Lukian Vasilyevich Popov (1873-1914)
Girl in blue
Lot 31
18 00020 000
signed (lower right)
Oil on canvas
80 x 59 cm
painted circa 1908 -1914
Provenance: Private collection, Monaco
Popov was a famous Russian genre, landscape and portrait painter, representative of the realistic style.
He conducted his artistic studies at the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts. From 1896 to 1902 he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts, where his mentor was Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky. He exhibited since 1900, and was a a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (former Peredvizhniki, a group of Russian realist artists who protested against academic restrictions). In 1909 he became a member of the A. I. Kuindzhi Society of Artists. In 1912, the Imperial Academy of Arts awarded him the title of Academician of Painting.
As a portrait painter, Popov skilfully conveyed the character and mood of his models, revealed their psychological state, and gave them an accurate social description. In portraits, Popov preferred to focalise on the waist section, as if bringing his subjects closer to the viewer.
The works of L. V. Popov are held in important private collections in Russia and abroad, as well as in various museum like the State Russian Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts.