Portrait of the Artist Konstantin Zaruba 1947

Sergiy Grigoriev painted this portrait of the artist Konstantin Zaruba with oil on canvas, sometime in the mid twentieth century. I find the painting's strength in Grigoriev's brushwork; it’s confident and expressive, capturing Zaruba's likeness and the creative chaos of his studio. Grigoriev’s layering of brushstrokes creates a sense of depth and texture, like the rug at the bottom of the painting. Look at the way he uses short, broken strokes to build up the colors and patterns. Then there’s that moment where the edge of his jacket dissolves into the background, blurring the distinction between figure and ground and suggesting the artist’s integration with his workspace. It’s all so immediate and alive, a bit like Fairfield Porter's paintings of his house in Maine, where the domestic and artistic blur. Ultimately, this is a painting that celebrates the act of making and the intimate relationship between the artist and their environment.