Description:

KIRILL ZDANEVICH (GEORGIAN-RUSSIAN 1892-1969)
Mountain in Bakuriani, Georgia, 1911
oil on board
32.4 x 41 cm (12 3/4 x 16 1/8 in.)

signed, dated, and titled on the verso in Cyrillc

PROVENANCE
Collection of Christophe Czwiklitzer (1913-1992)
Artcurial, Paris, June 9, 2025, Lot 48
Private Collection, New York (acquired at the above sale)

PROVENANCE NOTES
Christophe Czwiklitzer was a renowned French-German art dealer, publisher, and scholar who played a vital role in documenting the graphic works of the 20th century's greatest masters. He is perhaps best known for his definitive catalogue raisonne of Pablo Picasso’s posters ( Les affiches de Picasso), as well as his significant publications on the works of Ossip Zadkine and Fernand Leger.

Czwiklitzer’s collection was characterized by a deep intellectual connection to the artists he championed. As a publisher under his imprint "Art-C.C.," he worked closely with the leading figures of the School of Paris and the Russian emigration.

LOT NOTES
Mountain in Bakuriani, Georgia, painted in July 1911, captures Kirill Zdanevich at the genesis of his career, during a period of intense artistic discovery in his native Georgia. This work represents a critical bridge between his academic training and the radical "Neo-Primitivism" he would soon champion alongside Mikhail Larionov. By focusing on the rugged landscape of Bakuriani - a mountainous region in the Borjomi district - Zdanevich rejects the soft focus of European Impressionism in favor of a bold, structural approach to form. The vigorous brushwork and saturated palette anticipate his later involvement with the "Donkey's Tail" group, where he sought to elevate provincial and folk aesthetics to the status of high art. > The year 1911 is particularly significant in the Zdanevich oeuvre, as it immediately precedes his formal "discovery" of the self-taught artist Niko Pirosmani in 1912. One can see in this landscape a burgeoning appreciation for the monumental simplicity of the Georgian terrain, a theme that would dominate his work throughout his life. This work serves as a visual record of Zdanevich's early efforts to synthesize the raw power of the Caucasus landscape with the burgeoning modernist theories of the Moscow and St. Petersburg avant-garde.

Kirill Zdanevich’s career remains one of the most compelling narratives of the 20th-century avant-garde. While his brother Ilia (Iliazd) became a titan of typography in Paris, Kirill remained deeply rooted in the East, co-founding the "41 Degrees" group and pioneering the theory of "Everythingism" (Vsechestvo). Despite a period of political persecution and nearly a decade spent in the Gulag, his legacy as a bridge between Russian Futurism and Georgian Modernism remains unparalleled. This early oil study, fresh to the market from a prestigious private collection, offers a rare glimpse into the formative eye of a master.

Keywords: Georgian and Russian Avant-Garde, Georgian Modernism, 41 Degrees, Donkey's Tail Group, Larionov, Goncharova, Caucasus

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March 28, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
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