Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 1937.
Signature: A. Kaigorodoff 37

Anatoli Kaigorodov (1878-1945) was the son of the well-known ornithologist-phenologist Dmitri Kaigorodov. He studied at the Stieglitz Art School in St. Petersburg (1896-1900) and the Academy of Arts with Arkhip Kuindzhi (1900-1902), while simultaneously graduating from the Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg University. From 1920 to 1939, Kaigorodov ran his own painting studio in Tallinn, where he studied both Baltic and Estonian artists (e.g. Valerian Loik).

When he came to Estonia, he was already a well-known and established painter, a representative of lushly decorative plein air painting, whose style was marked by the Art Nouveau style. Here he traveled around with a paint box and was particularly inspired by the views of the northern coast and the shores of Lake Peipus as well as Tallinn.

The asymmetrical composition of this landscape also speaks of a strong Art Nouveau influence. He was particularly fascinated by the archaic-looking slatted fences, along the curves of which he has drawn his brush in a streamlined manner in several paintings. In addition, the carefully tied rye stalks and the house behind the hillside in the distance speak of human presence. Kaigorodov had a special ability to see and show the beauty of Estonian nature through simple motifs, because living here ourselves, we may not always be able to notice it.

Text: Mai Levin