Attribution to a Russian artist - Untitled

In the history of art, a clear distinction can often be made between figurative and abstract stylistic currents. However, when an artist's goal is to depict an object that resonates with phenomenal reality but is simultaneously charged with hidden and symbolic meaning, this boundary can become blurred. In the case of the artist who created this painting, reality is completely transfigured in a synthesis of Expressionism and Surrealism. The artist's research is clearly inspired by the Russian fairytale tradition, illustrating episodes of this tradition in a magical atmosphere with a distinctly folksy and naive feel.

Formally, the artist seeks extreme simplification, with a generally naive character, in the depiction of his fairytale world. The subjects are synthesized in eccentric and colorful fields of color. The space is essentially two-dimensional, but within the composition, every logical rule is subverted through the superimposition of elements and a highly accentuated curvilinear rhythm. All this gives the work an original, magical and popular character, combined with the strongly folkloric theme. These elements bring this painter's style closer to that of Chagall, whose aesthetic blends a humble and popular reality with the magic of fairytales, in a formal expressionist and surrealist guise. In the present work, however, compared to the Belarusian master, the fairytale character prevails, translated into a creative naive vein.

On the back of the work, Viktor Laguna's signature in Cyrillic is visible. The work, therefore, could be attributed to this Russian artist, who lived between 1930 and 2016 and was primarily involved in graphic design and the illustration of traditional fairy tales. He graduated from the Gorky Palekh School in 1955. He illustrated many children's books, such as "Russian Tales of Siberia," "Russian Folk Tales," and "Pushkin's Tales."

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