"Playing blind man's buff" by Makovsky: What conquers the masterpiece sold at Sotheby's for millions

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Genre canvas "Playing blind man's buff" by Konstantin Makovsky at the end of last year, at the Sotheby’s art auction in London, it broke the author's personal record, becoming the most expensive work in the painter's legacy. This painting, included in the list of the master's best creations, is truly a pearl of his richest artistic heritage.

The work of the Russian artist, tentatively estimated by experts at two to three million pounds, was sold at the Sotheby’s trading house for almost twice as much - for 4.3 million (5.5 million US dollars). Previously, his work was not rated so highly. And the previous record of Makovsky's paintings lasted more than 10 years. In 2007, at Sotheby's, the work "From the Everyday Life of a Russian Boyar at the End of the 17th Century" was sold for 2 million pounds.

A little about the masterpiece

Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915) first presented "The Game of Hide and Man's Buff" to the public in 1900 in the exhibition hall of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and a year later in the St. Petersburg Society of Artists, after which this work was included in the catalog as one of the outstanding canvases Konstantin Egorovich.

The artist was inspired to create this painting by the fashion for idealization of pre-Petrine times, which literally swept Russia at the end of the 19th century. The aristocratic society of St. Petersburg began to organize costume parties everywhere, dressing in boyar caftans, kokoshniks and leather boots, which were so popular in boyar Russia. It was at the turn of two centuries that Makovsky created a whole series of works on widely known historical themes, and also created a number of paintings reflecting the folk traditions and rituals of ancient Russia.

In Game of Hide and seek, the artist filled the scene with brightly dressed characters, still life, antique furniture, colorful carpets and lavishly painted walls. Such an abundance of naturalistically written attributes was taken from the personal art collection that belonged to the painter himself.

He enthusiastically collected objects of ancient Russian life, ancient jewelry and costumes, using them later as a prop in the creation of his historical paintings. According to his daughter Elena, the artist was a real connoisseur of Russian antiques, and never skimped on purchasing them. Items from his collection gave the scenes not only a sense of luxury, but also realism. And the models for his characters were often family members and friends of the master. So, children's images in "Zhmurki" are strikingly similar to his offspring from his third marriage - with Maria Matavina. It should be noted that the artist has created a whole gallery of realistic portraits of his relatives.

Read also: The family album of Konstantin Makovsky in pictorial portraits: paintings that Tretyakov himself could not buy because of the high cost.

Bonus How adults and children used to have fun in the old days in different countries

Looking into the world history of painting, we will see that the fascinating game of blind man's buff has been immortalized in many canvases by artists from different countries, who skillfully captured their heroes in the process of gambling entertainment.

And curiously, the blind man's buff was very popular not only in Russia, but throughout the world, as evidenced by the works of painters from different countries and eras. So, in England this game has long been known as "push of the blind", in Germany - "blind cow", in Italy - "blind fly", in Spain - "blind chicken", in Sweden this game is called "blind male". And among the French, the Collin-Maillard game was named after a medieval duel between the French Lord Leuven and a man named Colleen, who fought with a hammer while being blinded.

Moreover, blind man's buff is played not only in Europe. For example, in Papua New Guinea this entertainment is called "kamu namu", and in Nigeria the game has a long name "Can you find the person who knocked you on the head?" head?"

I would also like to say that in all versions the essence of this game comes down to one thing: one of the participants with a blindfold catches the others, and the one who is caught takes the place of the catcher.

I propose to see you a wonderful gallery of paintings, painted by artists from different countries, dedicated to this exciting, gambling and dynamic game. And we absolutely do not care what it was called or called, it still remains the favorite game of childhood, which children and adults loved to play in past centuries.

This popular theme is also touched upon by modern painters, depicting not only children, but also adults, thereby giving their canvases a deeper philosophical meaning.

Russian art is rapidly rising in price on the world market every year, which, however, is quite natural. So, more recently, or to be more precise, a little more than a month ago Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's still life broke all records in the "Russian auction sales". His "Still Life with Lilacs" went under the hammer for a record amount - almost $ 12 million, with an initial expert estimate of one and a half million.