KONCHALOVSKY, PETR (1876-1956) Pier at Ryazan, signed, also further signed, dated 1931 and numbered "898" on the reverse. Oil on canvas, 73.5 by 92 cm. Provenance: Private collection, France. Exhibited: 8th Exhibition of Works by P.P. Konchalovsky, Moscow, 1933. 14th Exhibition of Works by P.P. Konchalovsky Dedicated to 50 Years of Painting, Moscow, 1947. Literature: Konchalovsky. Khudozhestvennoe nasledie, Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1964, p. 126, listed as “zhi 743”. Petr Konchalovsky's work of the 1920s and 1930s is characterised by a “serene” painting style. The radical experimentation, his search for new forms of expression and his work with the legendary left-wing Jack of Diamonds group was now behind him. During this period Konchalovsky focussed on his palette and on greater material authenticity in the rendering of landscape elements and still life details. This authenticity was not the pursuit of greater accuracy in his line, or elaboration of colour and shading, but of the figurative impact of areas of colour planes. The work Pier at Ryazan is uncommonly joyful in mood and resonant with saturated colour, and is a fine exemplar of the artist's creative credo of the late 1920s and early 1930s. In this work the master has brilliantly achieved his aim of a harmonious relationship between a rather conventional mode of expression and a luminous colour palette. Its apparent minimalism is deceptive. The white, pink and blue areas trigger such profound and diverse “incidental” colour interactions that the overall symbiosis of pigments is utterly unique and generates an impression of highly complex colour permutations.