Pyotr Konchalovsky was a Russian avant-garde artist, one of the founders of the group ‘Jack of Diamonds’. His style was influenced by foreign post-impressionists: Paul Cézanne, Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Konchalovsky borrowed from them the heterogeneous brushstroke (of different length, thickness and direction), distorted perspective and contrasting contour.

At first, the future artist entered the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Moscow University at the request of his father. But he soon dropped out of school and went to Paris. There he studied at the Académie Julian — a private academy of fine arts, which Alphonse Mucha and Léon Bakst had previously graduated from. Later Konchalovsky returned to St. Petersburg and entered the Academy of Fine Arts, and again traveled to Europe, where he saw the works of Cézanne and Van Gogh, personally met Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

Pyotr Konchalovsky wrote about his fascination with Post-Impressionism:

In the 1910s, Konchalovsky often painted still lifes. His works were distinguished by contrasting combinations of colors, simple and even rough lines.

On the canvas, which is presented in the museum, the artist painted a heavy faience pot and its natural curvature. The volume of fruits and earthenware plates is emphasized by the folds of draperies and bright highlights.

The objects in Konchalovsky’s still lifes do not cast shadows: he created the form and mass solely with the help of bright colors. The artist did not strive to accurately convey all the details of objects and transitions of shades. On the contrary, he painted in coarse large brush strokes and chose rich contrasting colors. The artist said about himself:

After the revolution, Pyotr Konchalovsky taught for several years at the Higher State Artistic and Technical Studios (Vkhutein). He began to paint in the tradition of realism, portrayed his grandchildren, created landscapes and still lifes. In 1943, the painter became a laureate of the Stalin Prize for ‘many years of contributions to the field of art’, then received the title of People’s Artist of the USSR. Throughout his 60-year career, Pyotr Konchalovsky created about 2000 canvases.