Ivan Karpoff (1898-1970) - La Mietitura

AUTHOR

Ivan Karpoff (1898-1970) Russian-born painter who became Italian. Born in Novo-Tcherkask, he arrived in Milan in 1925 after injuries from the Russian Civil War and exile in Bulgaria, and he managed to fuse Slavic melancholy with the light of Lombard naturalism. Trained at the Brera Academy under the guidance of Ambrogio Alciati, Karpoff quickly solidified his fame through an intense exhibition activity that began in the 1930s. Among the most significant moments are his participation in the Exposition of Masterpieces at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Chiavari in 1932 and a solo show at the Manipolo Gallery in Vicenza in 1936, events that drew the attention of national critics for his ability to portray with sincere Impressionist nuance the Milan Navigli, the landscapes of Brianza, and the Alpine snowfall.

Karpoff's success did not remain confined within regional borders, but extended through a series of important solo exhibitions at Galleria Geri in Milan between 1938 and 1941, at Galleria d’Arte Cigala in Turin, and at Galleria Firenze in the Tuscan capital. His international resonance led him to exhibit also in major metropolises such as Berlin, Zurich, New York, and London, solidifying the image of an artist who, while remaining faithful to a poetic realism and never overly avant-garde, managed to communicate a universal emotion. Upon his death in Milan in 1970, followed by a commemorative retrospective at Galleria Le Colonne in 1971, Karpoff has remained in the collective memory as the "painter of fogs and snow", an exile who found in color the perfect bridge between his lost homeland and his new Italian homeland.

Description

"Landscape, The Harvest", oil on canvas, 63*73cm with frame, 40*50cm the canvas alone, datable to the 1940s of the 20th century, signed at the bottom right. On the back, a label from the Bistro' gallery of Brescia, a historic Brescia gallery specializing in Italian painting of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The painting depicts two figures walking along a dirt path that cuts through a recently harvested field, where the ears of wheat stand out like small natural sculptures under a vast and unsettled sky. The composition is dominated by a perspective that guides the eye toward the horizon, while the strip of land occupies only the lower half of the canvas, letting the clouds become the absolute protagonists. The work exudes that lyricism typical of Karpoff’s countryside scenes, where the landscape is never a simple reproduction of reality, but an emotional stage in which man appears as a humble and silent presence in the face of the immensity of nature.

From a technical point of view, the painting reveals the maturity of Karpoff's brushwork: a material, rapid and confident stroke that defines forms through chromatic contrasts rather than clear contour lines. The palette plays on a refined range of ochres, browns, and pearly grays, interrupted by brief touches of more vibrant color on the figures, which give dynamism to the scene. In this work, there is the evident perfect synthesis between the painter's Russian training and the influence of Lombard naturalism; the light, diffused and almost foggy, recalls the Padanian atmospheres dear to the artist, while preserving that subtle Slav melancholy that permeates all his production of the Forties. A painting with fresh composition and pleasant aesthetic impact.

Condition Report

Overall condition is good. The painting is intact in every part, with vivid colour and clearly discernible brushwork. The frame is included as a complimentary item.

Tracked and insured shipment with adequate packaging.