Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
The late Vasily Belikov
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
If you haven't seen them yet, do go and look at the postings by Sergey Belikov on the Gallery of his later father's Impressionist paintings in the Russian style. These are generally quite dark paintings - Mr Belikov seems to have been drawn to evening, or the dark of the Russian winter - but the colours, as more than one of us has noticed in the comments, glow - as if there were an inner fire.
If I had money or space, these are the paintings I'd collect - which is apposite, as Sergey is looking for a gallery or dealer to sell them. I suppose that if you knew of such a gallery or dealer, you like me would be trying to place our own work there; but this is a deceased painter with a substantial portfolio, and in my view he was an absolute master.
This doesn't mean that everyone will like his work - but I love it, and wish I could paint like that: there's one in particular, The Pink Tree is I think the title, which is just about perfect, in drawing, perspective, colour, texture. I'm surprised if Belikov's work isn't selling in Russia - for all I know, it may be, and Sergey just wants to spread his father's fame further abroad; but if you have any ideas about promoting it, visit the Gallery pages and suggest what might be tried.
http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net
http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk
Posted
I quite agree, it is stunning work. I would have thought it belongs in public galleries and museums. Perhaps Sotheby's, or other London art auctions houses are the best place for them. Perhaps after a publication of them. However I did wonder if they needed cleaning/restoration, but I don't have enough spittle for that.
Posted
It is indeed wonderful work and I have had correspondence with Sergey regarding marketing his late father's work. The paintings on the gallery have received little or no comments, this doesn't particularly surprise me, Russian art is a required taste perhaps, a taste that I can admire immensely but they are not pretty little paintings and so their appeal will sadly be to a limited audience.
I have suggested that he hold a retrospective exhibition in his home city, they are worthy of a large audience and I wish him luck with his endeavours to find that audience and prospective buyers.
Posted
I have looked at his paintings . They have a dimness through which light somehow glows. I agree that they would not have popular appeal, but they have a definite substance, I would imagine very Russian, slightly ponderous. As to masterly? I am not sufficiently expert to say whether they are or not. I feel that I am seeing the subjects through a thick fog, and wonder whether these were painted when his eyesight was perhaps failing......? In which case the rich glow is a mystery, a contrast to the dark palette which makes up the bulk of the works.
Posted
I think Ruth that he was drawn to evening, and very early morning - enabling him to juxtapose sombre colours with very rich lights. I agree that they're not going to appeal to all - they very much appeal to me, but I like quiet paintings, on the whole, with subtle colour gradations.
As to whether they've darkened over the years, or possibly that eyesight was failing - I think in the latter case, you'd probably paint brighter colours; my eyesight has never been good, and it's got a particular problem at the moment, but I find dark colours very hard to make out when painting .... really hard to tell. And it's possible that they could simply do with a clean: Vasily Belikov has been dead for a good many years now, and I don't know how his paintings have been stored. I know his son is extremely anxious to sell them, though! He got a bit of fairly gentle criticism for that on the Gallery, but we can't know his circumstances or his reasons for wishing to sell them: it may just be that he can't give them the space or treatment they deserve. I hope he can find a permanent home for them, because they deserve to survive.
http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net
http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk
Posted
I want to thank everyone who appreciated the work of my father. Yes, I want to sell most of the paintings because I don't have the proper conditions to store them. Pictures should hang on the wall and please the eyes. And I have them lying in a dusty closet and waiting for the paint layer to crumble. Whenever I sell another painting, I am glad that I have extended its life. Recently, I organized an anniversary exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the master. You can watch a video from its opening in the Penza Art Gallery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKCNGFcYaNM&list=RDCMUC5NYmu919wHEqXWxIBDEFA
Edited
by Sergey Belikov