sophisticated" European styles.

Girl in a National Costume reflects Makovsky's similar interest in traditional Ukraine and her people. He depicts a young girl wearing traditional Ukrainian attire--a cloth dress with beaded jewelry and headpiece. She stands proud, luminous against a dark forest background, her hand on her hip and her eyes gazing confidently beyond the painting's border. Makovsky paints her as a representative of true Slavic character, imbued with dignity and strength, untainted by the influence of Western European modernity.