Oil on canvas, double-sided, circa 1920. 390x552 mm; 15 1/2x21 3/4 inches.
Provenance: Borghi & Co., New York; private collection, New York.
Solotareff (1889-1966) was born in the Bessarabia region of the Russian Empire, a multicultural region with large Jewish, Romanian, and German populations. Solotareff studied in Odessa, Ukraine before moving to Munich and enrolling at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in 1907. His Munich paintings were influenced by the German impressionist style. In 1914 after moving to Lausanne, his style took on Fauvist attributes with sweeping and vivacious colors, though the artist retained the solemnity of formal Russian painting. His style further evolved when he travelled to Paris and turned to a formalist approach, as art critic Carlyle Burrows recalled "showing admirable sensitiveness in the manner of such artists as Leonardo and Raphael." Along with several other émigrés he settled in New York in 1937. He debuted in his newly adopted country in December 1938 at Vendome Galleries, New York to glowing reviews. He continued to paint and exhibit in New York for the rest of his life.
