Robert Falk. A Fischus Plant. 1956

A Fischus Plant (Robert Falk, 1956)

Pavel Filonov. Two Men. 1938

Two Men (Pavel Filonov, 1938)

By this late date in his life, Filonov was thoroughly disgusted with the system and how he and his art had been trampled upon. I do daresay that it shows in this painting. Unfortunately, Filonov was to die three years later in the Siege of Leningrad of starvation. A sad end to a great artist.

Pavel Filonov. A Portrait of Yevdokia Glebova, the Artist’s Sister. 1915

A Portrait of Yevdokia Glebova, the Artist’s Sister (Pavel Filonov, 1915)

Yes, this master of the avant-garde knew how to paint “correctly”. In fact, all art schools teach their students to paint representational art, usually from live subjects, and if one fails to master this, one does not graduate. Of course, there are lazy artists who claim they are working with “abstract” styles for artistic reasons. I think that they are hiding a lack of talent and/or application. There is an easy way to track them. See who is hanging out in the galleries and at parties, then, check out who is busy in the atelier. As far as I know, this is the most reliable method out there…

Ms Glebova managed to save most of her brother’s artwork by having it stored at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg. Filonov’s art was out of favour with the Soviet government, and its first exhibition after 1929 was not staged until 1988. He is now seen as one of the most seminal and advanced figures of the Russian avant-garde.