Piotr Petrovich KONCHALOVSKY

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Status, price and estimation of the artist KONCHALOVSKY

Price of a signed painting: 20,000 – 800,000€.

Estimate for a drawing or watercolour by the artist at auction: 700 – 15,000€.

Who is Piotr Petrovich KONCHALOVSKY?

Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky, known as Pyotr Konchalovsky, was a figurative painter, often referred to as the “Russian Cézanne”. The son of a father who was a publisher, he was introduced to the Moscow art scene at a very early age and naturally turned to painting. His first encounter with the work of Monet at the French exhibition in Moscow at the age of 15 was a shock. After this epiphany, Konchalovsky saw every work as an impressionist painting; he said, for example, that even in Raphael’s paintings one could find something reminiscent of Monet. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and then, from 1896, at the Académie Julian in Paris. He then returned to Russia and graduated from the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1907.

The most French of Russian painters

The influence of Van Gogh, Matisse and Cézanne is very present in his paintings. Konchalovsky’s admiration for Cézanne is well known; he translated Émile Bernard’s book on the French painter into Russian. His Russian contemporaries perceived him as a French painter, but welcomed his work very well: in 1922, he had his first solo exhibition at the Tretiakov Gallery, whereas in Paris, Konchalovsky’s painting was, for a time, totally depreciated. One of his greatest masterpieces, Portrait of the Painter Yakulov, now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, was described as a scarecrow at the 1910 Paris exhibition; one visitor even went so far as to vandalise the work by writing “idiot” underneath the portrait. This did not discourage Konchalovsky who, from 1900 to 1910, travelled around Europe and took part in the major European exhibitions of the time, including the Salon d’Automne in France.

The precursor of the Russian avant-garde

In 1911, Konchalovsky and other artists founded the Valet de Carreau painting movement, made up of members who rejected European academic painting and tried to reconcile Russian popular art with the new artistic trends based on the lessons of Cézanne, French post-impressionism and Fauvism. This group laid the foundations for what would become the great ideas of the Russian avant-garde and many artists took part in the events of the Valet de Carreau, such as Natalia Goncharova, Kandinsky, Van Dongen, Otto Friesz and Fernand Léger.

A prolific painter

Konchalovsky was an extremely prolific artist and painted over 5000 works throughout his career. As a result, his paintings are often found on the art market and are highly prized by collectors, especially since his descendants, proud representatives of the world of art, literature and cinema, contribute to their forefather’s fame. For example, the last painting to be sold on the market, Portrait of the Artist Levon Bunatian, produced in 1920, sold for over $900,000 at Sotheby’s in London on 26 November 2011.

Recognising Piotr Kontchalovski’s signature

Like many artists, Piotr Kontchalovski did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraise and sell a painting by Piotr Kontchalovski

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You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.