Depicts: Artist’s wife Olga Vasilievna Konchalovskaya (née Surikova) (1878–1958), daughter Natalia (1903–1988; writer) and son Mikhail (1906–2000; artist).
Pyotr Konchalovsky painted this portrait soon after his return from Spain, a country that made an important contribution to his art. He himself wrote about the influence of his Spanish impressions on the portrait: “For me, Spain was a poem of black and white … All the time I lived there, I was haunted by the thought of mastering the art of simplified synthetic colour. I resolved this task in a portrait of my wife and children painted in 1911. This portrait is dominated by two colours – black and white. No matter how strongly red and green are given, they play a strictly subordinated role; their task is merely to underline the resonance of the two main notes of the portrait. The Chinese picture in the background serves to accompany these main tones.” The closest source of primitive grotesque, however, is the fairground photo¬graph, always popular with the Jack of Diamonds.

Konchalovsky Pyotr

Konchalovsky, Pyotr Petrovich (1876, Slavyansk (Kharkiv Gubernia) - 1956, Moscow)
Painter. Studied at a school of drawing in Kharkiv, evening classes at the Stroganov Central School of Technical Drawing in Moscow, Academic de Rodolphe Julian in Paris (1897-98) and the Higher School of Art, Imperial Academy of Arts (1898-1905). Attended Konstantin Korovin's studio at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (until 1909). Helped to organise the first Jack of Diamonds exhibition (1910) and contributed to all other Jack of Diamonds exhibitions (1912-1927). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Golden Fleece (1910), Salon d'Automne (1908, 1910), Salon des Independants (1910-1912) and the Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1911). Founding member of the Moscow Painters (1924-1925).