Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé (1877-1932)

Davos

Signed
Oil on Canvas
25¾ x 32¼ inches – 65.5 x 82 cms

Born in 1877, Ivan Choultse had spent his formative years in Russia, studying under Constantin Krighitsky (1858-1911) in St. Petersburg, the city of his birth. He was unrivalled in his portrayals of the Russian forests under snow, capturing the differing textures and substance of snow in all its forms. Following the revolution and Civil War, Choultse like so many of his fellow artists fled to Paris, where he exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1923 and 1924, from where he travelled to the south of France and particularly Switzerland. It was here that he produced some of his finest work.

In the view of Davos, we see the town from a trail on the mountainside, the branches of the alpine firs weighed down under their burden of snow. Choultse perfectly depicts the crystalline nature of the snow as it slowly thaws in the morning sun. The tree clad mountainside opposite stands gripped in the cold shade contrasting with the bright sunlight shining on the peak beyond under an azure sky. This is a magnificent painting by the artist exhibiting his extraordinarily fine technique whilst also capturing the still atmosphere of an alpine spring morning.

His works can be found in a museum in: Washington DC, Hillwood Museum.
Provenance: Private Collection, Switzerland