Grouse (Snipe and Ruff) 1926

Pyotr Konchalovsky painted ‘Grouse (Snipe and Ruff)’ in oil on canvas, though we can’t be sure exactly when. Konchalovsky was part of the Russian avant-garde. He was a member of the Jack of Diamonds group which rejected the prevailing Symbolist aesthetic in favour of a more direct and representational style influenced by French Post-Impressionism and Cubism. The group embraced modern urban life and celebrated the vitality of everyday subjects, but despite this, this still life, which shows dead animals on a roughly hewn table, connects with a long artistic tradition. The artist’s engagement with tradition can be seen as either conservative or progressive. On the one hand, Konchalovsky was embracing a tradition that stretches back centuries, yet he was doing so in a modern style, rejecting the strictures of academic art. The meaning and value of art are always contingent on the social and institutional context in which it is made and received. Art historians consult manifestos, exhibition reviews, and other period documents to better understand this context.