Signed lower left and dated: 15/IX, 1895, Y. Bershadsky - Yuliy (Ioil-Ruvin) Rafailovich Bershadsky (1869 - 1956), Russian - USSR painter and teacher, professor, honored artist of the Ukrainian SSR. The painting depicts a scene in the vestibule (russian - "seni") of a country house. Two women, fully engaged in their household chores, ascend a ladder with a bucket in hand, presumably transporting the fruits of their harvest to the attic for preservation. While the women are busy, a boy is resting on a bench tenderly embracing his beloved goose. The artist’s skillful use of color and light enhances the atmosphere of this cozy and lifeful scene, vividly demonstrating the life of a Russian village with its daily chores and small joys. Bershadsky's choice of genre stopped, first of all, on portrait and genre painting. From the very beginning of his creative path, the artist was and remained a realist. The features characteristic of Bershadsky's paintings are light tones, detailed writing, clear and simple composition. Antique oil painting on canvas, signed, unframed.
Size app.: 63 x 48.5 cm (roughly 24.8 x 18.9 in). Overall in very good well preserved condition with minimal wear, perhaps relined on more. Please study good resolution images for cosmetic condition. In person actual painting may appear darker or brighter than in our pictures, strictly depending on sufficient light in your environment. Weight of app. 1.1 kg is going to measure 3 kg packed for shipment.
With the support of his older brother, Bershadsky settled in Odessa on Moldavanka and studied at the drawing school of the Odessa Society of Fine Arts (1886-1893) under K. K. Kostandi, G. A. Ladyzhensky and A. A. Popov. Since 1892, he has been a regular participant in exhibitions of the Association of South Russian Artists (TYURH). His early genre works of the 1890s (Widowhood, On the Farm, Cooking Jam) are close to the work of the late Peredvizhniki. In 1895 he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, in the workshop of I. E. Repin, his teachers and mentors were also I. I. Shishkin, P. O. Kovalevsky and N. D. Kuznetsov. Repin considered Bershadsky his student in his style of painting and technique. Having noticed a portrait of the architect Shvartsman painted by Bershadsky among the students' works, he insisted that the portrait be hung among the works of his students. In 1899, he graduated from the Academy, having completed the painting "Bazaar in the South". The painting was highly praised at the exhibition and was noted in numerous reviews in the press of that time. The Council of the Academy planned to purchase the competition painting "Bazaar in the South", which would provide Bershadsky with a trip abroad. However, at the exhibition, the painting was unexpectedly acquired by a private collector, despite the high price set by the artist. After graduating from the Academy of Arts, he lived and worked in Odessa. In 1928-1934 he taught at the Odessa Art Institute (in 1934-1941 - Odessa Art School). From 1935 - professor, from 1941 - Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he was evacuated to Sverdlovsk. He created a series of portraits, including academician L. D. Shevyakov (1943), conductor M. I. Paverman, writer P. P. Bazhov (1943), architect K. T. Babykin, "Self-portrait" (1954). The works of Yuliy Bershadsky are in the Odessa Art Museum, the Museum of Ukrainian Fine Art in Kiev, the Museum of Artists of Yekaterinburg, the Yekaterinburg Gallery of Modern Art, in private collections in Russia and abroad.