Aristarkh Lentulov (Russian, 1882-1943) "Two Nudes"
Conte crayon, charcoal, and gouache on paper. Signed in Cyrillic (lower right).
Ht. 22 1/2 x W 16 in.

Aristarkh Lentulov was a Russian painter and one of the foremost representatives of the Moscow School of Art. He studied at the art institutes in Penza and Kiev and in St. Petersburg at the studio of Dmitry Kardovsky. In 1911, he traveled to Paris, the mecca of the Russian avant-garde artists and worked at the Academie de la Palette with Cubists Henri Le Fauconnier and Jean Metzinger. Lentulov’s attraction to cubism coincided with his involvement in the Jack of Diamonds group. His personal style took shape toward the mid -1910s when he synthesized the spatial concepts of Cubism, the color of Fauvism, and the decorative patterning of folk art.