Konstantin Somov. Dnevnik. 1923–1925 (Konstantin Somov. Notebooks. 1923–1925)
Moscow: Dmitrii Sechin, 2018. Sewn cl. The 1917 revolution inspired some artists, baffled others, and led many to emigrate. Somov, already having attained success a painter in Russia's Silver Age, was nonplussed and when in 1923 he was given a responsible bureaucratic job of organizing an exhibition of Russian art in the United States, he left for good. In the United States his only major commission was from Steinway and Sons to do a portrait of Sergei Rakhmaninov, the drawings for which satisfied the musician and the patron, but Somov was disgusted with the final work, which he finished in Paris. He was more at home in Paris, the center of Russian émigré life in Europe in the twenties. The notebooks published here from the manuscript at the State Russian Museum cover these first years in emigration: they are both poignant records of the Russian diaspora and frank descriptions of Somov's artistic travails. Observations about New York (the stunning view of the city approached by ship, riding the subway, seeing movies with Jack Demsey) and Parisian life convey the period vividly. Copious footnotes identify persons and amplify events. 703 p., 23 cm, approx. 12 b/w illus., Rus. Item #2764
ISBN: 9785904962616
Price: $72.00