Elena Burykina Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

One of the characters in this scene is a mature man, kneeling with his head bowed and hands clasped near his chest in a gesture of supplication. His posture conveys a sense of humili...

keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic...

Hermann Prell (1854 Leipzig - 1922 Dresden-Loschwitz). Half-length portrait of a Pharisee, 1885. Sketch for the right-hand figure in the painting Judas Iscariot, 1886. Pencil drawing heightened with opaque white and black chalk on beige-grey wove paper (papier vélin), 34 x 27.8 cm (visible size), 52 x 45 cm (mount), signed, dated and inscribed "H. PRELL 1885 zu 'Judas'". Minor browning, collection stamp on the reverse. - In the shadow of betrayal - About the artwork This painting is the sketch for the head of the Pharisee offering the coins to Judas in one of Herrmann Prell's major works, the painting Betrayal of Judas, completed in 1886. The painting belongs to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and is illustrated in Adolf Rosenberg: Prell, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1901, p. 21 (Fig. 19). It is especially highlighted in Thieme-Becker (vol. 27, p. 376). Hermann Prell, Betrayal of Judas, 1886 The monumental head, which fills the picture and is distinguished by its ornamented robe, is almost a lost profile, which in the executed painting is justified by the Pharisee's turning towards Judas. Despite the fact that the sitter withdraws from the viewer by turning away, it was necessary to artistically elaborate the motivation for the purchase of one of Christ's disciples, which is why the drawing focuses on the expression of the face, while the 'accessories' are treated in a more summary manner. In characterising the face, Hermann Prell performs a balancing act: since the Pharisee, despite his destructive actions, is an actor in the history of salvation, the head must show a dignity appropriate to the event, but at the same time the physiognomy must also bear witness to the scheming attitude that led to the betrayal. To solve this dilemma, Prell draws on the traditional depictions of the heads of the apostles, shading the face to indicate the obdurate darkness of the spirit and moving the base of the nose slightly upwards while the mouth falls away, thus giving a physiognomic expression to the motivation of the action. The fatal drama of the betrayal is expressed in the monumentalisation of the head and in the thunderous white highlights that contrast with the darkness of the chalk. As a study, considered by the artist to be a work in itself, this drawing reveals the pictorial problems and brainstorming of monumental painting. About the artist In 1872 Prell, who was one of the most important exponents of monumental painting of his time, began studying painting with Theodor Grosse at the Dresden Academy of Art and continued with Carl Gussow at the Berlin Academy in 1876. Hans von Marées taught him in Rome in 1878. More influential on his work, however, were Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, with whom Prell had been friends since his student days and with whom he worked together on several occasions. Prell's first major work, which established his reputation as a monumental painter, were the frescoes in the banqueting hall of the Architektenhaus in Berlin in 1881/82, commissioned by the state and depicting the different periods of architecture. Prell then went to Italy for two years to study fresco painting. Other major commissions followed. These included monumental frescoes in the town halls of Worms (1884), Hildesheim (1882-92), Gdansk (1895) and Dresden, the staircase of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Breslau (1893/94), the throne room of the German Embassy in Rome (1896-99) and the staircase of the Albertinum in Dresden (1900-1904). From 1886 Prell taught at the academy of arts in Berlin and in 1892 he was appointed professor at the academy of arts in Dresden. His students included Osmar Schindler and Hans Unger...

Late 18th Century French pastel portrait on paper of a young lady in period dress in a 'feigned oval'. In gilt wood frame presented under glass. Very much of its period and similar ...

Conté crayon on paper Signed and dated, l.r. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in Salt Lake City, now lives in New York City. ...

REX JOHN WHISTLER (British 1905-1944) The Plain Gangster Inscribed with title Pen, brush and ink Framed 20 by 16.5 cm., 8 by 10 ½ in. (frame size 39 b...

Ruth Schloss (1922 Nuremberg - 2013 Kfar Shmaryahu), Woman eating, around 1990. Mixed media on watercolor paper, 22.2 cm x 26.5 cm, signed “Schloss” lower left and signed again in He...

Pastel and conté crayon with partial foil star on Rives BFK paper Signed and dated, l.r. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in ...

Violet Oakley (1896-1961). Portrait of a Baby, ca. 1930. Conte crayon and pencil on laid paper, sheet measuring 11 x 14 inches. Framed measurement: 13.5 x 16.5 inches. Signed low...

HERBERT WILSON FOSTER (1846-1929) Spring Inscribed with title beneath the mount Chalk, circular Framed Diameter 42 cm., 16 ½ in. (frame size 61 by 58 cm., 24 by 22 ¾ in.) Herbert Wilson Foster was born in Endon, Staffordshire. He attended Hanley School of Art before continuing his studies in London, Belgium and France. His paintings of rural and domestic subjects were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1873 and 1899. In 1893 he accepted a teaching position at the Nottingham School of Art, where his pupils included Laura Knight and Harold Knight. Works by him are in the collections of the Minton archives; the Wisbech & Fenland Museum; Leicester Art Gallery; Rushcliffe Council and Nottingham Castle Museum. In addition to his work as a painter he worked as a porcelain painter, working at one point on the tile panels in the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is known to have worked at Mintons from 1872 where he specialized in portraits of contemporary personalities, including members of the Royal Family. This head of a girl was probably intended for a painted ceramic wall charger...

HERBERT JOHNSON HARVEY (British 1883-1956) Reverie Signed with monogram and dated l.l.: HJ 09 Red chalks on paper Framed 29.5 by 22 cm., 11 ¾ by 8 ¾...

Naturalistic monochromatic figurative portrait by an unknown artist. The drawing features a pencil portrait of a calvary officer wearing a hat with a "2F" logo. Framed in a reddish-b...