Keywords: Russian avant garde, still life, modernist, wine bottle, hat, bowl, fruit, table composition, Fauvist influence, geometric form

Authentometer™: A8*

Summary:
David Petrovich Shterenberg (Russian, 1881–1948). Signed still life oil on canvas laid on panel depicting a round table arranged with a wine bottle, bowl, fruit, knife, and white cloth, accompanied by a bentwood chair and hat. The composition is distinguished by its flattened perspective, simplified geometric forms, and strong contrasting areas of red, turquoise-blue, and white. Signed lower left.

The history and provenance of Russian avant-garde works from the early 20th century can be particularly complex. Decades of suppression under Stalin and the official promotion of Socialist Realism resulted in many earlier modernist, abstract, and Futurist works being privately retained, concealed, or stored away, sometimes leaving incomplete histories and limited documentation.

While in Paris, Shterenberg became associated with Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Marc Chagall. He studied with Kees van Dongen, one of the leading figures of Fauvism, and participated in avant-garde discussions among artists and intellectuals at the Café de la Rotonde. These experiences shaped his understanding of modern painting and informed his experimentation with color, form, and spatial construction.

Shterenberg developed a distinctive approach to still life in which familiar objects are reduced to clear, economical forms while retaining their individual identities. Flattened space, expressive color, strong contours, and deliberately simplified geometry became important elements of his visual language. The present composition, with its elevated viewpoint and objects distributed across broad areas of saturated color, reflects these characteristic modernist concerns.

Measurement: Art: 22 1/2 x 31 1/2 in. (57.2 x 80 cm.) approx

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