Stepan F. Kolesnikov

Little Russian Market

Little Russian Market. Cardboard, gouache. 32 x 45 cm. Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikov (1879-1955) was a Russian painter and academician, and a pupil of Il'ja Repin and Aleksandr Kiselev.

Born into a peasant family in the Ekaterinoslav Governorate, at the age of 16 he received a provincial scholarship in recognition of his talent. He studied at the Odessa Art School and the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, and in 1909 received the Grand Gold Medal at the International Exhibition in Munich.

After a study tour in Europe, he became one of the most celebrated interpreters of the natural world and everyday life of southern Russia; his works were published in the magazines Niva and Ogonek. In 1920, unable to accept the Revolution, he emigrated to Serbia, where he became a professor at the Belgrade Academy of Fine Arts, worked for the royal court, restored monasteries, and painted the decorative ceiling of the Opera Theatre. He died in Belgrade in 1955. His works are held in the Tret'jakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and other important collections.

Little Russian Market is not only an evocative genre scene but also a valuable ethnographic record documenting the character and atmosphere of Little Russian markets of the period.

At the centre of the composition are women in traditional dress typical of Little Russia in the late nineteenth century. The artist renders the details of their costume with extraordinary precision: the women wear elegant white kerchiefs tied over the head, a characteristic element of both the everyday and festive dress of local women. The work is particularly valuable for its documentary importance, faithfully conveying the daily life, customs, and atmosphere of the period's popular fairs with authenticity and profound affection.