Julius Yulievich Klever was a landscape painter. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts under Sokrat Maximovich Vorobyov and Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt.
Klever’s distinct style took shape in the 1870s, based on the combination of academic and Realistic trends of Russian landscape painting in the second half of the 19th century. The subjects and techniques used in his later works echoed those created in his earlier career. Klever is also viewed as a representative of the Russian salon landscape, which was formed as an independent trend against the backdrop of the general crisis of academic art in the late 19th century.
The painting “Autumn” is a perfect example of the artist’s unique manner of painting. The composition of the painting is arranged in a special way to create an illusion of a certain forest interior scene. The artist developed this composition back in the 1870s, inspired by Ivan Shishkin’s works. It became his calling card and was used in most of his landscapes.
The image of tall trees with their tops disappearing beyond the pictorial space forms the basis of the vertical composition, which enhances the overall impression of the monumentality of the landscape and makes the depicted forest seem majestic and prominent. The meticulous detailing of the foreground and the middle ground after the careful study of nature endows the painting with a narrative and descriptive character.
Klever placed great importance on drawing, which he believed to be the basis of the composition. His drawings were characterized by expressiveness and sharpness. The graphic features of Klever’s style can be traced in clear and precise lines of all elements of the landscape, in the perfectly conveyed textures and details, and in the rhythm of the composition. The color palette is based on the combination of brown and green shades and the play of light and shadow, which is inherent in the works of academic art.
The landscape “Autumn” is characteristic of Klever’s style and adds a touch of mystery to the beauty and impressiveness of the landscape motif. This feature of the artist’s paintings is what attracts the viewers the most and what contributed to his works being widely recognized during his lifetime.
