Collector's Art Gallery Auctions off Russion Painting at Christie'S

A painting belonging to the Collector's Art Gallery, attributed to Russian artist Ivan Bilibin, has been auctioned off at Christie's Rockefeller Center location in New York. The painting fetched a closing price of $120,000.00. The winning bid was placed over the telephone by a Russian national.

Ivan Iakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942) was an influential painter, graphic illustrator, and stage designer, whose themes were based on stylized Russian folk and medieval art. Born outside St. Petersburg, Bilibin studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Art under Ilya Repin and was a member of the Mir Iskusstva movement. His distinct style and subject-matter embraced the country's spirit and history, breathing new life into the ancient world of Russian fairytales and folklore.

In 1899, Bilibin was commissioned by the Imperial Stationary Office to produce a set of fairytale books for children. Among these was the tale of Vassilissa the Beautiful, a courageous heroine of Russian folklore, published in 1902. The painting owned by the Labrie family features a scene from this tale. Executed in oils on canvas, this unusually large picture (62 x 74") depicts the Black Horseman, whom Vassilissa encounters while wandering in the forest. The figure is set against the background of a prototypical Russian landscape. Characteristic of book illustrations in the Bilibin style, the painting contains intricate details, such as expressive features of Horseman and horse, delicately painted mushrooms scattered amongst the forest shrubbery, and a wide-angle spread of a gated city, its multi-colored onion-domes peeking out from behind white fortress walls. The size of the painting and the techniques used indicate that it was most likely executed in the early 1930's.

The Bilibin painting was part of an extensive inventory of rare Eastern European art at the Collector's Art Gallery. The gallery's Russian-born curator Albina Colden remarks: "We thought it was interesting that in the end, the Bilibin piece was purchased by a Russian buyer. Over seventy years after its completion, the painting will return to the homeland it so lovingly depicts."