Paintings & Drawings

1946 David Burliuk Oil Painting

Appraisal: 1946 David Burliuk Painting

Transcript

GUEST: I brought a painting that I inherited from my mother and father. It's a David Burliuk. Uh, they purchased it back in 1961.

APPRAISER: Do you know how much they bought it for?

GUEST: They paid $1,800 for it.

APPRAISER: Did they buy it in, um, in New York or in...

GUEST: Yes, it was in New York, mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Okay. But it is, obviously, a painting, uh, not of New York.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER AND GUEST: (both laughing)

APPRAISER: It's, uh, a painting of Florida.

GUEST: Well, that's sentimental value. My family spent a lot of vacations there. And that's what prompted the purchase.

APPRAISER: Okay, and, uh, for Burliuk, Florida was one of his, uh, favorite places to, to visit and paint.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: He's an artist who was known in Russia, because he was born in Russia...

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: ...as the father of Russian Futurism.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Russian Futurism was a progressive art movement, uh, in the teens. His impact on Russian avant-garde art was immense, and would have continued, but he, he emigrated pretty early on after the revolution.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: From 1918 to about 1921...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...he went through Russia, through the Urals, and to Japan, went through Japan and came to the United States...

GUEST: (laughs) Wow.

APPRAISER: ...in, uh, in the 1920s, around 1921, 1922.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Burliuk is an artist who is known, therefore, not just in Russia...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...but he's also known quite well in America, because he died in 1967.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: So he spent a formative part of his career here.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: A lot of the Abstract Expressionist artists...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ..even Jackson Pollock, for example...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...they referred to him as, uh, Papa Burliuk.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: He was shown at some important galleries, like A.C.A. Galleries in New York.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: What a lot of people think about Burliuk are these paintings of, like, rustic Russian scenes...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...usually of peasant women and cows, or...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And they're usually kind of a small-scale...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...type of, uh, painting-- not this. This is about, like, 25 by, uh, 30 inches.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Those are usually about, like, nine by 12 inches, 12 by 16 inches.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: He was a prolific artist.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: A lot of times, he was painting to give as payment.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: For various services.

GUEST: (laughs)

APPRAISER: Bartering, in the classic way that artists do.

GUEST: Uh-huh, wow, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: This painting exhibits a lot of his love of Impressionism...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and specifically the artwork of van Gogh.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: In homage to van Gogh, he would, uh, he would paint like van Gogh, and sometimes sign on one side Burliuk, and one side van Gogh.

GUEST: (laughs)

APPRAISER: When we look at this painting, I see a lot of the influence of the Impressionist artists and post-Impressionist artists on Burliuk, especially in the impasto. This is oil on canvas, by the way.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: It's dated 1946.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And you can see that the paint in a lot of places is very, almost sculptural. He used a lot of impasto.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Where the paint almost builds up from the canvas. When he really loved a scene...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...he would paint his heart out. I've seen paintings by Burliuk that just are to die for.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Um, and this is, this is one of them. This painting probably was never cleaned.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Um, I, I do see it, it was relined.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: But you can notice up here, especially the blues have become dark.

GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: If this painting was cleaned...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...the colors would, would pop out even that much more. This is one of his most successful compositions. Florida happens to be a very desirable subject by Burliuk.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: I would feel very comfortable putting an estimate on this painting, an auction estimate that's conservative...

GUEST: Mm-hmm, right.

APPRAISER: ...of $30,000 to $40,000.

GUEST: Mm-hmm, wow, oof. It's, uh, that's amazing. (laughs) It really is. It would always be loved. Now I think it needs to be insured. (laughs)

APPRAISER: You should probably insure it around the $75,000 to $80,000 range.

GUEST: Okay, thank you, that's, that's amazing. (chuckles)