There may be no better way to start a collection of Russian Art than to follow our monthly no reserve no minimum auctions. Every month we select a great painting and let you, our friends, go for it. Sometimes the painting sells above the estimated price, but often times it goes far below. This is a fun way to keep up with what is new at the gallery, to put a little excitement in your life, and at the same time add to your Russian art collection!

Congratulations to P. Prochaska who placed the the winning bid for June's auction and added a treasure of impressionistic painting to his collection - and for a great price! The final bid for "The Lilac Twilight" by Victor N. Butko was just $2,500. The estimated price for the painting was $3,500! Thank you to everyone who placed bids.

As our July auction choice, we are pleased to present "Farm" by Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko.

This painting's value is estimated at $3,000. Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. The auction will end at 5 PM on Sunday, July 31st.

For Ivan P. Yevechenko the Ukrainian countryside was often the subject matter that inspired the artist. His work often conveys the proud rural communities without sentiment or glorification. Yevchenko saw the truth as noble in itself and never sought to beautify the country life nor the success of Communism.  BID FORM

Estimated Price $3,000- Winning Bid $750, S. Schubach

Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko
"Farm"
1963, Oil on Board, 15¼" x 19¾" (39 x 50 cm)
Estimated Price $3,000, Winning Bid $750, S. Schubach

Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko, b. 1936

The painter from Zaporozhye, Ivan P. Yevchenko has his beloved theme. He defines it shortly in The Earth and People. The native land, the heroic Soviet people, its glorious history, way of life and labor are subjects of the majority of Yevchenko's works.

Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko was born on August 18, 1936 in the village Vishnivtsy, on Khersonschina. Here his childhood passed and here, for the first time, the youth's thirst for art became evident. From 1951 to 1954, Ivan studied at the Yavorsk Vocational Training School, specializing as a joiner/cabinetmaker and as an art engraver.

From 1955 to 1958, he was in the ranks of the Soviet Army. After demobilization, he entered the Odessa State Art College, M.A. Pavlyuk, G.M. Pavlyuk, T.I. Egorova and O.K. Likholit were his teachers. In 1963, after completion of studies, I.P. Yevchenko came to Zaporozhye.

From the very beginning of his creative way, the artist showed interest in a genre picture. Heroes of his first canvases Firstborn and Beet Growers are workers and peasants. The creative potential of Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko grows. He participates actively in regional and republican exhibitions. Since 1967, Yevchenko has been a member of the USSR Union of Artists.

In his works, the artist aspires to more generalized images. Such is a woman laborer's image in the painting Mother. She is a mother-land, mother-breadwinner herself. The enlarged plan as well as view from below and restrained coloring help to attain such an impression.

In. I.P. Yevchenko's works there are motifs of the Ukrainian people's song. It is little wonder -- our life, boiling and industrious, is an exciting song. The artist created his own picturesque speech. In restrained warm coloring of his paintings devoted to folklore and historical themes there is something from his native land. In Sweet Wreaths and Lesya Listens to A Kobzo Player he creates symbolic images of native people and native land.

Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko is never satisfied with what has been found. He seeks and finds new composition picturesque methods for his works, most corresponding to a theme and an idea. Heroes of his canvases, laborers of kolkhoz fields, in a generalized way, are portrayed in pictures such as Summer and Caklets.

From time to time the artist turns to the theme of war. He solves it in his own way, simply and emotionally. Such is his picture Parting With Father (1971). The balanced pyramid-like composition is enclosed from below by a bench and by an embroidered towel from above. This attracts the spectator's attention to the figure of father with son on his knees.

He continues to develop the theme further in the picture Motherland (1975). The same composition principle is here with the mother and two sons. Over them is a portrait of the father who fell in the war.

Thus people-laborers and masters of the land remain the primary subjects of I.P. Yevchenko. The paintings Gardener (1974) and Sowers (1975) are devoted to this subject. In the picture Gardener the created image approaches to the symbol. Static character of composition, its compactness, preciseness attract attention to the face and hands of the young woman, strong and over-worked. An apple tree over her symbolizes life.

The picture Sowers is solved in another manner. Portraits of workers are in a concrete situation. The artist shows the moment of beginning of the spring sowing. But in this case, it is not ordinary, rather a solemn festival of laborers of the land.

The enlisted works by Ivan Petrovich Yevchenko testify of the artist's persistent search and mature skill. Yevchenko is in the prime of his creative forces and certainly he will create yet many more canvases devoted to our fine present.