Lot 59: Still life with fruit

Still life with fruit signed in Latin (lower right) oil on canvas 70 x 60.9cm (27 9/16 x 24in).

70x 60.9cm

G. D. Gloss, Music and the Moderns: The Life and Work of Carol Robinson, Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Press, 1993, p. 89.

Carol Robinson (probably acquired directly from the artist, c. 1925). Private collection (by descent from the above). Sale, James D. Julia Auctions, Fairfield, Maine, 25-27 August 2004, lot 116. Acquired from the above by the present owner.

When discussing David Shterenberg's art, critics invariably point to his life-long preoccupation with objecthood and his deep fascination and interest in the material world. He seems to have sought not merely to represent material objects on canvas, but actually to 'create' them through artistic means (Mikhail P. Lazarev, David Shterenberg, painter and era: the artist's path, Moscow, Galaktika, 1992, p. 41). Established by Russian avant-garde artists, this method was synthesized by Shterenberg with the approaches and techniques he developed while living in Paris from 1906-1917. This unique synthesis indeed produced paintings remarkable not only for their exquisite formal qualities, but for their creation of a world where arrangements of everyday objects are imbued with a deep, almost mystical significance. Shterenberg was exposed to the conflicting theories of the avant-garde while living in Paris at the famous La Ruche artist's residence. Created by Gustave Eiffel as a temporary building for the Great Exposition of 1900, 'La Ruche' or 'The Beehive' was later redesigned to house low-cost artists' studios by the sculptor Alfred Boucher. While in Paris, Shterenberg became closely acquainted with Picasso, Modigliani and Chagall. He studied with one of the major exponents of Fauvism, Kees van Dongen, and participated in discussions on the avant-garde with other Parisian artists and intellectuals at the famous Café Rotunda, thoroughly absorbing these theories and attentively experimenting with their elements (Lazarev, David Shterenberg, p. 11). However, Shterenberg was never faithful to any particular avant-garde theory, as the present painting vividly exemplifies. An empty bottle, an etched glass champagne flute and an arrangement of fruit are placed in a loosely defined space. Shterenberg neither deconstructs nor transforms these objects, but rather attempts to distill their unique essence. The avant-garde approach to representation is fused together and subtly subverted; space is a spatial paradox, simultaneously flat and deep; the colours are lucid and faithful to 'reality' in one element and purely expressionist in others; the forms are sharp and geometricized, but never come too close to cubist deconstructions, some of them clearly built on Cezanne's principles. Yet this integration of elements is never arbitrary, and the strict and elegant composition binds them together to create a painting that is sublime in its apparent simplicity. Shterenberg left Paris in 1917, settling in Moscow just before the October Revolution, and the realities of 1920s Russian undoubtedly point to the significance of these objects at a time of hardship and chronic shortage: the ornate champagne glass and labeled bottle invoke celebration, while the berries, fruit and nuts suggest abundance. The painting is ripe with excitement about the objects and the joy that they evoke, perhaps representative of a rare moment of celebration and comfort. While the subject of the present painting is a testament to Shterenberg's deep engagement with the ideas of the Parisian avant-garde, its provenance provides further insight into Shterenberg's ties to the international artistic community. For several decades, the painting belonged to the collection of the renowned American pianist and teacher Carol Robinson, who also owned works by artists such as Man Ray, Pavel Tchelitchew and George Grosz. Robinson's biography references the present painting as part of her collection under the title 'Still life' (Glenda D. Goss, Music and the Moderns: The Life and Work of Carol Robinson, Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Press, 1993, p. 89). Robinson often visited Paris in the 1920s, actively participating in the intellectual and artistic life of the city. She maintained vibrant friendships with artists, poets and writers—among them Fernand Léger, Jean Cocteau and Ernest Hemingway—and she was particularly close to Constantin Terechkovitch and Tchelitchew. Robinson was also deeply interested in Russian music and it is certain that through her relationships with important artists of Russian descent, she was familiar with the ideas of the Russian avant-garde and consequently interested in Shterenberg's work (Goss, Music and the Moderns, pp. 81-90). Shterenberg left Paris in 1917, settling in Moscow just before the October Revolution and shortly thereafter assuming several important positions that allowed him to participate in the creation and direction of the cultural institutions of the new social order. He did however return to Paris several times during the 1920s, both to exhibit his own work and to direct major international exhibitions of Soviet art (Lazarev, David Shterenberg, pp. 174-200). It is probable that during one of these visits—most likely in 1925 or 1927—he encountered Carol Robinson at a Parisian salon among other international bohème and intellectuals. The majority of works in Robinson's outstanding collection were gifts from the many artists she knew, and it is likely that she acquired Still Life with fruit directly from Shterenberg or from one of their mutual friends.