Lot 170: XAN KROHN

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NORWAY 1882 - 1959 STILL LIFE WITH JUG signed in Latin l.l. oil on canvas 65 by 79cm, 25 1/2 by 31in.

Xan Krohn, originally from Norway, established himself as an important part of the Russian avant-garde movement in the early 20thcentury. The only Norwegian artist of his generation to study in Russia, he won a place at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg under the guidance of Ilya Repin in 1905. Financial circumstances forced him to abandon his studies and move to Paris, where he enrolled at the Academy of La Palette studying alongside Vasileva, Popova and Lentulov. It was due to their influence that vivid colours and playful geometric forms became key elements in Krohn’s work. In the offered lot the artist skilfully divides the surface of the canvas, the loose brushstrokes depicting the jug and the warm maroon highlights add fluidity to the form, whilst the reflection of the pitcher in burnt orange and earthy green add depth to the composition. Upon graduation Krohn and his wife, Julia de Holmberg, relocated to Kiev, where they joined the progressive circle of artists that included Alexandra Exter, Alexander Bogomazov and the Burliuk brothers. This period became an important step in Krohn’s career, exhibiting in Odessa at the Izdebsky Salon alongside Kandinsky and culminating in the landmark exhibition Koltso in Kiev in 1914. His success followed him to Russia where he joined the St Petersburg-based artist organisation The Union of Youth, as well as participating in in several exhibitions in Moscow with the group Bubnovyi Valet, whose most famous proponents included Goncharova, Larionov and Malevich. Following one such exhibition in 1912 a critic was of the opinion that Krohn ‘has such great technique and good taste that he is, in general, too talented to be exhibiting with the Bubnovyi Valet’. Works by Krohn can be found in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Hermitage Museum.